Sew Becky Jo

January 27, 2013

DIY Cheap Baby Clothes Series – Mill End Store

I want to prove that I can do better for less than even clearance clothes. I picked up some knit pants and a shirt for Zoe in size 18 months at Fred Meyers (aka Krogers) for the clearance price of $4.97 each…let’s round and say $5. It doesn’t get much cheaper than that and they look it – we’re talking hot pink velour and leopard print, hey-oh!

So I pulled out a pile of knits fabric and scraps including a 1 yard remnant at the Mill End Store for $4.99…again, rounding to $5.

I took an old onesie in the 9 month size to take apart and make an upsized pattern. Now this part is not an original post, per se, nor is saving money without sacrificing quality. I can’t improve on Dana…I don’t really think anyone can…she is the master of the deconstruction process, and my shirt pattern is based off of her pattern tracing and her 90-minute shirt that she posted almost 5 years ago! So, yeah. This is partially inspired by Dana’s hard work and you can either follow her tutorial or buy a pattern. The pants pattern I already have been using for about 9 months.

An added bonus of working with knits is that the bolts are ~59 inches wide…so a yard is almost 5 feet by 3 feet! Yatzy! On my first cut, I fit 1 baby shirt and 1 pair of pants.

Note I folded in the pants on the side seems as I only need 1/4″ seem allowance – your mileage may vary. I’m also using a serger for most of my knit construction which makes using a 1/4″ seem allowance a LOT easier. On my second cut, I got another full shirt pattern and approximately 5 yards of 2-inch binding strips which I’ll get back to later.

Now, if you’ve read Dana’s tutorial, you’ll know I’m loosely following her instructions. I only want 2″ binding strips; I believe she used 4″ strips and ribbed….this is partially just aesthetic so do what you will. Regarding direction of stretch fabric and cutting, I just try to remember which way I want it to stretch over the head/butt and cut that way. I don’t want to get bogged down into what Creative Gemini has already discussed better in a video here.

I cut strips from a sparkly greenish fabric from Joann’s and serged the edges in gray. I used 1/4 yard that I got as a remnant for $2.50 when I bought the rest of a bolt.

When I can, I try to sew in what I call “production mode” and sew in groupings such as serge all the binding, sew on all binding, serge all edges that can be serged at once…etc.

After constructing the shirt, I did the bottom binding last. I increased it to 3″ and pinned it a bit lower to add a bit more length to keep baby belly covered better. I used a sewing machine to sew on the binding and sew in the sleeves as I know how. I’m only adding in photos of the few things I’ve done a bit differently than Dana, but more or less it’s the same as her tutorial. For the pants, I followed the pattern directions albeit altered for serging.

For this project, here’s the final grouping.

Keep in mind that there is a lot of 2 inch binding to use which I will $0-out on a later project. My pants pattern was something like $2-3 a dozen pairs of pants ago, so I’m calling that a wash. I made the Dana tutorial shirt pattern which was free (thank you Dana!)

So, fabric total is $7.50 divided between 3 articles of clothing = $2.50 each

Stay tuned, there will be more. I still have 2 yards of that sparkly, “may crock” fabric, a really bad clearance/remnant bin habit and kids that won’t stop growing. I may even throw in some trendy “upcycling” jargon.

Ok, ok, so the thread is negligible when buying in serger-sized bulk, and my serger happened to be a gift from my awesome mom. My sewing machine was not a gift and is in what is called the mid-price range but I can’t really price machines out or their value as that’s up to the individual user.

January 15, 2013January 17, 2013

Sewing Gadgets – Bobbin Winder

Next to my rotary cutters, my bobbin winder is my favorite sewing gadget. I have the Wrights SideWinder I picked up with, you guessed it, a coupon at Joann’s.

I haven’t even figured out how to use the bobbin winder on my Viking – why? This little guy does it fast, easy and I don’t have to rethread my machine, stop a project, change thread colors…and I can do a dozen in a few minutes with no hassle. My Viking has very specific bobbins, but I’ve also used my winder with an old Kenmore and a Janome and it works great on all 3 very different bobbins.

