Sewing Projects 1 & 2

Months ago, I took a sewing class, with the goal of making myself some curtains. I just finished!

This is actually the second sewing project I’ve done since my classes. The first was a birthday gift for my mom. I decided to make her placemats and napkins. Seemed like a nice easy first project. It had lots of straight lines and right angles. How hard could it be?

Sewing Lesson #1: The amount of cutting and measuring required drastically increases the complexity and time of a sewing project.

For the placemats, I found this pretty, dramatic blue floral print, and decided to put a solid navy material on the back. To give the placemats some stiffness, I used interfacing, which is basically a stiff material you iron onto fabric. Very popular in craft projects.

I originally planned on doing 6 placemats and 6 napkins. This meant I needed to cut 32 pieces of material. Interfacing fell just an inch short of what I needed, and 5 is a weird number of placemats so I did 4. I spent 3 hours on a Saturday cutting fabric for the placemats, so I was happy with my scope reduction.

In the course of making the placemats I learned more important lessons.

Lesson #2 – Fabric choice makes a HUGE difference in how well your project goes. A slippery fabric that doesn’t crease well is not a good option to put behind a stiff fabric attached to interfacing.

Lesson #3 – When the fabric bunches up, it’s not that it sucks. It’s that thread tension needs to be changed. (Thanks Book Club!)

Lesson #4 – When the first placemat comes out look puffy and really stupid, you should bring it with you to whine to your boyfriend. He might have a brilliant idea on how to fix it. (I added a seam around the finished placemat to make it lay flat. It also added a nice contrast line that made it look more finished.)

After finishing the placemats, I tackled the napkins. I’ve been looking at napkins everywhere I go and knew what I needed to do. Fold over the edges and make as small a seam as I could, then fold them over again to have finished edges. A couple of folds, a couple of seams, and I was set.

Lesson #5 – Slippery thick fabric that won’t crease is a TERRIBLE choice for napkins.

Lesson #6 – Small seams and folds are time consuming and involve getting stabbed with pins a lot.

I spent an hour on one napkin which was long enough to realize that I should go buy napkins. Crate & Barrel had beautiful matching green ones, as featured in the pictures.

I am, however, determined to try napkins again. This time with better material. Overall, I am satisfied with my project. I learned a lot and if I did placemats again, they would come out much better. I, of course, can see every crooked seam and bunched bit of fabric in these. That said, I’m glad they are on display on my mom’s table.

Sewing Project #2

Curtains were up next. I’ve had a particular idea for a fabric for the kitchen and when I found something on sale, I was psyched!

I looked at patterns at the store. They were confusing as hell and mostly ugly so I decided to wing it. I remembered my mom making curtains for my room when I was kid. Again, I figured how hard could it be? (I did all my material shopping before I started any home sewing- back when I was full of joyous naivete.)

This time I was right. The curtains were easy and fun. I mean, I made them twice, but still it only took a couple of hours each time.

I originally planned to make 2 panels that went to the sill with tie backs. I finished the first panel and learned some more sewing lessons.

Lesson #7 – Measure twice, cut once. The curtain was ¾” short of the sill and the slot for the curtain rod was too tight to fit the rod in. (Funny, this is the same lesson I learned from my dad with regards to wood and cutting).

Lesson #8 – Fabric choice makes a HUGE difference in how well your project goes. Stiff upholstery fabrics won’t fold well under a tie back for a window curtain.

Fortunately I had a lot of fabric so I was able to start over. This time I made one short curtain. It’s a little longer than normal to cover the ugly metal of the window (another good suggestion from Kent).

Lesson #9 – If you move the pedal away from you, you have smoother sewing speed. If you keep it right under you, you drive the sewing machine like a blind midget jamming a wood rod at the gas pedal.

I’m happy with my curtains. I haven’t been sure I would actually like the fabric in the room. It doesn’t really match the countertops, but the room needed more color. And these did it!

At this point, I think I am going to get my own sewing machine. I’m not sure I’m going to start making brocade dresses, but I will definitely use it for simple projects. And someday I will make some good napkins!