Depression, It Has Me

I crafted tonight. Or, more accurately, I am crafting tonight. It's sending me into a depression spiral that I can't seem to get out of.

The thing is that I have one major problem with sewing (and many other minor problems). That is, I can never seem to place my patterns properly on grain lines. I don't know what the hell is wrong with me, but it's super depressing and annoying and hateful. It's okay now that I'm making make up bags and slippers and other stuff that doesn't really hang on the body, but what's going to happen when I make a dress or jacket and I can't true the fabric and cut on grain? It's going to look hideous and I'm going to die of shame. Does anyone out there have advice for getting your fabric to true and cutting on grain. If your advice is pull on the fabric on the bias or slip a thread from the weave or weft free and use that as your guide, please explain more fully. Pulling on the fabric has not trued my fabric in the past, and I can't damn well seem to pull a thread free.

Hopefully later this week I will have some finished sewing projects to post (and a camera to use to photograph them), but until then, it's Linky Tuesday. Like how I just pretended that I always post links on Tuesdays?

Here's some of my favorite crafty finished objects! Let's start with my newest obsession, quilts. I love, love, love this beautiful quilt from CharlotteCarotte. First off, it looks simple and modern. Second, it looks soft. Third, it looks gorgeous. It makes me want to quit with the idea of fashion sewing.

Then, there are the cookies. I love cookies and I always want to be able to make beautifully decorated cookies, but if I could make ice cream cone cookies or starry window cookies, all I'd do is make cookies and charge ridiculous prices for them at craft sales.

You all know I love to cross stitch, but it takes a hell of a lot of time to do the 'good' designs because they intersperse colors very thoroughly to get a more natural looking finished product. And the really good ones that require beads require even more time and energy. That's why this finished mermaid cross stitch is a phenom. If I had made this, I'd frame it and put it up in the middle of the most seen wall in our house and I'd tell everyone that came into our house that I had made it.

Nathan is obsessed with trains, and I'm obsessed with clothes for Nathan. That means I love this adorable Kai shirt made of a very train-y fabric. I'm thinking of how it would look fantastic over some thermal shirts this winter as part of his every day wardrobe. Slip that on over some jeans and he'd look stylish without looking like a tiny little man. Helen has often pointed out that most boys are dressed like little men, and that's true, but the pointed use of cute prints can help alleviate that fact.

When I was younger, my mom would try to teach me to craft and fail. This is due to two things. One, I'm a horrible person learner. I've had fantastic people try to teach me, including my own husband (a patient tutor that many of my friends have told me is extremely patient with those willing to learn), and I can't learn from them. I dislike people telling me what to do. I hate when they keep going on about something I understand already. I dislike telling teachers I don't understand, so I let them stop teaching me when I don't understand the subject matter. I get angry with myself for disappointing people who are attempting to teach me. Two, my mom is a horrible teacher, apt to blame her 'student' for failing to learn or likely to not care about teaching. "You picked out horrible yarn to learn from, and that's why I can't teach you to knit." "I never installed zippers or buttonholes. Your grandmother did it for me. I mostly just made elastic pants." If you can't guess, these two things are probably related. That's why I'm always amazed to see these blogging mothers featuring their child's amazing creations, such as this Wall-E stuffie, or this awesomely chic knitted sweater.

I hope that one day, Paul can teach our children well or at least filter my instructions well. I can already tell that I'm more a teacher like my mom.