From fail to fix

Remember the major fail here?  I decided I’d try to fix it.

Major fail!

One of the most frequent comments I get about my sewing is, “I can’t believe you’re a beginning sewer!”  I think sewing is very forgiving, though.  You can make a number of mistakes and still end up with a good looking product. 

Well, most of the time. 

I’m posting this so you all know I don’t always end up with good looking results.  I thought this Leah tunic from Craftiness is not Optional was so cute.  I love the little cap sleeves.  So, I decided to do the sew-along that Jess posted.  Of course, that was a month ago.  I’ve had the top cut out for a while, just had not gotten around to sewing it up.  I finally had the time this weekend.  The hubs took the kids out to the park for a couple of hours, and it was just the time I needed to finish this top up. 

The cap sleeves didn’t turn out quite right, though.  A little too poofy and the armhole was a little too big.  I think maybe I needed to gather them more.

See the little pouf on the shoulders?  My husband says that she needs shoulder pads for her 80s style big shoulders.  (Don't you just love the peanut gallery?)

Busy!

It’s been a busy week!  I started working full-time this week.  I miss the kids like crazy.  And this work thing is seriously cutting into my sewing time, which was already limited to begin with.  Boo.  But it’s only for the next few months, so hopefully, we’ll all survive. 

The Brother's Maiden Project

After I finally took the plunge and bought my sewing machine, I think it sat in the box for about a month.  I was excited to get started sewing but also intimidated by the idea.  So, to get myself going, I decided I'd volunteer to be a pattern tester for one of the ladies who sold patterns on etsy.  I knew it would force me to get the sewing machine out and get started on something, since I had someone else to answer to.  So, I volunteered to test out this cardigan pattern:

 
I think it turned out pretty cute. 

I’m a total geek, because I got so excited watching it come together.  The first part I did was the sleeves, and when I put together that teeny tiny sleeve, with a little bit of gather on the shoulder, it was so cute, I could have died.  I showed it to my husband, but he didn’t quite share my enthusiasm for how cute it was.

Working with knit fabric was a little challenging, but it wasn’t too bad.  The hardest part on this project was doing the ribbing around the front placket area and the neck area.  The ribbing material kept bunching up.  It wasn’t moving with the bottom fabric, so there are places where I had to sew over the bunching.

 
Oh, and the buttonholes gave me a heck of a time, too.  The fabric would get stuck in the machine and the thread would bunch up.  I ripped a lot of thread out.  I finally managed to make the buttonholes by putting stabilizer underneath.  That allowed the fabric to move.  It’s not that pretty, but they are buttonholes.  I think if the thread matched the fabric more, the ugliness might not be as obvious.

 
And they say to cut open the buttonhole with a seam ripper?  Um, no.  I had to cut that thing open with scissors.  It was impervious to the seam ripper.
 
But, overall, not bad for a first project, no?  (If I do say so myself.)  I also learned that the sewing machine can sew on buttons.  Kind of snazzy!

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, this is not fabric from the “nice fabrics” pile.  I bought this at the local fabric store to use as a “test” fabric.  But I rather like this fabric now that I’ve seen it take shape.  I might try to remake this cardigan in a larger size.  I think I have enough of the purple fabric to do it.

I think she likes it: