Practice makes . . .

Over the weekend I decided to tackle a long unfinished project that would result in more than nine yards exiting my fabric stash. Some years ago I planned and purchased fabric for a duvet for our warm, but white, comforter. The fabric,actually sheets and a repurposed duvet for a twin bed,was cut and sized, but never sewn. So this weekend I double-checked the sizing and sewed three sides. I decided to finish the bottom with Velcro, but only had two yards and needed three. A trip to Discount Fabrics was fruitless as they only had the soft half (is there a proper name for this?)of the size Velcro I needed, so I am left hanging. Thanks to Adrienne at A Verb for Keeping Warm I have an idea for finishing! More on the duvet and my trip to Verb soon.

To have something to show for myself I decided to tackle two small projects yesterday. The first was a case for my new cheapo sunglasses in hopes of limiting the number of scratches and extending their lifespan. How hard could this be, I thought. When I couldn't (and still can't) find my nice sewing shears I should have recognized it as an omen, turned back and spent the afternoon cleaning my sewing room so I could find them, but no. I started with a 7.5" x 9" piece of fabric and backed it with a piece of quilt batting. I busted out my trusty walking foot and decided to experiment with some freeform quilting. Turns out that though it wasn't pretty, it also was easier than I thought it would be. Hurray!

Loose threads, the sign of a true perfectionist!

The next step was to line it with some fleece to make it soft inside. I wanted this to be quick and easy so decided that exposed seams would be fine. I sewed the sides together and popped it right side out, but the fleece was too bulky. I could fit my sunglasses in, but it didn't look pretty. I forged ahead and decided that if I could get the bias tape around the edge I could lock down the fleece and live with the bulk. Well, turns out that the bias tape could not reach around all the layers. I tried to sew two lengths of it together. Still nope. F-it, I thought, I turned the piece inside out and using some old crappy paper scissor I cut out the lining. I turned down the raw edge, sewed the Franken-tape over the edge and SCENE. The result is not pretty, but it is functional. I will definitely try this again and rethink the size and lining issues. In the meantime 1 point towards my stash down!

Since I wasn't feeling the rush of victory I decided to mush on, as my Gram would have said, and sew up this adorable hat for my little guy. I had the pieces cut out, so I was sure to finish it quickly. I did and it would be absolutely perfect if he was 9 months old, which he's not. He is over two and has a big head (20+ inches!), so into the gift pile it goes. Let me say there was nothing wrong with the tutorial. I just miscalculated and didn't account for the seam allowance in my crown piece. Here is the finished product and I hope to make another before the end of the week.

Small hat, outside and in