Are You a Perfectionist?
I am not. That’s not to say I don’t put out quality work, I just won’t sit there and tear out a seam 45 times and re-sew it until it’s perfect. Not gonna do it. Which brings me to this blog post.
I have a granddaughter now (Elsa), she was born on December 27 of last year and of course she’s the best granddaughter ever. Last month we spent Thanksgiving with my son (Erik) and daughter-in-law (Sarah) and of course the baby Elsa. Erik asked me if I could send his and Sarah’s Christmas stockings to them and I immediately asked if I could make one for the baby Elsa! Of course he said yes (I’m his mom, how could he say no?!?).
Yesterday I was inspired and began making Elsa’s stocking. I wanted it to have a modern look to it and knew just what fabrics I was going to use and exactly how it was going to look…in my head.
Since I liked the shape of it, I took Erik’s stocking and traced it onto some fabric for the back. Then I pieced the fabrics from my stash into almost exactly what I had envisioned! Whooohooo! This was moving along nicely.
Now I don’t know about you, but I sometimes have trouble figuring out things with right sides together, wrong sides together, etc. Originally, the stocking was going to be lined, but then I also wanted to quilt the front and then would be dealing with five layers…ummm no, that wasn’t going to work. Back to square one. I quilted the front (simple straight line quilting) and sewed it the back (right sides together)…now, how do I do the top cuff? I wanted it to be white fabric (Kona Snow) and I wanted it to have batting in it to give it some body, so I measured twice and cut once. Cut the batting I needed, seamed the cuff and after much trial and error figured out how to get it sewn onto the base of the stocking. Looked pretty good!
Okay, it’s not bad. I kinda like it.
So of course I posted the picture on Facebook so Erik and Sarah could see it. I received some nice compliments on it and then my friend Jeff said, “Still use the stocking my grandma made for me……a very special thing.” Two things here — bring a grandmother is still a very new thing to me and when I read that post I thought, awww isn’t that sweet, but why is he saying that…then it dawned on me, I’m making MY granddaughter a stocking! Ooops! The other thing was, Oh my goodness! He’s had that stocking for 50+ years! I need to make something that’s going to stand the test of time!! ACK! (thanks a lot, Jeff!)
The next morning I stared at the stocking, and although it was perfectly fine, there were a few things that needed to be changed/fixed. First up, I didn’t like how the side seam on the cuff seemed to be on the wrong side, don’t ask me why there’s a right and wrong side here, it’s just how my brain was working. So I pulled the cuff off, then I realized I wanted the cuff to fold down (after all, it is a cuff!) so I had to rethink the whole attaching it thing (why, oh why, didn’t I purchase a pattern?!?). So back down to the sewing room I went.
In all, I probably re-sewed that sucker at least 5 times and I’m glad Elsa wasn’t here to hear the language coming out of her Mumsie’s mouth! Sew, press, un-sew…sew, press, un-sew…sew, press, un-sew…you get the picture. I sewed the hanger on the wrong side, I sewed the cuff on inside out, you name it, I did it!
But then I got it right. Finally! I sat down this afternoon and embroidered Elsa’s name onto Elsa’s stocking and I’m VERY happy with it! I’m hoping this will last a lifetime and she will enjoy it and cherish it, because it was made with a lot of love and a little bit of cursing! Is it perfect? No, but it is damn good!
The finished stocking!
One Comment
Leave a Reply
Great blog Lisa! I made both of my granddaughter’s stockings. I also made my children’s stockings & they’re still going strong after (I won’t say how many) many years. They’re special & Elsa will still be using hers as an adult & she’ll be saying “my grandmother made this & it’s very special to me”. And she’ll be asking you to make her children’s stockings!