This year I am over-coming some of my biggest fears. One of those is making clothing (I know that sounds so silly ;). I've stuck to making smaller accessories for a long time because I literally didn't think my work was good enough to make something bigger. News flash - that's not true! So over the past month I have been practicing my little heart out by making fun overalls and jumpsuits for myself and sharing the love for that with all of you on TikTok and Instagram.
If you aren't familiar with my back story, here's a little snippet about me: I have always loved sewing, ever since I was a kid learning how to make a cupcake shaped pillow in home-economics class (do they even teach that anymore?!). Over the years after that, I always came back to the sewing machine. When the pandemic hit, I pulled out my little machine and started to make face masks to donate to the Barbara Davis Center (to the nurses who literally helped save my daughter's life) and from there found out that lots of people wanted and needed handmade masks. As the pandemic evolved, so did I. I added purses, headbands, scrunchies and other fun pieces to my shop, but never anything this big. Never anything born straight from the depths of my heart - and here. it. is!
So, last weekend I was looking for fabrics from local sellers on Facebook Marketplace. I found a woman about 30 minutes away who had rooms full of old fabrics, so naturally I jumped up and had to go check it out! The story is that her mother was a craft store owner in the 1970's and 1980's, with a cute little store in downtown Fort Collins. She eventually shut down her store, but that meant she had a whole lot of leftover fabrics and crafts to store at home. Fast forward to 2021, when she passed away and left two buildings full of craft supplies to her children. Lucky for me, her daughter is looking to slowly sell off these fabrics to other craft lovers, just like her mom. So, I went over and got to hand pick over 50 yards of fabric from this wonderful woman, who let me hang out in her back building for over an hour (whoops!) to find a collection of fabrics I couldn't go without – and guess what, I'm so addicted I'm already hoping to get in another visit.
So these overalls are born from beautiful 40 year old fabric that absolutely needed a new home to be used, loved and turned into something beautiful. Now how's that for a backstory?
This was just four yards out of 50 yards of fabric, so you can imagine I have new ideas for the rest of the fun fabric as well! Follow along as I go on this fun journey of making with timeless vintage fabrics from the 70s and 80s.
Here's a little try on of the strawberry overalls!