Yesterday I finished napkins 3 and 4, which means that project is complete. And I was right: these last two napkins were much easier than the first two. That's not to say that they are perfect, but I definitely felt a lot more confidant while making them and also was able to make both in about the same amount of time it took me to do the second one (the first one took even longer). So it feels good to be improving.
I said that this time I would focus more in the corners and I did just that. They were not exactly as I would like them, but these corners are better than the first two, so again, improvement.
One thing that I did notice while working on the second napkin was that my cutting surface seemed a bit small and limiting. I got one of those mats that is a cutting board on one side and an ironing board on the other. But trying to cut an 18" square out of a much bigger piece of fabric was challenging. So for the third and fourth napkins, I cut directly on my kitchen table. Yes, I knew that I was risking cutting into the table, but it's one that I've had for years (got it as my first piece of furniture in my first apartment) and it's something we'll be replacing next time we move, so I wasn't too concerned. And having that larger surface to cut on really made all the difference in how quickly--and more importantly, precisely--I was able to cut.
So today I went out and bought a larger cutting mat, this time just a cutting mat and not with an ironing board on the other side. I worked on a couple of projects today and this board was absolutely wonderful. I'm so glad that I got it. I also picked up a couple more of those acrylic rulers in different sizes so I could use multiple rulers in helping to measure and cut (which is how I saw my MIL doing it). That also worked really nicely today. I also picked up a larger rotary cutter (I had just a tiny one before and cutting through even two layers sometimes was difficult). I now feel that my cutting supplies are pretty solid for a while.
Other supplies purchased today were some stencils (I want to do more applique) and a little bottle of fray check. So when I got home, I pulled out the final blank bib and the scraps of fabric that I had gotten from my MIL. I used one of the new stencils to create the top and bottom of a cupcake. This time I put small pieces of the fusible webbing on the back first and then cut out my shape (tracing the stencil onto the webbing). That worked a heck of a lot better. I used fray check around the edges and set it aside to dry.
Then I started on my next project, which includes some 3" bias tape. So I needed to make the bias tape. Instead of doing the continuous bias tape that I botched last time, I decided to just cut strips and sew them together. I followed a tutorial on Sew4Home and I was able to make bias tape. And it was a bit painstaking to sew each strip together although I really did get the hang of it by the last few. It definitely turned out better than my previous attempt, but I didn't find myself enjoying making it. So I think I'm going to give the continuous bias tape another try at some point.
By this time, my cupcake pieces were dry so I ironed them onto the bib. Then instead of using the satin stitch all the way around, I just did a straight stitch around the edges more as a highlight than to hold them on or keep the edges from fraying. Although there are a few little bobbles here and there, I rather like the way it turned out and I think I'll be doing more in the future. I have some plain white (and other colors) onesies that I think I'll try next.
Finally, I started working on some more pacifier clips. I only got one finished before the baby woke up. I am trying different ways of putting them together and this time I used pinking sheers for the two short edges. I do like that it seemed to make those sides less bulky but I'm still not 100% happy with how it looks. So I'll try something else next time.
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