Sewing Pretty with Hello Kitty
At the end of July, Shibooya turns 2 years old. To celebrate, I’m budgeting to give the blog a professional redesign and proper maintenance, or as the kids are calling it these days, I’m going Web2.0. I don’t know what that really means but once I find a designer/coder with reasonable rates I hope it means that Shibooya will look and run a whole lot better.
My Hello Kitty sewing machine is pastel green, portable and so far, relatively easy to use and although it looks like a toy, it’s a suitable sewing machine for “beginners”.
My Hello Kitty sewing machine insists that I’ll be “Sewing Pretty with Hello Kitty” but after completing my first sewing project, I’m thinking Janome has a lot of explaining to do.
My sister and I picked out patterns and fabric to make retro-inspired aprons. The pattern turned out to be unnecessarily difficult to understand making the sewing project confusing and aggravating. Of course, instead of starting off with a simple project, say a slouchy hobo bag or even a cute fabric card holder, we decide that an apron with scalloped edges and pockets is a perfect starter sewing project. Having already made pajama pants and a few purses, my sister had more experience with sewing than I did. Still, we were still unable to figure out why marking scallops on the right side while basting it to the wrong side and having the raw edges lined up and—well, you can see why I was ready to rip out the seams and my hair.
After about 8 to 10 hours total spent on the apron, I finally finished it last night. The seams are sloppy, the scallops not perfectly rounded but the sizing is fine and I love the fabric.
Anna (July 12, 2007, 1:59 pm).
THAT’S your first sewing project? My first sewing project never got beyond the fabric I cut wrong. Now I just have lots of headbands.
Jenn~ (July 12, 2007, 2:31 pm).
Aww, what a cute sewing machine. I have one I got while in highschool taking sewing classes which I wanted to do at home which is why I had my parent’s buy me one for my bday. Well.. it’s been in storage since the first year I got it, hahah~ It’s stil “brand new” so one day when I get inspired again I’ll get it out. ^_________^
I love the apron, really cute. You did a good job for your first project.
Darren (July 13, 2007, 1:19 am).
That’s an adorable sewing machine lol I love Hello Kitty
Croaker (July 13, 2007, 10:38 am).
You would make such a good domestic servant
. But I’d rather see you as a glob-trotting writer! Or a Rachel Ray of the written word?
Sasha (July 13, 2007, 10:18 pm).
ahh, the sewing machine is too cute, too
Your apron is actually quite impressive, for a first project!
Jen (July 15, 2007, 8:21 pm).
Oh my gosh I LOVE your machine.
I think the apron looks pretty great, especially with being done so quickly & being the starter project! Scallops seem like a serious advanced challenge too.
MC (July 16, 2007, 8:11 am).
The sewing does look too cute to be an actual, functional sewing machine but it works pretty well! I think I’ll stick to more simple projects until I get the hang of things. But thanks for the encouraging comments!
franki durbin (July 17, 2007, 11:27 am).
sweetheart, is there nothing you cannot do? I am completely in awe of your domestic goddess behaviour fo late. You’re putting me to shame here.
Quite frankly, I feel great when I successfully sew a button back on. LOL!
Thanks for sharing your adventures with all of us. I can’t decide if I should start baking now or learn a week bit more about sewing…. I think I’ll stick to cooking. At least I won’t be expected to wear any of my creations.
MC (July 17, 2007, 2:18 pm).
Aw, thanks franki! I probably suffer from ADD the way I hope from one project to another. I guess I’ll never know!
Plus, this is what happens when a recent college graduate is trying to postpone the inevitable application to graduate school. I’m just doing my part to avoid it at all costs!
Amy (July 18, 2007, 1:23 pm).
Thanks for the comment on my blog. The one designer I’ve found that I like but haven’t contacted for rates yet is http://www.aeolidia.com/. They are on my list today.
I used a company called http://www.citiprice.com three years ago. They are reasonable but…well….I don’t really love my site (www.charmingsam.com) nor their portfolio of sites similar to what I’d like.
Good luck!
gilda (July 28, 2007, 7:46 am).
hello again!! that’s like a super cute machine!! mine’s a janome as well and i love it to death. too bad it ain’t hello kitty though. shucks.
for a beginner i think you did pretty well. i love scallop and sew them into my designs quite often. i suggest you practice before you embark on it again though. hee hee! what i did to practice when i first started sewing, was to use a pencil and draw on scraps of paper. you can squiggle the pencil all over if you want, or draw a scallop shape, or an even wave down the cloth. practice sewing exactly on those lines, and after a few tries, i believe you’ll be making gorgeous scallops!
good luck!