Today I vowed to "practice" regular sewing, and relearn long-forgotten dressmaking techniques. I used to be reasonably competent, before quilting took over my life. Yikes, fumble fingers, what foot???, where is the right foot???, where is my instruction book???, what thread??? change this and that, up and down, "how do I...?", "I forgot something", etc. The item on the left is a nearly finished zippered pouch, and called for fusible batting, and scraps. My zipper was an old one with metal teeth - uhhhh, not a great idea. And the buttons for a little pizzazz? I have a half-gallon jar full of possibilities, but didn't find many that added "pizzazz". There seems to be an art to using them effectively. Why do we save them for 50 years??? LOL I"ll give myself a "C-" for the finished project, and an "A" for effort. I'll try again, and do better on the zipper ends which remain crumpled at each end, not sharp and neat.
DH has fashioned a few old wood thread spools into doo-dad-type-buttons by cutting them in half lengthwise, and drilling out sewing holes. I have a small spool supply as you see in the photo - that should last me another 50 years! LOL
What about you? Do you USE your carefully saved buttons?
Practicing 3 little bags
First one, brown batiks -- I didn't know how to resolve the issue at the end of the zippers with that fold thing. Crumpled corners are not attractive. This was my "C-". Arranging buttons artfully is not as carefree as we think!
Second one (blue) looks great, but upon inspection when FINISHED, a seam on the zipper was not deep enough and pulled away. I "fixed" it with hand stitching - looks terrible (not shown). This is a "B-"
Third one, (red/black) is good all way around - an "A"! I added a bit of grosgrain ribbon to the zipper pull.
Practice is good!