Pacifier Clips and Mug Rug

On Saturday, I spent a good chunk of the evening working more on my pacifier clips. I've been trying different methods, especially for securing the two short ends, and I have been almost happy but not quite there. Well, on Saturday, I got there. I figured out what will work and make a finished product that I am both personally and professionally happy with.

Of course, it didn't just instantly happen. I had some interesting experiences first. The day before I had decided that I finally needed to change the needle on my sewing machine. Since I hadn't done it before, I was a little nervous, but I got out my manual and by following instructions, I was able to successfully change the needle. And like changing the presser foot, it's really not that difficult at all.

So I was all ready to sit down and sew with a brand new needle on the machine. But something just wasn't working. The needle seemed to be making huge holes in the fabric and it was going through as if it were actually a more dull needle than a fresh one. What on earth? Well, apparently the 3-pack of needles that came with my machine contained three different sizes instead of all the same. But they weren't really labeled as such. I did finally notice the tiny tiny numbers on the needle itself. And the needle I had put in the machine? The biggest one, of course. Oops. So I put in the right size needle for my project and all was well once again.

So, I completed one pacifier clip that went to the trash can because of the giant needle holes, one pacifier clip where I was practicing the new technique and made a passable clip (will keep it for Luke), and then four pacifier clips that I feel happy enough to be able to actually try to sell. I've ordered some iron-on labels with my etsy shop name on them, so as soon as those arrive, I'll attach them to these four clips and get them listed in the shop to see how they do.

Then on Sunday, my husband was watching a football game so he took charge of the baby for that time and I got a couple of hours of sewing time. This time I was a lot more adventurous and I decided to follow a tutorial for a mug rug. The instructions for the tutorial were really great. First, I had to run to Joann's to get some fabric and other needed odds and ends. Then I sat down and planned out which squares were going to go on the back and which on the front. I had 8 different ones instead of the 10 the tutorial calls for, so I picked two to use twice.

Four of them stayed the 5"x5" squares that they started out as and would be used for the back. Then for the front, I would use two 5"x5" squares and 5 halves. So I figured out which would be the large squares and which would be the half squares. Then I started cutting. Oops. I accidentally cut the two that were supposed to remain the large square along with the rest. Good thing that the pack I got came with quite a few more squares than I needed. From now on I definitely need to make sure to keep my cutting stack well organized.

Then I started to sew them all together. I think I did a pretty good job overall, although on the strip of five joined together, I think I got a couple of them a bit uneven, which once one is uneven does affect the rest. But I got the back and front finished and in passable condition. Next came putting the cotton batting between the two layers and doing some quilting (just straight lines). That was a lot of fun! However, although my lines were straight according to one another, they were not perfectly straight against the edge so that's something I'll need to work on.

After that, I cut off the edges to make everything neat and square. This is where I should have cut straight according to my quilted lines rather than trying to get the edges straight according to how they should be. That might have resulted in the fabric itself being a bit skewed but I think the end product would have looked just a little nicer. But I just consider that another lesson learned.

Then came my biggest challenge: putting on the bias tape around the edges. The same website had a great tutorial about doing just that and so I followed along. And you know what? Yes, it was challenging, but it was also quite doable, even the corners. In fact, I found the corners to be a lot easier than I thought they would be. The biggest things to work on here for next time will be to sew closer to the edge when I fold the bias tape around and top stitch it and also to really make sure the corners are nice and neat (three of them were good but one could have been better).

Pretty good corner

Corner that could have been better

Although the end product does show a lot of places where lines are just not at all straight, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. This will definitely be a project I make again and I hope to get a much straighter result next time taking into account the lessons I learned on this first one.

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