Quilt Shirt, A Note to Follow Sew.

Well, I am quite sure that you are all on the edges of your various proverbial seats to find out what has happened since the day I sewed something that was actually nothing. I'll tell you what happened. I sewed something that was something. Kind of.

My friend Karyn was so thrilled to read about my adventures in sewing (and duly impressed with the nothing I made, I might add.) She has so far been unable to get me interested in scrapbooking or stamping or crocheting or making my own baby wipes, much to her chagrin. She knows that my attention is prone to wane quite easily, especially when I am not good at something. Which is far too often for my liking. So after the sewing incident (also known as The Three-Sided Stitched Nothing) she decided to show me how simple sewing can be. We grabbed a bunch of fabric strips and she started piecing them together. I think we were making some sort of quilting square ... or maybe an entire quilt, I'm not entirely sure. So she patiently sat next to me and handed me pieced together strips and said, "Sew here." "Now, sew here." And offered up mostly false words of encouragement as I was going. "Good job." "That looks great!" "You're doing good." That kind of stuff. 'Cause Karyn's known me a long time, and she knows that compliments, even contrived ones, totally work on me.

Well, I sewed together a bunch of strips into a sort of rectanglish, squarish type thing. She said that it would make a great pillow. But I didn't have any stuffing. And have I mentioned that in addition to not being very skilled, I am also not very patient? It looked like it would make a really cute skirt to me, but it was too small to go around even Audrina's tiny waist. Well, I was on a roll, people. I had sewed something, and I was not just about to let it sit and be nothing but a pretty placemat. So I tried to wrap it around Audrina's body instead. No luck. But really close!! So I got the idea to tie it in the back and put straps on it and make it a sort of shirt. Of course I had to consult Karyn to see if I could actually pull that off. She agreed that it might work, but I think she secretly thought it would still look better as a pillow.

Finally, after lots of Karyn's help and Audrina yelling, "WHEN CAN I WEAR MY SHIRT??" it was completed. The end result of my labor of love. I won't keep you in suspense any longer. Here it is ...

AND, the back ...

Yes, I am not so dim that I do not get the irony of making a very immodest (if worn alone) shirt when my original dream was to design a modest fashion line. I also do not think it will make it into the House of Chanel of haute couture. Nor would it pass a close inspection by anyone who knows anything whatsoever about sewing. WHATEVER. Drina loves it. Really. I might make a matching one for her baby doll next. (Just kidding, Karyn. Don't get any ideas.)

My husband was slightly less than impressed. I was so excited that I had actually made something that someone could wear, and I thought maybe he would share in that excitement. Not so much. The next day Audrina was excited to wear her new shirt, and I was expecting a call from him when he got her dressed that morning. Nothing. I finally talked to him later on the phone and gushed, "Did you SEE the shirt I MADE??" His response, "Yeah. Um, it looks kind of like an apron." Whatever. He obviously doesn't know what a real apron looks like.

BTW, if you want to see what a real apron looks like and even enter to win it, check out my friend Lara's post here. She actually knows how to sew. I hope you're not too disappointed, but don't be looking for any quilt-shirt giveaways anytime soon. I'm pretty sure that this was a one time thing.