{"id":55419,"date":"2015-06-13T00:09:05","date_gmt":"2015-06-13T07:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=55419"},"modified":"2015-06-13T00:09:05","modified_gmt":"2015-06-13T07:09:05","slug":"sew-wonderful-merit-badge-intermediate-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/55419","title":{"rendered":"Sew Wonderful Merit Badge, Intermediate Level"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tThe adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our<\/span> Sisterhood Merit Badge program<\/span><\/span><\/a>, now with\u00a06,450 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20149,160 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Wondering who I am? I\u2019m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my<\/span> former life<\/span><\/span><\/a> \u2026\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

For this week\u2019s Stitching and Crafting\/Sew Wonderful Intermediate Level Merit Badge<\/span><\/a>, I knew I had to conquer something. Namely: my phobia of\u00a0printed fabric other than stripes or plaids.<\/p>\n

Why stripes or plaids, you ask? My, so inquisitive. Is it because I have a secret obsession with Scottish prints? Was I a candy striper in another life? A Scottish candy striper, perhaps?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Well, no. I\u2019ll tell you the real reason.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re so much easier to sew straight lines on.<\/em><\/p>\n

For example: I made calico print curtains. They hang at diagonal-type draping (not what I was going for). I sewed a batch of polka-dot printed pillows (they were supposed to be square; let\u2019s call the finished product \u2026 umm \u2026 hexagon-tangle). I made Mr. Wonderful a homemade button-down shirt (the buttons don\u2019t exactly line up).<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a mess when it comes to straight lines. I was afraid to show myself at my monthly Sewing Sisters Club. I was ashamed to walk into JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts. I couldn\u2019t even muster enough self-confidence to rifle through the fabric bolts at my local flea market. Something had to be done. I couldn\u2019t live like this!<\/p>\n

So, I did what any self-respecting farmgirl would do in a situation like this: I pretended to be infatuated and passionate only <\/em>about stripes and plaids.<\/p>\n

I had no choice.<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t judge me.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the siren call of gingham was getting too much to bear.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t look away from paisley. I found myself sneaking peeks at geometrics. I made puppy dog eyes at toile. I fell into a small coma at a fabric sale and when I came to, I was petting and cooing over a camouflage bolt.<\/p>\n

*gasp*<\/p>\n

When I found myself clutching a square of trompe l\u2019oeil at 2 a.m. one night, in a clammy sweat, I knew something had to be done.<\/p>\n

I sat myself down with a yard of plain blue fabric, and decided to learn to sew a straight seam, once and for all. I gave myself a stern talking to, a pep talk, if you will. It went something like this, in case you, too, need a blueprint for overcoming your straight line phobia:<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, Jane, my girl. Easy does it. Deep breaths. Just use your handy dandy fabric pencil to mark lightly on your fabric \u2026 I said, lightly, woman! For cryin\u2019 in the night. Okay, okay, I\u2019m sorry. You\u2019re doing fine. It\u2019s a bit diagonal, but that doesn\u2019t mean it isn\u2019t straight, does it? Good. Good. Very good. Um, not so good. Alright, time to sew. Now, now, no shaking. Not with a needle in your hand. Very good. Okay, we\u2019re getting somewhere. This isn\u2019t so bad. Steady now, girl. Steady on \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

I ended my 12-step program as I end each 12-step program:<\/p>\n

With a set of lovely … and straight\u2014well, straight-ish\u2014curtains\u00a0made of chintz. And a set of throw pillows made of toile.<\/p>\n

\"\"

photo, PoshSurfside.com via Flickr.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Feeling proud of myself and my new badge, I decided to conquer another fear: my fear of that peach cobbler in my freezer getting freezer burn. Only one way to remedy that. <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with\u00a06,450 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20149,160 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ\u00a0 Wondering who … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gladsome_sisters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55419\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}