Sewing little bags

I have this love-hate relationship with sewing. Really, I’ve always thought of myself as sewing-challenged. Maybe not anymore.

My mother was a wonderful seamstress. She made most of my clothes. She made my sister’s clothes too. Often they would be matching so when Sis grew out of hers, they were passed down to me and I was again wearing the same dress. I say dress because back then we wore dresses even to play in.

In high school Mom would buy a dress pattern and make me at least five dresses, all using different fabrics. As you can imagine, I always had lots of clothes. She also made my formals. Before sewing those beautiful dresses, we’d go shopping. I’d try on lots of them until we found the perfect one. Then we’d go home empty handed. Before long mom had gone to the fabric store, came home with fabric and notions,  and made her own version of that dress. It was always prettier than the one I had tried on. Another thing too, none of the other girls was wearing a dress like mine.

During those years growing up I’d talk about sewing, but mom was insistent that if I really wanted to sew I’d have to learn on my own. Her mother, my grandma, was a great quilter who never taught her to sew. Mom felt that if she could learn on her own, so could her daughter.

So I’ve spent quite a few years trying to sew. My first sewing project was shorts. They never did fit. After college I took a class on altering garments. I don’t remember much about my results. I also tried to quilt, but couldn’t quite get that 1/4 inch seam and all of the perfection.

In the past several years I bought a couple of machines – a Brother sewing and embroidery machine and an Elna serger. It funny that when I sit down at the serger, I don’t have any anxiety. The sewing machines make me so nervous.

However, just in the last year I have been sewing more and feeling more comfortable. I love sewing those clothesline bowls that I make on my old Elna. I’ve also sewn some journal covers in the past. Recently I signed up for the Craftsy class, The One-Zip Way, with Joan Hawley.

First of all, I am an online class junkie. I learn best with videos. Also, I am not being paid to review or give any good feedback on this class which I paid for. I wanted to tell you about it because I think it was one of the best Craftsy classes I’ve taken.

When a class motivates me to makes something, then I know it’s a good class. Joan is a great teacher. Her instructions via her videos are easy to understand. We make three different bags and the carrying strap in this class. She is available to answer questions, and when I posted pictures of my finished projects she commented almost right away.

First I needed to buy some long zippers and zipper pulls. I love all of the beautiful colors.

Then to make the bags. I decided to start with the largest bag – Becca. I love this bag and attaching the zipper this way, was so easy. These were both made with my ice dyed fabric. I love the carrying strap.

This is the Small Becca. This is made from my soy waxed fabric that I ice dyed over. This will go in my purse.

This last one is the Sweet Pea made with my marbled fabric on the outside and ice dyed on the inside.

What a fun class. It’s sure a great way to get practice adding zippers. I highly recommend this class to even beginners.

That’s all of the zip bags I’ll be making for awhile. I need to take a break and work on some other projects.

Do you like to take online classes? Do you have any favorites? Here is a link to a couple other online classes I’ve really enjoyed.