Thursday, February 28, 2013

Does This Count as Sewing?

Too lazy to make a cover just yet for my new Kindle, I managed to repurpose its box.  Click the image to inspect the details of my latest project:

Does this count as sewing?

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Sewing Report - small purse, part 1

I am working on my second project of 2013.  In my 2012 recap (here), this is what I called the "cute little purse project" (click here for the link):

I had to trace the purse pattern twice so I could fit both pieces on one piece of upholstery sample fabric a friend had gifted me.  I used the upholstery fabric for the outside, and leftover pillowcase fabrics for the inside:

You can see the pockets attached to the lining here:

I used fusible fleece to strengthen the purse fabric.  That was too heavy for the upholstery fabric, so I should have used a fusible woven or knit instead:

Below the dot (seen in the picture below), the bag pieces are stitched together and the lining pieces are stitched together.  Above the dot, the bag pieces are stitched to the lining pieces to form the handles.  I probably could have gotten the stitching closer if they layers hadn't been so thick (fleece and upholstery fabric):

The turning right-side-out is enabled by an opening in the lining, and is shown mid-process:

The instructions tell to close the lining's opening with hand stitches, but not me!  I folded the edges in, pinned neatly, and used the sewing machine to edge-stitch it closed:

The next step is to turn and press the lining pieces under 1/4 inch.  I pinned these, pressed: them in place, and removed the pins:

The bag fabric handles are stitched together with a 1/2-inch seam.  After that, I turned under the edges of the heavy layers and pinned them.  I will let these rest for a day or two, leaving them to set the crease:

I will get back to this project soon, since it's holding up my sewing project queue!

Sewing Report - chair cushions

I made the chair cushion covers for my hubby's work chair.  The most amazing thing to me is that I started and completed them within a little over a week (approximately January 6-14, based on the date stamp of my pictures).

I used upholstery samples that a friend had given me.  No two pieces were exactly alike, but four pieces were similar enough that I decided to make two covers.  Each cover has two pieces of fabric.

The thick upholstery fabric required a larger needle than I usually use:

Most stitching (except topstitching) was done with a straight stitch of moderate length:

I started by calculating the size and cutting out the corners.

Then I attached a zipper, first to one side ...

... followed by topstitching ...

... and then to the other side ...

... also followed by topstitching:

Then all the sides were matched up and sewn:

The fabric was pulled out ...

... and the corners were formed ...

... then stitched down ...

... forming box corners, which were trimmed ...

Note that the closing end of the zipper is NOT CLOSED when stitching this corner ...

The zipper should not be closed until the cover has been turned right-side-out:

Here is a finished cover on the chair: