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Friday, January 10, 2014
Friday, February 04, 2011
Good Enough
What does the phrase "Good Enough" mean to you? Does it conjure thoughts of someone who has tried their best and knows when to stop or do you think that good enough is never enough, there's always room for improvement?
I had asked Five to clean up a mess that he had made. He got most of it but missed a few small pieces. I told him "Good enough" and let him leave the room. Afterwards I wondered if i had just communicated to him that it's okay to not do the job to full completion and if I should have insisted that he get even the little pieces. I try to emphasize effort more than performance. I don't care if he didn't succeed at something as long as I know he tried his best and had a good attitude about it. I used to think that I had had to do everything right. If I missed a day of devotions, I'd do 2 the next day to make up for it. I'd end up getting so behind that there was no hope of catching up so I'd give up on doing it at all for weeks or months. Then I'd start again, determined not to miss a day but of course it would happen inevitably and I'd feel like a failure.
Perfection affects my crafting as well. I'll buy a pattern I like and later get intimidated by it and think I can't do it justice so it sits in my drawer, untouched. Or I'll keep adding and adding to a project, trying to make it better. Or rip something out and try again 3, 4, 5 times when the reality is that anyone else that looked at it would probably see nothing wrong with it, it just wasn't exactly what I wanted. I've been finding myself saying "good enough" more often recently and it's like a load is lifted off my shoulders. I used to apologize when giving a gift if it wasn't perfect and point out the mistakes and say how I should have done it better. I've realized that 1. people are just grateful for the gift and don't care if it's not perfect and 2. chances are, they won't even notice if I don't point it out to them.
After thinking all of this through, I felt good about telling him that what he had done was "good enough". I don't ever want him to think "Nothing I do is good enough so I'm not going to bother to try." I have seen this happen to children when their parents or teachers were overly critical and demanded perfection of them and it is devastating.
I apologize for the lack of posts. Life has been busy and the sewing room/sunroom is not weather proofed very well so it's really cold out there. I'm trying not to run our electricity bill way up by running the space heater constantly so I haven't been out there much since finishing my class. In fact, I still haven't hemmed a pair of pants that I got for Christmas! I'm hoping for a warm spring so I can get back out there and sew some more.
Anna Q
I had asked Five to clean up a mess that he had made. He got most of it but missed a few small pieces. I told him "Good enough" and let him leave the room. Afterwards I wondered if i had just communicated to him that it's okay to not do the job to full completion and if I should have insisted that he get even the little pieces. I try to emphasize effort more than performance. I don't care if he didn't succeed at something as long as I know he tried his best and had a good attitude about it. I used to think that I had had to do everything right. If I missed a day of devotions, I'd do 2 the next day to make up for it. I'd end up getting so behind that there was no hope of catching up so I'd give up on doing it at all for weeks or months. Then I'd start again, determined not to miss a day but of course it would happen inevitably and I'd feel like a failure.
Perfection affects my crafting as well. I'll buy a pattern I like and later get intimidated by it and think I can't do it justice so it sits in my drawer, untouched. Or I'll keep adding and adding to a project, trying to make it better. Or rip something out and try again 3, 4, 5 times when the reality is that anyone else that looked at it would probably see nothing wrong with it, it just wasn't exactly what I wanted. I've been finding myself saying "good enough" more often recently and it's like a load is lifted off my shoulders. I used to apologize when giving a gift if it wasn't perfect and point out the mistakes and say how I should have done it better. I've realized that 1. people are just grateful for the gift and don't care if it's not perfect and 2. chances are, they won't even notice if I don't point it out to them.
After thinking all of this through, I felt good about telling him that what he had done was "good enough". I don't ever want him to think "Nothing I do is good enough so I'm not going to bother to try." I have seen this happen to children when their parents or teachers were overly critical and demanded perfection of them and it is devastating.
