When something I cook goes wrong I usually just eat the evidence, but when something I craft goes wrong there are only three options 1)undo it and start again 2) change tack and make it into something else or 3)live with the horror of it. (My inability to throw anything away makes it impossible to include the most obvious option, so it isn't even on the list).
My absence from blogging is due to me spending time on other things. I'm sure we all have a long list. Mine includes a sub list of things to do to keep my rather old van on the road. It was while ticking one of the things off this list that I decided to buy a large container of engine oil. To offset the fact that my daughter and her staff discount card weren't with me I went for the own label Halfords with free 'professional' screwdriver set. Well the pro set was worth £19.99. I say 'was', because it is now on offer for half that price.
I am now living with the horror of my craft fail screwdriver case.
I decided to make it out of the most expensive Cath Kidston fabric in my stash. I decided not to make a pattern, but to make it up as I went along. Although I did a quick google picture search for similar objects, none of them were quite what I had in mind.
I don't even know what that very stiff grey fabric is. It's something I picked up at the scrap store. The blue stuff is a slippery waterproof ripstop also from the scrap store. I didn't change the thread in my sewing machine, but stuck with the white upper thread and grey bobbin thread.
I rifled through my carrier bag of zips, and first started with a pale green one, because it appeared to be the correct size. You may notice that the 'finished' article sports a pale blue zip. My first attempt at putting in the zip failed. It taught me that positioning is crucial, and that since the zip wasn't a correct fit I may as well use toning zip and design a solution to make up for the fact that it is too short.
Unpicking the first zip took its toll on the expensive linen CK fabric, so resewing a zip was tricky and left a fraying corner. At this point my other daughter (who has no job and no staff discount card) was nagging me for use of the sewing machine. I darned the corner and then decided to top stitch the whole thing.
Sewing lining to outer fabric and inserting the zip was done all at once and I had left a gap for turning the project right-side-out. Top stitching was my way of closing the gap. Because the outer fabric was pale blue and my bobbin thread grey I did the top stitching from the inside. Big mistake. The seam allowance of the stiff fabric and the slipperiness of the blue ripstop made sewing a straight line impossible.
I gave in to pester power and called it a day. I have been called back to the sewing machine to help my daughter change the thread (something I should have done for my project) and make it sew right (that always happens when she uses the machine) and fit the embroidery foot, so she can write the word 'BOURBON' on the garment (biscuit) she is making for a fancy dress party. I've just had to wind a bobbin for her, and I will have to fit the zipper foot and help her sew in a zip, because she has left that bit to last. She hasn't used a pattern, she's making it all up as she goes along, and has had to do some unpicking. Really some people don't know how to approach a sewing project!!!
