I've been admiring other people's sewing online for a while now, but had been feeling really intimidated. I've chatted to both Philippa and Lara about what it is that makes sewing more intimidating than knitting, and I think it's the fact that it's so much harder to take back what you've done. If you knit a sweater and all is not well, you can rip it all back, wash and hang your yarn, and start all over again. But, if you cut your beautiful fabric squiffy, or sew in a not-quite-straight line, that's kind of it. It will never be exactly the same again. You can unpick seams, but you still have a row of tiny holes in your fabric, and it's definitely not as good as new. Waah!
But! Despite my fears and concerns about permanently ruining something lovely, I decided it was time that I started sewing. And to that end, I have a new toy.
It arrived yesterday, and I love it! I spent quite a while choosing it, reading online reviews and looking at lots of options - I didn't have a large budget at all, and I wanted something simple and easy to use, which would last me a long time. In the end, I bought the Pfaff Hobby 1132 from G.U.R. Sewing Machines, and I was really impressed by their service - I ordered the machine at about 2.30pm, had a telephone call at about 3pm to say that they were dispatching it immediately, and it arrived the next morning. I would definitely recommend them based on my experience.
I did have a particular project in mind when I decided that I finally needed to buy a sewing machine rather than doing things by hand - more on that when it's actually done! - but before getting started on that, I wanted to do something simple and a bit smaller.
I hit upon the idea of a drawstring bag and before long found a tutorial for a reversible version at one of my favourite blogs. Jess's instructions were wonderfully clear and the whole thing was very easy and only used two fat quarters of fabric. It took me a while because I was just getting to know my machine, and it's been a while since I've used a sewing machine of any kind.
Look what I made!
Reversiblised:
Pattern: Drawstring Bag by Jessica.
Fabric: A fat quarter each of these two fabrics from Heather Bailey's Freshcut range for Free Spirit.
Ribbon: by East of India, from Liberty's.
Verdict: I love it, and I love the simplicity of the pattern. It's the perfect size for storing a small knitting project and I've already transferred my current socks-in-progress from my Go Knit pouch to this. I am really pleased with this and feel quite empowered!
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