I Made Something for Me!

I confess, I often don't make stuff for myself. Ok, make that almost never. That hasn't always been true, but in the past 10 years or so, that's been the case. All that is about to change! I'm still going to be sewing for my Etsy shops, because that is my "job" and I love it! But it's time for me to branch out, and I want to try garment sewing again.

So, did I make myself a fabulous holiday outfit? No. I wanted to ease back in, so to speak, and I bought this adorable kit for one of those thread catcher/pincushions when I was at the International Quilt Festival in Houston in October. Yeah, I know I could have just bought one there for less money, but where is the fun in that? The one I bought is called the Abbey Bag from Abbey Lane Quilts, and is so easy that even a beginner can do it.

I pretty much followed all the instructions, as is (I'm notorious for improvising), but the pattern was very straightforward. The only real change I made was to stitch the connector piece to the bag before gluing. And the only real challenge I had was a non-sewing issue, and involved filling the lining bag with sand for the pincushion.

There was an incident with the machine sewn gathering stitches that was remedied by using buttonhole thread and handsewing the entire opening, first gathering the edge, and then pulling the whole thing tight.

Here it is, ready to be encased in the outer fabric. The whole inner part is flipped over, so that the opening will be to the top of the pincushion.

The finished product. The button could be just a wee bit tighter onto the pincushion, but I was having needle issues. I also didn't intend for the outer pincushion fabric to be quite so gathered, but it works and it's for me, so I'm okay with it.

I haven't put it to the "in use" test yet, so I'm not sure exactly where it will end up, but I know I'm going to love it (hopefully) saving my carpet from all those threads that I just toss "in the general direction" of my little trash can by my machine. I'll especially love it when I get the serger out. I'm not really sure what the little pocket is for, but it's still cute.