Sewing Adventures

So for those of you who don't know - my birthday present this year was a sewing machine.  And I am super excited about it.  However...I have no experience (with the exception of 8th grade Home-Ec).  So anything I try is quite the adventure. But I love the joy of learning on my own without the help of tutorials and what not - it gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Last week...I decided to attempt to patch a pair of my hubby's work pants.  I grabbed a dress shirt out of my scraps box and started snipping away.  I don't like to measure, so I just laid the shirt on top of the hole and snipped away (luckily, the shirt was striped, so cutting straight lines was a no brainer!).  I added push pins and then went to the sewing machine.  Now here was the problem - how was I supposed to patch the knee without sewing the leg together?!?!  I remembered Mom telling me I could remove some pieces if I needed to sew in a circle - so I did that and managed to shimmy the leg the whole way to the knee (it was pretty bunched up...).  It actually worked pretty well...but you really had to keep an eye on the material and needle in order to keep the stitch straight.  And of course...about half way through, my bobbin ran out of thread (genius me forgot to check it...).  It took me awhile, and it isn't very pretty...but they are just work pants.  Here is the finished product:

UPDATE 5/23/12 - The large patch was a fail.  Hubby text me at lunch to let me know - "your patch worked for a little while :)."  He is so good at letting me down easy.  haha.  I will have to try again...and hope that it will at least last a full day.  Gotta love the learning process! 

Awhile ago, I had ripped apart...wait for it...an old Vera Bradley (*gasp*).  It was grungy (even after being washed) and was teared and frayed from excessive use...but I couldn't bring myself to just throw it away...so I started to take it apart.  In the end...I had quite a bit of usable material - the inside had stayed pretty white...and there are quite a few layers in those purses!  So after stitching hubby's pants, I took a couple pieces of the inside material and sewed them together:

I am quite proud of this idea...I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet, maybe add a strap or something...we will see!  I also have another bag I hand stitched when I first tore the purse apart, but I don't have any pics so I'll have to show that later.  Plus...there is STILL material left!  Just one more reason I love Vera Bradley - it is the gift that, now, keeps on giving!  But trust me...I will NOT be ripping apart my new ones any time soon!

On to more adventures!