I took my sewing machine and went to Melanie’s yesterday for a sewing party.  We had a really good time!  The idea was to sew together, but for the most part, she just helped me figure out what I was doing while I navigated my first project in more than 15 years.  I am so grateful to have had her help.  Though we had a few technical glitches, like a bobbin that wouldn’t behave (pet named “ill luck bobbin”), everything went very smoothly.  I made a bag, a simple project that actually took me about 7 hours to finish.  It’s a long time, but the final product came out really good!  So good, in fact, I wanted to share the pics with y’all.

(Please click the images to see them larger!!)

I hope you enjoyed seeing the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them! I had a really great time working on this bag and will likely make several more of them in different fabrics and colors. I have Melanie to thank for finding the brown fabric with the teal circles, we were looking for fabric when she pointed it out and I loved it the second I saw it. I have enough extra that I’m going to make dice bags out of it.

My next project, as you can imagine, will be dice bags — going to work on it next Saturday. I got some fabric last night so I could make some, one of which will be for Matt, who chose a gray fabric with skulls on it. I should have known he’d pick something like that. I don’t think there are patterns for dice bags, but they’re fairly simple, so I’m not concerned. Might hunt around the net for instructions, I don’t know yet.

Today, I feel like I got a workout yesterday. It’s funny how exhausting sewing is. It’s very rewarding, but it’s exhausting, too. I’m looking forward to sewing next weekend!!

My new sewing machine is here!!

It’s kind of a misnomer to call it “my new sewing machine” since I never had an old sewing machine, but it’s new and it’s mine, so it works. It came on Thursday night. I was gone all day Thursday with training and orientations at the school, so Matt agreed to stay up and wait for it to be delivered.  The poor guy had only had about 2 hours of sleep but still said he’d stay awake until it came.  He waited and waited, but it never did come. When I got in about 7:30 p.m. to find a very sleep, not terribly happy hubby telling me that it didn’t come, I checked the tracking which said it was out for delivery.  Poor guy seemed genuinely concerned that I’d be upset, which I was. Then, not ten minutes after I walked through the door, here comes a knock. It’s FedEx delivering my package from Amazon.  Matt like to pull his hair out, but we were both glad it got here.

So, I unpackaged it, but I’ve not had a chance to use it yet. I only paid about $100 and I got the machine, a plastic hard case, and a pack of 10 plastic bobbins, which aren’t here yet.  I want to make something, but I also want to do it right, so I’m waiting until I have time.  It’s not been easy, let me tell you!  So here it is…

Isn’t it pretty?! I had more meetings on Friday, so afterward I headed over to Melanie’s and we went to Wal-Mart. I got scissors and all of the stuff I’ll need to get started.  I also got these three patterns…

I’m going to attempt the bag first! Not the messenger bag, but the other one (bottom left/top right).  I think in the long run, it’ll be the more simple of the two because it doesn’t require quilted fabrics.  With my experience being limited, I’m going to start with something a bit simpler. I got this really amazing fabric to make the bag…

The brown fabric with teal circles is going to be the outside of the bag, while the teal fabric will be the lining.  I considered brown lining, but I just love the way the teal looks!!  The brown fabric is actually a light corduroy, so I got some heavier weight needles because I’ve been assured that this fabric is hefty and will break the regular needles.

Unfortunately, though I have everything I need to get started, I can’t actually start until next weekend. School’s starting back tomorrow (August 30th) and I have both my classes and my the basic writing for my assistantship to attend during the week.  I have to get text books, order a new stove, go to work and study. So, sewing will have to wait until I have a free moment, which won’t come until the weekend. Melanie and I are going to get together and have a sewing party, wherein she holds my hand *ehh hmm* offers me guidance through the process. She’ll probably get a heck of a lot more sewing done than I will, but I’m glad I have here here to help me when I get stuck.  I’m really looking forward to it.

In the mean time, I’ve been hunting down apron patterns online because I really want to make some vintage aprons. Turns out you can get upwards of 50 different apron patterns on the web, for free.  Many of them aren’t actually patterns, but rather are just instructions and measurements, but I think I could follow simple instructions… maybe.

More pictures coming when that fabric is actually a bag, and not just fabric.  By the time I get good at sewing, y’all are going to be so tired of hearing about sewing and my sewing projects.

When I was a 16 or 17, and learning to sew, my mother gave me a pattern for a halter top.  I loved it and set out to make it, even though I’ve learned in the intervening years that heavy-chested women shouldn’t necessarily wear halter tops.  I got all the pieces cut out, set up the sewing machine, and went to work.  I probably worked on that top, a fairly simple pattern, for four or five hours and when I was done, I ran to the bathroom to try it on.  Imagine my surprise when my awesome halter top didn’t fit right.  No, that’s an understatement, it didn’t fit at all.  It gaped open in the front, showing my ta-tas to the world, while the armpits were restrictive to the point of painful.

Rather than taking it off, I stormed into the living room, one arm over my chest, and frowned at my mother.  Mom burst into laughter and when she got that out of her system she informed me that I had sewn the armpits together in the front and the front to the armpits.  You see, the top was three parts, the torso and two breast pieces. The breast pieces had a long side and a short side.  Rather than sewing the short sides together at the front, I sewed the long sides together, which accounts for the gaping chest area. I spent an hour and a half ripping out all the seams on the top and pinning it back together the right way.  I got it fixed, but that story’s stuck with me.

So, why am I regaling you with my tale of halter tops gone wrong?  Simple, I’m going to dip my toes in the sewing pool once more. I’m going to attempt to learn (re-learn?) to sew!  I don’t currently own a sewing machine, but I plan to buy one this week.  I’m going to get the Brother XL2610 from Amazon.com.  It’s gotten excellent reviews and it’s pink (that’s it over there on the right), what more could a girl want?!  I’ve been looking around and I think this is the best machine for the money.  I thought about getting a Singer, which is what Melanie has, or a Kenmore, which is what my mother has, but I really like the Brother the best. I consulted with my local sewing sage (read: Melanie) and she agrees that it’s a good machine.  Yay!!

I’m ordering it from Amazon, rather than buying it locally because it’s not available here and the Amazon price is great.  Once I get it, I’ll go shopping for accessories, like scissors, pins and pincushion, things like that.  I can’t wait, I’m really excited to pick this back up.  While I never was great at it, I think that now, with a bit of attention to detail, I could be really great at it.  I find I’m much better at things now a days then I was when I was a teen.  I mean, I couldn’t cook and now I’m a really good cook.  I couldn’t cross-stitch and now I’m pretty okay at it, even though I never do it. I think this will be the same.

I plan to start small, with straight seams and make things like bags, aprons or simple skirts, things like that. I also don’t plan to wear anything I sew until I’m good at it and can have faith in my ability to make something that will hold up. I’ll definitely take pictures when I finally do get started making something!

Ultimately, a lot of the reason I’ve decided to take up this particular hobby is my grandmother.  My grandma Wilma was a great seamstress, she was really, really great at it.  My mom is also a great seamstress, though I don’t think she’s sewn anything in years.  When we were kids, mom use to make us these really cute baby-doll shirts that we loved.  Now that my grandma’s gone, I feel myself drawn toward this hobby because it’s something I can learn that will help me feel close to her.  I’ve been assured that doesn’t sound creepy by both Matt and Melanie, so if it does, I’m sorry, blame them.

Besides, screwing up simple patterns has been a fond childhood memory for me.  You should hear the story about the palazzo pants!  I’m the only person I know who can repeat the same damn mistake over and over.  I kept sewing one leg on inside out, I did it four times before finally giving up on those stupid pants. Never making pants again, no joke there! No really, even now… never making pants again!

Off to shop for sewing books and dream of my first sewing project.  Good night!