Hey, Ma, Look! I Can Sew!

Y'all. The day finally came. I made something with my sewing machine. It was simple, sure, but shouldn't all beginner projects be simple?

Isn't it adorable? Of course, it's not perfect, but I didn't expect my first project to come out immaculately. For instance, I wished I had used the same color for my bobbin thread as I did for my needle thread. I really wish I had thicker invisible thread, so the outside seams wouldn't have shown at all.
I started out with a fabric place mat that I found at Wal-Mart and some matching grosgrain ribbon. I folded the mat inside out and stitched a 1/2 inch seam on each side.

This side turned out a a little neater than the other. With the mat still inside out, I folded the corner to make a triangle and then stitched three inches down to make the bottom of the triangle. I did this on both sides.

See what I mean? There's more of a gap here than on the other side, and I think it's either because my side seam was not as tight as it should have been, or I stitched the triangle on this side incorrectly.

The bottom and inside look really nice, though, and I'm happy with it. For the straps, I attached the ribbon to the inside and sewed a tight satin stitch across the width of each side, then hit the reverse sew switch to secure it. (Whew! How's that for alliteration?) I did this for each handle. Next time I make this, I won't turn the bag right side out until after I've attached the handles.

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Overall, I'm extremely happy with the way this turned out. It took me maybe an hour to complete, and that's with reading the direction thoroughly twice before sewing, and then replacing the needle when I began, because I stitched too close to the original place mat seam and bent the original needle.

I got really nice reactions from the finished project. When Richie came home from Trey's baseball game that night, he was so surprised and excited about what I had done. He couldn't wait to show and tell everybody! I was so proud and happy that he had that reaction. My friend Beth saw it and wanted to know where she could get one, and when I told her that I made it myself, she asked if I would make her one, too! Which of course, was my original plan to begin with!

Looks like sewing might be working out after all!

Toodles!