Tokyo Tie Bag

Took my third Make Workshop class today and finally made something without too many mistakes. This was the project that I'd seen advertised on the website that really made me want to take classes. It's also available in the book Sew Everything.

I love the design and it's simple enough for beginners. All the seams are hidden, even on the inside, so there are no raw edges anywhere. I definitely plan on making more of these, but I'll scale up the pattern to be more of a full-size bag and I'll probably use thicker cloth for the interior.

The fabric is Calico Fabric-A Fuji Afternoon Umbrellas from Joann's.

Strawberry Pie

I had so much fun sewing the Jammie Dodger (see last post) I decided to try my own design. Plenty of flaws but that's all part of the charm...

Mollie Makes Magazine

I have finally found a craft magazine I LOVE. Up until now, I'd relied on Martha Stewart Living to provide me with a few tidbits here and there on craft ideas. But Mollie Makes is devoted entirely to crafting. It's a relatively new magazine from the UK, they've only had 13 issues. Their photography is just as pleasing to look at as any Martha magazine and all their ads are devoted to craft related stores, (not pharmaceuticals and whoever will pay the bills) so they don't even feel like ads.

There's a lot of focus on sewing, but they definitely cover all other crafts as well. Every issue includes a few downloadable templates from their website. I made the Jammie Dodger from Issue 4, by Ouissi Gresty as a new pincushion.

Pillow

Took the Zip-o-riffic Pillow class today with Diana Rupp at Make Workshop. Learned two new techniques: Invisible zippers and french seams, which hides the raw edge of the fabric (in this case the seams which are normally messy inside are nice and clean). I messed up a couple of times so in the end my pillow case was slightly smaller than originally intended and my zipper doesn't quite reach the end properly, but it serves it's purpose for a first attempt. I just ordered the concealed zipper head attachment for my machine so I can try again.

Placemats

After last week's sewing class, I ordered a sewing machine (Janome Magnolia 7318), same one we used in class.

That gave me a great excuse to go fabric shopping. I think my new favorite store to browse is B&J Fabrics. Unlike most fabrics stores I've been to, which are a tight, window-less mess of rolls, B&J is on the 2nd floor, brightly lit and well laid out. They hang clearly labeled swatches on hangers which makes browsing much easier.

I love the section they designate as "juvenile" prints. Lots of fun bright colors and cute graphics.

For my first solo project, I made a tiny lopsided pincushion. Ugly, but it serves its purpose.

These placemats are my first successful sewing project. I found a great beginner tutorial here. It's definitely worth buying the fusible fleece for the inner lining. It has an adhesive on one side which you iron onto the fabric, so hopefully when you wash it, it'll stay in place. It adds a nice layer of padding too.