Breaking the seal

I am about to embark on a basic dressmaking course at a local community to college to sharpen up my sewing skills. So far I'm pretty much fully self taught (read - make it up as I go), which kinda limits me to straight or zigzag stitch. I have 2 very beautiful 16 (well, almost 17) mth old twin girls and I have discovered that the world of fabrics availabe online is immense and beautiful. I want to dive in headlong and fill their wardrobes with such delights. But, if I want to be able to produce for them items that I'd be proud for them to actually wear out in public then I need to do some learning.

I have been encouraged to start a blog about my adventures. So, here it is. Let me start by giving you a full list of everything I have sewed in my life to date (which, I might add, I think is non too shabby given I have no freakin' idea what I'm doing with a sewing machine - okay, maybe not quite no idea but definitely very little).

1. a tissue box cover (the obligatory first year high school item)
2. my finger (whilst attempting to produce above obligatory item)
3. a dress (in my final year of high school - nice dress, nice fabric, not so great a job, wrong style for me to wear but I wore it, once)
4. recovered some dining chairs (very easy, cut out squares of fabric, put over the seat, stable underneath)
5. covered a really ugly lounge in a semi-furnished apartment I rented (also really easy, kind just hemed a large piece of fabric and tucked it all around)
6. another dress (well, I've never actually finished it but it's really just a tie on the back that it needs; I'll get there. Really I will)
7. some cushion covers (was quite proud of myself - worked out the pattern on my own and even included a hidden zipper)
8. a bunch of peanut shaped little pillows (this is my grandmother's design. She used to make them for us as kids - great for sticking behind your head when watching tellie or for cuddling in bed at night when you are too old for a teddybear to be socially acceptable. Oh, and they squish down really well into your backpack if you are travelling over seas. Great for sleeping on planes and other forms of public transport - I've made them for me and other people who have seen mine and wanted one/some).
9. a couple of maternity wear items (a dress and a top)
10. some curtains for my babies' room - twice (we moved when they were 5 mths old and I had to sew some more)
11. some more cushion overs (a bunch of them in varying shapes and sizes)
12. some cloth nappies (REALLY proud of this effort and oh the $$$$ savings not buying disposables for twins)

Umm, well, I think that's everything.

Updated to add - no, it's not all. 13. I also sewed my mum, my sister, myself, a friends new born, and my girls a dress each last year from some shirred fabric I bought at spotlight (the newborn got some little bloomers too - damn they were cute and even better, they fit!).