NähGeschichte or how I began to sew

Nancy had a wonderful post on her blog about how she started to sew and Chris is making a list of everyone else who contributed their stories. I LOVE to read them all :)

So here is mine. Growing up I didn't actually have a family member teach me how to sew, but I remember watching my great aunt sew on her antique "foot paddle" sewing machine and I was fascinated.
But I attended Waldorf School in Germany and learned quite a bit about handwork and so, have always been busy with different projects, like knitting and hand sewing (dolls mostly), embroidery etc... But everything was done by hand because I was scared of sewing machines well into my 30's!
(I don't know if that was due to the fact that my great aunt had a rather disturbing accident were a needle got stuck in her thumb nail and we had to use pliers to get the needle out)

So by my mid 30's I had 3 children and was pretty obsessed with ebay boutiques and the great hand made clothing but specially the "European" outfits. I just thought a lot about what I would like to do if I could, and surfing around the web one day, I found Farbenmix patterns. My excitement was great because I recognized the patterns from all the fantastic outfits available on ebay and bought my very first, the OLIVIA pattern. After I bought the pattern I went and got a $60 sewing machine and actually managed (with the help of the picture tutorial) to create my first outfit, not just the Olivia under dress, but also the over dress! What an amazing feeling that was :) And I had lost my fear of sewing machines!


Next up CARA:



The rest is a blurr of an instant obsession with fabric (well of course!) and realizing pretty quick that my $60 machine just wasn't going to cut it and a much better machine had to be bought and heck, there is just no doing without a serger... My husband thought I had lost my mind. He was/is right

All of that happened within less than a year! Countless more Farbenmix patterns later, I can honestly say, my kids very, very rarely wear store bought clothing anymore.

I have learned a ton (still am learning because of the countless mistakes I keep making) and can honestly say, I would never have started to sew if it had not been for the Farbenmix team and the great Internet that keeps us all globally connected.