Musings on the Season: The Sewing

What is Christmas without a project? It’s not that I go looking for extra things to add to my life, but sometimes making the gift is the only way to get what you really want. I had an idea months ago to make travel kits for my brother’s family for their Christmas trip to Disneyland. That is, the best gift for the parents would to help keep his kids occupied for hours they’d be cooped in the car. I envisioned a personal briefcase for each kid that would have lots of pockets for their activities and a hard surface to write and draw on. Once I got this idea in my mind I could not get past it, even though there were parts of it that seemed impractical. However, I spent a lot of time designing it mentally first—fortunately, I have a lot of time to ponder while I am nursing a baby.

Despite planning out my great idea long before Christmas, I still felt a time crunch, since they were taking their trip before Christmas. It probably took two weeks to do the first one because I was adapting it as I went. I modified an actual pattern for a laptop case, but the instructions had printed some errors. As I worked through the problems I felt such gratitude for all that I had learned about sewing from my mom. Those skills helped me recognize how to adjust the pattern and gave me confidence to persevere through the challenging parts and not get discouraged with my own mistakes.

One of my self-imposed challenges was to make the bags as inexpensively as possible. I used fabric and trims that my mom, grandma and I had on hand, but I still made various trips to the fabric store to strategically use coupons for the zippers, and I frequented the thrift store every few days in search of 50 cent clip boards. I’m not sure of the total price of the bags, but it was a fun quest to pursue.

I didn’t get a lot of housework or cooking or mothering done this past week, but Natalie was pretty patient through it all. There are still things I’d like to improve on the bags, but it feels GREAT to have them done. Once I had sent them off (two weeks before Christmas but just a day before their trip) it felt like the main stress for Christmas was over and I didn’t have anything else to worry about.