I’ve been spending a lot of time in front of my sewing machine for the last few weeks, and it has been mostly great. I mentioned last week that my machine broke, and I had it repaired, and it was working smoothly for a few days–until it started having problems again. I took it back in, the mechanic fixed it again (one part keeps slipping out of place), and hopefully that will be the end of machine issues. Except that I’ve also been sewing on some pretty heavy fabrics, and my little machine has been struggling to keep up. I have dreams of acquiring an industrial sewing machine, but I also have dreams of acquiring a serger, and a coverlock machine, and a diecut machine, and and and. So for now, I’m muddling through.

The upside of all this is that I’ve been creating new things that I’m really excited about.

The downside is that some of the things I was hoping to create are not in the cards right now (namely anything that requires sewing through six layers of faux leather). I was working on a bag that turned out to be a little too much for the machine to handle, but after a few changes and a lot of seam ripping, here’s the finished product:

The exterior is from vintage Guatemalan fabric and faux leather, and the interior is a heavy cotton twill. It’s fully lined, with a pocket inside. And the handle is braided rope my partner made. He’s been on a rope-making kick, which has been really fun to watch. I do need to figure out a better way to attach the rope to the metal rings, but for now, a simple knot is working out all right.

After three or four days of struggling to bring that bag to life, today I was excited to work on something new. I recently got a bolt of hickory stripe fabric (I had been calling it “railroad engineer” print, but my knowledgeable brother set me straight) from a woman who was selling off much of her studio supplies–I got the vintage Guatemalan prints from her as well, and I’ve been eager to cut into it. This morning I set out to make a couple of aprons, edged in the same faux leather I used for the bag above.

I really love these aprons. There’s a nice big pocket on the front, and the heavy cotton is super sturdy. Plus I just really love that stripe! I think this would be perfect in the kitchen or in the workshop, or really wherever you can get away with wearing an apron. In other words, these are definitely going in the etsy shop (still aiming for May 1 shop opening).