Month: February 2017

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Rainbow of thread

I look at this wall every day.  There are little reminders, a mermaids fin, a tiny skirt, the ringmasters hat.  What I love the most though is my colorful wall of thread.

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Olympic Bag Making

I think we need to add a new sport to the Olympics, bag making.  Now don’t get me  wrong, just a simple, fairly small bag can be easy to make.  Of course I didn’t pick a fairly small simple bag… no, I decided to do a ginormous bag. Sewing said bag on a regular sewing machine requires at least another set of hands and possibly more pins or clips than the average person owns. After spending a good portion of the day yesterday wrestling with a 40″X40″X1/4″ monstrosity trying to stitch, top-stitch the appropriate places, I decided to take it easy today.  HA!  Is that a joke?  No, instead I reconstruct an accent piece that requires a 1/4 inch hem all the way around.  Thank goodness for fabric glue and clips.

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That bag costs how much???

I used to look at bags at the craft fairs and wonder why in the world they cost so much!  It’s just some fabric… it looks so simple… I could make that much cheaper!  Well… then I started making bags.  In a moment of insight I realized why well made bags are priced they way they are.

66 pieces of fabric and interfacing

9 pieces of hardware

2 zippers

Several hours of cutting out the pieces, pattern matching, measuring and adjusting.  Several more hours pressing, adding interfacing, pressing, top stitching some of the parts, and more pressing, before you even stitch the parts together!  I think by the time I get this one done it will be worth a fortune!

 

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Embracing the Process

I learned patience the first time I made a quilt.  It’s not a thing you can cut out, stitch up and out the door you go.  It takes time and thought.  I’m so glad I had the experience, it has helped me so much in all the sewing I do now.  I appreciate the time, effort and love that go into a project.