sewing fix

After about a year in my new city, I've finally started making friends. Fortunately, this coincides with a recent bout of 'inspiration' to try all kinds of things that I've thought about for a while, but for whatever reason I haven't done.

One of these things is sewing. I received a great machine as a gift when I graduated from college, three years ago. And I never could figure it out!! I tried and tried, I asked for help, and eventually I gave up. I had a vague notion of the error of my ways, but no idea how to fix it. I could only blame myself, and not my poor machine, which had so unforunately landed in such incapable hands.

I'd settled on a nearby quilt shop that offered what sounded like a great class.  It was just a matter of the time and the finances aligning.  And after I'd mentioned this to a new friend in the area, she told me to ditch the class plans and come hang out with her for a couple hours instead.  And I did!  And it was fantastic!

She knew what she was doing, and she was a great teacher.  So great, in fact, that I'm going crazy not having the sewing room with all the great stuff she has.  This is a creative outlet that's been frustratedly dormant for about three years now, seriously!  

So because there's no cash to drop, I'll have to figure out a few things from my 'stash' to work up.  And last night's foray into 'cleaning the guest room' worked to my advantage.  Guess what turned up!!  

A bag of pants, and a bag of neckties.  Namely, a bag of pants that need to be hemmed (and I could use the wardrobe influx) and a bag of neckties that I purchased shortly after receiving the sewing machine, under the impression that I would make a skirt out of said neckties.

I plan to spend this long weekend poking around with hemming techniques and digging around for patterns.

Any pointers?