Hi there, I'm Suzannah!
I started this blog in 2009 when, after a couple months of post-grad-school underemployment and idle time, I found myself
sewing and
home dec and
furniture re-doing all the time. A friend suggested I start a blog and keep track of all my projects on it! I feel like I came into the blog scene a little late, since honestly it had never occurred to me before, but I've stuck with it and feel so excited and impressed by the whole blogging scene. It's like a magazine with new content every day! I love checking back on my favorite blogs and web magazines and being inspired by what I see.
I learned to sew growing up--neither my mom nor I remember exactly how or when I got started. She has a home-based business making amazing historical replica clothing for reenactors and museums and such, and has been doing it for almost 20 years now. So I've grown up with not only a talented seamstress to watch and shop with, but a historian who insists on doing things the right way rather than the fast way. When I started sewing a lot myself, during the summers during my college years, I got a little experimental and tried things new ways. Some of them worked, others didn't. I've made plenty of ugly things out of cheap fabric, but I've learned by doing! Now I use a lot of my mom's quality techniques and some tricks and systems of my own.
My favorite projects are dresses, of course--the blog's name is Adventures in Dressmaking, after all! It's not just a nod to the 1987 Chris Columbus classic (in fact, it's mostly not). And so much of what I do is fun mending and repurposing--turning a dress into a shirt, turning a shirt into a purse, turning a dress into a cuter dress. But I also love dressing up our slightly boring rental townhome with new pillows, upholstery, and curtains. I love
vintage style and am a pro thrift store shopper; I have been known to bring home amazing treasures from the Goodwill Outlet ("the bins," as they call it here in Oregon) for $0.99/lb. I also paint furniture a lot.
I got married in August of 2011, so you'll see a lot of
DIY wedding posts from the summer months leading up to the wedding! I am a DIY-er by nature and almost always want to do things myself. It's more meaningful that way, and I can get exactly what I want! I made
my dress and
the bridesmaid dresses and lots of decor for the wedding. You can read about all the projects
here and see some more pics
here.
Now that the wedding's over, I'm settling back into regular (married!) life here in Portland, Oregon. There are lots of talented artists, bloggers, and creatives of all types here. I work full time (in a totally unrelated field) so I have limited time to sew, blog, and re-decorate, but I check on my fave blogs every day and think about sewing all the time! And I
tweet. Check me out.
Send me an
email if you like, or have questions about any of your sewing projects--I do
Sewing Circle posts for questions where other readers chip in help, too! Check out the
You Tried It! page for more inspiration, and visit my
DIY Weddings Flickr group for more DIY wedding ideas.
Adventures in Dressmaking can been seen in many places around the (fabulous!) blog world... here are a few!
The Budget Fashionista
0 Comments--Have an opinion or idea?:
New comments are not allowed.