This little post has been nearly ready for me to write for three days. You’ll have to excuse my tardiness. Life is getting exciting, and it’s been distracting me from my blog. I can’t wait to share some news soon! In the meantime, you’ll have to put up with my sporadically late entries and your own eager anticipation.

I wonder how long these have been waiting to be napkins

Soon after Patrick’s Grandmother Beeson heard I was learning to sew, she dipped into her fabric stash and gave me the lot of it. Among the folds were four quilted squares — fabric scraps sewn together in geometric patterns, looking as if they were waiting for the perfect project.

So I made them into napkins.

I loved working with these pieces. They’d been stored long enough to gather up that aroma of archive; it felt like I was exploring a friendly old attic.

I love that they’re each a different size. That they look well together but don’t match at all — they’re tied together (loosely) by the pink fabric I used to back each of them.

I’m not for sure that Grandmother Beeson pieced together the original squares herself or if she came upon them pre-squared. Regardless, I’m so excited to add these to our linen closet and know they’ll carry family history each time we use them.

I did it! And on my first try (which only lasted about four hours).

There are things I’m happy with:
» the laptop fits in the sleeve!
» the sleeve fits in the tote!
» that blue/green looks nice with the black-and-white-and-brown scheme!
» there is padding!

There are things I would improve next time:
» interfacing, please. I’d planned to include it (to reinforce the outer fabric and rigidify the bag), but I didn’t. Shoulda coulda woulda.
» not so matchy-matchy, please.
» magnets, buttons, strap … something to enclose the laptop in the sleeve (and ease my worries that it could accidentally fall out).
» finishing stitches, please. I didn’t add a final stitch to the upper hem (as on the tote) because this laptop was so snug that I was afraid of somehow messing up that final stitch and scrunching the fabric into it (thus making the opening smaller and unusable).

In any case, I made something new! I learned things! It was worth my snail’s pace and seam-ripping.

Laptop sleeve, in pictures

I used an old paper grocery bag to create my pattern piece. See that penned rectangle in the middle? It’s the actual size of the laptop. When I finished trimming my outer and lining fabrics, I cut the paper down to (a little bigger than) laptop size and used that to measure my padding.

Making sure the laptop would fit. One thing I’d change: use interfacing and proper batting (instead of fleece — which was on sale). The finished product feels a little too soft. I’m thinking proper batting would have provided a more rigid case (though I could be wrong).

I sewed the padding to the liner fabric to keep it in place. I wonder if sewing more of a grid into it (like every inch or so) would have provided more structure?

Here’s the outer fabric, after I’d sewn it right sides facing. I’d done the same with the padded liner fabric, the only difference being that I left a large gap in the liner (through which I would ultimately pull the finished sleeve to make it right-side-out).

And now I placed the outer piece within the liner piece, rights sides facing.

… And I sewed them together!

Do you notice how much less fabric there is around the top hem? That’s because what you see is my second attempt at sewing the two pieces together.

In my first pass, I accidentally sewed some pleats into the sleeve, which made the opening smaller — too small for my laptop to fit through! I tried to use my seam ripper on it, but I’d sewn a triple stitch and it was going to take FOREVER to get through all that thread. So I just cut it right below my first stitch line and resewed what you see here.

And here’s where that gap in the liner plays its part: you can see the right side coming out.

… And this is how it looks once pulled through.

I had planned to sew the liner pieces together to close shut that hole, but the padding was so thick (and I’m so inexperienced) that this seemed like the better option. Good thing, because I ended up having to pull it wrong side out again to trim the padding, which I’d cut too big (it was bulking up in several places).

Et voila! I think you wouldn’t know that this little sleeve holds so many misstep secrets …

Well, doesn’t this look familiar?

I didn’t change very much for this tote attempt, and now I’m kind of wishing I had.

I worked diligently to get all my seams and stitches straight, I added boxed corners, and constructed my handles using a different method (more polished, I think).

But when I hung the tote to photograph it, I felt a little shoulder-sag. A little frown-face.

It just wasn’t new enough. I didn’t feel that rush of accomplishment at creating something for the first time.

Aww well. I take it as a good sign — that I want to keep making new things! I want to keep learning new sewing skills.

… I haven’t been scared away yet.

The tote and notes

I used my laptop to determine the dimensions for this bag — I wanted something that it would fit snuggly into (after I fit it snuggly into a padded laptop sleeve I plan to make).

