My 25th goal on my 30 Before 30 list was to sew something with a sewing machine. To help me accomplish this goal, one that I had failed in the past, I enrolled in an online sewing course via Whipstitch Fabrics, which is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Deborah, our instructor, teaches us via video or photo tutorials a skill or a project every day for six weeks. We’re on the fourth week so far and I’ve sewn a handful of projects – even if some of them did not turn out exactly perfect.
One of our first projects was a lined tote bag. I sewed two (!!!) because I was so proud of myself. My first was a University of Utah print (go Utes!) that looks just fine from one side.
However, if you look at the other side you’ll see that I sewed the print upside down. Ooopsie! Lesson learned.
I made a second tote bag to practice again. Everything looks just fine, eh?
Not so fast! Take a gander at those straps – one is at least twice the width of the other. This will still take some practice to remedy.
Our most recent project was designed to help us learn to sew curves. It is an eye mask that was supposed to turn out like this:
Image courtesy of Whipstitch Fabrics.
I’m not so good at sewing curves, as you can see below. My eye mask blends right into the straps. Nuts.
This one I’m going to practice again tonight.
We also made a drawstring tote bag. Mine turned out pretty good, except that I miscalculated the measurements a bit so the base of the bag is far too small for the length of fabric above it.
We’ll see if I can keep up with the last two weeks because each week is increasingly challenging. I have skipped one project entirely – it required us to create our own continuous bias tape and use it in a project. I tried to make bias tape twice to no avail and I even bought some bias tape just to get through the project. Unfortunately, the tape I bought was too narrow for the project so I just skipped the whole thing.
Raise your hand if you despise bias tape!
Update: I’ve also finished an apron!
