I may have a problem

I made another purse.

Okay, technically, I made two purses. See, I bought some very pretty fabric and there was only another half of a yard left on the bolt. So of course I went ahead and purchased the remaining fabric for 50% off the retail price. That extra fabric allowed me to mess up royally and still have plenty of fabric to cover up my sewing shortcomings.

Anyway, I saw this adorable pleated purse over on How About Orange. Jessica makes it sound like she's not the best sewer in the world, so I figured that this might be a somewhat safe project for me to tackle. The pattern found on My Spare Time is really easy to follow and free to download (score!).

I had every intention of giving the finished project to my best friend, but that didn't happen. Let's be honest, I'm somewhat of a crazed perfectionist and I know my friend's mom is a phenomenal sewer. Therefore, in my mind there was no way I could give my friend a bag that had uneven seams and some odd fabric match ups. So, I kept the bag for myself. BUT, I decided that the bag is still super cute and with my extra fabric I should definitely make another bag.

I took my time, learned from my previous errors and didn't even have to use my seam ripper once (which is a drastic change from my first attempt). The finished product was super cute. As in too cute that it made me hate my first bag and I had to get that new bag out of my house ASAP!!!

(insert bright idea light) Mmmm, I should give this bag to my mom for a Mother's Day present. I had that idea while I was making it, but I kept doubting myself. Really, I thought I was a bit old to be giving my mom a handmade present. Then, I got thinking and thought it was actually kind of endearing since my mom did give me the gift card that I used to purchase my sewing machine. Okay, it seemed logical in my mind. Plus, my mom liked her gift. Ha! Victory is mine!!!

Apparently, I'm a sucker for pleated purses. This bag is much bigger than the famous Buttercup Bag and I'm amazed with how much stuff I can cram into this baby.


Closeup of the fabric, which I fell in love with at first sight.


So here's my problem, I'm somewhat of a purse whore and I'm worried that if I keep making my own purses that my hubs and sister may stop buying me nice purses. I don't know if I'm quite ready to have my designer purse fix drastically cut, but I really do enjoy sewing. I'm already eye balling a few Amy Butler patterns. Eeeek!

Better late than never

Sorry for not posting this week, but I'm being overly cautious with my computer. However, I did actually finish a project last week and that accomplishment deserves to be shared. I made the ever popular Buttercup Bag, which is a fantastic bag designed by the ever creative Made by Rae. Oh, did I mention that it is a free pattern? Well, it is, so you should head on over there and make a bag for yourself.

Anyway, here's my bag:

The outer fabric was a fat quarter snagged at Joann's for $1.49. The inner fabric, which is hard to see from the photo, is a simple khaki fabric I had laying around. Add in the $1.39 for four sets of magnetic snaps, a bit of string, a whole lot of patience and seam ripping and the bag wasn't all that expensive to put together. It's a lot lighter than the heavy purses I normally carry, so the first time I wore it out I kept freaking out and thought that I lost it (the purse, not my mind... well, that's up for debate).

I think I have quite a bit to improve, but since fabric is relatively cheap, I think I'll be able to handle a few trial and errors along the way to becoming a better sewer (sewist?). I picked up three yards of fabric this week and I'm hoping my next bag comes along a bit smoother.

If anyone wants to share any cool sites for downloading free patterns, please feel free to do so.

The beginnings of a sewing table

As I have previously mentioned, the hubs suggested moving things around in our office/second bedroom/PS2 room/aspiring craft room/catchall room for everything else in our house that we don't want to store down in the basement. Yeah, it's a crazy room and it's ridiculously small, which makes this transformation even more challenging. Last night we played with various layouts and we finally came up with one that works. Yes, my current reading books are being stored on the floor, but that just means I have to hurry up and read faster so that they can go back to the library (aka my best friend who loans me books).

The most annoying part of the room- there's only one electrical outlet. It's a running theme in our house, our master bedroom only has one outlet as well, and I can never figure out why when the central air system was put in place, why the heck someone didn't say, "hey, maybe this house should have a few more outlets, just throwing that idea out there." Good times indeed!!!

Here's my desk, it really isn't anything fancy.


