Knitter in the Kitchen

When I started working on my quilted placements, I reminded myself to take progress photos.

Ah. Well. I had good intentions. Here is the one “progress” shot I remembered to take.

Then I got to the end before I remembered my camera again.

These four placements took longer than I anticipated. The main reason was that I struggled to sew straight seams around the edges, even with the magnetic seam guide. I ripped out the edge seams at least once before I got them to be decent. And ripping in sewing takes more effort than ripping in knitting! Fortunately the quilting lines came out straight on the first try (probably because I drew in the lines), but I had some problems with bunching at the bottom. Perhaps a walking foot for my machine (as recommended in Sewing 101) would have helped?

The quilting lines are secured with very small stitches at the beginning and end. I tried ripping out these stitches to re-do the lines, but they are so tiny that I couldn’t get them out! In spite of the imperfections, I think the placements are still usable.

Then I started working on two log cabin pillows using the tutorial found on Dacia’s blog. The first one is the “traditional” log cabin pillow and the second is the “log cabin-ish” version. The fabrics are mostly from an Amy Butler Charm fat quarter bundle.

I feel like I’ve stalled with this project. I’m not sure whether I even like the way I’ve arranged the fabrics. In addition, I am intimidated by the next step — pinning on the batting and making the quilting lines! Can I sew straight enough to make decent quilting lines? We’ll see how I feel after a short break from this project.

I was a little bit bummed that the Apron and Recipe Swap filled up before I could join. Anyone interested in swapping with me? Have a great weekend!

Pattern: Amy Butler Rural Messenger Bag
Fabric: Looped-Spice from Reprodepot
Modifications: Reduced the length of the strap by ten inches. Added heavy-weight fusible interfacing to the interior lightweight cotton.

You know how sometimes you start knitting a project, and then you realize that you picked the wrong yarn for a pattern? Or even better, that the pattern is completely wrong for you? Both of these thoughts crossed my mind with the Amy Butler Messenger Bag, except that it was with fabric instead of yarn.

The pattern calls for large floral print fabric, but I loved the retro orange and brown fabric I bought so I ignored the directions. After I sewed all parts of the exterior, I found that it looked very odd. The ovals don’t line up on the main panel, the purse panel, and the purse flap. This looks strange, but I think that even if they did line up the bag would still be weird. Basically, the large floral print would have been a good idea because there wouldn’t be an alignment issue. So much for disregarding the instructions!

As for the pattern being wrong for me — well, let’s just say that this is a large bag and I am a small person. It didn’t seem that big in the pattern photo, but then again, I bet the model is way taller than my 4’11”. I reduced the length of the strap so that the bag wouldn’t hang to my ankles, but it is still too large on me. If I had seen it in a store, I would have never bought it because of its size. See how it hangs on me… the bottom of the bag is about 4 inches above my knee. Sorry for the blurry photo!

For the lining, I bought lightweight cotton. I added interfacing because the bag would have been floppy without it, but in retrospect it would have been wiser to use lightweight interfacing as the heavyweight was too stiff. I also managed to make permanent wrinkles when I ironed on the interfacing…oops! Just as I was typing this post, I found updated instructions for sewing this bag with light to midweight fabric. Ahhh…should have looked at that earlier.

There are some great things about this bag, though! The interior is roomy enough for magazines and books.

The purse flap could be handy for small items like pens and Kleenex (if you’re like me and prefer to have a pack of Kleenex on hand at all times). I used the zigzag stitch on my machine to finsh the interior raw edges.

I also really like the exterior pockets on the backside.

Overall, I think this is another great Amy Butler pattern. I enjoyed the project a lot, even if it didn’t turn out quite right for me. The Rural Messenger Bag is more complicated than the Madison Bag, but the instructions are very clear so I would still recommend this bag to a novice sewer.

Lastly, I would like to thank Gleek for introducing me to the magnetic seam guide. My seams still aren’t as straight as I would like them to be, but the seam guide helps a lot!

