Jen Gallacher

Sew What!

I am a professional eye roller. Seriously! It began in the early stages of my tween years and continued until I was well into my college Freshman year and my eyes were permanently forced into a wide open state. But ask my Mother. She will confirm this skill. No matter what piece of advice or skill she had to share with me in those formative years, my response would often by the official "oh please" eye roll.

The summer she took on teaching me to sew, I think my eyes nearly rolled back into my head permanently. What use could the old-fashioned skill of sewing possible mean to the thoroughly modern me?

I'm kicking myself right now under my desk. See the bruises?

Yeah. Apparently my "all knowing" teenage self was actually lacking in real-life wisdom and skills, and I would give my right foot (my sewing machine presser foot) to go back in time and actually pay attention to those lessons.

Although I haven't gained the professional title of seamstress, I have learned how to insert paper into my machine and stitch like a pro. Paper is a great medium for sewing. It doesn't bunch. It's stiff. And it's far cheaper than fabric.

This week on the Create blog, I'm sharing a tutorial on how to use your sewing machine to stitch through paper. You can do it! Despite your eye rolling, and you know that some of you are doing that right now, I promise it's really quite easy. The tough part? Following the machine's instructions to wind a bobbin and thread the needle. But I'll leave that for another tutorial. You can read all about this technique here:

Now if only my kids could wear paper clothing! I would so be opening an Etsy store. Aren't you proud, Mom?