I apologize for the lack of posts. Life has been busy and the sewing room/sunroom is not weather proofed very well so it's really cold out there. I'm trying not to run our electricity bill way up by running the space heater constantly so I haven't been out there much since finishing my class. In fact, I still haven't hemmed a pair of pants that I got for Christmas! I'm hoping for a warm spring so I can get back out there and sew some more.
Anna Q
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Pillowcase Dress
I love the look of these dresses and finally decided to make one. I didn't have any pillowcases that were cute enough to use for a dress that I was willing to cut up. So I just picked some fabric from my stash, sewed a tube, and hemmed the bottom. This is approximately size 6, but could easily fit a smaller girl due to the adjustable straps. It would end up a couple inches below her knee instead of right at the knee like the rest of my size 4 and 5 dresses. It could also be used by bigger girls as a top or over pants. The adjustable straps are about 10" long so there's a lot of room for growth.
I used these directions that I found from a swagbucks search. Her instructions are really easy to follow. (I copied them into a Word document if anyone's interested so it prints out on only 1 page.)
Traditional pillowcase dresses make a casing on the top front and top back and thread the ties through these casings. This can create a strangulation hazard, however, so I like her way of doing it better. She inserts an elastic into each casing, sewing it in place at each end. Then either make a casing for each armhole and thread the ties through the casings or sew on double fold bias tape, extending by 10" at each end to make the ties.
I didn't bother to print out the instructions so by mistake I made the elastics 9" each instead of 6". I think it works anyways (I'm certainly not about to rip it out to fix it!)
I feel like it needs something. Maybe I should have enclosed the hem in the double fold bias tape too? Or does the fabric have enough detail that the dress doesn't need anything else added to it?
I also made a sewing apron which turned out awesome. I'll take pics and post soon.
p.s. I do not take credit for the colour of my kitchen wall. That was our landlord's mother's choice. Definitely not mine.
I used these directions that I found from a swagbucks search. Her instructions are really easy to follow. (I copied them into a Word document if anyone's interested so it prints out on only 1 page.)
Traditional pillowcase dresses make a casing on the top front and top back and thread the ties through these casings. This can create a strangulation hazard, however, so I like her way of doing it better. She inserts an elastic into each casing, sewing it in place at each end. Then either make a casing for each armhole and thread the ties through the casings or sew on double fold bias tape, extending by 10" at each end to make the ties.
I didn't bother to print out the instructions so by mistake I made the elastics 9" each instead of 6". I think it works anyways (I'm certainly not about to rip it out to fix it!)
I feel like it needs something. Maybe I should have enclosed the hem in the double fold bias tape too? Or does the fabric have enough detail that the dress doesn't need anything else added to it?
I also made a sewing apron which turned out awesome. I'll take pics and post soon.
p.s. I do not take credit for the colour of my kitchen wall. That was our landlord's mother's choice. Definitely not mine.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Crocheted Creche
I picked up this magazine at the store a couple days ago.
Sadly, I don't think I'll have time to make it for this Christmas. I have too much to do already. I'll try to start earlier next year to make it in time.
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| "Crochet World, December 2010" |
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| I love it! |
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| Creche all closed up |
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| Closeup of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. Aren't they cute? |
Saturday, December 11, 2010
I'm done!
I'm all done. Woohoo!!!
What a day. I woke up bright and early and immediately remembered that when I put my sewing things by the door, I'd forgotten my shirt! Grabbed that first thing, then went off to school. I got there around 8:30 and sewed like mad until 12:20 when I finished the shirt. I ran down 3 flights of stairs for a sandwich, then back up and scarfed it down before going back to practice for the sewing test.
Sewing machine adventure #1
My sewing machine had been acting up all morning. It would randomly skip stitches, and would not catch any at all when backstitching. I managed to make it through my top but realized that I could NOT do my sewing test on that machine.
