Today is my day to share on the Gifts to Sew blog tour with Sewing by Ti! I am excited about this one as it is for Ti’s birthday and it is also going to be the last one before she has her beautiful new babe!
I thought long and hard about this and I decided I would use my new embroidery machine to make an In the Hoop zipper pouch. Having just bought a machine with embroidery capabilities I thought it was a great idea.
Wow, I cannot tell you how wrong I was! I have been sewing regularly for a few years and I have grown by leaps and bounds from the way things were. Funny thing about growing, you think you know it all and can do anything. How hard can a simple zipper pouch be.
Sigh! Hard, very very hard. Making a zipper pouch the regular way on my sewing machine I have done thousands of times and it is simple straight forward and satisfying. Doing so in the embroidery hoop is not so much. First step is having to hoop tear away stabilizer which is a lot like using a paper bag, getting that in there solidly and without puckers and wrinkles is a well lets just say very difficult.
Here we are all ready to sew, attach the hoop and then it throws an outline of a box on there, asks you to set your zipper there. Doing that is not the problem, taking the hoop off the machine, making sure it is straight and then having to tape it down with scotch tape, different story. First one, zipper is great, second, zipper pull on the wrong side, third one way crooked.
Moving on you put your fabric down and then again have to tape it or pin it, I have to warn you here do not put pins anywhere near where your needle is going to go, since I had no idea where the needle was going to go, I may have broken a needle or two. GRR!!
Frustration is at an all time high at this point but, I am determined to get this done, it would be great for a new baby, keeping things all inside for the diaper bag. Finally getting the fabric sewn down zipper is looking good, and then here comes the part that is just wrong. Take your hoop off again and place your lining fabric on the underside of your hoop and stabilizer. Someone should have told me that you really need to make sure this is glued in place somehow, the first one I made I broke a needle, the fabric moved and jammed my machine, bobbin and carriage came up and all of this went on UNDER my project. Two hours later, I have nothing to show for it but, an angry email sent to the pattern maker.
In the end, I kind of made three pouches, one in the trash, one with the lining on the wrong side and the other the zipper is permanently shut because I forgot to open it between steps 3 and 4.
Phew! I am so glad that I was not making this project as a last-minute gift for someone. You maybe wondering why I am even discussing this on the blog tour. Well, it’s about gifts to sew, and I have sewn a lot of gifts, I will not however ever make a zipper pouch in the hoop again! Not worth it. In the 2 hours it took to fix my machine from the major mess I could have had three done the regular way. Sewing bloggers are not perfect and sometimes we need to show our mistakes too. I am NOT a Pinterest mom, just a regular woman with a sewing machine doing the best I can.
Embroidery is great for gift giving and everyone likes to receive things personalized. Thinking back, I think embroidery machines should be used just for that, personalizing things and not for sewing.
Happy Birthday Ti, and all the blessing on your new babe! My gift to you will have to wait until I get more fabric to make you a zipper pouch!
Sunday, April 22nd: Sewing By Ti (intro), With Love In Every Stitch, Sewing With D
23rd: Stitched By Jennie, Tales from a Southern Mom, Aurora Design Fabrics
24th: Sewjourns, Big Fly Notions, Sewing Blue, JOT Designs USA
25th: Sewing By Ti, Auschick Sews, Hazelnut Handmade
26th: Sewing With D, EYMM, Middle River Studio, Aurora Design Fabrics
27th: Our Play Palace, My Sewing Roots, Make it Sew with the Bear and Pea, Seams Sew Lo
[…] 22nd: Sewing By Ti (intro), With Love In Every Stitch, Sewing With D 23rd: Stitched By Jennie, Tales from a Southern Mom, Aurora Design Fabrics 24th: Sewjourns, Big Fly Notions, Sewing Blue, JOT Designs USA 25th: Sewing […]