I'm not late for once! I had the entire weekend to myself so I was able to make lots of progress. I even made pancakes on Saturday.
I was able to finish restitching my woven effect leaf. It looks much better now.
I got lots of beading done as well. I emptied my second pack of beads. This pieces uses a lot of beads in this champagne color. It's very pretty but I'm looking forward to switching to another color. Not long now, I'm at the midway point. I'm currently trying to decide if I should switch out one of the beads for a different color.
And I made something :) About two months ago, I bought my first sewing machine. I've been wanting one for ages and started to seriously shop for one. After picking one, a Janome QDC machine, I was going to wait a little to save up for it, but an opportunity came up that I couldn't pass up. The manufacturer had a special rebate and the store put an additional promotion on top of it. It meant I was able to shave the tax and a bit more of the final price. We have a 15% sales tax here in Quebec, so it was a pretty good discount.
It's been in it's box since I brought it home as I try to figure out a place to put it. I still haven't setup a place, but decided I needed to make myself a fabric basket to hold all my stitching frames while they are not in use. I usually put them in a corner of my room but they keep falling over. It took me ALL day. Sweat and blood (literally) went into making this piece, but I ended up with something that I can use. It's a little
floppy, I guess my interfacing wasn't thick enough, and I noticed one side is coming apart (I can fix that!). Still pretty good for my first time. The fabric is Blue Peonies by Rifle Paper Co. who is fast becoming my favorite fabric designer, and the lining is by Robert Kaufman from their Essex series.
I'm hoping to gain enough skills to make this bag. I bought the pattern from a quilt shop in Calgary with the fabric and hardware. Now just need courage to start. I found the hardest part was making sure everything is straight. Cutting straight, stitching straight... Any tips would be helpful.
The beading looks great! You are right - that's a lot of beads. I have a Janome machine too and I'm very happy with it.
ReplyDeleteUse a seam guide - even if it's a piece of sellotape stuck to the machine where the edge of the fabric needs to be. Or draw the first few seam lines until you feel comfortable doing it by eye.
ReplyDeleteAnd have fun!
Your woven flower and the mermaids look fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI am a sewing-newbie myself. I find that somehow, even though you get results much quicker, for me, it requires a lot more patience than embroidery. All that measuring and marking and re-measuring to make sure everything is just right and straight! Your basket looks awesome for a first try. Choosing the right type of interfacing is still a mystery to me as well.
I would never have spotted the error in your woven leaf but once you pointed it out then it needed to be fixed!
ReplyDeleteI don't sew at all but I would agree with Leonore, measure and measure over and again.
I would suggest joining Bag of the Month club. It's 18 US dollars for 3 patterns but there is a whole support group that goes with it who help you with every tiny little aspect if you need it! It started in September so we've seen 2 of the patterns already and the September one is perfect for beginners. Alternatively I'd start with some free patterns from designers such as Mrs H, Emmaline Bags, Swoon and Dog Under My Desk. Perfect for beginners and lots of advice and help available in the facebook groups for each designer. Your basket didn't stand up as you only used interfacing (at a guess). You'd need to use fusible foam to make it stand up.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!