Sewing Machine Projects

A few weeks ago whilst perusing Pinterest, I found some lovely pictures of an "on the go organiser" by Amber at Crazy Little Projects - I loved the bright colours and the polka dots.  And I have a thing for pockets and cubby-holes and general organisation, so this instantly appealed.  As I'd already decided that I wanted to dig out my sewing machine as part of my new year to-do's, I thought it might be a good starting project, although it looked a little bit complicated with so many pockets and layers of fabric.  And I didn't really need a separate organiser.  So instead I decided to pretty-up my boring black notebook with a fabric notebook cover. 

There are lots of tutorials on Pinterest (you can find some of them in my 2015 projects board here), and I read quite a few of them, momentarily confusing myself with their subtle differences and levels of complexity.  It all looked a bit complicated to start with, but eventually I plumped on one tutorial which looked the most straightforward - this one on WikiHow.

A quick trip to the local craft shop (with compulsory money-off coupons - they're big over here), and I found some bargain-priced pretty fabric (not quite polka dots, but close), and some iron-on interfacing.

Then I spent a good few hours playing with my sewing machine, threading cotton, winding bobbins, sewing straight(ish) lines and generally remembering how all the bits worked.  (I actually took a one-day sewing machine class last January and made a cushion cover, but hadn't really used the machine since, so was more than a little rusty).

Finally, after a little procrastination (ie tidying things), I took a deep breath and set about measuring and (eek!) cutting fabric and ironing hems, following the instructions in the tutorial very carefully.  It all seemed to go fairly straight-forwardly, and my sewing lines were more-or-less straight (I only had to unpick one of them).  I even went a little off-piste and added a handy elastic loop for my pen before I sewed it all up.  Get me!  All was fine with the side-pocket hems, but the top and bottom hems don't bear too much scrutiny, so don't look closely... 

Overall, I'm quite proud of my first sewing machine project of the year.  I don't feel quite so much that the sewing machine needle is going to rampage out of control and eat up everything I put near it.  And I have a pretty fabric book cover as proof that I can make something.  There's hope for me yet!