Sewing Project: Valentine's Day Chair Backers

I always loved the idea of the holiday chair backpack/mailbox.  I'd eye them in the endless supply of PB Kids catalogs sent to me, but they were always too expensive when you add in tax and shipping and personalization.  A $12 item suddenly costs $38.  Times two, of course, because I have two kids.  So when I saw this post over on At Second Street, I was super excited.  "Hey!  I own a sewing machine now!  I can totally do this!"

I love everything about this ad.  Look how perfectly everything coordinates!  Don't you love how none of the baskets are overflowing?  How none of the chalk labels are rubbed off?  How clean those chairs are? That rug has not a single stain!

 
After inspecting all the variations I went with the chair back tutorial on Our Scoop which was great in that it is PDF format.  I print these and file them neatly in labeled manila folders,  (I know!  Super organized, right??), and PDFs print so much neater then straight from the web stuff.  I'm always super grateful for online tutorials which are free and a ton of effort on the part of the creator.  So thanks!  Probably due to my complete inexperience I had a couple of problems with these directions though... I eventually figured out how to sew the bottom and sides to the front and back by ignoring the directions and thinking of them as tiny cubes like the ottoman slipcovers I made.  I never could figure out how to do the rickrack properly.  How in the world does it end up on the outside when you sew the two pieces right sides together...whatever, I couldn't sort it and my rickrack isn't nearly as cute since it's all on top.  I'm going to work on figuring this out at some point.


Following directions, word for word.  Until I get confuzzled.





Low light is a friend to wise women and beginner's sewing projects.




I did the second one a bit differently because I only had two buttons left, but they look cute together.  The letters are all whip-stitched on by hand with pink to go with the pink rickrack. 


The biggest obstacle for me was the button holes.  I've (clearly) never done it before and it took me a lot of trial and error and plenty of Googling and curse words to figure it out, but now that I know how it is done, it is not difficult at all.  I intend to make button holes on everything from now on, whether buttons are called for or not.

Notes on the project:
-these aren't especially easy.  The first one took me forever.  Hours and hours, literally.  Figuring out the buttons was a huge pit of time suckage.  The second one went faster as far as sewing goes, but all the hand stitching took awhile. 

-interfacing is key to keep the square shape.  Some of the other tutorials have more of a pouch and less of a boxy look, but I liked the structure.  It comes as at a price though: that ironing takes time too.

-the red duck cloth I used I thought would be great for durability but the straps on the back are kind of fraying at the edges, felt might have been a better choice.

-I wish I'd used a more contrasting fabric for the second one's cut out and applique work.  The red with large white polka dots just don't stand out as much. The reverse (red on white) would have looked better.

-I tried to top stitch in white around the heart cut out on the first one and it didn't turn out.  I ripped it out.  The edge is a little too raw for my personal taste without it.  I just learned about finger pressing yesterday and wish I'd known about it when working on these. 

-a tip for beginners:  After I finished the first one it occurred to me that the only chairs in my house these could attach to are the kids playroom chairs so make sure you have chairs with back slats somewhere before you do this project.  Duh!

-cost was pretty low in terms of dollars.  The fabric for the outside and the lining were both on sale, about $4/yard I think.  I might do a tutorial on how to read a Joann's receipt.  The Dritz button kits were $2.50-ish and I bought two, plus the thread, rickrack and interfacing (on sale, too) brought the total up to about $18 for the two chair backers.  In time, these took me close to nine hours, almost all of which was spent on the first one.

Verdict:  Cute!  Learned how to do buttons so that was huge and "saved" about $30.   Now of course I have to fill them with lovely little notes and gifts... I should have included that in the cost.

Sewing Project: Boy's Scarf with Monogram

I was feeling fiesty and made this without a pattern.  It isn't perfect, but it is warm and my son loves it!  It is just a long rectangle afterall.  I'm not going to bother detailing how I made it.



He wanted something since his sister was getting all my castoff mistakes...



Green is his favorite color.  You might recognize that strip of yellow from the ottomon covers. The end of the scarf tucks in behind it. The leaf fabric is from Joann's where one of the staff members clearly disapproved of my choice in fabric and said, twice, "Wow.  That is busy."  I just laughed at her and said, "I'm not afraid of pattern."  Given her fresh ensemble of khakis, nurse shoes and polo shirt I wasn't going to give her fashion opinions too much weight...