Vikings in particular are very….particular. This is my bobbin.

Most (newer) bobbins have a thread hole you pull the thread through before winding to keep it secure until it has a few rounds of thread in it. My Viking logo has to face down on my winder to get the thread the right direction and depending on your machine, that may not be necessary. My little Swedish bitch is picky, though, and everything has to be name brand.

I pop the bobbin on, slide the guide to the bobbin – when it reaches thread capacity, it turns the winder off. I lightly hold the string from the hole and let the winding pull it from my fingers – that is my highly technical way of getting the thread started.

When it’s done, it stops. I pop off the bobbin, trim the thread, and do it again.

Here is the whole machine in action…again, my fussy Viking likes Gütermann thread or better…so I buy the big spools usually in neutral colors like cream and gray – a trick I learned from mom the quilt master.

That should be capped. Mom The Quilt Master. It’s a reverent title.

Your mileage may vary – just do the thread test: if you can pull on the thread and it snaps easily, it’s going to snap in your machine. That is bad. Save it for basting, or what I like to call, hand-sewing that there’s no way in hell I’m going to do.

This pile makes me happy. I will still scream in pain as if I was bit by Cujo every time my bobbin runs out and I notice after I’ve gone several inches along…but it’s a little less dramatic if I know I have a pile of bobbins waiting to fill it.

January 10, 2013December 10, 2013

Starch Fabric Kitchen Cabinets {Tutorial}

I don’t know what it is about moving into a new rental, but I always go through the same series of steps:

I don’t do anything to make it “home-y” because it’s temporary.
I get tired of it not being home-y because it’s boring so I do a few things to make it better.
I get really frustrated because I should have just dug in and made it great and now I’m going to put in the effort.

I still will not paint, because I know me…and I know when we leave I’m not going to want to re-paint. I’ve done that and even a little Chinese red guest bathroom is a monumental chore to turn back to white when all you want to do is move on.

These next few months are going to have a lot of ‘fixing the home’ thrown in with my usual sewing/cooking/family adventures.

Today is fabric starching. This is an old, blurry, worn out photo of me in 1979. The wall behind me is not wallpaper, but starched fabric. I’ve mentioned before, my mom is amazing.

First, start with boring, ugly, beat-up cabinets. Give the surface a good wipe down just to make sure your starch will stick.

I went to Target to get starch. I wanted to get the liquid in the jug kind to dip the fabric, but they didn’t have any. These 2 cans of spray starch, little did I know, would be even better. They were priced at 95 cents each and had 55 cent coupons on them, so this was less than a buck. I’ve read tutorials where people used cornstarch but I have a healthy fear of insect infestations. Food-based starch = potentially nasty bugs. No thank you. Your phobias may vary.

I used about 4.5 yards of fabric for a mid-sized apartment kitchen. So, at Joann’s, this Alexander Henry fabric is about $13 a yard, and with a 40% off coupon making 5 yards for $25.

I highly recommend pre-washing your fabric. This will help prevent any color bleeding that may occur and put you back at square one for repainting when you leave. Also, it will help prevent shrinkage as it dries after starching.

Measure once, then measure again. Write it down unless your brain has fewer holes than mine.

Measure every cabinet. You will be surprised how one is actually a half an inch larger than the one next to it. Superior architecture in apartments and all….my little cabinets over my fridge are a half an inch smaller in width than the little ones over the stove vent. I would have loved to have been at the planning meeting for that one. No, not really.

I didn’t take a photo of me cutting the fabric…I’m pretty sure you can figure out how to cut fabric…I used my mat/rulers/rotary cutter because I’m slick like that, but a pair of scissors and squaring up on a book should do just fine. You’re going to trim the fabric to the cabinet later anyway, so don’t sweat it too much.

Spray the cabinet on the top lightly to ‘tack’ the fabric to it so it will sort of hold…and get ready for your house to smell like “Fresh Laundry Scent” aka turn on a fan.

