Project: Simplicity 4597 { Notes }

aka The Tardy Birthday Present.

Yes, it's finally over. A year and two months in the making (or four days of actual sewing and a year and two months of panicking) and Simplicity 4597 is done. Finis. Gorffen.

This is my first commercial pattern (i.e. not one of Tone Finnanger's creations) ever completed without help from my Mother. In fact, it's my first commercial pattern ever finished when not being helped by my Mother. I have to admit, it was only the thought of Jemma's face when, for the second year running, I failed to give her the present I'd been promising that made me keep going. It appears I have a low boredom threshold.

The pockets were a nightmare and my pleating leaves a lot to be desired. I was determined to do this properly, basting where told, etc, etc, etc. That lasted a day. I hadn't marked up the fabric properly with all the dots and lines necessary to pleat and stitch correctly, not through complete lack of trying but mostly because on the tote bag you're working with the right side of the fabric and I'd marked the back.

The front pockets were over pleated and pleated in the wrong place and so became too short for the side of the bag. Impatient and unsure how else to fix I just pinked the edges and stitched down, making the pocket edges decorative instead. Due to a mistake on the side pockets (who forgets to add the bias tape to the edges before stitching the pleats into place?!) I did the same thing there too. Thankfully, it looks like it's supposed to look like that.

The fabric was quite a heavyweight material, probably more for upholstering than crafting, but I thought it would help the bag keep its shape, particularly as the only interfacing the shop had was lightweight.

I liked the colours, this is after all for the garden, and the lining and the pockets matched whilst being different designs.

The pattern was relatively easy to follow, even for my novice status. I got a little confused only when sewing on the lower side pockets because it meant stitching down the middle of the bigger pockets behind it, something I found (and still do find) a little strange. But I guess it needed to be secured somehow, and with five working pockets on the front and back and a pocket on either side it's not like you'll miss the 13th and 14th pocket that's been reduced by the stitching!

All in all I'm really pleased with the outcome. I just hope the handles are stitched to the bag well enough to take some weight and that nothing starts falling to pieces. I checked it over for holes and loose threads and couldn't find anything so I'm hopeful that it'll hold up.

I did forget to mention, in my card to Jemma, that this was a bag for the garden so who knows what she'll make of it as a random bag she receives! It also occurred to me that spraying the bag with a waterproofing spray available for shoes might be a good idea, but I forgot to mention that too!

Here's hoping she likes it!

Thanks for stopping by,

Project: Simplicity 4597

... or rather, I'm making this.

{ Simplicity 4597 Gardening Tote, Aprons & Visor }

Best friend, Jemma, she of the Twinwood Festival in August, is a wonderful gardener. She adores puttering around in her veggie patches or re-doing her flower bed by the patio for the nth time. So last year, for her birthday on May 25th, I thought I would make her the above tote and one of the aprons. Unfortunately, I'm still making them.

I don't have an awful lot of sewing experience, not from commercial patterns anyway. I've made a couple of dresses, both with help from Mum, a pair of trousers that I adapted into a Star Trek uniform when I was about 13 and that's actually about it. Most recently I've been making things from the Tone Finnanger books Sew Pretty Homestyle and Sew Pretty Christmas Homestyle. I can't wax lyrical enough about how wonderful and easy the projects in her books are (nor how pretty!).

And I think I got very very scared by the pattern which I don't think is easy and involves pleating and ... stuff. Poor Jemma's been waiting over a year for her present and I finally decided to grow a pair and make the damn thing. I'm surprised by how well I've been doing. I've only had to rip 1 seam out (despite actually, if I was being incredibly picky, needing to rip 5 or 6 due to stoopid cotton twirling as it seamed), my pockets have been pleated, a little too much so now it's too small for the side of the tote, but I can work with that. All in all, it's going together nicely. So far. I'm only on the third instruction so there's plenty of room for disaster yet!

In the hope that I do actually finish it by Friday so I can post it off to her in time for Tuesday I've also made a pig with wings as I'm sure she thought she'd receive this present when pigs started flying. I love the pig so much that I'm going to have to make myself one too!

Thanks for stopping by,