Monday, May 19, 2014

Sew-A-Bration of Womanhood - Sewing for me






You read the title correctly. Today, I share sewing for myself. We should all be sewing for ourselves and it is absolutely not selfish to do so. So, when I heard Shaffer Sisters and CallAjaire were planning this blog series celebrating and honoring womanhood and "our common threads" I jumped on board.  Have you been following this series? It is great!  All sorts of women, of all sizes, shapes, types, and ages are sewing for themselves in many ways and celebrating themselves. What an honor to be included. 

Now, why have I not sewn much for myself in the past? Because I am fat! I admit it.  I used to be skinny, for many years I hovered at about 120 lbs on my 5'6" big-boned frame. That was actually too skinny. Then, I hovered around 150 for many years and I look back and think those were my good body years. Now, I am about 200 lbs and not a happy camper. Combined with my Hashimoto's thyroid disease, the weight makes my joints ache and makes me not enjoy exercise. Which makes me gain more weight. It's been a vicious cycle the last few years.  I am ready to confess to the public and admit I have a problem and get better!

So, I took this series as an excuse to share with you my body type, my trials and tribulations, and tell you that I am going to start a new series, called Project Me, where I embark on a new path that includes exercise, taking care of myself, enjoying life more, counseling, sewing for myself, and learning to like me.  And the first step is to sew myself something pretty that can be altered if and when I lose some weight. I say if and when because I am not a fad dieter. I am not joining Weight Watchers or eating only raw food. I am not giving up cheese or French bread. I will still enjoy coffee and wine. But, I will also go to bed at a more regular time, exercise daily (even if it is just a bit) and eat more vegies than bread every day. I will still enjoy my bacon but not in moderation.  

And so, here is me.  My oldest daughter took these horrible pictures of me from a chair.  The vantage point and lighting are terrible! But, it is the best we can do and I am not going to let it stop me from sharing with you. I know there are many beautiful, skinny mommy bloggers out there sharing their sewing. But, we "fluffy" moms should not let that stop us from enjoying sewing for ourselves.  And when Jennifer Paganelli's Beauty Queen arrived my house, I knew that was going to be mostly for me.  I am not an affiliate or anything for JP. I just think her fabrics are the most beautiful out there and she, herself, is the sweetest person I know online. I am blessed to call her friend even if we have never met in real life.

So, here I am!  




sewing for myself

I made myself a skirt from the Fashion Formula Skirts pattern from Serendipity Studios. I like this pattern because it has so many options. I have made it before and it is comfy and pretty. Again, I am not affiliate or anything for this company.  This is just a nice pattern!


sewing for myself

The tee shirt I got at a local store and appliqued myself using Melody in Midnight.  The pinks are so pretty that I feel pretty wearing them.
 
make your own headscarf

Hashimoto's has left my hair super thin and even medication hasn't helped it return. I don't want to wear a wig because I get hot easily so I wear head scarves.  I made this one from Beauty Queen.  The scarf is Letty in Midnight.  It is very dark but it is blue, not black.

sewing a skirt for myself

Why is the skirt falling so funny? Oh dear, well I cannot control that so I will have to accept this picture and just relax!!! It is hard to not be super skinny. Our society puts so much pressure on us to be skinny and almost none of it is about health. It is mostly all about comparing ourselves to others.  I am going to try hard to ignore it and focus on health. If I get thinner because I am getting healthier, I can take this skirt in at the waist. That is why chose it.


 So, there you have it. Me accepting me for who I am and marching out of my shell to better health and  self acceptance. I hope you join me on this journey, which I will be sharing on Thursdays.  Every Thursday, I will update where I am and where I've been and where I am going. I am doing this in public to not only hold myself accountable but also to connect with other women like me.  

Please join me. 

And thank you for joining my part of the wonderful Sew-A-bration of Womanhood tour.



 




22 comments:

  1. Good for you! The colors are so pretty in your new skirt and it looks great on you. Best wishes on your journey to health.

    Try to start small with the exercise and find something that works for you. I can't run because I have bad knees and a crappy spine, so I have to stick to an elliptical machine that has low impact. Maybe that will work for you? Exercising with pain is no fun, but getting moving has proved to help me. I am usually in pain with my back, but if I sit too much it just gets worse.

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    1. I have back pain, too, Stacy, for reasons I did not get into in this post. You are right, starting slow and doing low impact is key. I don't have an elliptical machine but that is something I should look into at a gym.

      Thanks for your support and tips!

