Grateful

I have not spent much time in the sewing room these last few days. Instead I have been working on a few personal things that are exciting....like the 30 Day Push Challenge. I have been learning to set priorities, goals and keep and cross things of a to-do list. In other words I am organizing my life and finding what is important to me and what I can let go of.

Lots of time has been spent thinking about my passions, my business, and my personal life...I will be making a few changes to my business and doing some restructuring and re-evaluating. I intend to have more health,  more laughs, more meaning to my life, less materialism and less stuff. We have some personal family goals as well, which I will make public as they become clear.

I am also making a dream list....its crazy the kind of stuff that shows up on the list if you don't sensor what you write and you just allow yourself to dream. One of my dreams involves some awesome wood stoves!! Some of them have shown up on my Pinterest board. http://www.pinterest.com/micheleoc/all-things-vintage/

I will be keeping a grateful journal as well. I don't know why humans get so caught up in what we do not have that we forget what we do have. Life is pretty amazing.

Anyway... I hope that January finds you staying warm, sticking to your New Years resolutions and counting your blessings.

A New Year!

I always love January 1. It is somehow a like a clean slate, even though we wake up and in reality everything is the same. But it's the thought of a new year, a better year and a fresh page that for me is cleansing, I am able to leave the past behind and try again.

2014 was not my best year. I didn't try as hard as I could have or should have. It was a year of a lot of changes for us. But because I love resolutions on New Years, this year I will do better and be better.

I have plans to improve my health and fitness. I have plans to sew a lot more, take more sewing classes and learn some new things. I love photography and plan to take some photo classes as well. We also are looking at some relocation ideas that we need to put lots more thought into.

I do not expect to have all the answers nor am I quite sure how my year will play out. I do know that I intend to be more grateful for the amazing life I have and complain less about what I don't have or have not accomplished yet.

Happy New Year to everyone!  Go out and live your best year yet.

Alberta Angel Dresses

One of the projects that is near to my heart is Alberta Angel Dresses.  An angel dress is made from a wedding gown, and given to tiny babies that are born to soon, or born still and gain their wings much to soon. Often parents are not prepared for this, and it is really hard to find something beautiful and tiny for their angel to wear. Alberta statistics show that we have about 500 neo natal deaths per year.

I started this project in Alberta with 2 friends, and our goal was to make sure every tiny angel in Alberta had a beautiful gown to wear if needed. We take donated wedding gowns, and turn them into something beautiful. We got our inspiration for the way our project is run from similar organizations in Australia and United States.

I knew instantly when I heard about angel dresses that this was something I really wanted to do. I used to sew with a bridal designer and I loved bridal fabrics and gowns. I have no desire to construct bridal gowns though. I also was a birth doula for over 10 years, and have seen many healthy babies born to very happy families. A baby is so special, I knew I wanted to combine my love of bridal dresses and my love of babies and create something special for families on the saddest day of their life. Creating them can be sad, but I like to think each gown has some love for a family sewn into it.

We put a call out for some volunteer seamstresses and we currently have about 13 wonderful women who donate their time to our project. We have our dresses in various hospitals around the province, so that they have them on hand when needed. Women have been so generous with their gowns that it amazes me all the time. We have had to put a hold on our gowns, just so we can get caught up with donations.

If you need a gown immediately or a special order, you can contact us and we will do our best to get something shipped to you as quickly as possible. Please follow us on Facebook and follow along with what we are creating, and which Alberta Hospitals are on board. https://www.facebook.com/AlbertaAngelDresses?fref=nf
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Renegade-Seamstress/245293442321677

Here are a few links to some of our media coverage that I did. A video segment on Alberta Prime  Time ,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKEp1AY6FTQ and a radio segment with CBC radio. http://www.cbc.ca/edmontonam/episodes/2014/10/16/angel-dresses/

An intro......

Hello and welcome to my page. My purpose here is to have a place to write about the projects and ideas that are important to me and that hopefully you will enjoy too.

I have always had a strong dose of the sewing gene in me. My Gramma Gerta was more of a mender and not so much a seamstress. Her skill with a needle and thread to darn socks or embroider a table cloth was amazing. It may be where I got my love of hand sewing and now my love of vintage linens made of flour sacks and repurposed fabrics. She was from the depression era after all. My Gramma Mabel was a whiz with a sewing machine, and along with working the farm during the war, she made all of the families clothing and quilts. I loved spending time with her in the sewing room and she gave me my love of quilts....made of course from the families outgrown clothing. 

The sewing gene seemed to have missed my mom and instead jumped to me. While I loved sewing, it was a tad bit nerdy in my younger years. But I sewed a lot of matching outfits for my kids, Holly Hobby dresses for my daughter and lots of  home décor. I spent a few years working with a bridal designer in Calgary, where I found a love of bridal fabrics and gowns, although not so much a love of working with brides. I then moved away from the city and took up a job in a quilt store, and learned more new skills, along with spending about 4 years with a long arm quilting machine.

Then I set my sewing machine aside for a few years while persuing  other things.... but I found that I missed it. I missed the creative outlet that sewing gave me. I would make the occasional baby quilt for a new grandbaby, or a princess dress for my granddaughter, but I needed to do more.

 This brings me to where I am today. I started  Alberta Angel Dresses and began sewing angel dresses from recycled donated wedding dresses. It has become a passion that I love. I love bridal dresses and fabric and babies are very special to me. I decided to leave my job and follow my passion. While I still volunteer a lot of time sewing angel dresses, I have made my love of bridal, heirlooms, and history into my new career. I take a wedding dress from a customer, where it has been sitting in a box or hanging in a closet and turn it into some heirloom items that she can give to her children or grandchildren. I make dads or grandpa's ties and shirts into some sort of keepsake.

I also do custom sewing, occasional alterations and other projects that are just plain fun. My days are spent in my sewing room, instead of an office. And I love it.

  Thanks for reading....watch for more posts and lots of pictures. Please bear with these first few posts as I find my groove, and if you like what you read come back soon.

Please come and like my Facebook Page and watch for new posts of what I am working on. See you soon.