Notes from the Weekend

Finally, there was some actual productive garment sewing this weekend. Not as much as I had planned, but some is better than none. But before that happened, I kind of got cornered to do some mending first.

My younger son's girlfriend's purse needed its shoulder strap reattached. They came into my sewing room and asked if they could borrow some purple thread and a needle. I asked for what, and GF showed me the strap on the purse. Which was gold and red cotton, by the way, so why purple I have no idea. Anyway, I said that I could just sew it on the machine and it would be stronger. GF smiled and handed the purse over.

When I had it in my hands, I noticed that the other strap was messily handstitched (also in purple!) and I ended up ripping that out and pressing and then sewing both straps on, sandwiched between the lining and the purse fabric.

The lining was another story. It was shredded near the top and the bottom was completely gone. Anything small that she'd drop into the purse would need a fishing expedition to find it up inside the lining. So, I also fused some interfacing to the back side of the lining so it would be stable again and then sewed it back to the bag at the bottom. Much better.

Finally, the outside front of the purse is covered in rows of ribbons, one of which had come apart from the next, creating another "hole" that needed attention. I just topstitched that back down, catching the lining as I sewed, but who cared at that point.

By the time I was done, I had nearly resewn the whole purse, but the GF was thrilled and this favorite purse will now last at least another few months. Mending might be tedious, but it is sure satisfying to save something from the trash bin (and, of course, to be a hero in GF's eyes!).

So here's how far I got with my next Jalie 2806 top. I'll sew the sleeves on tonight and finish it up, as the guys have BBQ duty for dinner.



Saturday was spent in the sewing room playing with my new toys, around some household chores. I finished three more blocks (2 Liberty/Twisted Sister and 1 more of the Life blocks). The Twisted Sister blocks are for the full quilt. The other is for the wallhanging that I started at the same time as the quilt, figuring "as long as I'm doing one, I might as well do two." Yeah, OK, who the heck thought THAT was a good idea? LOL! As you can see, the applique block for it so far remains undone too.