Here are the two meagre offerings I have this week.
Firstly, Ive been trialling Christmas stockings for the market night Im doing in 3 weeks!!! (insert expletive here)!!
I used scraps (its almost a mountain of scraps that I have now) of red fabric. It looks fairly flat in the picture but there is a opening at the top for small gifts. If I can get myself motivated again I may make a stocking with small gifts already included.
front
back. You may be able to see flaring on the binding as I topstitched on the front side. Anyone have any good tips on how to topstitch resulting in both sides looking neat?
Second offering for this week is this very easy laptop cover that you can find over here. This is a mockup for a cover that Im making for my eldest niece who turns 18 tomorrow!!
Ofcourse I didnt follow the instructions correctly and managed to make an almighty mess inside (I sewed together the interior and exterior rather than joining them after side seams were sewn so all the seems can be seen on the inside). There is lots to be said for preparing things weeks in advance. I like to torture myself and make things days (if not hours)before presents are to be given. So J if you're reading this, you are getting a laptop cover (you've only been waiting a few months) but thats not all!!
TOO MUCH FLASH!! (even my photography is shocking this week)
Very badly topstitched (note the fold in the fabric tsk tsk)
Velcro strip was sticky backed so the machine was fighting me the whole way resulting in a very ugly sewn line. Just keep reminding myself that this is only a mockup...
So all in all, im not feeling 100%, my expeditions in sewing were pretty blah and im tired. Ahh well tomorrow is another day (and hopefully a better one).
Hope you're all doing well!
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I don't think you did too bad this week. The Christmas stocking looks lovely (sorry can't help you with the binding either) and the lap top cover is a great idea. Just get plenty of rest (and some vitamins) and hopefully you'll feel 100 % soon again.
ReplyDeleteI like your xmas stocking and your laptop sleeve looks well made from where I'm sitting! lol Maybe some applique will lift it to new heights?
ReplyDeleteBinding is a major frustration in this house! I tend sew the binding on the bottom first and then fold over to the right side, past other stitching line and top stitch. It misses the other binding and leaves a stitching line showing underneath but oh well its on the inside.
Some people pin the binding (folded) on the raw edge and top stitch right on the edge with a slight zig zag stitch to hopefully catch both sides at the same time. The trick is to have the binding edges in just the right.
Geez you've really had a bad run on the sickness this year. I hope you feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteYou've been far more productive than me in the sewing room. In terms of topstitching I have a few tricks that I use that you may already be using. Firstly I use a topstitching needles (number 90) this has a larger eye to get through multiple layers. I also use a slightly longer stitch length (also helps if you need to unpick!). I'm lucky that I have a built in walking foot with my Pfaff sewing machine but when I didn't have this feature I always used my walking foot to put on quilt binding etc. This means there is less pulling between the various layers of fabric and means your seams are kept more even. It's a hassle but does result in a better finish. Keep fiddling with your machine in terms of tension, type of thread etc. until you find what works best for your particular machine. When you find it works right down the setup so that you can remember next time! It's take me the best part of this year to figure out what works best for freemotion quilting on my machine.