Sewing for the Soul

One little lady has changed my crafting life- my squishy, sweet little niece. I happen to live in an area with a J.Crew Warehouse which frequently has sales. It is a crazy scene of adults who wait in long lines in the rain, and pillage through huge boxes of random clothes, hauling along trash bags of their spoils. But the best part to me is that most of the kids clothing is less than $6! I have two boys and they love the preppy shirts they think are "cowboy", but the hunt has become a little more fun now that I can dig through the adorable girl's clothes. So the challenge I have given myself has been to find pieces I can add to, making the ubiquitous 4/5 size shirts into 2/3 size dresses for little J. Here are a few of my latest, but I am sorry some are not modeled. Most often I have to ship them off and hope they fit!

I like buying a shirt so I don't have to make sleeves, so I added lace to this to make longer for a dress. I was going to add another layer beneath, but liked the simple beauty of these colors together.

For this sweet shirt I took in the sides a little and added the denim band and a few button accents.

I loved this little ruffled shirt and added fabric beneath it to look like a shirt over a skirt.

But trying to find time to sew or craft each week is a challenge with home-schooling, part-time work, and other responsibilities, but I feel for me it has slid more into the category of NEED (as I wrote about here).
I remember the first time I make a little orange tote bag with a flap and a button and I couldn't believe I MADE something that looks like it might have come from a store. I was so proud and impressed by the silly thing, hanging it up in the dining room. In a funny way it gave me a glimpse into the pride, delight and enjoyment that God must have upon His creation. I looked at that little bag and somehow felt more loved. It's amazing how personal my God must be to bring revelation into that simple moment of honestly, unimpressive handiwork. But He did.
And prayer-crafting became intertwined and an addiction.

I think I have figured out that in my little world of repeatedly washing the same dishes, and clothing, and floors, that creating gives me an opportunity to make something more lasting. Outside the cycle of the monotonous, something I work on just might be worn and kept and loved. And that is very satisfying. It has become an intentional need. Does anyone feel the same way?