Sew...
Posted by Kate on Monday, June 12, 2006The Thursday before last, I had my first sewing lesson (not counting 6th grade home ec.) It was pretty funny. My grandmother had an appointment to go to, so she threaded the sewing machine and told me I should sew some scraps while she was gone to get a feel for her machine. Apparently I don't have those inborn sewing instincts. The thread kept getting all jumbled, not making a sewn line at all.
Luckily my mom showed up and showed me a few key basic steps that I was missing out on. I then made a simple little catnip-filled toy for the kitties.
From there we started my first mini quilt. It is about the size of a pillow case, so I suppose it will be a "wall-hanging." I used aquatic-themed fabrics, with lots of cute fish. After the first lesson mom sent me to a fabric store to get the batting to put inside. I went a little crazy and bought a bunch of cool fabrics that I liked. 
I brought them home and washed them in the machine on gentle cycle. When I took the fabric out all the edges had totally frayed and knotted together. It was total chaos.
Here is the "color-catcher" sheet I threw in so the fabrics wouldn't bleed onto each other in the wash. It worked.
I decided to try out my new sewing skills on a little mouse pattern. It came out very, very silly looking. I guess I should have used a bigger pattern for my first stuffed animal, but well, it was a learning experience and he's not falling apart, so that's an accomplishment in itself.
This picture is after I sewed the ears facing the wrong way but before I sewed the body with the stumpy arms...
Last Thursday I went back to Gram's for more quilting and we nearly completed my "wall-hanging." I just have to iron the edges, sew the opening closed, and ties the quilting knots. As soon as we are finished I will post a photo of it.
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