I've learned it's much more fun to steer my ship through stormy waters than it is to drift along keeping the shoreline in sight aka Facebook let me know it was 5 years today since I started sewing.

Hey darlings,

Thank you so much for all the kind wishes about my upcoming voyage of discovery.  I can't wait to be your woman in dispatches.

How are we? I imagine quite a few of you like me are making wild concoctions from our store cupboards as we crawl towards the first pay day since Christmas whilst planning to be more organised with our finances this year. Perhaps your dreaming of summer and planning all the outfits you want to make when the sun finally shines.  Or maybe your thinking about what the year ahead holds for you.  All of that and a million other thoughts have flown through my head today.  However, you don't need to know about my mental detritus I'm sure you have more than enough of your own to be getting on with so I'll get to the guts of this post, change.

I've learned it's much more fun to steer my ship through stormy waters than it is to drift along keeping the shoreline in sight.

When I logged into Facebook as I do automatically most mornings being the slave to social media that I am the "on this day" thingy flashed up with a series of stuff that happened on this day.  I scrolled through it and found out that today was quite an auspicious anniversary for me. On this day, 5 years ago I took myself to sewing school.  I'd had a rough year in 2010 with a career change and a nervous breakdown but I'd just got into crochet and various sources suggested I give dressmaking a go.  Clearly, a seed was sewn (pardon the pun) because I ended up late one night googling sewing and discovering both Zoe and Tilly.  I was intrigued and needed to know more.  So I did another search and found the Jac and Kat's sewing school and decided to bite the bullet and book a six week beginner's class.  I ended up with an awesome teacher called Ricky who helped me make my first ever garment.  We were meant to make a skirt but I had a heart set on a leopard print dress so that's what I did.  I was addicted - my life plan to live out my days in leopard print was mine for the taking.

My first ever handmade dress please don't look too closely :) The pattern is McCalls M2401

Well I can say that 5 years on that one decision to have a go has changed my life irrevocably and positively in ways I never dreamed possible.  Sewing indeed makes me more me than I ever knew possible.  I can't imagine where I'd be now if I hadn't taken that first step.  So basically I'd say to anyone just do it whatever it is.

What have you done in your life that brought about change?  Or what you would like to do this year to see it happen?   I wish you absolute best with it and I for one know you can even if you think you can't.

Lots of love and light,

Miss D

xxx