It is almost the end of the semester so all of the students in other classes have a lot of projects to work on. My teacher doesn't mind if they work during our class, as long as they are quiet and don't use the machines that we need. She had them leave during the test, but said they could leave their things.
There are 3 different models of sewing machines. The REALLY old ones are at the back of the class, the sort of old ones are in the middle, and the best and newest are at the front. My machine is in the front. Unfortunately, all of the best machines were taken. A few by people not in my class. >:(
Sewing machine #2
So I sat down at a machine that is sort of old. There's no speed control, no computer to make the needle stop down every time (very helpful when trying to pivot in place), and it did not automatically cut the thread. I very quickly realized that I could not do my test using a machine that I had zero experience with.
Sewing machine #3
I decided to move up to one of the newer ones and had to move aside the stuff of whoever was NOT in my class that had been using that machine. I felt bad about touching their things but hey, I don't come in during their class and use their machine. I paid to take this class so during my class time, I need proper equipment and they are not in my class and do not have the right to be there and prevent me from using the machine. Anyways...
This machine was the same model as mine, but I couldn't figure out some things. The speed control felt different, the needle would not stop in the down position (my machine stopped with the needle down every time I stopped sewing, until I cut the thread.) and the knee lever for raising the presser foot was about a foot away from my knee! I ended up having to walk it (turn the dial on the side by hand) the whole time because I couldn't control the speed or where the needle would end up. Very frustrating but I got it done and got 10/10 on it!
This is what we had to sew:
The shirt is a bit see-through so it will need an undershirt. I may try to take the sides in a bit, it has no shaping there so it looks "like a potato sack" as my husband says.
I won't know what score I got on my written test until after Christmas when they post grades online but I added up the rest of my scores. I also got 5 bonus marks for having my binder of samples neat and organized. So my total score is between 102 and 103% (depending how I did on the written test.) Not bad eh? Ultimately, I didn't do it for the mark, I did it to learn how to sew better, but the grade feels good too. :o)
What a day. I woke up bright and early and immediately remembered that when I put my sewing things by the door, I'd forgotten my shirt! Grabbed that first thing, then went off to school. I got there around 8:30 and sewed like mad until 12:20 when I finished the shirt. I ran down 3 flights of stairs for a sandwich, then back up and scarfed it down before going back to practice for the sewing test.
Sewing machine adventure #1
My sewing machine had been acting up all morning. It would randomly skip stitches, and would not catch any at all when backstitching. I managed to make it through my top but realized that I could NOT do my sewing test on that machine.
It is almost the end of the semester so all of the students in other classes have a lot of projects to work on. My teacher doesn't mind if they work during our class, as long as they are quiet and don't use the machines that we need. She had them leave during the test, but said they could leave their things.
There are 3 different models of sewing machines. The REALLY old ones are at the back of the class, the sort of old ones are in the middle, and the best and newest are at the front. My machine is in the front. Unfortunately, all of the best machines were taken. A few by people not in my class. >:(
Sewing machine #2
So I sat down at a machine that is sort of old. There's no speed control, no computer to make the needle stop down every time (very helpful when trying to pivot in place), and it did not automatically cut the thread. I very quickly realized that I could not do my test using a machine that I had zero experience with.
Sewing machine #3
I decided to move up to one of the newer ones and had to move aside the stuff of whoever was NOT in my class that had been using that machine. I felt bad about touching their things but hey, I don't come in during their class and use their machine. I paid to take this class so during my class time, I need proper equipment and they are not in my class and do not have the right to be there and prevent me from using the machine. Anyways...
This machine was the same model as mine, but I couldn't figure out some things. The speed control felt different, the needle would not stop in the down position (my machine stopped with the needle down every time I stopped sewing, until I cut the thread.) and the knee lever for raising the presser foot was about a foot away from my knee! I ended up having to walk it (turn the dial on the side by hand) the whole time because I couldn't control the speed or where the needle would end up. Very frustrating but I got it done and got 10/10 on it!
