Final blog post

 For my final day of project, I worked with a new material- sweatshirt material. I broke a couple needles in sewing the fabric, but I liked it more than my previous fabrics I was working with because it didn't slide as  much. Pictured are the two sweatshirts I made. The white aspen one was an old sweatshirt from my closet, and I thrifted the thrasher sweatshirt. I really love the way they turned out, and I think they look really professional. I am really glad I chose learning how to sew as my senior project. Since the start of quarantine, I have been looking at sewing accounts that thrift and rework, and I had wanted to do that, but didn't know where to start. This project pushed me to figure out how to do it. I like that I can counter the fast fashion industry by thrifting and reworking, and that I can use sewing to do anything from making a shirt to fixing a whole in a pair of pants. It is definitely something I will keep doing for as long as I can borrow the sewing machine, and I already have ideas for new clothes I want to create in the coming days. Three weeks ago, sewing machines seemed like a foreign machine, and now I can sit down at one and know what I am doing. I enjoyed every part of this process, except for breaking the needles and having to screw new ones in. I am so glad I decided to do it. I learned how I handle stress and frustration, and how I can productively work under these emotions. I was so upset after I couldn’t get the first machine to work, even after ordering the correct part, and I just thought sewing wasn’t for me. Once I got back on the horse though, and started working with the other machine, I realized that sewing is something calm and relaxing that I really enjoyed. If I keep this going over the summer, I would love to open a small business shop online to sell my clothes I make, all from reusable materials. I also really loved the knitting aspect of my project too. The big blankets were so fun to make, and I already made several as gifts for friends and family! I would like to give a special thanks to my mentor Kelly for sitting down with me and helping me learn the machine, even after struggling with the first one.