The hubs and I first used the desk as a eat-in kitchen table that doubled as extra counter space in our first apartment. We had a really small gallery style kitchen and there was a severely limited amount of counter space- as in we had to store our coffee maker after every use because there wasn't enough space to have both the coffee maker and the toaster on the counter and be able to set down a loaf of bread. Ahh, fond memories of that first post-college apartment. While it wasn't anything to gloat about, it was nice to say, "hey, I'm 22 and I don't live with my parents!" (no offense mom and dad.)

Woah, got side-tracked there for a minute. I now have enough space to cut fabric and use the sewing machine. The laptop can get quickly moved aside, which is nice because I'm cheap and I plan on following tutorials found online (for free!). I think I need to get some type of cork board or whatever, so I can pin up ideas and inspirational pictures. The thing I love most about my desk is that it is counter height and I really prefer to do most of my work standing up and not sitting down. I think I might get some small wooden bookcases to place under the desk and use those to store fabric and other odds and ends. I know I could go the cheaper route and buy plastic storage containers, but I'm really not a fan of plastic.

It turns out I have more pinkish (well, technically burgundy) things than I initially thought. My grandma gave me a Longaberger basket for Christmas two years ago and the color works with my sewing machine. I almost fainted when I went on the Longaberger website and saw how much their baskets cost. Holy expensive baskets Batman! That's one collectible I'll never get attached to, of course I understand that other people might balk at my purse collection- to each is own.

So it looks like I have a new hobby and I'm going to stick with it. I'm going to run out at some point this week and buy more fabric and supplies. I really need to get some type of cutting mat because my measuring fabric technique is a bit sub-par. Opening Day is next week and I need to get my butt in gear if I want to make the outfit I have planned in my head a reality in time.

My first sewing project

I spent a portion of my rainy Saturday afternoon sewing covers for throw pillows. After hearing some encouragement following my run-in with a less than helpful salesperson, I went ahead and bought a refurbished Janome machine. I fell in love with her as soon as I took her out of the box. Then, I quickly realized that she's white with pinkish buttons and all the rest of my electronics are black and silver. I guess she'll fit in more once I upgrade my Dell to a Mac, but that's not going to happen anytime soon (darn!).

I used a few pieces of scrap fabric to mess around and try to get a feel for my machine's capabilities. I didn't want to be rude and put her to work once she got here, I had to give her a few days to get adjusted (and probably curse me for purchasing her, when I have no idea what I'm doing!). Then, I ran over to Joann's and bought a beginner's sewing kit and a few pieces of fabric (I'm limiting myself to the remnants section in order to keep costs down and my confidence up).

My first project was really, really, really easy; the covers were so easy that the final product looks great while the interior seams are not a pretty sight. It's all part of the learning curve or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

I spent less than $5 on fabric and scored the pillow inserts on sale (50% off!). While I haven't yet recouped the cost of the sewing machine, the incredible sense of pride I have with my pillows is well worth the high start-up cost associated with beginning a new hobby (and let's face it, the sewing machine was much less than a new camera- which is thrown for a loop with the new Canon Rebel T1i).

So here are my pillows.


Score! The pillows past the Jaximus test!

I'll admit, they aren't anything fancy to look at. I'm not going to lie, I'm not crazy about the fabric. When it was rolled up in the remnant section I couldn't see that it had that much pink in it. I think it was the pink buttons on my sewing machine, they wanted some company and now I have doubled the amount of pink things in my house (the hubs wears more pink than I do, but to be fair he looks much better in it than me).

The pattern I used can be found here. It is a really easy pattern- no buttons, no zippers, and no crazy stitching. My pillows are 16"x16", so I made the adjustment and went ahead with two 16"x11" pieces of fabric for the backing. I really like the idea of removable pillow covers, which means now I can switch up the look of the living room couch on a seasonal basis.

The hubs actually showed a great deal of interest in my new hobby. He was encouraging and even suggested that we move some things around in our office so that I could have more room on our desk for my sewing machine. Of course he could just be trying to sweeten me up because baseball season is almost here and he's going to be spending a lot of time analyzing his 12 fantasy teams!