Love where you live. Sign up for our newsletter

When a Good How-to Goes Bad

by on Apr 5, 2010

When I saw the tutorial for the fabric portfolio pictured above, I was smitten. So, last Tuesday I made a special trip to my local fabric store to buy my supplies. That same evening after the dinner dishes were put away, I decided to ‘treat’ myself to an evening of sewing. After having all my pieces cut and prepped, I sat down to sew. In my excitement to get started, I neglected to check the needle in my machine. It was the wrong size, something I didn’t notice until it started piercing–and cutting–the threads in the fabric. Okay, no biggie. I had plenty of fabric left over to cut another piece, which I did. I also changed the needle to the appropriate size.

Everything was going fine….until I sewed the inside to the outside of the portfolio, both of which are lined with fusible interfacing. The ‘slippery’ nature of this stuff confused my machine and my seam turned out a bit wonky, so I decided to remove it. As I did, my seam ripper went through the inner lining making a not so little hole. Okay, not THAT big of a deal. I still had enough fabric and interfacing to make a new one. 

From there, things seemed to get better…until I was finished. I noticed that one edge of the portfolio wasn’t exactly straight and the strip of fabric used to hold the writing pad somehow ‘shrank’ meaning the pad didn’t exactly fit. I went to bed figuring I’d throw the whole thing away and start over. 

The next morning, I accessed my little portfolio. It wasn’t that bad. I loved the fabric. I loved the tutorial. Those issues I had with it, the strap for holding the pad, the sloping side could be repaired. I was certain I could make everything right!

I took my seam ripper to the wonky side and got started. When I was done, I accessed–rather optimistically–what little work lay ahead of me. And then I noticed that I had ripped out the WRONG SIDE. I slumped back in my chair and laughed. Not a hardy laugh. More like a chuckle, because, really, if I hadn’t thought this was a comedy of errors before, it certainly was now. 

But I continued, figuring I might as well open the whole thing up and start over. As I began ripping out the next side–the one I should have in the first place–I jammed the seam ripper into my finger. And then I started to bleed all over my little portfolio. This project was NOT going to get the better of me! I bandaged myself up, washed out the blood and pressed on.

At this point my machine started to protest, skipping stitches and such. I stopped my sewing to open the hood, as it were, and cleaned out the bobbin case, shuttle and etc. After my maintenance was complete, I started the home stretch with no further hiccups. The result….take a look:

Do a gratitude writing to stay positive.

My seams are straight; the pad fits perfectly. Although, with all the seaming and UN-seaming I’m surprised it isn’t see-through. 

Would I give this project another try?  Absolutely…blood and all!!

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *