January 8th, 2012Ooh, A New Hobby!
Because I need a new hobby like I need a (fill in the blank), I’ve decided to take up sewing. It’s purely altruistic, I swear! LilMDP needed a sewing buddy to help conquer her own issues with the machine. I figured since we’re both beginners, we could do quickie sew-alongs together so that we had a support system.
After a stop at the fabric store for some (more) fat quarters, zippers and interfacing, we settled on making a box bag using the tutorial at Drago[knit]fly.
My sewing machine is a hand-me-down from my sister-in-law, so I had to do a little research to figure out the threading path and other operating specifics. My only machine experiences have been with Singers, so there is a bit of reprogramming going on when I try to reach for controls in the wrong places. Eventually, I prevailed and came out with something remarkably bag-like. I learned a good deal on this first project, like I should find a zipper foot and bobbins that fit.
I have a square-ish little bag because I had a 9” zipper, which was waaay short for this project. I compensated by modifying the pattern accordingly. I’m glad years of art, knitting, spinning and cooking have made me completely fearless about changing things to suit the materials I have available.
The tiny bag is actually a very good place to put the random sewing things I’m starting to accumulate as I work on mastering a new craft. After making the bag, I felt that I needed a cute pincushion, so I made one of those, too. I used souvenir fat quarters from Tipsy Star Quilts that we picked up during a run into Asheville while at SAFF in October. The pattern is Square Deal Pincushion, free from Heather Bailey.
Go see LilMDP’s bag & congratulate her on a job well done. I (we) are thinking of a little purse as our next project.
