Waechter's is my favorite fabric store. I live about 2 hours away from Asheville and visit Weachter's anytime we are in the area. The staff is knowledgeable and helpful and they carry a variety of patterns, not just the usual Simplicity, McCall's and other big names. The samples are awesome, too, but the selection of high quality dress-making (or tailoring) fabrics is fantastic. With all of that you'd think their prices would be high but the prices are very reasonable, considering the quality of the fabrics. Yeaaaa, Weachter's!!!

I love reading everyone's stories! My mom is a a good seamstress and my great-grandmother was a fabulous seamstress, but unfortunately neither of them taught me to sew. I played on my mom's sewing machine all the time and made many little Barbie outfits and loved stitching up drawstring bags. Yeah, kind of strange, but I could manipulate the sewing machine very well. I got a SewMagic sewing machine for Christmas one year, the one that used glue cartridges instead of needle and thread and it had Barbie patterns in it. That was great fun, but I still preferred Mama's machine to really make something. When I was in ninth grade, I took home-ec and we made a blouse. Mine was made with crinkled cotton and it looked really good except for the corner of the placket, where I didn't get the edge turned under right. It was lumpy with little threads sticking out. Unfortunately, our teacher was ill much of that year and we only spent two weeks on sewing, so we didn't learn very much. When my first daughter was born was when I really learned to sew. I couldn't afford to take classes and have discovered that while Mama can sew beautifully, she cannot teach. I started out making quilts (the first one took me 12 years to finish, but I did many others between the time I started that one and the time I finished it). Then I learned to smock and do shadow embroidery, so I learned how to make dresses for my daughter so I could use the things I made. I later went into business making custom window treatments and drapes. My most ambitious and successful project was a costume for my daughter. Their lit class had a project called "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" They had to dress as a famous person or literary character and would meet at school for dinner. My daughter chose Queen Elizabeth I and I found a historical costume pattern for a dress. It had a boned bodice, a hoop skirt and a huge ruff. I made it with different jacquard fabrics in shades of cream, added some pearl trim and WOW! She got an "A" for the project and the costume was used by several other girls who borrowed it for that class or for various stage performances. In spite of all that, I don't have much confidence in my sewing skills. I wish that I had been able to learn the technical parts of sewing (fitting and good construction) from a good teacher. I think patterns assume that everyone already knows how to sew and I've finally learned that the pattern instructions are just general guidelines for putting the garment together. Creativity in the choice of materials and details need to be added to give the garment personality.