Sewing Project: Playroom Ottoman Slipcovers

When moving into this house I intended to have the house re-wired so that we'd have a home without the standard family room and (often unused) formal living room, but rather a playroom (without a tv) and a more adult living room/tv space. 

That never happened.  The re-wiring would require lots of money and someone brave enough to crawl under the house so instead I've defaulted into a family room filled with toys that we call a playroom and a formal living room that I force everyone to use so as to not waste the square footage and better natural light.  The point I'm trying to make is that the playroom became the default spot, a place where 'useful'  and 'comfortable' far outweigh 'attractive' or even 'mildly appealing'.  Enter the ottomans:




These are in much better shape then mine.  No before pics because they were that gross.


These are them, in an image stolen from whence I purchased them, Overstock.com.  They are cubes of stiff foam that you can sit on if needed and can kick and flip around with your feet for optimal lounging comfort.  In our old home the dark sage green matched well with the decor in our great room.  In this house,where we inherited a lot of furniture and other pieces, including the rug in the playroom, they don't go at all.  Their constant use for snacking and grubby kid handling have also made them dirty beyond the help of even Resolve Foam Cleanser.   



So I slipcovered them!



Yellow!  Happy!





Top stitching detail. 





Henry approved!



Thanks to this great, simple tutorial on Sew Much Ado I was able to whip out the first one in an evening and the second took me a little more then an hour.  What a huge difference.  They are now bright and sunny and not gross and worn. 

Notes on the project:

-the project was easy.  Seriously.  Be not afraid of the simple slipcover.

-the hardest part was the measuring.  Since my ottomans are foam based and old the edges aren't exactly sharp, more rounded, but not evenly.

-I didn't want to topstich the seams and had to talk myself into following the tutorial exactly.  Very glad I did.  It isn't that noticeable, but it makes the project look finished in a way that it wouldn't without that step.

-I Velcroed mine to the bottom so I could take them off and wash them as needed.  I might need to add some more Velcro- I had just done the corners, but it's been a week and the covers are shifting a bit more then I like.  We'll see.

-Seriously want to slipcover the couches in the playroom now...

-Cost was $4.99/yard for the yellow duck cloth on sale. I used about a yard and quarter.  The Velcro I had on hand, but had to buy thread to match in that same bright shade.  Total: $6.90-ish, plus about three hours.

Verdict:  Love them!  I made something useful and attractive.  Made me want to kiss my sewing machine. 

Sewing Project: Tokyo Tie Bag, aka, The Handbag from Hell

This cute, small handbag killed me.  I made it three times. 

The first time I got all the way through it and realized, hey, I never turned this inside out!  You could see everything and there were no seams just top stitching essentially. Plus, I sewed it so the seam that is supposed to run up the middle instead ran up the side which made the bag all wonky.  Wasted some lovely Robert Kaufman fabric.  I will use the rest of on something awesome soon to make up for it. 



Richer in person, this is Joyce McAdams for Robert Kaufman.  Pattern is called "Antique" and is for the Oriental Traditions 8 collection.  Fabric design is fascinating, yet the two fabric designers I've known in real life were both crazypants.


The second time I got all the way through it and realized, hey, it wasn't that I never turned the first one, but that I'm making some sort of grave mistake way earlier then that...because this bag, while properly seamed, was still stitched on the wrong side.  Gumdrops! 

The third time I gave up on the directions I was using in the Sew Everything Workshop (despite my failure here, still a great resource) and hit the web.  That's when I came to Darling Petunia's detailed and fully photographed tutorial for a larger version.  THANK GOD.  Following her directions and using some cheaper Walmart fabric, I was able to figure out that I wasn't sewing the pieces right sides together (rookie mistake, I know) and that I was jacking things up in general.  I am forever indebted to her blog for this save, so check it out.  She has lots of cute projects and a shared passion for plastic Rubbermaid bins so I know she's good people.

Tiny.  More like a large pocket you carry with you.



I'm not sold on the tie as a cute design element.  YMMV.




French seams!  I'm learning!


Notes on the project: 
-this bag is too small to carry anything if you use the measurements in the book.  Make something you'll use and do the bag with Darling Petunia's enlarged directions.  This one is yet another bag for my daughter.  Thank god she's easily pleased.

-French seams are awesome, however if you ever want to incorporate them into your own patterns remember to account for them when determining the measurements as they suck up fabric.

-if you can't figure it out the second time, don't despair, just Google.  Chances are someone else has already sorted it out for you. 

