Stress and Success in the Sewing Room

Lately there's been lots of stress - and success- in the sewing room! A while ago (I actually think it was in January) I rediscovered a tutorial that mom had found and saved, for a paneled purse! So, we (Mom and I) decided we should do something with it for once, and we set about making a paneled purse. It was pretty difficult and about every month or so we would work a little more on it, and it's finally done!! It was also really frustrating at times, because the tutorial was a bit vague, but we eventually figured it out (after much stress:)).

It was really awesome because we didn't have to buy any material! Last year I made a skirt using most of these fabrics and so I could use the leftover scraps. And the handles, we bought at JoAnn Fabrics.

So bright and cheery - perfect for summer :)

 I also just finished making a summery skirt for myself! This too caused lots of stress! You see, we had a really random, but cute ruffle that came from nowhere (Mom must have cut it off of something at some point) and I'd thought it would be perfect to simply sew on the bottom of a jean skirt. It sat in the laundry room for a while, and eventually we got some jean fabric and started working on it. We used an old skirt pattern (from sewing class a long time ago), and just made it a little bigger. It was still way too small. So, we started again. This time we got it to work and we began the process of attaching the ruffle. Then, we realized that the ruffle was way too small for the bottom of the skirt! We decided that if we took out a few of the pleats in the ruffle, then it would probably fit, but that didn't work either, and we ended up taking all of the pleats out, and gathering it up on the skirt. Anyway, long story made short, we finally got the ruffle attached to the skirt and realized the skirt was way too long for summer. We ended up cutting off the top to make it shorter. Anyway, we finally finished it! I wouldn't say it was exactly 'simple' but it's finished now and I like it!

 Thanks to my wonderful, talented mother who helps me and always rescues me when I run into a problem I don't know how to fix! I'd probably have given up on both these projects if it hadn't been for her :) Thanks Mom!

Now, I'd love to make some pillows for my bedroom (any ideas you'd like to share?) so we'll see how long this takes me! -Faith