This is what we had to sew:
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| Back of skirt |
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| Shirt front. (The white bits is from the camera flash shining off the hardwood through the shirt) |
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| Darts in front |
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| Keyhole closure in back (still needs the closure but didn't count against my mark). |
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| Side slits |
I won't know what score I got on my written test until after Christmas when they post grades online but I added up the rest of my scores. I also got 5 bonus marks for having my binder of samples neat and organized. So my total score is between 102 and 103% (depending how I did on the written test.) Not bad eh? Ultimately, I didn't do it for the mark, I did it to learn how to sew better, but the grade feels good too. :o)
Friday, December 10, 2010
Almost done
I'm almost done my course! Tomorrow is my last class. I'm a little sad, but also very relieved. It's taken A LOT more work than I thought it would be, however, I'm very satisfied. It was well worth the time and effort.
Tomorrow the sewing lab opens at 8am. I plan to be there as soon as possible, hopefully I can be there close to 8 - barring mommy emergencies. Then I'll have 4 hours to finish the shirt. I think I'll be cutting it a bit close, especially if I factor in time for life necessities like bathroom breaks and eating, pesky things those are when I'm trying to get something urgent done ;)
Between finishing the last 3 samples for my class, practicing for the sewing test, studying for the written test, going to my parent's for dinner and for the kids to decorate their tree, and doing laundry, I managed to start sewing some Christmas gifts. Well okay, I only sewed one, but I have some more cut out and ready to sew. Sorry, no pics until after Christmas.
Well okay, just one.
That's all you get! :D
Tomorrow the sewing lab opens at 8am. I plan to be there as soon as possible, hopefully I can be there close to 8 - barring mommy emergencies. Then I'll have 4 hours to finish the shirt. I think I'll be cutting it a bit close, especially if I factor in time for life necessities like bathroom breaks and eating, pesky things those are when I'm trying to get something urgent done ;)
Between finishing the last 3 samples for my class, practicing for the sewing test, studying for the written test, going to my parent's for dinner and for the kids to decorate their tree, and doing laundry, I managed to start sewing some Christmas gifts. Well okay, I only sewed one, but I have some more cut out and ready to sew. Sorry, no pics until after Christmas.
Well okay, just one.
Monday, December 06, 2010
Christmas Present
I bought my Christmas present to myself early this year. My old camera has been broken for a few months. It works but is a PITB to change the batteries or access the memory stick. It's also 6 years old. Today, I bought the same kind of camera (Sony Cybershot) for a third of the cost and it has almost 3 times the megapixels, plus image stabilization and some other stuff. I'm really excited. The old one takes so long to take pictures that often I miss the moment - the kids turned away or blinked by the time it takes the picture. The pictures are also often blurry. I'm hoping this one is a lot clearer, I already know it's faster. Unfortunately, it didn't come with a memory stick and it takes a different format than the old camera so I have to go back to the store to buy a stick. I don't really mind though - I'm happy to have a stick for the old camera as I plan to let Five have it. I bought him a kids' camera a few months back and it was complete junk. He's careful enough with it that I'm okay with him using it with supervision.
There's one more feature I love about this camera. It's HOT PINK! How cool is that? It actually matches the case perfectly so think of a pink somewhere between the two pinks you see below and that's what it looks like. I had a black case for my old camera and it made it disappear into the bottomless pit that is my purse. I'm hoping that a hot pink case will be easier to find.
What does this have to do with crafts? I'm not sure... but I take pictures of my crafts with it so I guess it counts. Maybe. I had crocheted a little baby bootie and attached it to the wrist strap for my old camera because I bought it when I was pregnant with Five. My brother and sister-in-law had the same camera so I had to attach something to tell them apart. So maybe I'll craft some little thing to hang off of the wrist strap for this camera too because I think, although I may be mistaken, that my sister-in-law got this same camera to replace theirs a few months ago. (I think hers is light pink though, not hot pink).