Hold the fabric and spray the sh*t out of it. Really saturate it. Like…dripping off the cabinet kind of wet.

Smooth fabric out and down as gently as possible. I tried using a sponge, but ended up preferring my fingers to smooth out the bubbles versus the lumpy texture of a million layers of apartment paint. Also, I found the sponge stretched the fabric too much. I did use the sponge to dab the excess starch and catch some of the drips.

Like in this fuzzy picture, use your ridiculously long thumb nail or a butter knife to press into the corners if your cabinets are framed like mine. If not, ignore this part.

You’re going to have some overlap as the fabric gets wet and stretches a bit. This is an easy fix. Depending on the quality of your fabric and whether or not you pre-washed it, it will shrink up some after it dries. The rest is easily taken care of.

When it’s dry in a couple hours, you are going to take a MF-in’ SHARP box knife and slice the fabric excess. Unless you’re afraid of marring the cabinets…then just pull away slightly and trim. Don’t worry….it’s ok….just wait and see….

I went through 2 blades, both sides. The fabric peels away SUPER easily.

And whether you pull away and cut or use this method, you’re going to get some fray and peeling. It’s ok. Don’t freak.

You were a genius and got the uber cheap spray starch, right? Right. So just spray that little corner, dab it back down, smooth any threads, and you’re golden.

Check on your adorable helper and make sure they’re doing alright.

Stand back. Admire your handy work.

And the final touch? My mom’s colander from 1979.

This took me a weekend’s time but if you don’t have kids/meals/craziness you would easily get this done in a day and, again, less than $26. You have no excuses. Get off your butt and fix your kitchen!

:::UPDATE!! ONE YEAR LATER HERE!:::

January 9, 2013January 10, 2013

Ruffler Foot Review

I went in a few months after getting my new machine to get a walking foot and a binding foot. The funny part is the lady that helped me sold me a ruffler foot, not a walking foot, and I can’t blame her because I didn’t look closely at the box before I left the store! When I got home I realized the mistake and called the store to find out they’re out of walking foots. Le sigh. So…I found myself making a Big Sister skirt for a baby shower and thought, what the hell, let’s take that ruffler foot for a ride!

Now, a ruffler foot for a Viking is NOT cheap. We’re talking $70-80 not cheap. But on the other hand, I hate hate hate hand sewing unless it’s embroidery. Hate hate hate it. So…yeah, what the hell!

Look at it. That’s a beast of a foot. It has adjustable length between ruffle tucks so you can make it a really loose ruffle or super gathered, it had NO problem making ruffles in minky….and frankly I can’t imagine it would have an issue with any fabric…the mechanism with the teeth that pushes the fabric into tucks as you sew….it’s a beast! I admit it. It scared me a little (LOT).

You can see here some practice ruffle:

And here’s the ruffle attached to the big girl skirt….super cute if I do say so myself:

Now compared to the hand-gathered version:

I tend to prefer the ruffler foot and I’m not giving it back. Ever.

Ok, I am a bit scared of it and it is a bitch to put on the machine….and if you don’t do it right….like line up the part that holds on to the needle bolt on the shank and tighten it all down really good, you get this:

A needle breaking is a loud, scary thing….and when I’m on a $$ machine with a $$ foot attached to it and I hear the ruffler foot do its “katchunk” thing and then the “SNAP/BANG” sound of a needle breaking….I make some sounds of my own like “Motherf…..!”

All is fine though, and I’m a lot less ginger tightening those bolts now!

January 8, 2013January 10, 2013

French Seam Beauty

The beauty in a clean French seam is undeniable, but it’s also so very handy when dealing with fabrics that really like to fray but you don’t want to bother with the serger right that moment.

As usual I was in Joann’s and found a fine wale corduroy in a bright turquoise print that I just had to have 5 yards of…figuring I’d do something with it. It never fails when I do that, the nice lady at the counter asks what I’m going to do with it because who would buy that much fabric without a plan?!?! HAHAHA…me. Always…me. It does fray like crazy though, and while it has been turned into bibs and blankets where the seams are enclosed, I wanted to make Zoe a pair of pants in the fabric.

I’ve made these pants so often, I can just about do it with my eyes closed. It’s the same New Look 6793 pattern I’ve been using for her…just slowly unfolding the hem line down as she gets bigger! I haven’t bothered with the flouncy edge in the pattern or even gotten to the dresses! They’re good, roomy pants though for active babies.

Sewing a French seam is sort of weird at first because you have to sew it together right-side-out so that it will look ‘right’ inside out. You still end up using 5/8″ seam allowance – and much more efficiently in my opinion.

I sew a 1/4 inch seam and then trim it down to about 1/8 inch.

Then, when the pants are inside out, you’re ready to go over your seams and enclose them with another 1/4″ and with the fold, will use the majority of the 5/8″ seam allowance:

I think here with my hand and small scissors you can get an idea of scale and how neat and finished the inside seams are:

Turned right side out and the finished seam is squared and tight.

Then, if you’re like me, you tinker with whatever you have on hand to make something to go with it….like the pile of onesies!

Snip out a tree…ironed to a light weight stabilizer of course…

Stitch to onesie:

And admire the cute.

January 7, 2013January 10, 2013

Buy A Serger?

Sergers have gotten a lot less expensive, sure. Brother makes a really well reviewed serger for about $200. Heck, it has the new lay-in thread method where my older Janome/MyLock has knobs….and my Janome, while not even close to top of the line, was a lot more than $200. But some of the advice I’ve read out there to get a serger or not get a serger never quite get to the real dedication one needs to have a serger.

I love my serger. Sergers make fabrics that love to fray like flannel and corduroy much more enjoyable. Try to give a mother of a newborn new flannel pants for her baby and watch her hate you a month later after she’s picked an infinite amount of lint out of her baby’s diaper area….not good.

And as much as I LOVE a good French seam, when you’re doing a dozen pairs of flannel pants for Christmas, the serger is so much faster. Look at this flannel interfacing, enough for 4 coats…takes minutes:

My issue isn’t with the serger. My issue is you need to respect the serger. That $200 machine is just burning money if you don’t respect the serger. Sergers are the infants of the sewing world. You have to love and baby them often or they throw a tantrum of epic proportions. Doubt me? Call up your local dealer, ask them how often they see frozen up sergers and what the cost is for repair. It’s not pretty. These photos of lint are from the little pile of flannel interfacings above:

Of course sewing flannel on anything is going to make a ton of lint. It’s that plus the other maintenance. You should run every sewing machine you have at least once a month to keep it happy and moving. The owner’s manual to my serger reads to oil every 2 weeks. It’s not like a food processor that you can just leave in the cabinet until you take it out once every 6 months. Are you really going to sew with your serger that much? I’ve had a serger freeze up. A friend gave me an old 3-spool that was sitting around, I tinkered with it long enough to have it freeze up. Took it in, and it costs more to fix it than replace it. If I didn’t sew as much as I do, and I’m barely on the cusp of sewing enough, I would not have a serger. Pinking sheers, zig-zag stitch, French seams….there’s plenty of other options for clean seams. A serger not only takes a financial dedication, it takes a hefty time dedication.

That said, there are financial benefits to a serger. I can go into the fabric discount aisle (this was the Mill End Store) and pick out a <1 yard remnant of a knit and use a pattern I’d normally need more than a yard for. I know I’ll only use 1/4 seams on the serger instead of the 5/8 inch seams allotted on the pattern, so I can fudge a fit in a simple leggings design for my daughter:

These pants are a size 12ish girls and cost less than $5 with elastic and thread factored in and took less than an hour with the serger doing all the seems and edges. I finished the hem and waist band with the sewing machine.

January 7, 2013

Pantone Color of the Year Rant

Ok, I’m going to try to get this out of my system once and for all.

Pantone has somehow convinced y’all they’ve always been some fashion leader. Kudos to their marketing department for that coup de grâce.

