carrotflowers

Made: another headband

I actually made this quite awhile ago but realized I never wrote about it. This is actually my 2nd, the first I wrote about here.

Project Notes: The first time I made it, I thought it was too wide and too loose. This was a long time ago, but comparing the 2 headbands, I suspect I either sewed the 2nd with a larger SA, or just cut my pieces down a little.

Mistakes/Complications: I didn’t really make any mistakes per se, although the result was too tight to be comfortable. Comparing the 2 I see the overall length of the 2nd was shorter by almost an inch. I shortened the fabric, and then lengthened the elastic - but not by enough.

Notes for Next Time: The overall length of the first headband, (after I’d adjusted the elastic) ended up being good in terms of comfort. Next time I make it, I need to make sure the overall length of the headband matches the first, a little over 10″, even if I shorten the fabric length and lengthen the elastic.

Made: two new bags

I recently made a couple of bags for a friend. I’ve made each of these patterns before. The first is a pattern from Amy Karol’s Bend the Rules sewing book. It’s a sweet little pattern, although it makes for a tiny bag. So I decided to also make a larger bag as well, based on the tinyhappy pattern. The trouble I have with the tinyhappy pattern is closing the strap. First I don’t sew by hand very well, and second it tends to get a bit bulky for me, where the ends meet and need to be hand sewn. I had the idea to not sew the ends into one strap at all, but to instead add buttons and have the 2 ends button together to form the strap. I also added a ribbon closure instead of doing a button and loop.

Project Notes: The modifications to the tinyhappy pattern, modest as they were, went well. The trickiest part for me is having the ribbon face the right way when I sew it in.

Mistakes/Complications: The repeated mistake I make is easily recovered from but not ideal. I often forget to leave an opening in the lining to pull the outside fabric through, and I have to rip stitches to make an opening. Not properly closing the seam on each end of the opening does not please me.

Notes for Next Time: I’ve begun marking the 2 spots, on the piece which needs it, where to leave the opening. This helps me remember when I’m sewing.

Made: variation of Jordy bag for my moms

I made my mom a charming handbag (that is the name of the pattern from Amy Karol’s Bend the Rules Sewing) for Christmas. Two months later she called me and gleefully told me it was all worn out and she needed a new bag. Now, lucky for her she had been calling me every once in a while since Christmas to hint about future features she would like in a new bag - dimensions, outer pocket, etc. So when she managed to “wear out” her Christmas gift, I already knew what to make.

It is a variation of the bag pattern from the Jordy tutorial on craftster. Here are a couple of photos and my notes.

Project Notes: I did not interface anything because the outer fabric was a home dec weight, from Amy Butler’s Forest line. What else to say? I was happy with the color/design combination of these fabrics.

Mistakes/Complications: My only ‘mistake’ was that I made the inner pocket too deep. I meant it to hold a cell phone but if you put a phone in there, chances are you would be digging it out! Oops.

Notes for Next Time: this is a pretty customizable design. Coming up with a flap would be cool. Embellishing with buttons or ribbon would be cute. And if no flap, then maybe some kind of ribbon closure or a button and loop closure would make a nice addition.

Want to make: Corkboard wall pocket

sewmamasew’s handmade holidays’ posts were jammed with great projects. Here’s another for the to do list. I fell in love with the fabric in the pics, so much that I procured some for myself; it just came last week.

Corkboard Wall Pocket!

I have a headband!

Feeling industrious, I completed the headband the night after the last post. Not that it was hard, mind you.

Project Source: this tutorial, as previously noted.

Project Notes: I used elastic that came with my father in law’s dress shirt, wrapped around the fancy box. It’s much fancier than plain elastic! I made the thinner of the 2 templates offered. I only interfaced one of the fabrics; it wasn’t clear whether I was to do both.

Mistakes/Complications: I made the elastic 4 inches as spec’d, which was way too loose. I then lazily just folded it in a little and sewed it tighter. Now it is a little too tight. As you can see from the photo, you can also see a little of the reverse fabric peeking out. Poor ironing, I suppose.

Notes for Next Time: It’s a little wide as is, make it 1/2″ narrower overall. Also cut the elastic 1/2″ shorter, that’s probably shorter enough.

I want a headband!

Me and my bangs, we’re done. I failed to schedule a haircut for tomorrow, Saturday, for the 3rd week in a row, as I always do. So before I embark on anything else, I am going to make this headband from a tutorial which, like the pincushion, I read about on sewmamasew’s Handmade Holidays. Why do I keep bringing it up but never link it? Because I’m just gonna add it to my blogroll before the sun rises.

I made a pincushion.

I started learning to sew in September 2007, so this is not my first sewing project. But I completed it recently and I thought a pincushion was thematically apt to open a blog about sewing.

Project Source: this tutorial, which I chose after maybe an hour of googling. The pincushion idea had originally been sparked by sewmamasew’s handmade holidays blog posts, and I think the one I eventually chose was featured there in the first place.

Project Notes: this was super easy and super short. You make your own 2.5″ square template. What I really love, besides the design, is that it is the super perfect thing for small scraps of fabric you love. Yay! Also, my previous picushion, generously donated by my mom, was really some kind of stiff hackeysack? And it bent many pins that I tried to stick (or rather shove) into it. In comparison, my pins now slide in like buttah. Faboo.

Mistakes/Complications: I forgot to add the seam allowance while cutting my pieces. So I guess my end product was smaller than it was meant to be. But I don’t think of this as a real problem, and I heart my pincushion anyway.