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…

Pilow case 2012-03-16

… and after the pillow goes in

Pilloq case 2012-03-16

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.

pillow case 2012-03-15

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:

pillow case 2012-03-15