I mentioned previously I’m trying to make more homemade gifts for Christmas this year. What a mistake that is turning out to be! The Jacksonville Jaguars stadium cushion has been a little difficult. I’m going to list my mistakes/frustrations:
1. Only buying a yard of fabric – this means I have to be very diligent on measurements. No mistakes, and if I make a mistake, I’m hosed. I tend to make a lot of mistakes…
2. Enlisting my mom for help! My mom has been off from work and she came over to help me organize my sewing area and to give me some tips because I’m still very new to sewing. I’m very appreciative, thanks Mom! However, I said, “Mom, I need you to help me figure out these boxed corners because I’ve struggled with them before.” She proceeds to send me in a totally different, possibly more difficult direction with the cushion! Is it harder? I don’t know yet! I still don’t know how to do a correct boxed corner and my eyes were glazing over doing it her way…
3. Now to the zipper. I’ve tried installing approximately 8,098,567,456,432 zippers since I began sewing. No really, it’s been that many! Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but I’ve tried many different ways, watched many different videos, read tons of tutorials, tried invisible and regular zippers, etc. I have yet to get it completely right. My mom has not ever tried a zipper. So I explained to her the basic process. Together, we figure it out! Finally, hallelujah! But guess what?!? We forgot to account for the seam for the zipper when we cut our fabric, so I have to rip out the zipper and will have to do it again! I rip the zipper out of the too small fabric and call it a night.
4. Now, I’m on to Day Two of the cushion. I’ve learned finally how to do a zipper, and I’m actually excited. I’m going to show the darn thing who’s boss. I cut my fabric, allowing for tons of room, and go in for the kill. Guess what? My bobbin runs out of thread! I didn’t realize it until it was time to pivot, so I thought I was halfway done. I was pretty devasted.
5. So after reloading my bobbin, in my frustration and hurry to tackle the zipper, I loaded my thread wrong twice in a row!!! My machine started making that dreaded sound and I haven’t been so aggravated in a while. I actually let out a very loud yell of a very bad word that I will not repeat here.
I did manage to finish the zipper and sew a couple of pieces together before I had to leave for an appointment. I hope the rest of the piece goes a lot more smoothly than that did!
Anyone else have something that they just can’t seem to figure out?