learning to sew

after the length of time it took me to hand-hem the chinese brocade tablecloth last week, i decided that it really was time to bite the bullet and purchase a cheap (but useable) sewing machine. this was decided partly because i have lots of little things like curtains i want to make for my house, but also because i have got it in my head that i am going to learn how to quilt this year and a machine makes that process a lot easier.

so, i purchased a machine last week, and on saturday found myself in the local quilt shop looking at fabrics and asking questions about technique. lucky for me – there was a beginner class scheduled for that very afternoon and one space left in it – and so i found myself spontaneously learning how to quilt this weekend and made myself a badly malformed potholder in the process:

keep in mind that i don’t even really know how to use a sewing machine, and the crooked sewing makes a lot more sense. besides that accomplishment, i did learn a lot about the basics of quilting technique and the importance of accurate cutting and sewing – and i’m pretty sure that with some practice i will be turning out expertly-made potholders in no time….

besides that i worked on my bedroom curtains friday night and got them all hemmed up. now i am hand-embelishing them with some simple embroidery stitch – so until that’s done and they are hung, i won’t be posting a picture of them….

but as further practice on the machine, i used some fabric i happened to have around and an old pillow and sewed up this pillow-slip to accent my living room sofa:

i have some more fabric and another pillow, so i’m thinking of making a matched pair since i really like this fabric and my living room is otherwise without printed textiles.

and as a project update, i am almost finished the north-indian-design decorative pillow i started cross-stitching in wool on canvas last spring. i took the summer off from it (wool is far too hot for summer work), and picked it up again in september as i intend to have this finished for xmas as a gift to my mother. here is the progress so far – i only have about another week of dedicated work to get the stitching finished:

you get a better idea of the colours from this detail shot:

i’m already thinking about what my next stitching project should be since this type of work travels so well on my commute and makes nice gifts (but takes an incredible amount of time which is why sewing and quilting seem like good things to take up). i’m thinking of working with a fine-count linen for the next project since i have not worked much with fabrics that require that much attention and am interested in how the process translates (a standard cross-stitch fabric size is 14 count. the fabric size shown above is the much larger 8 count. i’m thinking of trying something along the lines of an 18 or higher count which means much smaller holes and finer finished work). i’ve got lots of ideas in any case….