Saturday, January 21, 2012

A FNSI flop and a wacky wobble...

iPad tote materials gathered, just not constructed...
 I was determined to make a tote for my iPad for my  FNSI project.
The iPad arrived in my life following a stroke of luck. My son won it, but didn't want it. He wanted money for school. I bought it from him -- the money was going to be handed over anyway, at least I got a cool new device out of it.
It has a leather cover, but I wanted to make a padded tote for it as well, with space for the charger/cord. The main fabric is a dec. weight gingham, the lining is a Riley Blake flannel, the accent fabrics are some stripped linen and an ancient piece of fabric bought to make teachers' presents when my kids were in kindergarten and Grade 3. Yikes! (The technology hadn't even been invented then, and I already had the fabric to make the tote for it. Amazing!) The handles are adorable Japanese ones from Quilt a Bag. I just love them.
See? I was motivated and surrounded by cute inspiration. I got as far as envisioning the design, collecting the materials and doing the measurements. Did I cut? No. Did I sew? No, I did not. Every time I started, I was called away to do something "urgent". I am not even kidding.
Each time I picked up the rotary cutter, the phone rang. I had the ruler lined up, and my mom needed me for something. Eventually, I gave up on the project for the time being. I want to do a good job, but if the planets aren't quite aligned properly, I see no sense in trying to charge onward. Maybe I will get it done on Monday -- Make It Happen Monday. MIHM isn't quite as famous as FNSI, but I have a feeling it might work better for me -- at least for this particular project.
Wobbly, but finished!
I did manage to work on my VERY LARGE Tilda jewellery mannequin. The pattern is from Sew Sunny Homestyle. Just for fun, I enlarged it 400 per cent.
I found a wooden candlestick at Goodwill before Christmas and I had a round wooden plaque. I glued them together for the stand and got to work on the mannequin. I was pretty pleased with myself by the time I had it all put together.
However (you knew this was coming), engineering is not my strong suit. The large size demands some adjustments to the construction. I had mounted it on the stand, glued the wood into the figure and sewed around the opening by the time I realized its centre of gravity is a bit off -- frustratingly -- just a bit. Not surprisingly, at some point this weekend, I am going to do some revisionist construction to eliminate the wobble. (sigh)
Nonetheless, it is something to show for an otherwise wacky FNSI. Here's hoping other people had a more productive evening. I'm off now to check on a few blogs.


4 comments:

  1. Hope things go right so you can make your tote for your iPad soon.
    Lovely Tilda maniquin.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Maria!
      I hope I get my act together -- as well as my tote -- soon!
      I hope you are having a lovely day.

      Delete
  2. My centre of gravity is off just a bit too - I think that's why I tend to fall UP the stairs, LOLOL!! ;)

    Sorry you had such crappy luck during FNSI - I have every confidence, however, that you WILL reign supreme over the projects eventually :) BTW - I think I'm going to get a yard (or two) of the goldfish crackers fabric - I finished up the little zipper bags tonight and GIGGLED OUT LOUD when I was looking at them!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh dear, not a successful FSNI, although your mannequin is FABULOUS! I too had a crappy FSNI, at the time you were fsni'ing, I was on a horrible, turbulenty flight!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting Heaven is Handmaid! If you are having trouble making a comment, please feel free to e-mail me directly. You will find my e-mail address in my profile.
Have a handmade kind of day! :-)