Support is great, and not just for bras

I'm a little afraid of my sewing machine.  I got it for Christmas last year, and have taken it out once or twice to learn how to thread it and practice some straight lines.  I watched a bunch of Craftsy sewing classes and bought some fabric for project bags. But I haven't really gone past collecting the supplies for projects.  I tried making a zipper pouch where the directions have you start with sewing the zipper in between two pieces of fabric.  And I tried doing this late at night on a weeknight (lets just say the pieces are still pieces waiting to be sewn).

When it comes to "crafty" labels, I am a self proclaimed knitter, first and foremost.  I love that you can't really make mistakes in knitting.  The worst that can happen is that you have to rip some of the work and start over.  But it's really difficult to go past the point of no return.

Sewing is not quite so forgiving.  You have to be precise in measuring and cutting.  Sewing machines are a bit of an investment and even though I'm an engineer, getting to know hardware can be a bit intimidating for me.  I have blue screened a few boxes and it's never a pretty sight.  Not sure how you would blue screen a sewing machine, but I feel like I could find a creative way of doing so.

So I've been waiting for that push to get me going.  Something that is going to give my procrastinating, slightly cowardly nature a jump start and get me over the hump.  That opportunity that I've been waiting for came Wednesday night.  I can also count on SnB.  One of the lovely ladies asked me if I could test knit/modify a pattern for our favorite LYS.  It's a small spring bag with a slipped stitch chevron motif.  Well that doesn't seem too hard.  I've done a slipped stitched color-work sock (yes, one sock, that's another story). And, I've done a bunch of small bags.  She has the yarn all ready, we just need to figure out the best way to make the pattern more seamless and get knitting.  All in all, that doesn't seem too bad.  Making a pattern knit up easier is my kind of trouble shooting.  I checked out the pattern and it was pretty easy to make the body of the bucket style bag seamless, working in the round, and to tweak the pattern repeat.  I kept the bottom separate so that the seam gives the bag a little bit extra structure and definition.

This is a type of bag that needs even more structure though.  Even if I were to add a few more seams in the body, it isn't going to stand up on it's own, especially with chunky handles.  So that means adding a lining.  **GASP** That means sewing a lining!

Lucky for me, I brought the bag with me to the Saturday morning Sit and Knit at the LYS it's for.  That Saturday morning group is amazing! It's a group of knitters that are full of love, support, laughter and the required shot of sarcasm (maybe two double shots).  Everyone was pumped to see how the bag was turning out and excited for the pattern to be finished.  There was going to be no procrastinating on this project, people were already buying the yarn so they could cast on as soon as possible next week.  There was no doubt in any of their minds that this bag was going to turn out fantastic. All that excitement fueled me for the rest of the weekend.  I finished the knitting and the seaming Saturday night with no problems.  Then I started planning out this lining business.  In my fabric/sewing stash boxes that have been sitting on the shelf waiting for me to love them enough, I found the perfect fabric to line the bag, some muslin for an outer liner layer, and some iron on interfacing for that extra support.  Mesh lining for the bottom was given to me by my friend with the yarn.

Sunday I was ready to start cutting.  I cleared off the junk table (otherwise known as the dining room table) and started to create a new mess.  The process went fairly smoothly.  Before putting the finishing touches on the lining, I did go and try it in the bag.  It was about three inches too high. But..... that's definitely better then being three inches too short.  It's a good thing I didn't finish it off, so it wasn't too hard to go back and fix.

Once that was done and the lining mostly fits (it might still be a bit big but it fits in the bag). I was ready to sew it into the knitting.  This is another thing that I have mostly put off trying.  It feels a little crazy to try sewing fabric to knitting.  I found this great tutorial from the TECHknitting blog to guide me.  And off I went again plunging down the rabbit hole with a different kind of needles and thread.  I made sure to use a bunch of pins to fit the bag and lining together.  And I only broke one needle while whip stitching the lining in.

And then success! Bag finished, lining looking pretty spiffy if I do say so myself and the sample was all ready to go to the store.  (I swear it's just my couch making it look lumpy)

I used Jil Eaton Cottontail, two skeins of the pink and one skein of the green.  The lining has a white muslin exterior and gray/white floral interior.  I put the mesh in between the two linings and it seems to be holding well without tacking it in anywhere.  I used white thread for sewing the lining but then a pink that matched the yarn for whip stitching it in.  You could do this bag without the exterior lining, but then I would use French Seams to enclose all the edges even though they would be mostly hidden by the knitting.

I did try to start sewing a drawstring bag Sunday night.  I started to lose my mojo as it got later.  Making a new bobbin with the green thread, and re-threading the machine didn't go smoothly.  And then I got in quite a tangle where I thought I may have snapped something while getting the fabric out of the clutches of the feeder teeth. But only fabric was harmed and I decided to call it a night.

Things that definitely helped me were:

• Craftsy classes - holy cow, these things are great.  Even just the free ones like the drawstring and bucket bag making classes are really informational.  I did also take the beginning sewing studio one.  Little things like how to place pins, measure fabric, and iron out seams made a big different in sewing it and the final look of the project.  
• Steam blocking the knitted bag pieces.  I've never been much for blocking.  I like to cut corners where I can.  But I am definitely learning the importance of blocking.  Steam blocking not only helped get the edges to lay flat and thus be easier to seam, but made the knitting look fabulous and professional.  An iron is a great secret weapon for knitters.  I used a dish cloth to cover the knitting, sprayed it down water and then put the iron on top.  The steam did most of the work.
• Energy and support from fellow knitters (probably the most important).  Knowing that the Saturday morning group was excited and had faith in my abilities was amazing, and something that really makes all the difference.