Fabric Bracelet

I picked up a book called "Sew Darn Cute" by Jenny Ryan at the Hobby Lobby grand opening in my town recently. It has sewing projects for a variety of skill levels. There are several that seem to be appropriate for the beginner (that's me!) and I can't wait to work my way through the whole book.

For my first attempt, I chose the Snappy Fabric Bracelet. This is a photo from the author's website. I did not make these bracelets. It's just here so you can see what they are SUPPOSED to look like.

I'm pretty sure you'd need to buy the book to get the step-by-step instructions. But I think I can share my experience working through the tutorial.

This is what my bracelet looks like.



The author recommends using snaps for the closure (duh...."snappy" bracelet???) but I didn't have any and decided to improvise with things I had on hand (velcro.) The velcro is on the inside, of course.



You can see that the snaps look much classier and make the bracelets less Wonder Woman-y. And although the velcro makes the bracelet easier to put on with one hand, I will definitely use the snaps for the next one.



Of course there are things I see wrong with my bracelet. Like the *top stitching needs to be cleaner. I imagine I'll get better at that as I practice more. And I will be making more because two people have asked for bracelets.

I'd also like to get the corners more square. I read somewhere that if you clip the fabric at an angle near the corner before turning it right side out, the fabric will be less bulky giving you crisp square corners.

Duly noted.

*Look at me using the cool sewing lingo like I know what I'm doing. Ha!

Stay pretty!

Lamb Pillow....I did it!

This was an easy enough project that I found in Molly's Sketchbook at the Purl Bee. I didn't use the exact same materials called for but the lamb is still soft.

Because I'm lazy normally pressed for time and very efficient, I traced once with the vanishing fabric pen, folded, and cut through two pieces of felt at the same time to get the two face sections. This technique worked well for the ears and leg pieces as well.





I know, I know, my sewing is cringe-worthy. But I'm working on it. Check me in 6 months. I'll be a sewing fool with crazy clean lines.

One thing I didn't pay attention to is making sure my bottom and top thread matched. I forgot that the thread would show on both sides of the lamb. So my lamb has white thread on one side and brown thread on the other.

Oopsies. I broke the crap out of my needle. These are the kinds of things that make a 1 hour job take 2 hours. Now I must take time to go read the manual and figure out how to change the needle. Luckily that was an easy thing to do.

Pieces are all pinned together and ready for stitching, stuffing and finishing off the opening.

I think he turned out really cute. I could have made him fluffier with the stuffing. And next time I might make a larger momma sheep.

Now I'm off to remove something from my To-Do list. I love that.

Stay pretty!