I'm not waiting for Christmas to use it because I want to get good with it in the meantime so that I can get some good pictures and video at Christmastime. I'll probably wrap the box and put it under the tree :)
I just gave Five the old camera and he's having fun with it already, taking pictures of his transformers. This totally makes my day :D
There's one more feature I love about this camera. It's HOT PINK! How cool is that? It actually matches the case perfectly so think of a pink somewhere between the two pinks you see below and that's what it looks like. I had a black case for my old camera and it made it disappear into the bottomless pit that is my purse. I'm hoping that a hot pink case will be easier to find.
I'm not waiting for Christmas to use it because I want to get good with it in the meantime so that I can get some good pictures and video at Christmastime. I'll probably wrap the box and put it under the tree :)
I just gave Five the old camera and he's having fun with it already, taking pictures of his transformers. This totally makes my day :D
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Skirt is done!
Skirt is finished and marked and I got 20/20! Woohoo! She said she tried to pick on it, to find something wrong and couldn't. I'm so happy. I put SO much work into it.
She was really impressed with the name tag I'd put on it. It's an iron-on label from Fabricland.
Muslin shirt is finished. It's very plain and, as I'd thought, too big. There are some pleats in the sleeve, which isn't good. It's supposed to be totally smooth. So instead of using the no-thread method (described in the previous post) of sewing the sleeve to the armhole, I'll use gathering stitches for the real shirt. It allows for better control of exactly where the fabric goes, and helps to prevent unwanted folds. It does take more time which is why I prefer the other way, but I think it's necessary for this project.
Below is the shirt I will hand in. So far I have completed:
I still need to:
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| Front |
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| Darts in the front |
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| Back with a keyhole slit |
- cut out everything
- fused neckline facing
- sewn darts
- serged all edges except where the necklines are sewn together
- sewn back centre seam
- sewn front to back at shoulders and sides
- sewn neckline facing pieces together
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- attach neckline facing
- sew sleeves on
- attach a hook at the top of the keyhole opening
- sew the bottom hem
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| Close-up of fabric |
I also handed in several samples (neckline facing, set in sleeve, released darts, and pleats - all of which I got perfect scores on) and was assigned two more (round pockets and square pockets). She lets us do the samples over again until we are satisfied with our mark so, thanks to persistence, I have pretty good marks on all of them. There's one I got back yesterday that I got 7/10 so I'll be redoing that one. I know why - I rushed it, trying to get it done inside of class time. I'll take my time and do it right (hopefully).
I tried to stay late last night but they closed the sewing lab at 5pm. I need to finish the rest of the shirt before 1pm next Saturday and it has to be done on the school's sewing machines. So I need to figure out when I can go in to get that done. For now, I'm kinda burned out on sewing so I probably won't sew at all today. Tomorrow, while Five is at school and One is napping, I'll try to get the samples done.
Oh, and I found my camera :D It was in the bottom of my purse the whole time!
Friday, December 03, 2010
Shirt Project
So sorry for no pictures! Still searching for my camera.
I have 2 classes left: tomorrow and then next week is the last one. So next week the shirt will be due, which means that if I need any guidance for it, I need to get it tomorrow. My plan is to finish the muslin shirt tonight and try it on and hopefully it will fit. I'm not sure if I'll have time to modify it even if it doesn't fit.
This is the pattern: Simplicity 8523, size 14, view A (centre bottom view).
So far, I've completed:
Still have to do:
I'm right in between size 12 and 14. (Note: Pattern sizes do NOT correspond to clothing sizes in stores!) Unfortunately, one pattern envelope has sizes 8, 10, and 12 and the one I had has sizes 14, 16, and 18. If 12 and 14 were on the same paper, I'd just cut out the pattern right in the middle.
