Are you like I am? Do you like to make things for people and give them as gifts for a holiday occasion? But do you sometimes fall short of your projected gift list goals?
When the holiday got really close, I narrowed my to-do list down to 2 basic things: shopping bags and dish towels. I still fell short…
Mostly because of this little number…which by the way, is a fabric remnant project. Another Kwik Sew shopping bag.
the diabolical Snow White bag
In retrospect, I can see where the red flags should have driven me back, but I was very distracted. A lot of things happened that I didn’t expect.
Red flag #1: the embroidery was too big for the pattern piece.
Red flag #2: the embroidery was too complicated for the design and function of the item.
Red flag #3: my available time was cut short when people dropped by and I was asked to do things I hadn’t planned, so I set the embroidery going and left it to go and do other things…
So that I ended up with a finished embroidery that is a poster child for what NOT to do.
the puckered and distorted embroidery
The complex, busy, heavy embroidery was no match for the thin cotton center panel of the shopping bag, even with a sturdy tear-away stabilizer underneath. When finished, the shopping bag fabric was considerably drawn-up and needed some adjustments if the pattern pieces were ever going to fit together. I had to add extra fabric and cobble it together with some stitching. The straps went on a little crooked and covered some of the thick embroidered flowers, but what else was there to do? Aargh, some of the fabric ended up not exactly on the straight of the grain. I was in a hurry and it shows. Sigh. But the recipient will still get it (in January!) and she can decide whether or not she thinks it is too shoddy to use! I think she can use it for something though, as she loves anything Snow White.
Here are some shots of other holiday things that (in retrospect) seem a bit weird or short of their mark:
Bad Santa, lying on the neighbor’s lawn sleeping
Grayzie, hiding from Psycho Granny Claus, who’s holding her candle upside-down
tiny crystal Nativity Scene overseen by a giant cardinal that is the wrong color
Madonna and Child with large turtle over a brass buddha
A little eccentric, perhaps, but I have room for all.
