Sew Much Fun

For Christmas, Daisy got some sewing stuff. I knew that if I didn't plan something, that stuff would just sit there unused. Not because she doesn't want to use it, but because her lazy mother doesn't always want to make a mess and figure things out. 

So I found a neighborhood friend, who is quite an excellent seamstress, and she graciously agreed to host a sewing group. The idea is that she would get her own children involved in sewing and others could come along for the ride. 

She posted it on facebook and got a good group of people interested. She dropped off patterns early and told us to cut out our fabric pieces and then on Saturday, we all arrived, ready to made a project.

We started with a bag. Simple and useful. The great thing about Michelle is that she can read patterns. I feel like I can sew a straight line, or follow instructions given to me, but I am never quite sure what a pattern is saying. It uses funny words and I get lost. Michelle walked us through each step and it was a snap.

Daisy is a pro. We took turns sewing but she knew her stuff. We used fleece lining to make the bags more sturdy. That stuff is great and Michelle stocks the stuff and sold it to us cheap. Excellent.

We only messed up once. We sewed our corners together because we misunderstood some directions, but I am well acquainted with my friend, the seam ripper, and we fixed that in no time. With the corners fixed and sewn properly, it started to take on a bag shape.

Daisy sewed on the handles and gave them extra reinforcing since they will hold the most weight. (The handles came together so well. Michelle had a cool tool to turn them inside out, and the belting [also supplied by Michelle] fit perfectly.)

It is interesting how you put layers together backwards. This is me sewing the lining into the bag. You actually put the whole bag into the lining and sew it on the outside.

Then you find the hole in the lining (which you conveniently left there) and pull the entire bag out through that hole. Seems weird, but it totally works. Voila...it was a bag. Daisy might be confused about what bags are used for.

It turned out so cute. The top stitching gave it a nice professional look and I was so proud of our bag. Well, it is Daisy's bag, but I feel like I helped bring it to life. 

It was a really fun morning, and it took us just over 2 hours to put it all together. Not bad for our first project. The other mommy/daughter groups did a great job as well. All the girls left with a homemade bag. It was fun to see all the different fabrics people chose.

The leopard print is my second favorite, but I would still choose the cherries. Something about them makes my soul happy. Life is like a bag of cherries...