Don’t get me wrong…I love Pantone! I’ve owned many Pantone color books over the years. Yes, Pantone color books. For printing. It’s this thing we used to do. We used to design on our huge desktop computers for print. One would tell the printer the colors chosen by using a Pantone books so they could match the colors. You know, CMYK and all that. This was a big deal for things like Annual Reports and brochures for mail that goes to a real mailbox.

But Pantone was not fashion forward. The fashion world would always be at least a year ahead of your Pantone book. This is why you can color mix yourself in PhotoShop and Illustrator…if anything, we in the design world would wait for Adidas or NIKE to announce the coming season’s fashion colors because they were the ones pushing the fashion color envelope. NOT Pantone. I once used a metallic burnt orange ink with blue on an annual report 3 years after Audi made the color popular on their A4. Not really fashion forward.

The absurdity would make me laugh if it wasn’t for the fact that Pantone has rewritten their history in the fashion world and you all bought it, hook, line and emerald green sinker.

January 6, 2013January 10, 2013

Binding Foot Review

I have a lovely, glorious, beautiful Husqvarna Viking Sapphire 835 that I bought last fall. It took a lot of money, for me, and a lot of mommy guilt to get over on spending that much on myself so I must refer to it as the lovely, glorious, beautiful….you get the idea.

I went in to the dealer a couple months later to get a walking foot, for knits and quilting, and a binding foot (aka adjustable bias binder) because I read a great review on See Kate Sew. In fact, I highly recommend the See Kate Sew blog, she does lots of cute stuff and regarding the binding foot, she took some great, detailed photos. In fact, she even did a follow up binding foot review for another manufacturer.

Anywho, I love bias tape but have done my share of swearing getting it lined up perfectly, or even close to perfect, all in the name of not having to hand-sew it on. I got this adorable 1-inch binding on clearance at Dove for these procrastination placemats …and they’re back in the procrastination pile because I just can’t stand simple placemats taking a ton of effort on my part.

So the magical binding foot is going to cure all my binding woes….well, not quite.

It’s a simple foot and with my machine’s click on shank, it pops on pretty easily.

You’ve got to feed the bias tape into the foot, adjust the gauge to the right size so it continues to feed correctly, attach the foot, move your thread into position through the foot, then slide your fabric in-between the bias tape sides into position to start. Takes some finagling – so much for simple, pop-on shank….

Once you have it all lined up and ready to go, it’s amazing. AH-Mazing-ING. I can’t sew this close and straight on my best day, even with a glorious machine. Do you see this perfection?

Ok, and now for some caveats. The dismount. Sigh. This is a pair of baby pant hems, so I tried 2 different ways to finish the circle of the cuff. Sewing straight through isn’t going to happen…it just gets hung up on itself and you get this funk:

It seems taking the whole dang thing off, attached to the garment, taking it apart, then lining up and sewing it is the best plan…

The pants turned out adorably and are often worn.

The other issue is that there’s no way one can do a mitered corner with this foot. I don’t even want to think of what a pain that would be…yeah…don’t want to think about it. Now, the procrastination placemats (TM) are oversized and I could conceivably round the corners which I just may do and use the foot….later…

Overall, I’m happy with the purchase. It was under $30 I think, or somewhere in there, and I can see how binding a large (rounded corner) quilt could be very satisfying with being able to pretend I had something to do with my stitching lining up so perfectly. If it was anymore than what I paid, however, I’d be a lot more sour about it.

December 26, 2012October 22, 2019

How To Clean Spray Baste

I’ve updated this post here. Better camera, better photos, better tutorial, less editorial. 😉

I really think that sometimes people like getting offended just for the sake of being offended. Or they like to argue, get their panties in a bundle, feel personally affronted….all because they are bored with their lives. These people must have all kinds of extra time on their hands that I just can’t fathom and, honestly, wouldn’t want. I like being busy.

Let’s take spray baste as an example. You mention spray baste on a quilting forum and you’re going to get a lecture on how you should really put 5000 pins in a quilt while in a cabin in the woods while making your own goat milk cheese because spray baste is so toxic and the fumes and you’re going to die and it’s so bad and evil…from people typing this on plastic computer, using wifi, with minerals from slave labor in the African Congo….yeah. I don’t want to hear it. I just wanted to know how to get off too much spray baste.

