My Pretty Little Mess Up

Wow..It's been a while since my last post...I know...I've been slacking!!!!... Surprising, I haven't been totally goofing off though.

Lately, I have been playing with my NEW sewing machine: Brother 17-Stitch Free-Arm Sewing Machine, LX2500

It was a  late birthday present, that came right on time!!! THANKS STEWART! YOU'RE THE BEST!!!  It was not late by any fault of the giver. When I was asked what I wanted for my birthday, I honestly had no clue!!!...I didn't really need or want anything at the time...at least nothing that could be wrapped! ...So I asked could he give me a few weeks to make up my mind. Well my sewing machine made up my mind for me when decided it had had enough of my horrible unique sewing style and totally gave up in a complete metal break down!

  Needless to say I was not happy. I was just beginning to have fun and find my groove once again, when right in the middle of a project, no doubt  - SNAP!

Caused my entire project to be on stand still until I got a new one. I was finally able to finish this skirt (and another one just like it but in a different fabric) when I received my sewing machine a few days later. I had to make the second one because I am new at reading patterns and did not cut out the correct size. My first skirt was a bit on the snug side. Even my daughter couldn't fit into it. So for a bit more practice (and sheer determination that I was going to get it right if it took all year and ever strap of fabric I had), I gave the pattern another try.

The second time around was much easier and it FITS! Just a hair bigger than I would like but nothing a bit of elastic won't fix. I will have to upload the final pictures of both skirts soon.

So after I got my feet wet with the skirts, I wanted to make a cover for my kindle. The fabrics and thread I wanted to use was at home and I had already sketch out and measured everything. Seated in front of my desk, I got started cutting out my fabric and ironing on the interfacing. So far so good—my first time using interfacing and I think I did it correctly. At least it looked good to me. Then I started sewing my first pieces together. Eyeballing everything, the sizes looked to be lining up perfectly. I was so proud of myself. My first very own pattern-Yeah ME!!!

Now I'm at the stage where I need to trim my corner's so that they make pretty little points when I flip my fabric inside out. For whatever reason, "...and trim the bulk..." pops into my head. I assume that I had skimmed over  read those four words somewhere on someone's blog or website when I was looking for ideas.  Not remembering where it came from, I rationalize that the words means  trim some of  the extra fabric that is left between the seam and the raw edge of the fabric--makes sense to me.

 So I get to trimming. First I snip my corners for that perfect-pointy-edge and then I move on to "trimming the bulk". Almost immediately, I get the feeling I should have left my "bulk" alone!!! As I trimmed the final side where I left the opening to flip my fabric inside out, YIKES!!! It's was confirmed...I should have befriended my bulk and enjoyed its company.  I cut my "bulk" too close to the seam and now its unraveling past the seam --good grief Charlie Brown! When I flipped my fabric inside out, more sections began to fray. Its not looking that bad... not that big of a deal. Nothing a little fray-check should fix, right?.  Wrong!!!The end that I left open to flip the fabric inside out, while cutting the “bulk”, I didn’t leave enough "bulk" to close the darn thing—AUUGGGHHH – so much for a good start.

I had to flip the fabric back again, and re-sew the seam a bit wider to make enough fabric to close the hole correctly. This means that all my measurements are now off by 3/8^th of an inch. No biggie, right? Just adjust everything by 3/8^th  inch across the board. Wrong again!!!! That would have been perfect if I had left a 3/8^th of an inch margin for errors in my measurements.

Mental Note: Leave some wiggle room for errors on sketches until you learn what you are doing!!!!!!

So I’m looking at this beautifully sewn piece of fabric that has just been rendered utterly useless for my project thinking, what now?!  It’s too nice to just trash and I'm not wasteful. Frustrated, I threw it in the corner and headed downstairs for dinner. After dinner, I fish out the fabric from behind some miscellaneous items on my desk and begin to flip the fabric this way and that. Bend it here and there still thinking what do I do with this piece of fabric now? I contemplated continuing on with the kindle cover but was no longer in the mood when I found a few more flaws in my sketches.  As I fold this piece of fabric into what looks like elaborate origami shapes, I notice creases have from in a couple areas. I fold it a few different ways using those “natural” creases before it hits me – A Wallet – Simple and Easy! So I grab a few dollars and my checkbook to make sure it would work and UREEKA – it fits!  I finish things up with a top stitch all the way around and my wallet is complete.  I add a little bias tape on two of the sides to cover up my decomposing edges for enforcement and color and this is what I was left with: 

Wallet Open

Wallet Closed

Back of Wallet

Inside of Wallet

I  must admit...I'm quite happy with my little mess up. For now, I have given up on trying to make a cover for my kindle. The one that I have is boring black but it covers and protects - why fix what ain't broken!?!?  In the mean time, I am working on a lunch bag for Carmesha. She doesn't  really carry her lunch that much for school but maybe a cool bag personalized just for her will encourage her to start.

I used Photoshop to create all the elements for this cool layout that will be printed on the front of her bag:

I can't wait until its finished. 

Thanks for stopping by. Stay Blessed, 

Carmen