This week, I’m joining in with a wonderful group of sewing bloggers and PDF sewing pattern designers and sharing Why I Sew! It’s interesting that just a few months ago, I happened to overhear a woman and her husband chatting while I was browsing a local antique mall. The wife said, “I am not going to sew for them. It costs too much. Why would I sew for them when you can buy clothes from the store for the same price?” So many thoughts ran through my mind! The most prominent, though, was concern that people would really walk away from traditional crafts just because its less expensive to buy something ready-made. While I know many people do sew to save money (and there are plenty of ways to do so), I like to think that most of us sew for more important reasons! I posed this question on the Fishsticks Designs Facebook page, and I was so encouraged by the answers I received.

I sew because I love to!
I sew because its therapeutic for me.
I can make my kids and myself, one of a kind clothes that we love.
I do it because God has given me something to do that I can enjoy and love on others with.
I sew to grow as an adult.
Sewing is one of my many creative outlets.
I love the gratification when I finish something I worked hard on.
Creating quiets the chaos.
It is so satisfying to hear my son tell people, “Mommy made that for me.”
I love seeing something come from nothing.
Therapy costs more!
Sewing relaxes me and gets me to slow down.
We are created in His image and He is the Creator, therefore I was created to create.
I like to create and baking has too much fat.
It’s fun.
I love to give handmade gifts.
Sewing is cheaper than therapy or drinking.
I sew because I can…

and, my favorite, “You never eat when sewing either as it dirties the fabric so the more sewing you do the less you eat?” Hahahaha! We could start a new diet fad — The Sewing Diet — don’t eat that brownie! Go sew something instead!

Really, there were so many great answers, and I loved them all! You can read the whole list right here: Why Do You Sew?

One of the things we were asked to do as part of this series is to share some of the things we sewed when we were first starting out. I went hunting last week for the old Photobucket account that I used when I first joined an online sewing board, and I discovered these gems. I was sewing a whole lot of cloth diapers back then!It makes me laugh a little now, but it really was sewing cloth diapers for our fifth child that got me excited about sewing! I learned to sew in Home Ec in Jr. High, and I sewed bits and pieces here and there, but I was in my 30s when it became a passion.

Quite a few people in my little survey above mentioned sewing as a type of therapy, and I can testify myself that sewing helped bring me through a difficult period of time. When I first started this blog, I was far away from family and friends, feeling like I didn’t quit fit in where I was, and I threw myself into this creative outlet. While I don’t recommend doing that forever, I think it played a huge part in keeping me sane during that period of time! Designing, redesigning, cutting, stitching, ripping, altering and finally finishing something gives such a sense of satisfaction. I can’t think of anything else quite like it.My sewing skills have progressed so far since those first cloth diapers. (My photography skills, too, but that’s another post!) Even those first things that I sewed, though, were useful, and they were beautiful because they were made with love, and I learned with every single stitch. As we grow older, I think we often forget how much value there is in learning, in forgiving ourselves when things don’t turn out perfectly, and striving to do a little bit better each time we complete something. I wrote a guest post for Hopeful Threads last year about creating for family and imperfection: Imperfection and Leaving a Legacy.
I sew because I love to create. I sew because something handmade holds a part of the giver forever. I sew because I enjoy giving a part of me to those that I love.I sew because my nieces enjoy telling their friends that the bags they received for Christmas are one-of-a-kind and made just for them!I sew because my little guy asks me, “Are you making that for me?” (And, just for my blogger friends, that question is usually followed with, “I’ll let you take pictures of me if you give me a lollipop!”)I sew because it gives me an outlet to give to people in need.One of my favorite things about sewing, though, is sharing my love for sewing by teaching others! There’s something amazing about passing on not only the skills, but the desire to create something with your own hands. I get just as excited to see pictures of something that someone has sewn with one of my patterns or tutorials as I do when I finish my own projects … maybe even more! Just last week, I followed along while a few of my sweet customers answered questions posed by someone new to my patterns, and I loved reading, “Bonnie’s patterns are the reason I started sewing,” and, “I learned to sew with the Patrick Raglan!” Sharing my love of sewing has brought me more joy than I could have imagined! And, you don’t have to be a pattern designer to share in that joy — teach your children to sew, invite your neighbors over for a sewing party, or organize a sew-along in an online community.

Now that you know a little about why I sew, check out these other great bloggers who are sharing why they sew, and then join in our link party below to share why you sew! We all want to know!