Pinky (my new machine whose name is Pinky after
Pinky Tuscadaro) and I were busy this weekend.
First there was the courtship phase during which I read her manual and gazed at her admiringly; then there was the getting to know you phase where I talked to her began to take her for short walks, and then I gave her a small job to do, to see if she and I would work well together.
Success!!!!
We made a quiled tote bag together.
There's been a lot of blog talk lately about how most of post finished products and don't post the process. Often, I don't post the process because I
want to keep it to myself (giggles); but sometimes I do post the process, so I thought I would with this one.
So, read on...!
I began with some absolutely luscious scraps. These are some silk scraps - this was silk chiffon, so though I would normally stablize it with a backing fabric, this time I fused it directly to the piece I was using it in. I'm not sure I would do this particular method again. The results were uneven, and I found the silk looked a little too delicate in contrast to the rest of the fabrics. Speaking of which, here are some of the other fabrics I used: some random scraps of silk and satin and even a bit of cotton - here they are is in the "sorting" stage
When you see that, it's kind of hard to believe that anything with any semblance of order actually comes out of that, isn't it? *heh* Anyway - from that, I made two crazy quilt inspired "patches".
I used scraps of an unbelievably soft superfine wool - glossy and silky to the touch - pieced together to make the panels for the front, back and sides
(If you want to look at the fabric in more detail, you can always click on the pics)
And when those bits of piecing were done, I was left with a panel like this (here it is from the front)
and the back
After that I added the "binding" on the tops of all four pieces , followed by a double inner pocket on the "back" piece, a long pocket on the "front" piece and the handles (which I made extra long so you can wear it over your shoulder). Then I sewed the first three pieces together.
After which, I added the last piece, and the bottom. Here's what it looks like inside:
(please excuse the threads all over the floor, I hadn't cleaned up yet!) Here she is from the side:
Oh, and here's a picture of Pinky herself:
She's so PRETTY!!!
And so our first project together is done. We had some rough moments as we got used to each other and we'll continue to figure out each other's ways - but I love her - she runs smoothly and well and is delightfully strong, and I can tell, she's going to improve my quilting by about 20%.
Oh, and here's that finished bag again, from the back this time:
For a bag that's made completely of scraps (even her inner panels are scraps of leftover black fabrics), I'm really pleased. This one is a thank you gift for someone, and I'm going to make another, simliar one for a friend for her birthday; but I love this one so much, that I think I may just have to make a version for myself in white, for summer*.
Next up, I'm going to try my meander/stipple thing on a full sized quilt and see how that goes. In the meantime, happy sewing - and I'm glad to "see" you again.
:)
(With a black or taupe interior, of course! I imagined how quickly a white interior would get dirty and shuddered.)
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