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Wednesday 6 April 2011

Sewing Calamities

Yesterday Laura in a Tangle asked whether anyone else has times when everything seems to go wrong. My answer to this is yes, oh yes! Although i feel i have had a relatively productive week sewing-wise, it has also been one of "those" weeks, yesterday in particular.

I started off with the aim to make myself a little bag to put my sewing bits and bobs in. I am notoriously untidy in a lot of ways, and my sewing room is a complete tip, meaning i can never find anything. Therefore i am endeavouring to be more organised! I decided to make another little zip up bag, which i have made before as a gift for a friend.  Since this was the second time i had made this pattern, i foolishly expected it to be simple. I altered the pattern slightly to make it large enough to accommodate my fabric scissors, chose some lovely fabric from my stash, and began to cut out. The problems started when i attempted to iron on the interfacing. For some reason it just would not lie flat and kept bunching up. I have never had this problem before, and have no idea what caused it. Eventually i managed to get it pretty much unwrinkled, but still not perfect.

Next i began sewing the bag together, and managed to completely fail to get the zip in straight. I then broke a needle on my sewing machine trying to sew over the plasticy bit at the end of the zip (opps!). Although i was cross at the time, in a strange way i kind of feel that breaking my first needle is almost a rite of passage. And i figured out how to change the needle without resorting to the manual, which i was secretly very proud of myself for!

Ultimately my little bag turned out ok, wonky zips aside. I think that if it had been a gift i would have unpicked the zip stitching and done it again, but i must admit that since it was for myself i just couldn't be bothered! The finished product is pretty enough....(even if the zip will possibly always offend me slightly!!)




I really like the fabric i used here...yet again i have used the beautiful "sewing themed" lining, which you can just about see peeping out. I love it!

This week i also began my first foray into dressmaking by cutting out my Butterick B5209 pattern. However, i was slightly overwhelmed by the task! I cannot believe how thin the pattern paper is. I must admit to taking a bit of a slap-dash approach....i have a big sheet i am using for the muslin, and i sort of looked at it and assumed it would be enough. After wrestling with the cutting instructions for a while (there are just too many options for laying out!) i decided to just get on with it. However about halfway through i realised that i did not have enough fabric. Opps. I am currently contemplating sewing some of the remaining fabric together to make enough, since it's only the muslin....has anyone ever done this before? Do you reckon i can get away with it??


In other news my New Look 6557 pattern has also arrived....exciting stuff! I hope you have all been having a more successful week than me :)

K x

3 comments:

  1. Oh no not you too! I hope it's not catching. The bag looks great though.

    Looking at the pattern, i'd recommend not bothering with the skirt part for the muslin (well i wouldn't do it) just do a bodice muslin. Mainly because it's gathered skirt and not fitted at all. But if you do want to do a full muslin, do the bodice in one fabric and the skirt in another I reckon. The different layouts are usually for the different sizes and also for different widths of fabric (selvedge to selvedge). Good luck!

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  2. Sewing is full of ups and downs for me, so you're certainly not alone! I love your sewing bag though, looks perfect from here ;o)

    It's so exciting that you've cut your dress pattern out..have you chosen your fashion fabric yet? I agree with Law's comments above re the muslin by the way.

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  3. Law, thank you so much for the tips, i had not thought of doing a bodice muslin only but it's a great idea and overcomes the problem of my lack of fabric!

    Marie, i have not chosen my fashion fabric yet, i need to get on this! I need to get some for my crescent skirt too. I'm not really sure what i'm looking for yet, but i live in hope that when i see it i'll know...!

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