I like spray baste. I have a can of June Tailor right now and it’s just fine. At least I think it’s June Tailor…I don’t really care. It works. I sew woven fabric to minky a lot, and it’s a life saver. See. I make cute stuff:

Minky, with all the pins in the world, using whatever foot you want, serger or sewing machine, will stretch, move, go to 7-eleven, and make sewing really difficult. Spray baste solves that. It’s a light, tacky spray that just barely holds the two together long enough to get the job done, which is all I require of it. I can adjust the minky over and over until everything is together, and it stays together through sewing.

Now, occasionally, I will get a little heavy handed with the spray, as anyone will, and there will be some residue, which will grab lint in the washer and you’ll get something like this.

I looked for help, hence the rant about zealots. The most helpful person was Julie at Crafty Quilter but it wasn’t quite enough info as she’s a pro and I screw up. So, I went through a few cleaners, of course all non-toxic, super good for the environment, blah blah blah to find what would work to clean it off…ok, mostly to find what would take off the adhesive but not melt the minky or stain the fabric. I love, LOVE Bio-Kleen products. The Bac-Out is better than Spray’n’Wash x1000 and the cleaner/degreaser stuff is wonderful for everything else and can be quite strong depending on the concentration level. Did. Not. Do. A. Thing.

Then! THEN!! I remembered my friend, Sabrina. Oh, Sabrina is a goddess of stage and performance. The woman wrote her college thesis on corsetry. CORSETRY! That blows my mind. I’m not sure I even know how to spell cooorrrssseeetttrrryy. Anyway, Sabrina is the person theatres call for help and one time she was telling me about working backstage at The Lion King, and how they spray down the costumes in between with alcohol in spray bottles. Sometimes, they use 50% diluted cheap vodka in a spray bottle.

Vodka!

I don’t drink because I become an entire episode of Cops if I do, BUT I do have isopropyl alcohol on hand because when you have 4 kids, there will be blood.

Oh, hotdog, that did the trick! Just brush in one direction with toothbrush dipped in ~~booze~~ 99% isopropyl alcohol and it comes right up.

Open a window if you get high from the fumes, throw the blanket back in the wash one more time so the baby doesn’t get high from the fumes, and you’re golden.

December 21, 2012January 9, 2013

Oh Sh*t, That’s Not Right – Stocking & Toner Fail

So, yesterday I posted my most professional, lovely, perfect stockings.

What I didn’t say was how many times *&$%@ came out of my mouth.

Toner. Laser printer toner is adhered to paper by heat – it’s melted to the paper. Soooo, let’s say one prints a pattern with a laser printer, it gets a little wrinkled, so one just nonchalantly decides to iron it out….the toner WILL MELT AGAIN. Now, my work background is such that I know this. I have lectured people on passing laser printed paper back through the printer. I know printing. What did I do?

I did my damnedest to make sure I can buy myself a new iron.

The poor, 2 year old T-fal is toast. So, I’m hoping Santa brings funds for a nice new Oliso. I’m not going to hold my breath.

The other thing…yeah. I get a little hurried and arrogant when I’m on a roll, and this happened:

I don’t want to talk about it. This is between me and my seam ripper.

December 20, 2012January 9, 2013

DIY Christmas Stocking – Strip Quilting

The hardest part about making a Christmas stocking, in my opinion, is finding the right-shaped pattern. So many are too pointy, too skinny, too small, too…not what I envision to hold a bunch of fun little gifts.

Finally, just weeks before Christmas, I found a pattern I like. Sure, it’s been there since 2010 and it’s on one of my favorite sites, but why make it easy on myself? It’s this one here on the fabricworm.com blog and even has a tutorial, but I’ve discussed before time and again how I have issues with instructions. The shape is perfect, the size is perfect, but I didn’t really want a cuff and I wanted to add in the complication of strip quilting. Ok, strip quilting is really easy, I just like to make it sound hard and all fancy. It’s really just taking some fabric which can be scraps, a bundle of fat quarters or whatever you want, cutting it in strips of whatever size, then sewing it together in stripes. Quilt/top sew it down to the batting – done.