With my skirt, I'm also between size 12 and 14 and got size 12 and had to enlarge it. Which was difficult - I pretty much had to draft my own pattern based loosely on the one I bought. This is why I decided to go to the larger size this time. I'd rather have it too large - it's much easier to shrink than to enlarge, and it's not strictly necessary to shrink it in order to be able to wear it. If the shirt's too small, I can't wear it - period. If it's too big, it might not look perfect but at least it's wearable. I can always use another laundry-day shirt ;) (and eventually I hope I'll get it right and it will fit AND look good :D )
I have 2 classes left: tomorrow and then next week is the last one. So next week the shirt will be due, which means that if I need any guidance for it, I need to get it tomorrow. My plan is to finish the muslin shirt tonight and try it on and hopefully it will fit. I'm not sure if I'll have time to modify it even if it doesn't fit.
This is the pattern: Simplicity 8523, size 14, view A (centre bottom view).
So far, I've completed:
- front darts
- back seam
- sewn front to back at shoulders and sides
- neckline facing
- one sleeve
Still have to do:
- second sleeve
- hem
- closure at top back
- remove thread from needle
- place sleeve under the fabric as though you're going to sew in gathering stitches
- lower the presser foot
- set stitch length to 2.5
- place your finger behind the presser foot, tight against the foot and the plate. It should be directly in the way of the fabric coming out.
- sew (without thread in needle)
- fabric will gather into tiny folds against your finger. keep you finger there until you've "sewn" the whole curve of the sleeve.
- remove fabric from the machine and check the folds. If you feel it needs some more folds or, as often happens to me, there seems to be some areas that didn't crease as well, you can just go over those areas again.
- it will look like it's been crimped. This slightly gathers the fabric, allowing you to easily fit it to the sleeve opening in the top. It's also a lot faster and uses less materials than using gathering stitches.
- with top right side out and sleeve wrong side out, slide the the sleeve opening into the sleeve (right sides together and matching notches, dots, and seams). It's much easier if the sleeve is on the outside since it is the larger... piece of fabric and the one you are reducing in order to match it to the sleeve opening on the top. Pin, sew, (don't clip!) and serge all the way around.
I'm right in between size 12 and 14. (Note: Pattern sizes do NOT correspond to clothing sizes in stores!) Unfortunately, one pattern envelope has sizes 8, 10, and 12 and the one I had has sizes 14, 16, and 18. If 12 and 14 were on the same paper, I'd just cut out the pattern right in the middle.
With my skirt, I'm also between size 12 and 14 and got size 12 and had to enlarge it. Which was difficult - I pretty much had to draft my own pattern based loosely on the one I bought. This is why I decided to go to the larger size this time. I'd rather have it too large - it's much easier to shrink than to enlarge, and it's not strictly necessary to shrink it in order to be able to wear it. If the shirt's too small, I can't wear it - period. If it's too big, it might not look perfect but at least it's wearable. I can always use another laundry-day shirt ;) (and eventually I hope I'll get it right and it will fit AND look good :D )
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Lost camera
I seem to have misplaced my camera, hence the lack of posts. I don't know how long it will take for me to find it, so I'll just post anyways.
I currently have lots of projects in process, none of which have changed much recently. I've made almost no progress on my cross stitch.
I currently have lots of projects in process, none of which have changed much recently. I've made almost no progress on my cross stitch.
I bought a pattern for a crocheted creche. I'm excited about that. We used to have a tiny wooden creche when we were kids. We eventually lost the baby Jesus so we'd put the lamb in the manger instead since Jesus was the sacrificial lamb. I don't know whether I'll have time to make it before Christmas this year. Right now our house looks like a bomb went off as we box up the Halloween/autumn decorations and put up the Christmas ones. As soon as I find my camera, I'll take pictures of some of our homemade ornaments.
I hate posting without any photos so here's a photo of one of my cutest creations (okay, one of God's cutest creations ;) )
Oh, and you can kind of see one of my sewing creations in the background - the Cars backpack.
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