Sunday is Sew Relaxing!

A miracle occurred yesterday, I'm not sure if you heard about it. It was the strangest thing, I put my 2 year old down for a nap and then chose not to take a nap myself! This was a big decision for me, one that I almost always regret later...one truth about me is that I love naps, a lot! There was mild regret right around 5:30 but not too bad  because I spent the afternoon in my craft area and FINALLY got to start my online home ec class!! For today at least, sewing trumped napping! I can promise you that there has been nothing in the past at least 5 years that has EVER trumped a nap!! It is truly a miracle!

Anyway I have to be a little careful about what I share regarding this class because of copyright so I won't give any tutorials just some pictures of before, after, and maybe a few in between! :)

First things first, I grabbed my trusty sidekick Ernie and a sparkling beverage that was necessary due to the zero nap situation.

A sparkling beverage

My sidekick: Ernie

There is one tool that in a very short time has become very invaluable to me! That tool is painters tape.

KNOW how important this is!

I would think (hope?) that all beginning sew-ers find it very hard to sew in a straight line. I also find it very hard to cut in a straight line but that's another story for another time. I was so glad I read this post on http://prudentbaby.com. Actually I'm just glad in general that I came across the Prudent Baby website, it's great!! They suggest the following:

         

           "Painter’s tape. This is my trick for sewing straight especially when working with            

            large fabric pieces...just measure from your needle over to the tape edge and sew straight             

            for days."

GENIUS!! I always use it on my sewing machine now and I USED to use it to cut fabric straight, however I recently purchased a rotary cutter and self-healing mat (for 50% off at JoAnn Fabrics!) and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it...but again, another story, another time we've got to stay focused here!!!! 

So the first project is a fabric gift bag! It's supposed to look like this:

                                  

So here's what I ended up with:

Mmmmm...not bad if I do say so myself. it definitely looks better scrunched up than flat...That's not what I was exactly going for but I'll take it. There are a couple of things that bother me and I plan to make another just to try to perfect the skill a little more. So until this point I explained all the ups now lets talk about the downs...and, as a personal favor, please frown while you read.

#1. Oh those lines!! I know that what seems like just one paragraph ago I sang praise to the almighty painter's tape which makes me sew so straight BUT I've decided that the reason (excuse?) these particular lines on my project (pictured below) are sooo crooked is because this line had to go all the way AROUND and then meet up again on the front...WITH a gap between! So when one struggles with straight, it's no surprise that   there would be a struggle with around (can I get an AMEN???)  Here's a closer look:

This is where it got scary...

The back: really not too bad if I do say so myself

I'm not really sure how I'm going do this differently the next time around but I'm hoping for practice to make perfect and maybe a little extra help from Carmen!!! What'daya say Carmen...you in??

Well put!

#2. Those moments of sheer panic where you say to yourself "You dumb-dumb you just ruined this whole project!" I hate those moments!! I almost gave up on this one but I took a deep breath and looked back through the instructions.See if you can follow me here-o.k. the instructions said to sew a line around this bad boy and leave a 1.5-2 inch gap on the front. THEN you're supposed sew a second line around leaving about a quarter inch space between the two lines. So I'm  thinking to myself that a quarter inch space is not going to accommodate my ribbon at all! Thinking I was ahead of the game...or at least the head of the class I pinned my ribbon on the bag and sewed above it leaving about a 2 inch space between the two lines (pictured above). But THEN the instructions got even more complicated and the panic continued building up. Next I was supposed to sew a perpendicular line that would literally close off that space I just made for my beautiful ribbon! Well, that doesn't make sense, how will I get my ribbon through?? Ahh, I'll just skip that step. But then even MORE confusion set in when instructed to handsew a rectangle between the two lines. That was it, top of the panic chart instantly!! I must have just stood and stared at my mess at least 2 minutes before deciding what to do...and what, you might wonder, did I do? Well, I went back through and read the instructions again. Which brings me to bother #3.

#3 Hooked on phonics? Sewing for Dummies? Somebody help me out!! I think I missed the most important note of the entire project. Doh!

Note: Say what?? You're not being clear...oh wait, yes you are!!

 What's a girl to do? My panicked brain said "just dump it you failure" but my (still developing) crafty brain said "just finish it best you can, learn from your mistakes, and try again!" Oh crafty brain, you're so nice, thanks!!  Stay tuned for Project 1, Take 2 :)