Here’s an example of a pile I gathered:

I had been saving the Moda Japanese-modern looking fabric for ‘just the right project’ for at least 8 years and it’s perfect for my man’s stocking (and I still have > 1.75 yards left to covet.) I cut them in strips, sewed them together, pinned the fabricworm pattern to it, and cut it out.

Cut out 2 pieces of batting – I prefer front and back batting, but you may not. I certainly do NOT recommend the synthetic batting you see here, but I have some left over from a Halloween project and decided to use it up. I wasn’t terribly concerned about it not being flat because once I quilted it down, I just trimmed the excess. Not a big deal.

Next, cut 2 of the lining and sew together, wrong sides facing, then turn right side out.

Put the lining in the sock, right sides facing. Start sewing an inch from where you’re going to insert your loop and stop an inch before. This gives you a hole to turn the thing all right-side-out.

hole to turn right side out aka birthing

I cut about a 4 inch length of white grosgrain ribbon, folded it in half, and pinned it in the hole.

pin in loop to top-stitch; try not to flip the bird to the camera

Top-stitch around and presto, chango, MAN stocking.

He said it looks a little “David Bowie.” I can live with that.

So, maybe you have a kid that really wants a StarWars stocking?

You can’t deny the Yoda. What? You don’t have scorpion camo in your fabric stash? Pfft. here’s a different look at sewing in the right side to right side lining in and MORE Scorpion Camo!

Yoda looks completely indignant against paper garland.

Did I stop at just one stocking? NO. Did I stop at two stockings?? HELLS NO. (do people still say hells no?)

This last one, I had a 4 fat quarter pack that I bought, loved and didn’t know what to do with (familiar theme again) so I thought I’d see if I could make a complete stocking out of it….and BAM!

December 20, 2012January 10, 2013

Epic Quilting Fail

My brain is such that I like to just start working on a project. It doesn’t really matter if I know anything about HOW to work on said project, I’ll get it in my head to just start. Git’in and git’er done. I’ll have the line of Point A to Point X lined up in my head and I’ll figure out the details as I go.

This works for me. I will fail, I will have epic mistakes, I will learn hands-on, and I will obsess and THEN go back and read ~~destructions~~ instructions. I will read, research and devour everything on the subject until I get frustrated that I can’t find something I haven’t already read/done/know.

This makes for a fantastic blooper pile that I get to giggle over. I’m happy to say the blooper-to-success ratio is moving more in my favor as I go along, but my “git’er done” mentality still makes for some hilarious F-ups.

Take my first quilt, for example. I love it. It’s on our bed. It’s ginormous. And it was all done completely wrong.

I had this vision of a simple patchwork, country-bumpkin, 30’s influence red and green blanket of comfy.

I got a bunch of fabric from my mom’s huge 30-year stash and filled in a bit here and there. I borrowed my mom’s Kenmore, also over 30 years old, and started sewing. On the basting stitch setting.

As you can see, it’s already unraveling. My mom, a master quilter, looked at it, told me what I did, then told me about “nesting seams” (note title of linked page: Quilting Basics) all the while never snickering at this mess like I am now.

I love my mom.

Then, I sewed them all together in long strips, because then logically I could then sew the strips together, of course!

Yeah. And that is how you get colossally miss-matched seams. (At this point, I’m using a Janome 6260QC and luckily it did a LOT of the thinking for me….no more weird thread tension or stitch length issues due to user-fail.)

This made picking corners to tie-quilt….interesting. By the end, I had already read everything I had done wrong up until this point, picked random (aka creative math) corners to tie, rounded the corners to more easily bind it (LOVE Dove Trims 50 yard rolls of bias tape), threw it on the bed, and called it good.

I can confidently say now….I’m happy that I went the route I went. I couldn’t have learned more (or had it sink in better) any other way.