I didn’t grew up in a house where sewing was part of the routine. In fact the only sewing machine I’ve ever touched before I got mine, was the one from my grandmother and it was only to play (destroy) as a kid, during school holidays.

Although as a child, I learned and enjoyed embroidery (basic points only) I would not touch anything that needed to be sewn. In fact if I could, I would wait for someone (my mother or even my mother in law!) to sew the buttons in the girls school bibs!!

So, how do I end up enjoying sewing as much as I do?

I think it is my girls fault! Preparing their clothes while waiting for their arrival and after they were born as well was always a pleasure. I enjoyed the little ruffles, the bows, the embroidery but especially those that were made or embroidered specially for them. They were unique!!

Even when they started to grow and were not babies any more, I enjoyed buying their clothes at local shops with their own confection. These items were classic and they were note made in big quantities.

But then I moved to the UK and I could no longer find that kind of clothes. I even ordered some online, but the delivery was very expensive!!

Last Christmas I asked Santa for a sewing machine. And I got one J At first I just wanted to do a few things to decorate the new house and small things for the girls (toys and decorations for their rooms).

The first thing I did was this little bag (based on this tutorial), that is far from perfect but I still use it to store needles.

Then I did lots of these storage baskets (after I saw this one here)!! In fact they are very useful and have them spread through the house to store threads, small haberdashery items, beauty products or even Lego!

Zipper pouches to help store things in my purse, cushions, soft toys for the girls, bags for clothes or for ballet shoes like this one in the photo.

And then my girls needed skirts. The ones that I had bought them were too large at the waist. When they fitted well at the waist, they were too short!! So I thought I could make them myself. It was just two rectangles of fabric! I could do that!! And I did, as you can see above. I also made some shorts without pattern, but then I wanted to do things better and I started to do some research… And I found some inspiring blogs :-). I started to buy some patterns and to make new things, some of which you can see in Flickr.

And this way I still can dress my girls with the “style” I like, at least while they enjoy it. They are very opinionated but for the moment they want me to make more garments for them and for their “babies” and teddy.