Hello folks.
My name is Shalyn and this blog was created as a unified journal of my adventures in in the creation of things. I'm an actor by trade, which is certainly my favorite creative outlet...but I have others, too.
I learned to sew first around 12 years old when I started teaching myself embroidery from library books. From there, as I grew, I realized that regular store bought (or hand-me-downs if I'm being honest) did not fit me well and I was not the figure they were making them for. I learned how to alter clothes and that was the extent of my practice for a long time. I would design plenty of clothes, but considering I was doing all hand-stitching without a machine, it hadn't yet occurred to me to tackle more.
While in University, I would occasionally get a hold of free fabric from somewhere and started to experiment with sewing whole garments of my own design. This slowly grew over time and by the time I graduated I had the skills, and finally the time, to go a little further. I continued to design my own things and sew by hand, so most of my design decisions were colored by what I could reasonably do. During this time, I was also taught to knit by my now Sister In Law.
The big push forward in my abilities happened when, around the same time in the summer of 2010, I got my first sewing machine and discovered the wealth of free resources available online, such as Burda and their many free patterns. I started using proper patters (and quickly learning to alter them for my own design) and producing my items at a much faster pace.
So here I stand today, ready to see what else I can do.
