Wednesday, April 20, 2005
the tiny beast
Normally when I get a shiny and new crafting tool, I put off working with it because I don't want to know how miserably I'll fail at whatever it is that the tool does. But I decided to jump right in with the sewing machine because I've been waiting to get it for so many months. (Good thing I did, too, because I ended up paying $20 for it instead of $30.) Also, I learn best by blindly heading into new experiences. So Sunday I sewed the little crappy pillow that you can see on the crafty blog, and yesterday I started working on the bird/leaf mobile for Rabbit.
The mobile is based on the one in this Angry Chicken post. Differences: I'm using brighter colors, more leaves, a different bird shape, and I think I'm going to do a little embellishing, too. The leaves and bird are made from two layers of acrylic felt, which was an interesting lesson in and of itself. It took me about 45 minutes to figure out how to successfully sew two sheets of felt together. I skipped one of the thread guides and the thread kept coming out of the needle, then I kept forgetting to put the presser foot thingy down, then I kept trying to feed the felt through backwards, then I kept pushing the felt through instead of just guiding it, and on and on. FINALLY, about two hours later, I ended up with twelve leaf shapes. I was actually really enjoying myself by the end. I still have to do the veins, but I had to do laundry, so I forced myself to stop.
I was surprised by how (relatively) easy the whole process was, once I got the hang of it. Maybe I'll eventually get a thrifted Singer or something, I'll have to see how this goes. I kind of have a fear of sewing my hands together, so the small machine is less intimidating and a better fit for me right now. And to be honest, I didn't think it was capable of sewing through two layers of felt, so it's already surpassed my expectations. What a lovely tiny beast.
The mobile is based on the one in this Angry Chicken post. Differences: I'm using brighter colors, more leaves, a different bird shape, and I think I'm going to do a little embellishing, too. The leaves and bird are made from two layers of acrylic felt, which was an interesting lesson in and of itself. It took me about 45 minutes to figure out how to successfully sew two sheets of felt together. I skipped one of the thread guides and the thread kept coming out of the needle, then I kept forgetting to put the presser foot thingy down, then I kept trying to feed the felt through backwards, then I kept pushing the felt through instead of just guiding it, and on and on. FINALLY, about two hours later, I ended up with twelve leaf shapes. I was actually really enjoying myself by the end. I still have to do the veins, but I had to do laundry, so I forced myself to stop.
I was surprised by how (relatively) easy the whole process was, once I got the hang of it. Maybe I'll eventually get a thrifted Singer or something, I'll have to see how this goes. I kind of have a fear of sewing my hands together, so the small machine is less intimidating and a better fit for me right now. And to be honest, I didn't think it was capable of sewing through two layers of felt, so it's already surpassed my expectations. What a lovely tiny beast.
