Monday, December 12, 2011

Yay for the Internet!

I finished my first big, ok big for me the beginning sewer, sewing project and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  Several people have asked what my project was, so here it is- I was checking out the lovely Internet for easy sewing tutorials and projects and came across this cool (seemingly easy enough) nursing cover from Our Seven Dwarfs. I bought the supplies for it and I did some work on the easier smaller parts, the straps.  Not too daunting, they came out pretty well.


 After doing the smaller parts I then kind panicked about how I was going to do all my long straight lines! So then last weekend I put out a plea.  This plea was answered on the blog, twitter and facebook!  Huge thanks to Stephanie, April, Lori, Rachael, Kelsey, Becky, Marcie, and Ana for all the great tips and advice! Many of the tips were of the same nature, so that helped my confidence greatly "if several of these ladies who have never met are saying the same thing, they must be right!" and I was able to get moving on the next steps of my project! Using the rotary cutter, straight edge, and mat that I did have in my craft room, I did the straight(ish) lines for the edges....

I discovered a neat tool at Joann's that is really for quilting, but I used it for the entire main piece of the project- it's a set of heat resistant plastic sticks.  You can use them to create hems with the iron, no gauge or pins needed. I found that they were really easy to work with and they worked pretty well. The only part that was difficult was adding in the terry cloth corners for the inside.  My machine didn't like all the fabric, 7 layers once you got around the corners, so I had to finagle the foot a little bit, but the corners came out nicely.  It was interesting working with the boning, but it wasn't a lot, so it wasn't too bad to work with.  While the end result (for me anyway) looks homemade and crafted, I don't care.  I really love the way it turned out and I'm proud that I finished it! I can't wait for Baby D to get here so I can use it!

3 comments:

Our Seven Dwarfs said...

It looks great! You did a fabulous job! Thanks for linking back to me as well! Keep up the good work!

Jill

Cathy O said...

Great job! I bet you will love it even when company is over! Wish I had something so convenient 4 & 8 years ago.

Jillian said...

Thanks Jill! You're welcome for the link back; your tutorial was perfect, so helpful I couldn't have done it without you. I can't wait to make something else :)


Thanks Cathy! It's great too because it folds up pretty small (everything but the boning) so it'll be very handy to keep with me.