Progress

After I finished writing the last post, I had an email from Mary, who told me she’d seen a class to make this bag on offer in LA, cost $50.  Well, I don’t need much persuasion to save money, so immediately set to and began to cut out those pieces! 

I went carefully, ticking off each one as I went and marking the pieces with an identifier and an arrow as recommended.  I knew I’d need to set off well before lunchtime for an afternoon meeting at Denman College, so rather than begin the sewing I thought I’d just get all the pieces together, including the zips.  4 short and one very long one.

I could find only three.  (I’m sure I bought four, but who knows where the other one went?)

I bought another four zips on my way to my meeting and was thankful for the little sewing shop in Cirencester and the fact there were no traffic wardens around whilst I parked on a double yellow line to run and out as quickly as I could!

Another meeting this morning, so it was after lunch that I switched on my machine and began page 15 of the instructions.  I won’t say it’s difficult sewing but I guess it’s not that easy to explain which piece goes where.

I was very thankful for my zipper foot and being able to engage the dual feed on my machine!

As I thought, once the first one was done, it was fairly simple to continue in the same way.

Though it takes time to identify each piece and work out where it goes, place it accurately, stitch, press and topstitch.

But that bit is done!  Four zip pockets complete.  I’m now on page 22 of the instructions and about to install the magnetic snap for the Optional Fabric Dish.

I was about to leave it there, but thought I might as well continue and get that little magnetic bit in place.  Then I turned over   scrolled down a little further and decided to sew the pockets in place too.

Needless to say, I didn’t get one of those seams quite right, so had to undo it using my trusty seam ripper.  But one thing about that wonderful tool is that it leaves quite a few straggly little bits of thread behind, so I was glad of my new mini ripper (why do I hum a tune when I say that?) which has an “innovative thread remover” on the end.  (Though actually, I expect I could have done exactly the same thing with a pencil eraser)

Anyway, tomorrow, I’m ready to begin page 26.

Progress.

Not easily intimidated

but.

A couple of months ago, I came across this nifty pattern on Craftsy.  Like many, I’m a sucker for a good bag pattern and this one seemed to be super-useful for not only carrying a sewing (art?) kit but for holding it all together in use too.

I watched the video demonstration here and thought that it was something I wanted to make, so I bought the pattern and noted the ingredients.

I wasn’t in a particular hurry but took the opportunity to buy a cheap bundle of fat quarters in JoAnns when we were in the USA, plus all the zips, interfacing and so on.  In the meantime, Mary had got the pattern as well and together we discussed the clever design. Mary asked if I’d noticed how detailed the instructions are, but bearing in mind that Craftsy mark it as a beginner project, it shouldn’t be too tricky, should it?

With a day at home and having completed my responsibilities this morning, I thought I’d make a start.  It’s a while since I downloaded the pattern though and the perfectionist in me wanted to make sure I cut the right piece from the right colour.  For, although this was going to be a mish mash of colours, I did want some control!

I went to the sewing patterns folder on my pc and opened it up. I thought I’d better print it out before I began, so I could tick off the various stages.

Oooer.  Now I understood why Mary had referred to the detailed instructions. 

82 pages!

Of course, I wasn’t going to print all that out.  I skimmed through to see what I needed and printed out the cutting list, hoping to identify which bit I needed to cut from each colour.  I still wasn’t sure though, so watched another video (or four) with a step by step guide to what goes where (and how it’s constructed)

My free afternoon was disappearing fast!

Now totally at a loss as to where to start, I considered just cutting the pieces and winging it!  I could hear my Mum’s voice though – no, don’t spoil it.  Do it properly.

But here we are, almost 4.30pm and I haven’t so much as made a snip in any fabric let alone threaded my machine.  I was about to make a start when I spotted an update and pattern errata on the website so watched the updated YouTube video which has some further refinements – not that I’ve really got to grips with the original version yet.

Whilst I commend the designer for her detailed and carefully thought out pattern instructions, I’m beginning to wonder where “enough” might be.  Of course, those 82 pages contain a lot more than the straightforward step by step instructions; in fact, there’s a pattern for another small accessory in there as well as a good deal of commentary.  But all in all, I’m overwhelmed by the whole thing.  Perhaps there’s a cause for the simple, basic pattern to be outlined, so that those of us who would just like to dive in and make it can do exactly that.  Having done that, we might have enough of an understanding that we could then consider refinements and a better way of doing things.

So there we are, an afternoon being busy doing nothing.

I need a lie down.

The answer to finding my mojo

is to spend money on fabric.  But then, that could be the answer to so many issues, couldn’t it?

Since we finished Edward’s room, we’ve recognised that there needs to be a bedhead of some description there.  The Aerobed is terrific and works perfectly.  Both users have reported it super-comfortable and it’s quick and easy to get out and put away.  However, a fixed bedhead would look odd when there’s no bed there and having thought about cushions and other solutions, I came up with the idea of making a quilt/wallhanging.

The room is plain white with dark grey curtains and just a flash of colour in a couple of cushions.  I took one of them with me to Higgs and Higgs yesterday to choose some fabrics.

