Tutorial photos v Reality photos

I'm not sure which of these images to show first.
I wanted to make my own "stretch fabrics gauge" from cardboard.
One of the photos is taken when I got the thought "I should document making this".

While I was making it, I had fifteen pens, a few rulers, two cutting mats, blade, spare blades, green pouch to store blades, instructions for how to draw the gauge, red cardboard, red cardboard remnants and probably a cup of coffee strewn all over my desk (only some of which is captured in the picture).

The second photograph is taken after I realised "I didn't use a lot of the equipment that is strewn all over my desk" and tidied up the desk and put things away.

So which is the more useful image to demonstrate how I went about making this for myself?
Often when I follow a tutorial, it recommends "2B pencil, L-Square, Clear-Grided-Ruler..." - I don't have these items! Or I do and I can't find them, so I pull out what's to hand and instead of having a tidy list of 4 items, I have a mishmash of items that I'm making do with.
It can get very disheartening for a learner to see an online video or a blog tutorial with really tidy photos and neat point-by-point directions, no hiccups, no lines that don't align and all equipment spick-and-span, unbroken and exactly what is required for the job.

Have you ever seen a pencil sharpener in an online tutorial?!
(Have you ever rummaged to look for a pencil sharpener *during* a tutorial?!)
On the other hand, the tutor has to consider the most effective way to instruct the reader/viewer. And clutter wouldn't be helpful. But I think it is fascinating to see the contrast and to see how marketing and "the perfect image" can block us and be an obstacle to following our own haphazard make-do creativity.

Clasp purses

Moving on from my experiments with zipped and boxed pouches, I finally wanted to grapple with clasp purses. You know those ready made purse handles that can be bought in haberdasherys?

I had saved a tutorial from the Village Haberdashery for this project: Emily's frame purse tutorial. I now see that it was written over two years ago! This is how long it takes sometimes to get around to doing projects!!!

I can't remember exactly where I bought the clasp I have, but I quickly realised it was a different style to the one Emily uses in her tutorial :(

See? Mine has holes in it whereas the other clasp has a groove where I assume the fabric gets squeezed in. I think I remember at the time I was buying it, that I had a notion it was more "authentic" to sew a purse on to the clasp than to "squeeze" the fabric in between the grips... sigh.

Ok, so now I don't have a tutorial to follow, but there was a sheet of directions with the clasp. Multilingual directions.

The English is translated from German by someone who doesn't sew, for example "stitch the left edges of both bag pouches together" - they mean "wrong sides of fabrics facing". Also the English says "Layout has a 1cm seam allowance all around", again, from reading the German, and also the French, I conclude that the pattern doesn't include this allowance but that it must be added!!!

So I get some beautiful velvet and some beautifuller satin and I set about cutting it as per the pattern instructions on the sheet.

I don't succeed with the purse. The fabrics are too unmanageable, especially considering this is my first time grappling with this purse clasp :(
Also, it appears that the clasp would be visible on the inside of the purse, that the lining wouldn't conceal it.
I decide I need to use fabrics that don't fray so I'm not dealing with turning inside out etc... This is a new thing I'm exploring in my sewing-life... fabrics that don't fray! I'm planning on making more babies bibs and they would be made much easier if I could avoid turning inside-out etc, but that's a different project!
So I go to my stash and find some oilcloth and some fleece. Oilcloth for the outside and fleece for the lining.
And I try to sew these shapes on to the metal clasp, threading through the holes.

Can you sense my frustration with this? Ok, so the thread I have looks flimsy, but when I tried to use a thicker thread (it was wool actually), the larger needle I had to use didn't fit through all the holes - the holes at the bend of the metal are squidged and misformed and smaller :(

But I persevere... and end up with this... (yes, I know it's turned inside out around the body of the purse, the non-fray concept comes into its own at the point where the fabrics touch the clasp)

The pattern cutting instructions were just not helpful, they should have addressed something about the section around the hinge. There was no help for cutting the fabric to take account of the hinge, what they said was "complete the bag pouch at the line ends as required".
So I think I need to go back to the Emily tutorial, and follow her steps for drafting the purse shape and hope that it will then fit in with the different metal clasp that I have.

Why is it so difficult?! Should the clasp manufacturer not provide an instruction booklet if it proves to be so useless? This is why we need to go to classes, to learn from each other, to share experience and avoid all this frustration.

Decorating Julie Feeney's Shoes

I've designed a Clocks Dress for the singer Julie Feeney - to go with her latest album Clocks - she'll wear it on the 9th August at a concert with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in the National Concert Hall.

The dress is one thing... but shoes... I picked up these leopard-print shoes. I really think the weight of the heel is appropriate for the dress I've designed. 

 Leopardskin is NOT the look I wanted, so out comes the spray paint...

And now for the fun part. The embellishment! I bought these old clock parts from a shop on Etsy. I sorted through them, arranging them into circular cog parts, clock-hands, and "other".

 

But the problem now is how to attach these embellishments to the shoes. I'm thinking in cog-shapes to emphasise them.

Hot glue is too messy methinks. I'm wondering about sewing them on to a fabric and then gluing that fabric to the shoe... luckily my bastel-crazy sister-in-law is on hand to help. And I still have more than a week to get the shoes done.

Beignet Skirt in the Making

I bought some Colette and Sewaholic patterns recently from Sewbox.co.uk. After my skirt audit, I longed to make the Beignet skirt. I thought the high-waist would overcome the top-matching and draughty-waist problems I have and the fitted shape would suit my figure.

So I went to Hickey's on Henry Street, and searched through the remnants basket (I had a few fabric ideas for various projects that I was searching for). And found this fabric which was very reasonably priced at €1.48 - a mistake maybe - and the receipt shows some information about it. Without the receipt, all I'd know was the length and price seeing as it came from the remnant basket.

It is 59% Polyester and 41% Cotton. I've since learned that "Cairo" is a home furnishings fabric. Does this matter?
Firstly, with only 1.48m, I was a bit tight on fabric and had to cut the front facing panels from two smaller pieces and sew them together. That seems to have worked fine.
Secondly, the fabric is fraying like crazy. So I used bias tape on every seam. This was a ridiculous decision really, now that I see it written in black and white.

Thirdly, the fabric is not pressing well for me. It's too thick, I think. And too polyester-y maybe.
At this point, as a learner-sewer, I'm at my wits end. I feel like throwing in the towel and abandoning all projects. Luckily, I've got a sewing class on Monday next and that will get me back on track.
As to this project, there's some things I love about it. The pockets:

The shape. This was really brought home to me when I saw other people's lovely creations on the Colette Patterns flickr group.

 There was one particularly tough part in the pattern where the facing had to be sewn to the lining:

The pattern is beautifully presented. The instructions are in book form with a slot on the inside back cover for the pattern pieces. I think I was very keen to get started because of how lovely the pattern is. Now I just feel really disheartened. I can't imagine making buttonholes in this fraying fabric. It brings home to me the importance of fabric. Choosing it carefully is half the battle.
I'm creative but I'm not imaginative and that's why up to know I've had success with my projects because I've used the fabric and patterns together suggested by others that were tried and tested. I don't like failure! Trying and failing.