Wow this is spectacularly bad.
Hi! So, um I just found the best thing.
I'm currently staying at my parents house for a couple of weeks,
and I just found a bag of my very first sewing projects, ever!
I started learning how to sew about a year before I moved out of home.
and I guess I left them here and my mum kept them.
I haven't looked at this bag since I moved out 3 years ago, so,
this is going to be interesting
Lets see how my sewing from four years ago stacks up today,
now that I know a little bit more about sewing.
Okay, alright
So, this is a messenger bag that I made.
A satchel bag
You know what?
Its really not too bad.
I'm surprised
I made it with a belt, a thrifted belt
and I'm pretty sure this material was a jacket.
I mean its not lined or anything.
like it looks pretty terrible inside
This is actually pretty good
Like it looks handmade but like, it works as a bag. i'm surprised!
Nice one, 19 year old Annika!
It even has its own little front pocket, thats kinda cool
Ok
Yeah, so I think this is also supposed to be a bag
And um, this one's not so good...
What the hell?
Oh my god. Is that cardboard!?
Ok...
So I clearly wanted to make a backpack
I think thats what I was going for here.
Again, I've used thrifted belts and some lovely velvet material that I had.
But I've clearly realized that I needed something to help the bag keep its shape.
And I guess I decided I would put cardboard in here?
Don't use cardboard for bags !
I'll give myself some points for trying but, this is not a functional backpack.
Oh! Hi Ella! You want to be in my video?
No, wait, ah, just, just lay there... I'm trying to do a thing.
[Gross snorting noises from the dog]
Thats a really gross noise to make on camera...
Alright if you want to be in here you have to be quiet.
[More snorting from the dog]
Ok lets find something else that I made
Ok, , I didn't make this dress,
I guess this was a dress that I had and I added a lace cut out.
Thats not so bad?
I mean, I don't think I ever wore it, but,
Ooooo. What? *laughs*
I think this was a dress?
I think this was a top that I turned into a dress
Very cleverly, by adding a section of white fabric,
And then...
Some bows.
I mean
Is it good?
No.
But -
I think it was a good learning process for stuff I ended up making later on...
Like my lace inset dress
Hang on, it buttons up. It might look better buttoned up.
Alright, I buttoned it up. I guess it needs an iron but that's never going to happen.
That is, that is the dress.
A very short dress...
I dont know whats going on here. i guess that was my attempt at darts
I would try this on but I actually think I would get stuck in it.
Theres no zipper, or anything, so I would-
Look. This is what it would have looked like if you can imagine.
God its short!
How did I wear this as a dress?
So yeah, I mean
It looks kind of like maybe a clown outfit or...
I dont even know
I guess it was inventive...
Points for being inventive
ok... Oh god no.
Any guesses as to what this is?
This is a tulle skirt.
Now a lot of you have asked me to make a tulle skirt
on "make thrift buy"
and I think I have yet to do that because
I think I was somewhat traumatized by this incident.
Oh my god no! (Laughs)
This is a really good look
like, you can wear it over shorts,
Or like, you could just wear it as a skirt
no.
Wow this is spectacularly bad.
All the bits of tulle are different lengths!
Maybe I was planning on like layering them up and then gave up?
Ok.
I've come a long way
since trying to make this.
Aww!
So there was a point like four years ago
where I figured out how to make dresses.
Circle skirt dresses
and you know what? Like, they weren't too bad.
They fit, kind of, with a belt.
But they were a really good exercise in just kind of learning how to construct a garment
and add a zipper. Like, I mean I did that pretty badly
Oooo, whats happening here?
Huh, its like a diamond cut out on the back!
Yeah, and I mean -
The skirt's not even, on both sides of the zipper,
But I used to just wear a belt around it and then you couldn't tell.
For one of my first dresses...
Thats pretty good!
I mean you can't expect to be making amazing things right away...
And what's this?
oh, this is another dress
This one wasnt so good...
AHHHH!
OH MY GOSH!
GUYS, I FOUND THE FIRST EVER DRESS THAT I MADE!
Oh, its really crushed up but, check it out!
I didn't use a pattern, or a template, and I don't even think i measured myself.
I just kind of flung the fabric around me and was like, this will work
I remember I was able to squeeze it on sort of...
It totally pancaked my boobs because I didnt add
darts around the bust or anything
But hey! Check out that Peter Pan collar!
That wasnt too shabby...
I mean I can see what I was going for here
and I kind of like the design but what have I done with this waist band?
No! Thats not how you waist band
And I remember I added this cut out here on the back, you might just think,
Oh! Thats a cute detail!
No, I had to add a cutout to the back because I couldn't actually get it on
otherwise and that was to relieve some of the
squashing of the boobs that was going on...
Did I try and pleat this skirt?
What the heck?
I made a couple of pleats on this skirt!
Wow, I'm not trying this on. There is no way that its going to fit me
I was a lot smaller when I made this
and I remember it didn't fit particularly well at the time
It is what it is
Not good.
But you've got to start somewhere.
Oh wow!
