My first sewing project - the perfect newbie project!

"Ok, so you have your first ever sewing machine, you know how to turn it on and off... ... and now?!"

These were exactly the thoughts going through my mind on that first day of getting my machine. What would my first ever project be...

The shop were I bought my machine already provided me with the basic supplies of scissors, thread and pins and the only thing I was missing was fabric! Buying fabric can be a bit intimidating when you have never sewn anything before, so I stopped by a fabric selling shop in my neighborhood to get smallest amount of fabric that would allow me to do something. Fitting all my supplies on our living room table was so easy back then!

After thinking about it for some time and researching multiple videos on YouTube, I concluded that the easiest thing to make, that would still offer me the "I made this" proud moment, was a drawstring pouch.

A challenging part of sewing that I had not foreseen before coming upon it, is cutting the fabric. Sometimes it can be fun and relaxing, but many times it is just frustrating and making one wonder, how hard it can be to cut a freaking rectangle with the opposite sites actually being parallel!

After the cutting was done, all that was left was the sewing...and man that was fun!!

Most sewing projects are sewed inside-out for about 95% of the time, to ensure that the seams are well hidden and the end result is pretty. A small hole is left in the lining (inside fabric) of the bag to eventually turn the whole thing the right way out. The process of getting the whole project through this small hole is rightfully called "birthing". After having birthed a bag, one can see it for the first time finally come together and it is such an exciting moment!

I love seeing how the fabric combination has come together and inspecting how the seams turned out. Of course this is the time that mistakes are revealed but most of the time this can be avoided by being concentrated during all previous steps!

Now that the bag is birthed, what is left is to close the small hole in the lining and add any top stitching necessary. The purpose of the later is mainly decorative so this is a very good point to either "make it or break it"!

That first day I made two drawstring pouches and I was so happy and proud of the result!

Yes, they are very basic, but I actually did make these from straight pieces of fabric!!

Thank you for reading!! :)

Alkmini