I also sewed a pocket onto the lining, then sewed little subdivisions into it — just right for a phone, a pen, and other odds and ends. If I make more totes, this is where I plan to spend the most time, in developing interior organization that best suits the things I carry.

I used the guidelines in this Craft Snob tutorial to make my handles this time. I wanted to get in the habit of putting in extra effort, and I think they do look more finished. I’ll be using this method for a bit so I can perfect my straight-line and close-to-the-edge skills.

Also, I boxed my corners (using these directions)! I like how this bag-ifies the tote. Also, it was one more skill to get under my belt. I’m all about accumulating new skills …

Why? Why why why why why? My thread was sewing up so nicely until I neared the end of this project. Then it started looping on the wrong size of my stitches. I’ve fixed that before by refitting the bobbin. I think I even rethreaded the needle. No luck. It would stitch nicely for a minute and then go loopy.

I’ll figure this out one day. Mark my words.

Next thing’s next

So, time for me to try something new! I’ll be sewing a padded laptop sleeve. Also, I bought some elastic to try making underthings. Also, Patrick bought me a bike cap pattern! Also, I want to make another dress. Also, also, also …

It’s almost a shame to call this a dress project. It’s more like a clever-sack project. This clever sack can be a dress, or another kind of dress, yet another kind of dress, even a skirt!

As simple as it is, it was the perfect sewing project to push me into sew-to-wear territory. This territory is dotted with mental landmines, I think. The little bombs that blow up your confidence / patience / creativity.

… But also the little bombs that can blow up in a good way: your confidence / patience / creativity.

I’ve been avoiding clothes-making because I haven’t felt at all ready.

And then this little sack of a dress (to call it that is not doing it any justice whatever) fell into my feed reader. It’s meant to take only fifteen minutes, and “it requires only four seams.” And they’re all straight. Hi. I can do that. (You should go to the tutorial, by the way. It’s a short video that tells the story of the dress much better than I could.)

I made my first version on a whim Saturday, using fabric Patrick’s grandmother had given me (thank you, Grandmother Beeson!). What I didn’t think about was — since I wasn’t using the jersey fabric Ms. Design Fixation used — I’d need to hem every cut edge before I started, to make sure the finished piece looked … finished.

I ended up with lots of frayed edges. But you know what? I wore that dress out in public. Because I was pretty excited to have made something I could wear.

And that’s exactly why I’d followed that whim — I wanted to start exploring the pride-in-having-made feeling. And I wanted to make it so I craved it a little more. And then some more.

Mission accomplished. As soon as I wore that dress out I knew I wanted to try it again, this time keeping in mind the hem issue; and maybe playing with the dimensions of the thing; and fabrics, of course.

I headed to JoAnn on Monday and found my fabric. Fabrics. I also found the fabrics I want to use for my tote bag later this week.

The striped linen was for my dress; the other two are the outer and lining fabrics for the tote.

The final dress!

It took me … not fifteen minutes. More like three hours of pinning and pressing and checking lengths. I’m looking forward to all this prep work being second-hand. In the meantime, I don’t mind spending the time to make something look as good as I can.

When I was done, I had a striped linen dress/skirt for which I’d also sewn a “ribbon” of the same fabric. I’m really happy with it. I’m looking forward to wearing it out; and as we head into cooler weather, I think I can make it look super cute layered with a long-sleeved shirt and sweater. Don’t you think?

The linen (which is apparently slippery on the sewing machine? Or maybe I just need more practice with straight lines) ended up making for a highly constructible piece. By which I mean, when I scrunch the dress over or under the ribbon, it all stays in place. So I can make myself little temporary “darts” (as in the halter version). And the two-strap version: I can make that neckline more boat-y, narrower — whatever I want, and I can feel good it’ll stay in place.

I’m tempted to make this dress again, using the excess liner fabric I bought for that tote …

When I sewed my first “finished” tote bag (nice fabric and all) I knew I’d want it to have pockets. I decided to get creative and make the pockets in the style of an accordion portfolio — the same width as the entire bag.

But this is my first go at bag-with-pocket-making. I thought I’d need to cut the pocket fabric slightly wider than the liner (with the idea that a same-width pocket would be too tight to put things into); that ended up being wrong-headed.

I also didn’t think to sew the liner and pocket together, so the pocket sort of hovered in the bottom of the bag. And with that excess of fabric, it was too floppy to hold things securely.

A little look at what I mean, with the bag turned inside out:

Once the bag was done and I realized what I’d done, I wanted to find a fix for it, if for no other reason to practice problem-solving on sewn pieces.

