Purse addiction

I saw a pattern for a clutch with handles, and I knew I had to try it. It couldn't be that difficult. I started out with a familiar material--a placemat. Placemats are nice to use because you don't have to sew a liner--it comes with one already! I also decided to use my buttonhole presser foot to make the handles.

In fact, I made the handles first, because obviously, that would be the most difficult part of the project. On the "wrong" side of the placemat--what I had decided would be my lining, I used my tape measure and fabric marker to measure out the size of my handles. I used my hand as a guide for the size, because I wanted it to fit comfortably in my hand. I drew a square on the lining side of the fabric and used my buttonhole foot to stitch the square, so I'd know where to cut the handles open, making them nice and neat. Then I pressed down the rough edges and seamed them again.

I folded the placemat in half, right sides together, and seamed up the sides, leaving a 1/4-inch seam allowance. I pinched the bottom corners and sewed a traingle on both sides to make a square bottom, the I flipped it right side out.

The finished project:

I'm actually really happy with this purse. I haven't been able to use it yet, because, well...that's for another post.

Toodles!

Pillowcase Dress

I learned several things about sewing as I was making this dress. As we go along with the pictures, I'll tell you what I learned.

Yeah, I know this isn't the prettiest fabric in the world, but it was cheap, and I didn't want to practice on something expensive. I figured if this one went well, I could move on to more expensive fabric. For this project, I needed a pillowcase, ribbon, and elastic. First lesson I learned: bring your project sheet with you, so you get the correct sizes and lengths!

I cut the closed end of the pillowcase off and cut out the sleeves. Second lesson learned: fold the fabric in half so that the sides match! You can see that one sleeve is a little deeper than the other. At least my cuts are neat.

To make the seams neater, I pressed 3/4 of an inch down on the top. Third lesson I learned: the iron is your friend in sewing. Your very, very bestest friend if you want it to look neat and semi-professional.

This is where lesson #1 (bring your project sheet with you) came into play. I bought 3/4-inch elastic for the neck, but need 1/2-inch. I had to cut the elastic, and it was very difficult. However, I also learned lesson #4--how to gather material. Let me tell you--this was fun. IT was like putting a puzzle together, and I love puzzles! All I had to do was fasten a large safety pin to one end push it through to the other. It gathers itself! I stitched both ends to keep the elastic secure.

Working on the sleeves was difficult. It's not very easy to iron or stitch on a curve. Straight lines are much friendlier.

More repercussions from lesson #1: my ribbon was too short and the sleeves ended up being too tight on Cathryn. Luckily, ribbon is cheap and it's no problem to just buy more.

This isn't a good picture of the whole dress. It's a lot cuter in person, and Cathryn was thrilled with it. I was surprised at how much more difficult it was to make a dress than making a purse, even a simple dress like this one. I realized, as I was making it, that it would have been simpler to buy actual fabric yardage, cut two pieces (the front and the back) and work on the sleeves before simply sewing the side seams up. Oh well, it was a valuable learning experience. And with sewing, you definitely have to learn by doing.

Toodles!

It was bound to happen...

It started out so promising. The pattern seemed so simple, and the pictures made the purse look so cute, and I had found this gorgeous print that practically screamed purse. But, I should have seen the warning signs when I couldn't read the pattern. It was written in German. I think. Something definitely not English.

The sewing instructions were in English, so I thought that not needing to read the pattern would make it OK. First, I cut out all my pieces for the body and the straps.

I folded the straps inward, and then stitched the edges.

I then stitched down the middle of the straps. Big mistake.

See those rough edges? This is before I learned to turn under my seams and iron them before stitching. Now it looks like a 7th-grade home-ec project gone horribly, horribly wrong.

From a distance, they don't look so bad. I don't know what was up with the camera, but those straps definitely don't look like they came from the same bolt of fabric. I promise, though--they did!

I connected the upper part of the purse with the lower part of the purse. This, again, is where it went horribly wrong. Because I couldn't read the pattern, I didn't know that I was sewing it in upside down and wrong-side out!

There I am, stitching the straps in. Why didn't I catch this?

The finished product. Sure, it looks kind of cute, but think about how much cuter it could have been had there not been that weirdness down at the bottom. Good thing I've got a good bit of leftover fabric, so that I can have a do-over.

Live and learn, as my mother always told me. And, in the words of my first grade teacher who was quite discouraged by my leaning 'L's, "practice makes perfect".

Toodles!

A Purse for Cathryn

After my success with my first two purses, I decided to make a purse for Cathryn.

I used a remnant of purple fabric with green polka-dots that I found for $1 a Wal-Mart for the body of the purse. I cut out rounded pockets and a flap using a "Built By Wendy" pattern from my "Sew U" book (thanks again, Stacy!), green ribbon from my first purse project, and a green button for the pocket. That's the buttonhole foot there at the bottom.

I seamed the top of the front panel of the pocket, and after measuring where the flap would lie on the purse and the pocket, hand-sewed on the button. I love how perfectly it matched the green dots.

I turned the right sides of the fabric (the front panel of the pocket and the back panel) toward one another and stitched around the edges. I then flipped the pocket right-sides out, using my fabric marker to poke out the edges of the pocket. I was so happy with this cute little pocket that I woke Richie up from his nap to show it to him!

On the pocket flap (and I wish I had taken a picture of the back), I used a simple seam to make the edges neat. Then I used the buttonhole foot on my machine to make the buttonhole. Note--make sure you measure the button so that your buttonhole doesn't end up the wrong size, and make sure the fabric matches up with the pocket.

See how that matches up? I sewed the flap onto the purse body first before the pocket, and before sewing the purse together.

It looks a little wonky here, but overall I'm happy with the way the pocket looks. Also, in person, it's much cuter. This shot was taken after I stitched on the pocket underneath the flap.

For some reason, I'm missing shots of me stitching up the sides of the purse, as well as sewing the seams. I did this a little backward, and when I attempt this again, I'll sew the top seams on the fabric first, and then sew up the sides. I used a 1/4-inch seam allowance on the sides and top. I then pinched the corners (about an inch and a half) and sewed them up to make a triangle. You do all of this with the right sides of the fabric together, then flip the purse right sides out, using a fabric marker, or skewer, or chopstick or press out the corners of the purse.

The final step was to attach the straps on the inside seam of the purse. I tried to match up the seams on the straps with the seams in the purse and I think I did an OK job.

The finished project! Cathryn was so happy and excited to have it, and that's the most important part of doing any project--making sure your client is happy.

Toodles!

A Purse for Beth

When my friend Beth saw my purse, she asked me to make her one, too. I was more than happy to oblige, and since I see her wear lots of red, and has that gorgeous, enviably thick dark hair, I decided that making her a red purse would be perfect.

First, I laid out my fabric:

Then, to get to this:

At first, the fabric on the end (the red and black reversible) was supposed to be the main body of the purse, and the fabric on the far left was supposed to be purse trim and a pocket. However, the fabric was too thick and I didn't have the correct needle for the design. In fact, the fabric broke the needle in the machine, and I had to replace it.

I had to improvise. The fabric I had cut for the trim became straps. Thank goodness I had another piece of fabric handy. I put the right sides of the fabric together, and sewed the seams. I also pinched the bottom corners and sewed those so that the purse would have some depth. 'Cause you know, I want Beth to actually be able to use the purse. While the purse was still wrong side out, I sewed in the straps, and then flipped it right side out.

And you know what? I was happier with this incarnation than I was with the original design. I think Beth will like it very much, once I remember to give it to her...

Toodles!

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.

***

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!