Wednesday, October 28, 2009

orange cat sews

Sewing! Sewing! Sewing!

So, I know how to sew. ...sort of. My mom taught me and helped me on a lot of projects, and I've had my own sewing machine for several years, but the first time I tried to use it I was living in the dorms and had no space so I was trying to operate the machine while sitting on the floor and that...did not go so well. Also, as a knitter, sewing kind of scares me! It's so fast, comparatively, and there's cutting and the needles are tiny and sharp... and all of this adds up to the fact that I've been pretty intimidated of my sewing machine.

Now, finally, I live in a larger apartment with an actual dining room and an actual table and I really have been dying to try and pick this up again. I bought a book and a cutting mat and some thread and scissors and bobbins and fabric and last night I sewed my first solo project!

A sachet! When I called my mom and told her what I was making, she asked if that meant my closets smell bad. They don't, but now they'll smell like cedar and cloves instead of shoes and boxes. (Sidenote, if you're like me and can't think of where you'd get cedar chips for crafting...they're at the pet store. Hamster bedding.)

This is basically the Closet Case Sachet from Denyse Schmidt Quilts, except I skipped photocopying and enlarging the pattern pieces (because I forgot) and just estimated sizes and followed the general instructions. I probably did a bunch of things wrong, but that's why I chose a non-clothing project for my first sewing attempt...who cares if the seams on a sachet are weak?

The main drawback of this as a first project was that the center log-cabin square is so tiny as to be fiddly. This is a drawback for someone trying to get used to how freaking FAST her sewing machine devours fabric sews. But that's okay, because we have more closets to put sachets in and I have more fabric to make them out of!
colors!

I've always been strangely entranced by fat quarters and now I get to buy them with impunity! Yay!

3 comments:

Kitty said...

Oh I love that idea! What a great little project to use up scraps!

I'm with you on being a little scared of sewing. As a knitter, there are lots of things that can be scary about sewing. Everything is precise and things need to line up and be straight and FAST FAST FAST and you better keep your fingers out of the way because.... well. I think we've all imagined what can happen to a misplaced digit.

With that said, have so much fun with the sewing, even though I just sounded like a negative Nelly! Sorry! ;)

Linda said...

i don't always get on with sewing, sometimes it works but most of the time I wish I had knit instead! Your bag does look lovely.

Anonymous said...

I know just what you mean about the machine speed - as a knitter it's pretty intimidating! I have that book too... I love her quilts! I'm really loving "Last minute patchwork and quilted gifts" too, by the lady at the Purl Bee... there are some lovely small projects in there!