What did I do when I had to stay home one day to wait for the air conditioner guy? I worked on my Amy Butler Uptown Madison Bag!

One side

Other side

Interior

I was quite happy that I completed this project successfully! Many thanks to Cyndi for showing me how to lay out pattern pieces on fabric and Steph for explaining topstitching to me! My Uptown Madison has noticeable imperfections, but my standards aren’t high considering that this is my first bag. I love the fabric (Onishi Junko purchased from Reprodepot) and the shape of the bag. I’m not so big on the interior velcro tab closure, but I guess it’s easier than other options? Speaking of velcro, can someone explain male and female velcro? I have no idea which is what! Edited to add: Thank you, Yahaira, for spelling it out for me. I laughed so hard…

There were a couple of steps that were difficult for me. One was attaching the lining. The handles were already sewn onto the exterior of the bag, and the directions called for tucking in the handles between the exterior and the lining when attaching the lining. Um, that made it just a little hardto pin on the lining! Because of the interfacing, the handles are not exactly floppy and I could only manipulate them so much. So that seam is pretty wonky, although fortunately it’s not really visible. After attaching the lining, I had to stitch around the entire top of the bag. That was also a struggle because, well, I’m still trying to master stitching in a straight line! And this is a very visible area! Close inspection would definitely show wobbliness. I do hope that I will improve with practice.

I’ve read here and there in blogland that Amy Butler’s patterns are well-written, and based on my experience with this bag, I would certainly agree. The steps are very clearly described and shown in diagrams, even to a newbie like myself. I’m looking forward to sewing the Amy Butler Messenger Bag next!

I still don’t have any knitting on the needles. But I’ve been working on something else…

Yup, I’ve been bitten by the sewing bug. I bought the Singer last month so that I could learn how to sew. I am pretty much a complete newbie when it comes to sewing. I took home economics way back in the sixth grade, but all I remember from it was that my teacher raved about Bernina machines. That’s it. I don’t remember a thing about threading a machine, pinning and cutting fabric, sewing seams, nothing. So I picked up a few books to learn the basics.

For my first project, I chose to do a plain knife-edge pillow from Sewing 101. Very boring, I know. It’s like the equivalent of the single-colored-garter-stitch-first-knitting-project-scarf. But we all have to start somewhere, right? I bought two fat quarters of fabric from Joanns and set off to sew. I didn’t run into any problems until after stuffing the pillow form into the case. The directions called for closing the 7” opening by slipstitching, which is supposed to be almost invisible. I’ve never done it before, and I just could not grasp the written instructions in my books or online. I struggled for awhile until I decided to ignore the text and just copy the picture. My slipstitch seam is wonky, but I think I finally grasped the concept.

I’m in various stages of starting other projects. Two are Amy Butler patterns – the Uptown Madison Bag and the Rural Messenger Bag.

I’m also planning to sew reversible quilted placements from Sewing 101 with this fabric:

Um, I think I might have fallen into another addiction here!

Here are a few non-knitting related highlights from my weekend…

–I received the mini-painting that I purchased from Alex Noriega in Spain. It’s titled “Fly To My Heart” and I think it’s really cute. Alex’s shop can be found here.

–I cooked ham fried rice, one of my favorite easy dinners.

–I baked Andes Mint Cookies using a very simple recipe from a co-worker. These cookies are perfect for a chocoholic like myself!

1 box of any chocolate cake mix (I used Betty Crocker’s Milk Chocolate Cake Mix)
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 package of Andes Mints

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine cake mix, chocolate chips, oil, and eggs. Drop small spoonfuls of the batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet and and bake for 8-10 minutes. While the cookies are in the oven, break the Andes Mints in half. When the cookies are done, drop half a mint on top of each cookie. Let them sit for 2 minutes, and then swirl the mints your finger (or a toothpick) to create the icing. Yields approximately 5 dozen cookies.