Dinner in the making…
Ready to eat!
Month: March 2012
Embellished scarf – almost done!
I managed to get a little sewing done yesterday and today. I am so close to finishing it that I can almost smell the success in the air. 😉
Last time I blogged, I had had finished the actual scarf, but hadn’t started on the embellished part of it yet. Yesterday I traced the leafy pattern on to one end of the scarf. I probably should have been patient and gone to buy the proper carbon copy paper, but I in stead used a ball point pen to trace with. The result looked like this:
Next step was to cut out the leafs. That went fairly well, but again my cutting could be neater.
Then I pinned and basted around the leaves. This was as far as I got yesterday before the baby awoke from her nap.
Today I started sewing the pattern on the sewing machine. Before getting started on the actual sewing, I had to make sure the tension was right. This took a long time, and I was not completely happy with the result, but I think my machine is not any good, and I didn’t want to waste more time, so on I went with the sewing.
Here’s a close-up:
It was not easy, and the result could have been nicer, but for a first try, I am quite happy.
Now I just have to finish taking out the basting stitches and taking in the loose ends. Here is how the back looks:
And then there is of course also the other end of the scarf to embellish with the same pattern.
Getting closer to a finished scarf
The scarf that I am making has finally taking the shape of a scarf. Now all I need to do is put the finishing touch ob it: the embellishing, which is a leafy pattern on each end.
I didn’t have any major problems while sewing this time, but I do think my sewing could be a bit neater – I’m sure that part will come in time. Practice makes perfect, as they say.
Here’s how it looked before turning it right-side out:
And a close-up…
Here I had turned it – notice the gap in the middle that I had to slip-stitch closed.
Me slip-stitching it closed:
Here is the pressed and almost finished scarf:
Now I just have to figure out if I can transfer the leafy pattern without dressmakers carbon-copy paper. Otherwise I will have to go buy some before I can continue.
Spring has arrived!
The weather is warmer and all the spring flowers are showing off their colours!
We bought our house in July 2011 so this is the first time we see what our garden looks like in the spring. It is fun to see which flowers have been hiding under the surface and now peeking out and looking towards the spring sun.
In Denmark we have an Easter tradition where children and young at heart send out a ‘gækkebrev’ before Easter to a friend or family member. It’s a paper cut letter with a little rhyme and accompanied by a snowdrop. The letter is anonymous and the senders name is spelled out with dots. The receiver then has to guess who send the letter. If they guess it, they get an Easter egg.
This year it’s the first spring for my lovely baby daughter, so I thought i would be fun for her to send such a letter to her grandmother (my mum). Here is what it looked like:
Other signs of spring have also been noted in our garden:
… and a close-up:
Learning how to sew: Scarf, continued
Baby took a long nap today so I thought I would see how far I could get with the scarf.
This is all about learning and first problem with the scarf project was that the fabric wasn’t wide enough. I had already noticed this when I was at the fabric store, so I had bought twice the amount and planned to sew two halves together. Time will tell if this was bad judgement on my side, or maybe my improvisation turn out okay.
Second thing I noticed today was that I apparently can’t cut in a nice straight line. I could blame it on the scissors, but I guess I just haven’t got the experience of cutting fabric yet. Also I probably shouldn’t have “cut corners” by doubling the fabric so I only had to cut once in stead of twice. Lesson learned: ‘Don’t cut corners when cutting fabric’.
Third probable mistake was that I thought I could get away with using the thread already sitting in the machine to sew the two halves together. I think I might get away with it, but am actually a bit disappointed in myself for not spooling the correct colour and threading the machine according to the fabric.
One thing I am proud of remembering is that I checked the thread tension on a scrap. And a good thing I did too, because it was way off. It actually took quite some tries before I got it right.
I’ve begun basting the two sides of the scarf together – this is how it looks so far:
And a close-up (look at how off my cutting is, and my basting stitches could be neater).
Learning how to sew – 2nd project: A scarf
The second project in my learning-how-to-sew book is called “Embellished scarf”. It’s a two colour scarf with a leaf detail on each end. It says to use felt, boiled wool or fleece – I’ve chosen felt and decided on a light lilac and a fresh cherise. I bought some extra of the lilac felt so that I would have enough for the 4th project which is a bag; I thought it would be nice if the scarf and bag could match.
Baby only took a short nap this afternoon, so I didn’t get very far on the sewing today. Here is how far I got:
Ready, set….sew!
I went and used a small fortune today at Stoff & Stil in Malmö today. It is for the next 3 projects in my book on learning how to use a sewing machine, so if I spread the cost 3 ways I think it was an acceptable amount of money.
Here is what I bought:
To test or not to test: Samsungs robotic vacuum cleaner
While surfing the net this morning, I stumbled upon a chance to become a test pilot for Samsungs robotic vacuum cleaner, the Navibot S (SR8950). I am a big fan of Samsung products and my husband has been talking about getting a robotic vacuum cleaner for years, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try one. Of course, I have to be chosen to be a test pilot first – I am sure many would jump for the opportunity to be one, but here’s crossing our fingers. 🙂
My thoughts so far on what I would like to see with this cleaning wonder:
- does it navigate our house without getting stuck
- does it clean properly; our parrot makes a mess with his pellets seeds and my husband has to sweep the floor once or twice everyday.
- is the noise bearable
- how sturdy is the vacuum cleaner
- is it going to be in our way when scuttling around the floor
- is the charging station in the way and/or an eye-sore in our house
I am sure there are more things I could and will consider, but this is just on the top of my head. If I shouldn’t get chosen as a test pilot I am sure I will follow the blogging of the other testers closely to see if the Navibot S is value for money.
Learning how to sew: Pillow case
I have finished the pillow case! And I must admit that I made a few mistakes along the way, but that just goes to show that I really do need to learn how to sew and the book was a good investment.
First mistake that I noticed was that I hadn’t checked the setting of the stitch type, so I was sewing with the needle to the side and not the middle. I guess it’s not a huge mistake, but it made my seam allowance bigger than it was supposed to be.
Second mistake was me fooling around with the zig-zag setting and ending up with a bend needle when I tried to over-lock the edges – the needle collided with the over-lock foot because I didn’t make sure the setting was at a wide enough stitch.
Anyway, lessons learned, and I’m looking forward to learning more. Here is the finished product:
Before the pillow goes in…
… and after the pillow goes in
Pillow case, continued
I got a bit more time to sew on the pillow case yesterday. I finished basting the first seems and succeeded in winding thread on the spool. I started sewing the first two seems, but I must admit that I am disappointed in the quality of my sewing machine. I don’t think the stitches look very nice. As far as I can tell , the thread tension is fine, but the stitches themselves don’t look straight, but a bit off in different directions.
This is of cause no hinder to me learning how to sew, but if I am going to be spending money on fabrics, then I would like to have the finished item look nice too.
I might find the time to continue sewing today too, but this is as far as I got yesterday:
Nefermiw Design 