After folding and pinning and unpinning and refolding, I decided to fix the excess fabric issue by creating an even fold down the length of the pocket.

I had to sew it just along the top and bottom of that fold to successfully maneuver the finished bag around the sewing machine. That tightened up the pocket and divided it in two.

To further stiffen it I wanted to fix it to the bag liner.

The simplest way to do that would be to sew together the pocket and the liner along their bottoms. Once that was done, I tucked the liner back into the bag and test-drove it.

Nice little finished piece.

You may remember I already made a muslin for this bag. I used this tutorial on Craft Snob as my guide.

I was so happy with that muslin; happy with its overall balance, and with my close-to-the-edge stitching. I thought it looked pretty sharp.

I was maybe a little nervous to make a “real” bag, using the nice fabric I bought specifically for the project. I barely had the courage to cut into it.

But I did.

And I made this …

Overall, nice! I see straight lines. I like the pink and greeny-blue fabrics together. It’s a great size.

But this is just Part One about this simple little bag. Why? Well, I couldn’t get the thread tension right:

I used several scraps of fabric to test tensions settings, but nothing produced a nice, even stitch (which I did have in my muslin). Finally, I decided to just move forward with the project and do research later. I had the same problem with my (thicker) pink fabric; I’m holding off on the finishing top-stitch around the tote until I find out how to get the tension right …

And I’d cut my shoulder-strap fabric too narrow (for the effect I wanted), so I ended up creating the straps using a different method than the tutorial advised. I think it looks less finished, but it created the wider strap I was after:

Also? I couldn’t resist adding pockets. And maybe I added the pockets a little … wrong.

I’d wanted the pockets to serve more like dividers in an accordion portfolio. Nothing wrong with that. But what I ended up with was a loose fold of fabric floating in (but not attached along the bottom of) the liner fabric.

I’m on a mission to find the best method to tighten up that pocket and make it more serviceable. And that’s what I’ll go over in Part Two.

In the meantime? I’m so energized by this problem-solving thing.

It’s problem-solving. Spreadsheets, sewing … it’s all problem-solving.

That’s what I realized when I attempted my second mini tote muslin (this time complete with a little handle). Ultimately I wanted to use this Sewing 101 tutorial by Kim for my full-size muslin. In the meantime, I realized I needed to create and solve my own handle-on-bag problem.

Because that’s where my brain really lights up.

Same with spreadsheets. I can look at formulas and forum Q&As only so long before I have to acknowledge that I won’t really understand how A+B=C until I try to make it work myself. And I like to think that in generating my own problems (and discovering my own solutions), I learn and create things that I would otherwise wouldn’t.

So I set out to create a tiny little bag with a single handle. I followed Kim’s basic directions for the bag but left out a liner. So: how to create a nice upper hem?; how to afix the handle?

The Lindsay Mini Tote Muslin

For this project, I made my first acquaintance with the seam ripper (this one came with my sewing machine).

The first problem to solve was making the handle. I prefer the style suggested in that tutorial (here’s a detail photo), but I wasn’t yet confident enough to sew that near the seam. What I did was cut a nice fat strip of fabric, fold it in half (lengthwise), sew it shut, and pull it inside out. Then I ironed it (seam to the back) and finished it with those “decorative” edges.

Next problem to solve: Attaching the handle to the (as yet unsewn) bag. (I wish I’d taken photos as I was going, but all my energy was focused on “now how the heck am I gonna …”). I don’t know that I can properly describe how I did it or exactly why, but I can tell you that I spent about twenty minutes just looking, folding, head-tilting, finger-to-pursed-lipping. Followed my seam-ripping. In any case, I ended up with this setup:

… and clearly it’s not the way to go. Look at that bulk! But I found a solution, which was really the point.

After the handle was sewn to the bag fabric, I finished up the upper hems of that bag and sewed the side seams together.

I like this little bag. I can see my determination built into it.

And the extra-happy ending

Today I had the chutzpah to attempt seams close to an edge. And do you know what I figured out? HUH?

That you can friggin’ adjust your needle position so it sews closer to the edge of a seam. Holy crap, if I’d realized that earlier …

It was still difficult and I ended up sewing those seams at the machine’s slowest speed. No problem. I’ve got time.

And after many, many long moments (and some seam-ripping), I followed all the instructions in that tutorial and created this little beauty:

Now — dare I cut into my fancy fabrics to finally make a proper bag? And will I be brave enough to add inner pockets? …

PS

Look at those near-edge seams!