I started out sewing clothes. Initially they were clothes for my dolls and my ready bears and in fourth grade I started sewing clothes for myself. I made clothes the whole way through school and when I got out, I started sewing for other people. The details of that are another story for another time, but once I found quilting I made very few clothes. I mean quilts always fit, right?

In the back of my head, however, I’ve always had this dream where all of the clothes in my closet, with the exception of jeans, were made by me. When work required more formal clothing that seemed completely impossible. Times have changed and work has changed, and the last few years, that dream has been poking me harder and harder.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve also been getting more comfortable with not conforming to societal expectations and that is now including my clothing. I wear hand knit socks with my Birkenstock sandals, and figure folks can jump in a lake when I show up in my dress covered in spaceships. Honestly I’m not sure they realize it is more than just a black dress until they get close, and I always giggle internally when I can tell they have realized it’s covered in spaceships and planets.

We have already established here that I have a sizable fabric stash, and a large part of it is yardage, not just small pieces. So this past week, I dug in my stash and pulled out six pieces of fabric that will be made into dresses. These are mostly flowers, or abstract prints, so far nothing too exotic, and I’m making a simple A-line dress that is comfortable and easy to wash and wear. Not the heigh of fashion but I’m kind of over all that anyway. This will bring me up to 12 hand made dresses in the closet, 10 of which I could wear out in public without too much notice.

I finished 3 of the dresses this weekend and got the 4th one cut out before I stopped for the evening. For the first time in a very long time I can see my dream of a me-made closet glimmering on the horizon. I’m still a long ways away, but now I can see it as a real destination and not just a mirage. I’ll post more about the journey, and I still need to find a pattern I like for a top I can wear with jeans, but I’m excited about the prospects, and I don’t know that I would have made this jump forward without all this stay at home stuff. Stay at home and sew!