sew stupid

So . . . I chose the crayon roll as my first of twelve crafts till Christmas on the premise that this is a craft that "anyone with a sewing machine can make".  Now, in theory I did make and finish the crayon roll.  (I used the pattern and directions from Cindy at Skip To My Lou.)  Of course, I use the word "make" very literally as in I picked fabrics, cut them, pinned them, did some sewing, undid some sewing, did some more sewing and came up with a finished project . . . finished not necessarily polished.  This picture does not do my many mistakes justice!  However, I also learned some valuable lessons along the way.  Here's four for those of you who would like to learn along with me.

1)  It might be a good idea to have all the recommended supplies.  I didn't have this thing called lightweight fusible interfacing.  Not only did I not have it, I have no idea what it is.  It appears to be used to add some weight and stiffness to the fabric, so I figured I would just use some extra flour sack material that I had on hand.  I think that complicated the sewing process and added some extra bulk that I didn't need.

2)  Using a rotary cutter is not as easy as you might think . . . or maybe I'm just rotary- cutter challenged.  For the life of me, I could not get that thing to cut straight - as you can see from these photos.  All of these fabric pieces were supposed to be the exact same size.  Clearly that is not the case.    

3)  Measuring is important.  So . . . in my life outside of sewing and crafting, I am incredibly Type A.  One of the reasons that I decided to start sewing and crafting was to allow myself to be more creative and not so focused on some ideal of perfection.  Because of this goal, I typically don't get too worked up about measurements when I sew.  However, apparently in many instances measuring is super important.  Who knew?  This particular crayon roll was supposed to have 16 inch-wide slots for crayons.  I, on the other hand, had to modify my crayon roll to a 15 slot roll due to some mismeasuring.  This unfortunately displaces shag-carpet orange from the box of retro colored Crayola crayons I am going to use to fill this crayon roll.  As you can see I just cut off the part that didn't seem to work for me.  That was clearly not Cindy's intention.

4)  Fabric glue is a sew-stupid crafters best friend.  Due to the above mentioned rotary-cutter mishap, I had some edges that needed to be glued shut.  I'm grateful for the invention of fabric glue, and I have a feeling that I will be using it frequently in the year to come.

Well, I have finished my first of twelve crafts; however, I think I'll be taking a couple more shots at this before the month is out.  First on my list of things to do before try number two . . . track down the elusive lightweight fusible interfacing.

Craft on!