Projects, Projects, Projects

As I mentioned earlier, I had started a few sewing projects last week, and I finally made some progress. My mom came in over the weekend and helped with Project #1: Curtains. She had made curtains a really easy way, so I had to rely on her to convey the pattern in her head. You can imagine there were times where I had a blank stare. Okay, that was most of the weekend. But, I did manage to get a panel mostly done. All it needs is the tabs. Now, only 5 more to go...


Project #2 was a hobo bag sew-along on Threadbanger that I wanted to participate in. I love that style of bag and wanted something else to take all my junk to work in rather than the blue Kroger bag I normally tote. And to make things even better, this bag is reversible depending on my mood. Do I feel black paisley swirlies or pink stripes? More than likely, it'll turn into a year-round bag with the black paisley for fall/winter, and the pink stripe for spring/summer.

Only problem with this project was the pocket. The directions said to sew interfacing to the pocket, turn right side out, and then sew it the already-sewn lining piece. In this case, it was the pink stripe. Next time I make one, I'll be sewing the pocket on before I sew the seams of the lining because trying to stuff an interfaced piece of fabric under the arm of your sewing machine is no fun. Oh yeah, and I'd trim the seams on the pocket to make it less bulky when sewing the corners. Gah that was a pain. Overall though, it turned out pretty nice. The paisley almost makes it look like there's no seam since the pattern is all swirly.


Project #3 (which was actually the first project I started): Mending Victoria's dresses. One of them I had to get done before she went to the beach (in a few weeks) and the other two I had more time. However, the straps were the only things that needed fixing, so I did all three in about 15 minutes. I had been hesitant to start with them because I was still learning the ins and outs of my new machine, so by the time I had an understanding of it, I already the right color thread loaded and ready to go for both the curtains and hobo bag.

For her dresses, I used transparent thread so I could use it on all three dresses without having to match all the colors. However, transparent thread turned out to be nylon thread, and I hope to never work with it again. Imagine very thin fishing line. It's all unruly, doesn't stay on the bobbin, and is so thin I had to hand-crank the machine because once you pushed the pedal to make it go fast, the bobbin thread broke. I sewed the straps 3+ times each to make sure they weren't going anywhere. So Victoria, you should be secure in your new dresses. A tropical storm at the beach will be no match for this stitchery.