Let's Talk About Sewing, Shall We?

For Christmas last year, my mother-in-law bought me this fancy-pants sewing machine:

While I was so excited to receive such an amazing present, I have used a sewing machine all of once in my life, and that was while helping her with a project, and getting frustrated the entire time. I have always wanted to learn how to sew, but never took the initiative to learn. The gift of this machine is the kick in the pants that I needed to become a sewing champ.

I initially decided that a good starter project would be an apron. I went out an bought a simple pattern, and mother-in-law and I went and bought fabric and a couple basic supplies to get me started. She helped me cut out the fabric so that when I got home with it, I could just sew everything together. I was excited to get home to start sewing......until I realized that I dont' know how to make pleats and the sewing terms used in the directions made absolutely no sense to me. I decided I would come back to this when I had more time......that was 4 6 months ago. Maybe a sewing class would be for me!
I did actually look into the sewing class and was amped and ready to go. I found a community class that was super inexpensive ($5), and then it got canceled because the instructor quit and they didn't have a back-up. Boooooo! I didn't want to spend the money for classes through the fabric stores, and I haven't been able to find any other classes that really fit what I wanted, so I've been putting this aside until this week when our community newsletter arrived! The classes are back on! The wonderful, cheap classes! They only offer one class, where you get to learn to sew pajamas, but they will offer it several times over the next few months. My plan is to take one in September, and if I don't really know what's going on, to re-take it in October/November. I'm really hoping that I will learn enough of the basic skills to allow me to use my machine so I can sew many other things.

Cross your fingers for me!