Anisa's Rant about Sewing!

Okay, so I'm going to warn you... I feel the need to rant about sewing right now. If you love to sew... you may not want to read this!!!

I have 3 boys. I love that I can just pass down their clothes and not have to buy new ones every year. So, it totally irritates me when my oldest gets holes in his knees or cuts a hole in his brand new shirt. So, I had a pile of mending that I wanted to do. I finally sat down at work one night and decided it was the night. I cut off some shorts and sewed a reinforced stitch along where I cut and let them fray. Those turned out cute!!!

Then I tried to patch the holes in the knee of one of the jeans. How do you patch a hole in a knee???? You can't turn the sewing machine in all directions when the jeans are on it??? Seriously, does anyone know how to do that?

Then I tried to re-hem a shirt that had a small hole at the bottom. I hate sewing on knit. It's too stretchy. I did a simple zig zag stitch, but it is completely uneven and it has already started to come un-sewed after one wash.

I got completely fed up. I buy their clothes on clearance anyway. And for that matter who cares if a boys clothes has holes?

So, I've been bored at work. And I've really wanted to do some refashioning of t-shirts like I've seen on several blogs. I love Elizabeth Kartchner's posts here and here. I love this tutorial on Ruffles and Stuff. I take cell phone pictures of clothes that I see in stores so I can try to make them myself.... Love this idea I saw at Target.I have a shirt that I love that has a hole in it. So, if I did reverse applique like this shirt at Old Navy, I could take care of the hole.
I also love the applique on this shirt at Target.
I've seen tons of others out there as well and I love the idea of taking a shirt that I have that has a stain or hole or is just plain, and making it cute and fun. I've been putting it off because... frankly, I'm scared. It usually doesn't turn out for me. And after my mending.... I just didn't want to so it. So, last night I thought I'd give it a try. I asked my mom how to hem a knit shirt. This is what she told me....

Cut it off. Zig zag the edge. Then turn it over and with a double needle, sew on the top and it's a great finished look. I did all of this, but I just don't sew well!!!! And I'm seriously jinxed when it comes to sewing clothes. It turned out awful. I can't even hem a simple t-shirt. How am I supposed to put cute ruffles on it!!! So, I threw it in the trash and decided that I will leave the clothing sewing to someone else!!!

Now that I've put this post together... I feel bad that I gave up. Should I try again? Should I just not hem the sleeves? Seriously, what is my problem?