sew sew

Before our big BC camping trip you might remember that I randomly went and bought myself a sewing machine. Well I managed to squeeze in a couple of sewing projects before we went away but haven't had time to tell you about it yet. So here goes...I started off nice and simple and decided to sew some napkins. "Easy peasy" I hear you thinking (yes I can hear you thinking), "how hard can it be to cut out 4 squares of fabric and sew them into, well, 4 squares of fabric" I hear you thinking again. Well, I'll have you know it's much more difficult than you think. At least for me, Miss never-sewed-a-single-thing-in her-life. You see napkins require hemming and hemming requires ironing and I am also known as Miss never-ironed-a-single-thing-in-her-life-unless-her-life-depended-on-it. It is a true fact that had I known sewing involved quite this much ironing I never would have even contemplated taking it up as a hobby. When setting myself up with all the necessary stuff to be able to sew I had to add "iron" and "ironing board" to my list of supplies because I had managed to live for at least the last year and a half without either item in my possession. Anyhoo back to the actual sewing. I was quite frazzled after all that ironing and was surprised to discover the complexitites of mitring corners. It's quite a process for the novice sewer let alone the novice ironer. I was very proud of my first completed napkin even with it's wavy stitching and slighly gappy and uneven mitred corners and the sense of achievment spurred me on to try to at least make a set of two. The learning curve in sewing (so far) seems pretty steep and napkin number  two came out  soooo much better than napkin number one it was shocking. By number three I was beginning to feel like some kind of seamstress superstar who just whips up napkins from thin air in a matter of seconds. My stitches were straight and my mitred corners...oh the perfection! On completion of napkin number 4 I couldn't take the smile off my face. I'd actually made something and it was something nice!

You'll be quite impressed to find out that not only did I manage to turn 4 ordinary squares of fabric into 4 ordinary squares of fabric with nicely pressed and sewn hems and mitred corners but also.....wait for it......I printed the fabric myself! WITH A POTATO!! Hahahaha! I don't know what has come over me!

Yes, I used a small old potato from somewhere in the back of my fridge to creeate a beautiful feathery design on my plain Ikea grey gingham fabric. I just carved out my design into my old potato, left it to dry for a bit and then dabbed it into some fabric paint and onto my fabric a bunch of times. Voila! I bet you'll see me on Pinterest within days!!
Look! Here are my four beautiful napkins all folded and neatly pressed I might add. I doubt I'll ever use them in case they get creased ;)

....I can't wait to show you what I did next!