At this stage, I had a better idea of what I didn’t want than what I was really looking for.  I didn’t want flowers, didn’t want anything too geometric that was going to reveal my inability to piece precisely and was hoping to avoid anything too kitsch.  Fortunately, there was a collection of Hemingway fabric there which fitted my brief perfectly.

(Except the price)

Bearing in mind this wasn’t intended to be a work of art (!) but a simple, practical solution, I didn’t dwell too long on design and concept.  I drew a few rectangles on a piece of paper, scaled it up to the right proportions and cut a few pieces of fabric. 

I’d like to say that the slight wonkiness here and there is simply the single layer of fabric slipping on the wooden floor.  But it isn’t.  It’s the bit of quirk that comes with a hand made item.

Isn’t it?

It took time

Remember this?  Since having a few interesting and really useful conversations with my Bernina friends, I’ve wanted to revisit the project and though I’ve tried a couple of times something has cropped up and got in the way.

Though my mouse mat tells me I’m a digital design and technology goddess, I’ve felt little of the sort as I’ve struggled not only with the Bernina software but in getting any sort of precision with my mouse.  Any attempts to get my Wacom tablet and pen to play nicely have come to nothing but both my hero and I were determined to get it going.  I’m always loathe to take the easy route and buy new when to all intents and purposes there’s nothing wrong with the old one.

Except it wouldn’t work!

This morning, as a last ditch attempt at getting somewhere, we left a message on the Wacom help forum, outlining the issues as we saw them and hoping there’d be a workaround.  It seemed as though the touchscreen controls of my new PC were getting in the way of the Wacom drivers and if only they could suggest how to override them, then all would surely be well?

Except the reply came back quickly to say that my tablet and pen were too old and no longer supported.  Huh?  I didn’t think they were that old!  But maybe, in computer terms, old has a different definition.  The only suggestion they could make was to try one of their old drivers designed for Vista and Windows ME.  They didn’t hold out much hope but if all else failed they had a bright and shiny new policy which would allow me to trade in my old Wacom for a new one.

Would the genie come free, do you think?

Whilst I got some lunch, I left my hero to download more drivers, uninstall the previous ones, reboot my PC several times over and try, try, try again.  He came upstairs with a frown, because nothing was working so far.  It looked like I was going to have to buy a new one and hope that it would work in spite of those touchscreen conflicts.

After lunch, he returned to the studio to try the one last, remaining driver and as I faffed about in the kitchen, I heard a loud cheer!  After two weeks of messing about with the thing, fiddling about with all manner of settings on the PC and almost – almost – giving up, it worked.

I lost no time in getting back to the project in hand and armed with the combined knowledge I’d gathered in from my friends over the last couple of weeks, I began to draw.

The drawing complete and saved (several times along the way, just in case), I took it over to the machine and left it to sew.

Though it’s still not perfect – will it ever be so? – it’s so much better than the first prototype.  I decided not to change colour at each stage, but to keep it simple and use the one variegated thread throughout.

Gradually, over the next thirty or forty minutes, the design took shape.  In particular, I was pleased with the way in which the small pebbles stitched out because those had posed a definite challenge first time around.  Thanks to my clever friends, however, I was able to work out a way of stitching them out far more smoothly and learned to work in a slightly different way to get the right result.

I feel quite happy with the end result once I’d cut some of those long jumps of thread and though I don’t suppose I’ll do anything with it for a while, I think I can claim “mission accomplished” on that one. 

Rosy glows of achievement all round today, then. 

We got there in the end.

A day’s work

There’s been a four part series on the Bernina blog, about machine quilting and painting a feather wreath.  Of course, it’s “my” colours, so hit all the buttons and I bookmarked it in my brain, thinking I’d have a go at it sometime.  But recent trials of my free machine quilting skills have not gone so well and I really doubted my ability to create such a beauty, so I’ve hung fire a while.

But just a minute.  Haven’t I got some rather clever software in which I could draw out such a design and stitch it automatically?  Couldn’t I use a little practice in using that software, since the arrival of the cutwork and other clever things have overshadowed it of late?  I thought about it for all of five minutes and with a day at home, I cracked on right away this morning.

I started by drawing it all out in Photoshop and importing the drawing to the Bernina software, but then had a “duh” moment and started again.  This time, I drew a single feather loop and used the “wreath” tool to create the circular pattern.  Clever!  (the software, not me!)

I used the wreath tool several times more, each time finding it a really powerful means of creating an even, symmetrical design.  I watched the “slow redraw” several times and was fairly happy with what I saw…except it did sew out in a strange order, and I wasn’t sure how to correct that.

By about four o’clock I was ready to begin stitching.  Yes, really, it had taken me almost the whole day to create the design – so much for those who think we just “press a button”!  I could wait no longer and just had to give it a try out.

Having stitched it, I got the Markal paintstiks out and chose a couple of colours.  I wasn’t too worried about colour by now – just wanted to get it done!

By five o’clock, I was ready to set the colours with the iron and sit back.

Sit back and look a little closely at all the small things I wish I’d done differently, that is.  It’s not bad as a starting point but it needs more work; of that I am certain.

Bernina machine embroidery friends (you know who you are!), prepare for the arrival of an email with a small attachment shortly.  I’m hoping that you will be able to bring your skills and experience to the party and show me where I went wrong!!

Sometimes, more brains are better than one.