-a better person then me would use cheap fabric every time they sew something new, but I can't do that.  Part of the fun of sewing is all the beautiful fabrics and I'm not going to guard them like precious objects.  It is fabric. Its entire purpose is to be used to make things.  I'm just helping it to fulfill it's destiny, even if I do it poorly.  Right?

-I used Velcro instead of a snap when I realized how small it was and how unlikely I was to use it myself, but if you intend to put stuff in yours I'd use a snap or the button tab that is recommended elsewhere just to make sure nothing falls out.

-Cost for the two failed bags and the one success was probably $6-8 and something ridiculous like 6 hours.

Verdict:  End result was not worth the effort, but the process of making it was good practice.

Sewing Project: Zippered bags #1-3

I should apologize for the quality of the photos, up to this point most of these were taken with my phone (HTC Evo rules my heart) in order to message my accomplishments/absolute failures.  Going forward I'm going to do my best to get progress shots as well as clearer photos in general with an actual camera.

Zippers!  They don't scare me as much as buttons, but I was apprehensive.  I still am not entirely sure I'm using the zipper foot correctly.  It was good practice to switch out the feet (super easy) and really examine the accessories that came with my machine.  I do need to come up with a better name then "Maria".

Zipper bag #1


Pretty fabric!  I think it was like $8/yard so I only got one.



Missing the zipper entirely is not good for structure.



In the end it is pretty small, too.  More like an oversized change purse.

 Notes on the project:  I screwed up my first zipper bag, somehow having the the lining on the outside on half, which actually would have been cute if that had been my intention.  Also, I missed the zipper at a couple of points which I didn't notice until I was finished.  Boo for holes.  The patterned fabric I really liked and don't have much of so I was bummed this didn't turn out.  The corduroy I love like always.  Cost:  ~$4 and close to two hours.

Verdict:  Zipper sneak attack results in unusable bag.

Zipper bag #2

Notes on the project:  This fabric was seriously cheap.  Purchased at Walmart for $1, the ironing took awhile to get the creases out, but it was good to practice with since if I screwed it up it wasn't much of a loss.  

Success!  Lining on the inside this time and no holes.  The stitching on either side of the zipper teeth isn't totally even, but it is hard to tell unless you look super close.  The earlier lining issue was due to some unclear (at least to me) directions in the "Zippered Kit Bag" pattern in The New Handmade, but I was able to correct myself here.  Tip for beginners like me:  I've been making notes in all the sewing books- instructions to myself, bits of clarity that I know will help the next time I try it.  I make notes all over cookbooks too which drives my husband crazy.  Cost: less then $2 and about an hour.

Verdict:  Zipper-Rebecca cease fire signed.

Zipper bag #3

Notes on the project:  Love this fabric, didn't realize until I got it home that it was Amy Butler, but I should have guessed.  The combo with the pink zipper and yellow lining made me very happy.  I did this while walking my sister through the pattern "Picasso Pencil Bag" in The New Handmade which is a bit bigger then the kit bag and uses a 9 inch zipper, plus has this oblong shape to it where it is wider at the bottom.  It was Anna's very first machine sewing project and we might have aimed a little high.  I need a photo of hers to post too.  Email me one, Anna!

My zipper is a little uneven again, the seam a little closer to the teeth on one side then the other, but the real problem was down at the bottom corners.  The directions on how to shape them were not clear  and I kind of winged it to less then stellar results.  They kind of look like elf-shoe corners when they are supposed to be softly rounded.  If I feel up to it I might turn it wrong side out again and see what I can do, but don't have the motivation right now.   This is the problem doing projects just to learn and not because I want them- if they don't turn out, I'm under no pressure to fix them or do them again.  That said I feel like I could probably make a zipper bag like this without a pattern now and know that zippers, while difficult, are not my enemy.  Cost: ~$4 and two hours.

Verdict:  peace reached with zippers, for now.  Corners are the new communists.

Sewing Project: Embellished Tote Bag

With my mad tote bag making skillz I decided to mess with the pattern a bit and made this for my daughter.  It is considerably larger and has grosgrain ribbon handles which saved me from the difficulty of the fold and sew. 

Pink and red are her favorite colors.  Compared to my canvas tote this thing was a steal.  The awesome corduroy was only $1.50/yard on clearance.  The pink is a light denim, on sale for $6.99/yard and the cherry pattern lining was $4.19 and I have plenty left over of all of them. 

I always see people doing cool things with felt so I bought some and then had no idea what to make, so monogrammed the bag with it.  The heat 'n bond doesn't work on felt and/or I did something stupid.  In any case, I practiced my "pivoting" where you turn the fabric while stitching to outline the "A" with pink thread.   Embroidering it on would probably have been cuter with a thicker, more noticeable thread, but it was good practice to use the machine. 

Notes on the project:

-the heart buttons were an afterthought.  If I'd been smart I would have sewn them on before I put the bag together so that the lining would have covered the back stitches.  You have to look pretty close to see them inside anyway so not a big deal. 

-fourth time is the charm, I finished this tote quickly and didn't make any major mistakes.

-the ribbon handles worked fine for me since the most this bag will hold is stuffed animals, but I don't think they'd stand up to a really heavy load, but maybe.  No promises!

-materials cost me about $5.75 and the project took two hours.

Verdict:  Tote bags for everyone!

Sewing Project: Reading List Tote #1-3

This project is from "The New Handmade" and I chose it because it was rated a "one flower" skill level project and, well, I like tote bags.  Look, I have two small kids and they have a lot of crap.  Now that it's not diapers and bottles, but tap shoes and Star Wars figures I'm not limited to things that can be easily wiped down or that are insulated to keep milk from spoiling and I've kind of gone crazy with the tote bags.

Anyway, back to the project.  Since this was my first sewing machine project I took the advice of a different author and used muslin the first time.  It's cheap, like $1/yard, and I'm glad I did.  I just wrote with ballpoint pen which pieces were which from the instructions since they were all the same color.

Biggest problem:  I can't cut straight!  I measured out the fabric and cut it on a cutting mat with a rotary cutter which I was led to believe would make it easier (it's not).  Not wanting to waste the whole $0.10 of muslin I was using (WTF is wrong with me? I should have just started over), I just subtracted 2 inches from the pattern directions after I jacked up the cutting a few times.  So instead of a bag that was supposed to be 11" X 15" , I got a tote that was 9" X 13" which is the perfect size for... a can of soda and a matchbook?  It is small. 

Notes on the project (#1):

-muslin is cheap, let's not be stingy

-um, remember to remove the paper from the interfacing or your tote will be crinkly sounding like your bag is really for potato chips. Not that I would ever do something so foolish and silly...

-the directions are very clear that you should be ironing.  Do it.  Just suck it up and do it.

-I added the strip of Target $1 ribbon across the front seam just to add some color before I gave it to my daughter, (she was super excited about this bag, btw).  I used a strip of heat 'n bond that I had on hand but had never used.  It isn't sewn on.  Way too thin. 

-seriously hard time with the handles.  My ability to sew straight at an 1/8" is not so hot.  If you're doing this project as a beginner just make the handles wider so that the fold under is easier to catch if you don't sew perfectly straight.

Verdict:  Pretty pleased with myself.  Took longer then I expected, but was psyched to start the "real" tote bag.

Notes on the project (#2): (no photos, for reason that will become obvious)

-not having time to poke around the fabric store I just asked where the canvas was and picked out the colors I wanted for the tote.  $19.99/yard folks!  Having no idea that was seriously expensive I paid it and went on my foolish way.

-feeling bad for not ironing the muslin, I ironed the canvas.  Or tried until it melted onto my iron.  Apparently it wasn't cotton canvas.  Luckily enough it just peeled off the next day in one big plastic piece.

-canvas sewn to canvas lined with canvas is THICK.  Thick enough that I somehow didn't notice that I sewed the bag closed.

Verdict:  TOTAL DISASTER.  To sum up this tote's lessons remember not to sew the bag closed, don't iron plastic and don't pay $20 a yard for fabric when you can't sew.

Notes on the project (#3):

-if you screw something up royally, take a break.  I took a day before I started over and had a fresh attitude.

-I made the handles wider to make it easier on myself.  It doesn't look too off and I saved myself the heartache.

-ditched the rotary cutter.  I used new expensive sewing shears and they were awesome. 

-ditched the interfacing because the fabric I was using was so stiff anyway.

-this thing is sturdy and I'm now using it everyday.  I stick my purse, my water bottle and my phone in there and there is still a bit of room for papers or whatnot.  I like it because it isn't so big that I can leave a bunch of crap in it, I have to empty it out regularly.

Verdict:  Success!  Great pattern, easy to follow directions (so long as you follow them) and a useful, attractive item.  I feel like I can sew anything!  You know, after I fail at it a few times.  Anything!