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  2. The skirt is as beautiful as the person wearing it ! Great ideas to start the steps to health living. I have been doing that this year. Exercise makes me feel better (all the endorphins, I guess), but I haven't lost any weight. I just eat too much. I saw something recently about the way to weight loss is 90% about the food and only 10% about the exercise and I tend to agree, however the exercise helps you feel better and sleep better. I am sure that I will never be skinny, but that is ok too. I have been avoiding sewing for myself, in case I lose weight, but I now realize this is silly and I should get busy. Thanks for the inspiration!!

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    1. yes it is silly to wait! As silly as keeping old clothes in case you will fit into them again someday. (I do that, too. teehee)

      Thanks for the support and you go with your sewing for you.

      You are so right that exercise has benefits regardless of losing weight.

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  3. Lovely! I love the colors and fabric choices! You look lovely!

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  4. Thanks for sharing about your Hashimotos. I just found out last year about having it. Except my thyroid really likes to act like it is both hypo and hyper. It is ridiculous. I have leaky gut issues, so I have tons of food sensitivity, and because of this annoying obstacle, i am currently doing a bit of detox to find out what foods may trigger symptoms. It is not for everyone, but I try to heal as naturally as possible. I have tons of energy some days, then other days I could sleep 14 hours and still feel tired. I have crept up to the overweight line, after being skinny all my life so it is a bit struggle. Same height, same disease. Different bone structures, but we have a similar story :) I hope you find comfort in accepting your body and conquering your health the best way that suits you.

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    1. Thanks! I have done the leaky gut thing with a naturopath, exactly 20 years ago. It really did help. You might look at this book. I get nothing out of this except the idea that I am helping spread natural healing and good nutrition.

      http://www.nourishingmeals.com/p/about-us.html

      These are local peeps and they practice the kind of nutrition my naturopath does and they all went to the same highly esteemed Bastyr University in Seattle.

      Good luck with your struggles. Are you taking T4 and T3 meds? That makes a huge difference. And do you know about Mary Shomon? Google her. She's the thyroid go-to internet lady. She is awesome!!

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  5. Aw thanks Amy! Ooof, I need to share on G+

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  6. I followed another blog to yours and saw this post. It brought tears to my eyes! You are beautiful and oh, so talented! You have inspired me to be kinder to myself. You ARE beautiful!

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    1. oh my goodness, you made me cry!!!! Thank you!!

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  7. Kathy, I love this post! Other than the gorgeous JP fabrics (which I can't afford right now grrrr), I'm happy to see YOU! We have known each other for so long yet I think I've never really seen a full photo of you! You have a beautiful, infectious smile! Oh I could really relate with the weight and health issues! I am fat too! Hahah yes, after baby number 3 the excess weight just won't budge and my love affair with food does not help! I still wanna sew for myself, but finding the time is a challenge and I hate sprawling on the floor cutting yards and yards of fabrics sigh...Let's get healthy Kathy, I'm with you!

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    1. Oh Zura! I never knew that. Wow! See, I need to stop being invisible.

      Yes, let's get healthy together!!!

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  8. Kudos to you! I, too, don't sew for myself because I am waaaay more fluffy than I'd like. Sigh. Perhaps I will give it a go. You always inspire me to do something new. Thank you for being brave and putting your real self out there. Any recommendations for bigger size patterns would be appreciated. Have you tried any of the SisBoom patterns? I will definitely be following and cheering!

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    1. Tonja! I have a Sisboom Jenny waiting for me to sew. It has a lot of options and seems fairly easy to sew. Are you in the Sisboom lab group on Facebook? The Create Kids Couture group? Both of those feature curvy sewing mamas' sewing. Also, check out this link. These ladies are what got me motivated.

      http://cashmerette.blogspot.com/2014/04/introducing-curvy-sewing-collective.html

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  9. What a great post! I was just thinking that I need to cut back on my sugar intake, for my teeth's sake, and your post is giving me a dose of motivation. Not to mention I really like the floral/stripe pairing.

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    1. Sugar is bad, Stephanie, this is true. Have you ever read about hidden sugars? It was very very hard for me to do this but I cut sugar out of my coffee.

      http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/08/sugar/cohen-text

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  10. Awesome post, Kathy!! And good luck! :) It's so nice to see "real women" on blogs anyway. I guess the way to start is....go for a walk with your lovely daughters! Relaxing, fun and good exercise. Will be fun to share your journey.

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    1. Thanks Deanna! It is a journey that starts with small steps and leads to success.

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  11. It's funny. That's why I don't sew for myself (weight) and yet that's not what I see when I look at these pics -- I see the fabulous fabrics and patterns. I may use your link party to try to get a few things for me made this year...we shall see.

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  13. Beautiful sewing. You look beautiful. I am so glad that you joined us in the journey. Thank you for being so brave to talk about your own struggles and your solutions.
    With Love,
    Scary

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