last sewing class!!

Today was my last sewing class at Sew Green! It may not be my last EVER though. I really did enjoy going to these, it was a nice way to spend my evenings and the people were really genuine. It was nice to get out side my "comfort zone" and work with complete strangers! and laughing over little details we couldn't get quite right, or trying to decide between all the different patterns (that was probably the hardest part of the all 3 classes) Everyone was in the same boat for the 3 classes, and unlike some wise projects it kind of felt like I had a class full of people who were trying to do the same thing as me! Like my own little support group! I definitely enjoyed that aspect of the class, and I told the two teachers Hope and Louise they would probably see me again buying materials at Sew Green!

On my way out I also got talking to Lucy, (who has an accent I would die for) and I got talking to her about my project and we found out we have mutual friends! Ithaca is such a small world! Anyways I gave her the web address and told her to check out my blog! Which was really exciting to be able to do! I'm glad I had the opportunity to share it with someone in the class :)



Okay so tonight we made another bag! But this time with a zipper! and a really funky shape! It's actually really cute! I thought the zipper was going to be a lot more complex, however once we were showed how to iron down the edges and tape the zipper in, all that was really left was to sew it on! We had to change the pressor foot for this job though, and we switched in a foot that allowed us to sew closer to the fabric. It was important we could see where we were sewing as to not sew on the zipper. I had a little difficulty  my fabric got moved and didn't get completely sewn to the zipper the first time, so I had to go over it again. Other than that this felt really easy to do! and it was also really helpful that the teachers left it up to us a lot more today. They still helped when necessary, but I felt like we were all a lot more confident in threading our machines and cutting the fabric to the correct lengths without much assistance. It was nice to be able to be independent! It also only took us about an hour to finish the bag! which was surprising! So they showed us our additional project which was to make a little stuffed bird.. or chicken! Whatever you want to call it! And so we picked out more fabric and sewed on the beak and crown, and then left 2 openings 1. for the stuffing and the 2nd to sew on the tails!

Stuffing the birds was fun! and then to close it up we had to hand stitch it! HA. I can tell you right now... I LOVE the sewing machine when you compare it to hand stitching. My closing looks like really bad surgery.. but it was fun to end the class with a little hand stitching, it definitely made me appreciate all that the machine can do!

I'm really glad that I took this class! It has really allowed me to see just how much attention and detail must go into sewing. I definitely can't say that I love it! and by no means would it be a means of relaxation for me.. however, it is useful, and I'm confident I could whip out quite a few more bags and birds! I still definitely want to create a dress as one of my final projects but I think the idea of having a "tutor" to help would be great! I'm going to speak with my family/friend Nancy Pepin soon about setting that up! Other than that I feel like I've gotten off to a great start!

back of the bag

front of the bag. and my dog :) 

Bird/Chicken 

bird/chicken