Learning to Sew - Step 1

One of the things I'm sad that I don't know how to do yet is sew.  My mom is a great seamstress and she always told us stories about how she would make her own clothes.  Stephen's grandma could make anything with a sewing machine.  Stephen has an overcoat made by his grandma, Goose has a jacket, we have a soft sided cooler and so many other things around the house that she made for us.  It seems silly that I don't know how to sew.  And with how much DIY stuff I want to do around the house, I should be able to make my own curtains and pillows.  OH, and quilts!  My grandma was a quilter and I'd love to be able to make quilts for friends and family.

We put a sewing machine on our wedding registry and one of our great friends bought it for us (me).  It's been 6 months and I've finally cleared off space on the desk in the office so I could set it up.  Isn't it pretty!?!  It looks so small in the photo because of where I was standing, but it's normal sized.  That booklet in the photo is the size of a regular piece of paper.  Here is a link to the machine on Amazon.

Step One to learning to sew: I started reading the booklet on how to set it up and what all of the moving pieces do, but it's still a foreign language to me.  There are so many terms that I've never heard before, there will definitely be a learning curve.  Tonight I pan on figuring out how to actually load up the thread and hopefully see how the baby moves.  There are more than 30 stitches that it can do and it came with every needle and foot attachment that I could ever want.  And yes, it came with a quilting foot, so I'm set there.

Once I know I can sew a straight line and I've made some curtains and/or pillows, I want to try my hand at a quilt for a baby.  The couple who bought us the sewing machine is pregnant with their first baby and I'd love to make them a quilt with the gift they gave us.  We'll see if that happens.  I always think really far in advance...

There is a ton of fabric in the background of the photo.  I look pretty over zealous if I'd already gone out and purchased all of that stuff.  It was actually a gift from Stephen's grandma for Christmas.  She knew I wanted to learn to sew and wanted to teach me and her garage was full of cabinets of fabric.  I could take any that I wanted.  Just a few days after Christmas she passed away.  I never got got my lesson in sewing from Grandma, but knowing that all of that fabric is from her makes me think of her every time I see it.  And the stacks actually go up a few more rolls in each column.

I already have a board of projects and tutorials on Pinterest that I want to try soon.  I'll keep updating as I get better and better with my machine.  I may even take a class or two.  My mother-in-law is also a great seamstress and has offered to sit with me a few times to teach me a thing or two.  This could be the start of something beautiful.

Anyone else recently learn to sew?  What were your biggest challenges and how quickly were you able to pick it up?