Crafting: I Think I Can! I Think I Can!

Mama B

The creative world is so vast and all encompassing. I am sure that I have been influenced by many, many people through magazines, books, TV, and now the internet, as well as by the people in my life. I am sure that you have been, too. There is just so much that I wanted to try.

My Man has, in his way, been both supportive and discouraging at times (without realizing it). He has shown his support by helping me set up craft rooms/ areas in each of our homes. (I had a gorgeous craft room in the 90's that all my friends used more than I did!)

As I look back over my creative life, I am saddened by the fact that I let a few negative remarks, early on in my life, rule me to the point that I became "frozen", if you will, and stopped doing what I loved. I missed many hours of creative bliss, and my family missed out on just as much.

I dabbled here and there in various things over the years, but it amounted to nothing. It was almost like I was paralyzed with fear at failing, so why bother. That didn't stop me from enjoying craft shows and other peoples' talents. I was almost envious of their creativeness. As I would wander through the various booths full of crafts, I found myself saying, in my mind,(I would never be so rude as to comment so the venders could hear me) "I could do that". In all reality, yes I could do that - and every time, I would leave a little bit depressed. It wasn't enough to get me back into my creative stride.

Two years ago, our son, Damian came to me and asked me if I could sew him a coat for one of his LARP characters. (For those that wonder, LARP stands for Live Action Role Play) I was flattered that he thought I could do so. He described what he wanted and since I knew I couldn't work without an actual pattern, we went to the fabric store and scoured the pattern catalogues. We finally settled on a woman's coat pattern where the back was longer than the front.

He chose his fabrics and I began my journey back to the creative side of me.

As I worked and the coat took shape, our son Dustin came to me and asked if I could sew him a costume for an anime convention in a city close to us. He showed me a photo of the character, and in the throes of creative bliss, I said "sure". What was I thinking? Our other two sons came and asked if I could sew them costumes as well.

Finding a pattern for the costumes was not possible, due to the time I had to sew three costumes. One of the characters wears a suit and Damian had a black one. He just had to find sunglasses and a wig. I really had to get my creative juices going!! It had been years since I had done anything like this!! I came up with the idea of using a pattern that I already had that I have used for a couple of other things in years past. I used the basic pattern pieces and, to tell the truth, I'm not sure just what I did, but it worked and the boys were beyond happy with the results. They all got tons of compliments and had their photos taken by many other convention goers. People actually knew who they were by their costumes!

The support and love from my boys had opened a floodgate of possibilities for me. I am back to carving out a creative niche in myself. I have accomplished more in these two years that in all the years that have gone before.

I have chosen to concentrate on sewing, knitting, crocheting and quilting for my creative outlets. For now. I used to paint, but it has been almost 40 years since I last held a paint brush...oh, wait, that's not true. About fourteen years ago, I painted an oil painting on an old saw. That was the last time I did any painting. Who knows- the sky is the limit when it comes to being creative, and I may just brandish a paint brush once again!