Do you ever pick up a hobby, invest some time and money into it, then drop it when it gets hard or boring or no longer fulfilling? Because I have spent many decades doing just that. In fact, here is a short list of the hobbies that I've tried:
1. calligraphy
2. photography
3. web page editing
4. calligraphy
5. yoga
6. biking
7. Chinese lettering
8. sketching
9. brush lettering
10. photo editing
11. baking
12. writing
...it goes on and on and on. Truthfully, I'm pretty good at lettering and baking bread, but a single gal can only eat so much bread before the doctor tells her that she may have an allergy to yeast and lettering is satisfying but I've never found a way to create something from it. I'm too much of an introvert to send cards unannounced to folks.
But you get the idea. The fact is that I come from a long line of people who like their hobbies--my dad painted and fished and made his own lures and collected lures and did some woodworking. My grandpa also did a lot of woodworking, but then became really focused on creating square nail sculptures.
It's taken me many years, and maybe it also took a pandemic, but I finally discovered my thing: sewing. In particular, sewing bags. I wouldn't be able to have been successful at this without etsy and extended time indoors, but I think I may have found my thing.
As one friend put it so succinctly and yet so eloquently: I love sewing bags because I get to see a finished product.
So anyway, I've spent the pandemic learning how to sew bags. Among the skills that go into sewing bags are learning how to iron, quilt, match fabrics, how to use interfacing and stabilizers, using and installing rivets and magnets and zippers, and, probably most importantly, how to rip a seam without ripping the fabric. Seriously, that's probably the best thing about learning to sew--it's pretty easy to undo a mistake and start over.
Sew...here's my page. This is my story. Come back often to see my work. Almost everything is for sale. I'm not on etsy yet, mainly because the price structure confuses me at this point. But I'll probably get there eventually. In the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram @sewcrispy and on my Facebook page, Sew Crispy.