This is something I did before I even had my sewing machine!
I made a dress
Well I already owned this dress
I think I got this from a thrift store
and I added cut outs to the side
I didn't know what I was doing I basically just chopped,
chopped, and hemmed the edges
But it was these kinds of projects that, I guess, first got me into
the idea that you could customize your own clothes
I was pretty proud of this one
Oh here's the first project I made when I got a sewing machine!
These three skirts right here,
were the first items of clothing I ever made on my first sewing machine
This skirt,
was the first "wearable" thing that I made, and I say "wearable"
with air quotes because it didn't have a zipper, the material didnt really stretch
so I actually had to, in order to wear it, put it on over my head
Oh no, that is not gonna happen
Again, I didnt use a pattern or any tutorial I just kind of laid out my fabric on the floor
and I think, in a kind of semi-circle sort of fashion, added a waist band
which I clearly didn't know how to do
Just kinda, I think, made a tube and just stitched it on right in the middle there
Hey! But from far away it kind of looks like something you could wear, sort of.
Kind of. Maybe.
Ok a lot of these things would maybe look a little bit better if they were ironed,
obviously they've been sitting, crumpled in a bag for ages
but still, ironing isn't going to save this sucker
oh good! and there's a little hole at the bottom of the zip, there
you would have just been able to see my butt through there
This was my first ever circle skirt!
Hey, it's pretty cute!
Not going to fit now but this is what it would have looked like
I think I would have made this a couple of months after first owning a sewing machine
Still hadn't figured out how to do waist bands really
this is actually you know, semi-wearable...
clearly hand-made but kind of decent
Huh, I wasn't completely terrible at sewing
Aw yeah
I remember this
Oh boy
This was a dress that I made entirely out of pillow cases
And I remember being very proud of that fact at the time.
The zipper sticks up above the rest of the dress
That's always a good look
Oooh boy
... this dress
So, there was a time around, sometime in 2011
where the internet and pinterest were obsessed with birds
So I made a really terrible dress
which I don't think ever really fit, or looked good
and I painstakingly painted all of these birds on by hand
but clearly lost interest, somewhere around here
I mean, like, sewing-wise
the techniques that I used here, are not terrible
and this peter pan collar is actually attached pretty decently
I think when I actually
put this dress on
I had inserted the zipper in such a way that
There was always this lump on my back
So, I used to wear it with a cardigan
so you couldn't see the lump
nor that I had just not bothered to paint the rest of the thing
ugh it's all about the shortcuts
Oh I remember this!
This was actually good!
This was a circle skirt that I made with an elasticated waist band
and suspender
and it was actually really cute!
yeah, I wore this a lot.
Aw I should make another one of these
I think I made this one, probably about 5 or 6 months
after first learning to sew
so you can see that I am actually getting a little bit better
Ooohh... ooohh....ooohh
can we talk about
the galaxy trend
again, I think it was 2011, 2012
galaxy everything was very in
and this was one of my very, very first DIY projects
I basically just grabbed a tshirt
and sprayed it with a bunch of bleach
and then, I've cut the bottom here to-
I don't know
maybe it was supposed to tie up?
I think it was just to give it a really drapey look.
and kind of make it a crop top
AW YEAH GALAXY TREND!!!!!
what is this?
haha, this is a printed top
this must have been one of my first attempts at tshirt transfers
that was a photo
that I took with my friend
where we decided to paint our faces like cats
I guess that was going to be my clothing label!?
I must have been, like, 17 or 18 when I made this
I mean, having a shirt
with a picture of your own face on it
always a good look
AWWW
I remember this!
this was when I had just figured out how to make dresses
and I was making so many of them
Look at that!
that's pretty cute
I used some nice stretchy lace for the bodice
so I'd obviously figured out that I couldn't keep pancake boobing myself
Oh and added darts
and then added a nice circle skirt down the bottom
alright, I'm going to try this one on
maybe
oh boy
ooh, that waistline's very high
jeeze, it's short
I mean that's where my shorts are
and the skirt falls just there
it is very short
but what! I'm actually surprised by this
this is semi decent!
I would have made this about 6 or 7 months after first getting a sewing machine
so you know, it did take me
that long to start making stuff which actually looked okay
so you know, if you're just starting to sew
and you're watching videos like mine
or other people who sew for a living on the internet
and you're thinking oh my god
why do my projects not look like theirs
just remember, it actually does take quite a while
to get ok at sewing
like I didn't start making stuff that was actually wearable
until about 6 months in
and I would have been sewing, like, every weekend
the best thing to do when you're learning to sew
is to get really cheap materials
like using bed sheets and stuff you've found at opshops
starting with smaller projects
and just remembering that
you learn from your mistakes
you're going to screw up quite a bit and that's ok
practice makes perfect
oh man, I don't think I'm going to be able to get this off...
[quiet tearing sound]
I heard something rip
I'm stuck
Muuum....?
anyway, that's it from me
I'll see you all in my next video, which will be another DIY project
hopefully, if all goes to plan,
involving my dog, Ella
I'll see you all next time, bye!!