Sew, now what?

I love doing creative things.   Maybe I should rephrase that.  I love ATTEMPTING to do creative things.

I have always loved to write.  I love to attempt to draw too.  I have tons of the "How to Draw _____" books.  Manga is one of my favorites.  Once I even drew a fairly decent portrait of my dog sleeping.  Another time I drew my daughter's face near perfectly.  I have even painted fairies pretty decently.

Over the years I have also found that I enjoy cross-stitching  (I started a beautiful design to make a wall hanging for my daughter - I need to find it so I can finish it!) and of all things quilting.  BUT in all honesty I have only ever finished one quilt and it was a simple single panel one I made for my daughter and I probably couldn't have finished it without the help of my dear friend Anna.  My grandma taught me to quilt and since her death I have in all honesty been working on a grandmother's garden quilt to honor her memory.  It is going beautifully and I really do mean to finish it... one of these days... honest! I love making the individual fabric "flowers" that get sewn into the quilt - they are so pretty.

Anyways, in highschool we learned how to use sewing machines and I made myself a pair of sweats.  I decided I loved sewing and ATTEMPTED to make myself more clothing after that but never succeeded.  I would get halfway through a project then get busy with something else and forget about it.  

WELL, (yes all this rambling has been leading up to a point) in the past my daughter has noticed me mending a pair of pants here and there or working on a flower for the quilt or something.  Recently through very sad circumstances I came into possession of my own sewing machine.  I am extremely grateful for the machine but would much rather have the person it belonged to back in our lives.

 SO (or sew ha ha ha) My daughter starts asking me, "Mommy, how DO people make clothes.  I mean, do they just sew them together or what." Her questions became VERY persistant.

To sate her curiousity on black friday we stopped at Joann Fabrics to I could show her what a pattern was rather than me to try to explain.  High school was a long time ago, if you know what I mean.  As I have only really used one all the way through ONE TIME in my entire life I figured showing rather than telling was definitely the way to go.    Well, the patterns were on sale for 99 cents each and the fabric was pretty cheap too so we bought some.

Today when she got home from school, since it was raining and not much else going on we decided to tackle the project head on.  The pattern we used was a "Simplicity, Project Runway" dress pattern.  Let me say SIMPLICITY MY BUTT!  HA!

Anyways after 2 hours I seem to have gotten most of the pieces cut out of the fabric correctly.  Tomorrow we attempt to cut out the rest.  Then I will probably have to call someone to come show me how to thread a bobbin.  (Hey don't make fun of me - at least I know what the thing is called!  Let's hope I don't come out of this a bloody mess!)

 My daughter is happy as long as I let her keep the sparkly purple scraps of material we are not using. 
When I asked her what her plans were for them she replied, "Oh you know, when I learn to sew I am going to sew them together into something.  Like a hat maybe."

Wish me luck!  My preteen son is sitting here laughing at me reading as I type and he just corrected me that he should be referred to as a tween!

Please help me!