After several hours of sewing and pinning and ironing, my baby blankets are finished. I had a bit of trouble with the first one because the fabric kept slipping off of the table when I was trying to sewing a straight line but the second one went much more smoothly. This is my last sewing project that I am going to do for our 20% assignment and I am happy to say that I feel pretty confident using a sewing machine. In the future I think I will continue to make small things like maybe a skirt or more baby blankets. Sewing is pretty time consuming and very detail oriented so I am not sure this will become my new passion. However, I am glad that I chose sewing for this project because sewing is a very useful skill that I am sure I will be able to use in the future. Below are some pictures of my finished blankets. I have given one of them to my sister in law and so far baby Samantha loves it!
So, little did I know but making baby blankets is much more difficult than pillowcases! I have decided to separate these posts into two because I have been working on my blankets but have not been able to complete them yet. So to begin this project I again had to cut and iron my fabric. This was much more difficult because I am now working with two times as much material. Two yards is much different than one! I almost didn't have enough room on my cutting board to fit it all. Once I got both sides of my blanket but and ironed I began to pin around all four sides of the fabric so I would be able to sew the two sides together evenly. The pinning took much longer than anticipated because I first pinned the wrong sides of the fabric together and had to start again from the beginning. Sewing takes a lot of patience and attention to detail that I do not typically have. I admit that I have had to step away from my projects several times so that I would not give up entirely! After I got all of the sides pinned I sat down to start sewing. That is where I am going to leave off until next week. Stay tuned to see completed baby blankets!
For this week I decided to make another pillowcase because although it was fairly straightforward for me last week, this week I do not have my mother-in-law around to help me if I got stuck. So this week, luckily using the most inexpensive fabric that I bought, I got out my scissors and sewing machine and started pillowcase number two. I measured my fabric out quickly and easily and then went straight to the iron to get all of the wrinkles out. Then I chose the thread that I wanted to use for the pillowcase, loaded it into the sewing machine and away I went. Unfortunately this did not last very long because the sewing machine jammed almost immediately :( After a lot of cutting and untangling of the needle, the fabric and the sewing machine I realized that I did not put the thread in the machine the right way but I was able to fix it. Then I sewed the hem and then sewed around the edges of my pillowcase. When I was finished with two of the three sides, I noticed that my pillowcase was extremely uneven. I panicked and thought the whole pillowcase was ruined! Decided to just keep going and ignore the huge mistake I finished the side I was working on. After studying the problem for a few minutes I decided to just cut of the uneven part of the fabric and hope that it would still fit on a standard size pillow. After I finished sewing around all of the edges, I ironed the pillowcase once again and then found a pillow to try it out on. It fit with no problem so I think that when I was in the cutting stage of my project I did not measure something correctly. Either way this pillowcase was another success and I am looking forward to trying out making two baby blankets next week!
This week I began my actual sewing project; a pillowcase! The video I watched on how to make a pillowcase told me it would take only about 30 minutes but 3 hours later my first sewing project was complete. Here is a step by step look at how it went. Step one : Cutting the fabric. I took the measurements I needed for the pillowcase and found out that it was a little bit too long for my actual pillow. So I got out my fresh new sewing scissors and started cutting away. Terrified that I was going to cut too much off, or cut it unevenly, this step took much longer than it should have. Once my fabric was the perfect size, I got out the ironing board and iron to make sure the edges were nice and flat. Then it was time to set up the sewing machine! My mother in law Julie has graciously allowed me to use her mothers old sewing machine which come complete with a table and a matching chair. Although the sewing machine looks dated it still works perfectly. Then it was time to start! First I had to put the thread in the machine, which was surprisingly more difficult than it looked. Then I started sewing! First I made the hem at the top of the pillowcase and then I sewed around the edges. Then one last bit of ironing to make sure everything looks smooth and flat! Success!! my first pillowcase is complete! And it even fit on the pillow! My husband Charlie picked out the fabric so I told him he could have the pillowcase. He loved it!
So I decided that for this project I am going to make two baby blankets and two pillow cases. Obviously, before I could get started on anything I had to go get my fabric! I have to say, it was not easy to choose which fabric would be the best. There were so many options! After about 20 minutes of wandering around the store marveling at the sheer amount of fabric they had to offer, I chose my four fabrics. I bought two that will go together to make my baby blanket and two more that will both be pillow cases. I also bought some brand new fabric scissors because according to me Mom, sewing cannot be done without good scissors. Here are the fabrics I chose. Now that I have my materials it's time to get started! According to my research, the first thing I need to do before sewing is wash and dry the fabric. As soon as I got home from the fabric store I put everything in the wash and I cannot wait until next week when I can actually start on my pillowcases! Stay tuned!
After some thoughtful deliberation I have decided to pursue sewing for my 20% project. As much as I would have loved to work on my strength and fitness by weightlifting, I am not sure if at this time I could have committed to going to the gym often enough to make real progress in just 6 weeks. I guess that will just have to wait until summer. I am very excited to pursue sewing because it will be a very useful skill that, if successful, I will be able to continue to use throughout my life. I will finally be able join the ranks of my fellow women family members and hopefully I will soon be able to compete with them in sewing skills and creative fabric creations. I will know I have succeeded when I am have successfully completed at least two baby blankets and a pillowcase. Anything else I create will be seen as bonus projects. I can hardly wait to hit the fabric store and pick out all of the adorable fabric that I will need for my projects. My plan for the first week is to find two useable and simple sewing patterns for my blankets, then I will head to the store to get my materials. I am hoping that fabric is relatively inexpensive but if not, at least I will be making something useful for my adorable niece and nephew. If this project is successful I would just like to let my family know that their future birthday/Christmas presents will most likely be handmade :)
First Idea: Sewing At the risk of rapidly becoming an old lady, I have always thought that learning to sew would be a useful and fun skill to learn. My Mom, both of my Grandma's, and my 2 sisters are all avid sewers and I feel that it may be time for me to join in on the family hobby. Here are some questions that I have before I start my journey. 1. What kind of sewing should I learn? Sewing machine, hand sewing, needlepoint, etc? 2. What materials will I need? 3. What should I make first? 4. Who can teach me? 5. Are there a lot of online sewing supports/informational videos? 6. Do I have enough patience for sewing? 7. How long will it take me to be proficient/confident in my sewing? 8. Will my husband want me to make his clothes if I learn how to sew? 9. How often will I poke my fingers with a needle if I choose this endeavor? 10. How much money can I save on hemming my clothes if I can do it myself? Second Idea:Weightlifting
My second idea for this project is to explore the world of weightlifting. I have always enjoyed working out but I have never been brave enough to face the weight room at the gym. I know that strength training can be very rewarding regarding overall physical health so I am thinking about starting out a weight training routine. Here are some questions I have to think about before choosing weight lifting as my 20% project. 1. Do I have enough time to get to the gym regularly enough this semester? 2. Will weight training reduce my stress? 3. Do I have access to the right equipment? 4. Is weight lifting more effective than a cardio workout? 5. Will I want to continue with this after my project is over? 6. Will people at the gym make fun of me for having to start with 2 pound weights? 7. How will I ensure that I am lifting properly so I do not get hurt? 8. How will I measure my success on this project? 9. Do I really want to document myself while I am at the gym? 10. Will I need to learn a lot more about different muscle groups and how they function before I get started? |
AuthorThis blog will be to document a project that I will be working on to display my creativity and to engage in learning a new skill. Archives
May 2016
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