Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Pockets are HARD!

I love these denim capris! They fit great, look good and are really comfortable.


BUT... the pockets are crap. They are really more decorative than functional. If you can actually get anything to fit in them, it just falls out.


This is all the space that there is in the pocket. Very bad pocket design. They just added a piece of fabric the the front of the pants that had a hole for you to put your hand in. This makes it VERY VERY hard to actually make this into a functional pocket. BUT I did it. Well at least one.


It took a lot of thinking to figure it out and then a lot of hand stitching through denim. (There was NO way to get it into the sewing machine.) But now it is a functional fabulous pocket. And you can't tell any difference from the front. It only took me ALL day to do one. Maybe the other one will go faster tomorrow. Sheesh.

~~~~~~~~~ UPDATE Apr 11, 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
I still haven't finished this.... the first pocket was so stinkin hard. If I'm not careful it will become a UFO and I refuse to have 1 more!! Maybe tomorrow....

Earring Case

I got very tired of digging through my jewelry box looking for matching earrings. So I started to think about what would make a good portable earing holder. I needed something that I could pack up and take with me on trips, and that wouldn't be too bulky on my nightstand. This was what I came up with. It only took me two trys to get it right.


There are 2 panels that the earrings hook into. I used cheap cross stich fabric for these. It's sturdy and already has the holes. All the fabric I used for this is from scraps in my stash. The yellow fabric on the inside is a soft thick cotton type fabric that I had originally used as the back of a baby quilt that I made. I didn't use any batting in this project, but I did double up the yellow fabric to give it a slightly padded feeling.


The fabric on the outside is all scraps from an youth activity where we made pajama pants. And mom should be proud of me. I stepped outside my comfort zone and tried random cutting and piecing. It still may be all straight lines, but it's a small step!


I used the thick cardboard out of an old 3 ring binder for this so that it would be rigid and can stand up on my nightstand.


And it all folds up neatly to travel. Like I said it only took me two tries to get it right. I spent one whole day working on it, finished it, put all my jewelry on it, set it up on my nightstand. HATED IT. It stayed there for one day and then I stripped all the jewelry off it, picked out almost EVERY stitch and completely redid it. Slower this time, and tweeked a few things. Now I LOVE IT. No more hunting for the other earring!!