Married to the Empire

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

I've Mastered the Mitered Corner!

I'm trying to improve my sewing skills. I successfully sewed some polishing cloths, so I decided to move onto something more complicated: dish towels. And by complicated, I mean that I had to press nice, even hems, and I wanted straight seams! Additionally, I thought they would look more polished with mitered corners.

I didn't realize what I was in for.

I checked out several books on sewing from the library. Dummies, Idiots, and Teach Yourself Visually books were of no help when it came to mitered corners. I'm a visual learner, so I really need pictures, along with very clear instructions. None of these books offered that. When I thought I was doing what the instructions said to do, it was a mess.

The July 2008 issue of Threads magazine came to my rescue. It was a total fluke that I even found this. I was in Sam's Club, flipping through magazines, and I happened to pick up Threads simply because I was in the process of learning to sew. It had exactly what I needed with nice, clear instructions with pictures of the in-between steps.

Look what I can do now! (And yes, I realize that phrase makes me sound about 3 years old, but I'm just so excited!)



One of the finished dish towels:



Give me another week or so, and I'll show you what I'm doing with the fruits of my labor.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice job! The dishtowel looks store bought. I have a sewing machine, but I have trouble with straight lines, so I never attempt anything. Way to go!

Anne Marie@Married to the Empire said...

Thank you! I'm aiming for my stuff not to look like I made it. My seams aren't as straight as I'd like them to be, but I'm doing my best.

Anonymous said...

Hi! I came by awhile ago and said that I was surprised at everything we had in common, and I wanted to say hi again. It took me this long to get into the blog world :) I am very impressed by your sewing ability. Crafty people really impress me! I hope to stop by more in the future!

*carrie* said...

Anne Marie,

I wish I had a knack for sewing, but I don't. I'm very impressed with your fancy stitching!