"Simple" Bow Tie Top- Part 1

So this morning was the day I had been waiting for, time to take out the sewing machine and put my middle school home-ec taught sewing skills to the test. Not to ruin the surprise but my 'skills' have failed me- more on that later.

The machine that outsmarted me today....

Here is a link to the tutorial I am attempting, Simple Bow Tie Top. I purchased the fabric for this project over Thanksgiving and I have been super excited to start this. The word simple was in the title so I figured it couldn't be that bad.


I got up early this morning prior to my mom leaving for work so she could give me some pointers on how to correctly cut the fabric. What else would she want to do on a Monday morning? She was a good sport and helped me cut the silver fabric for the bow before she left for work. I cut the black fabric for the shirt on my own, and I actually didn't mess it up. That of course is according to me, no one is home to tell me otherwise.

Cutting the silver fabric

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I have no idea how to thread a needle on the sewing machine. So I was pleasantly surprised to find black thread all ready to go on the machine. This meant I could attempt to sew while my family was at work today. First I ironed my black fabric and pinned a 2" hem thing (obviously my terminology could use some work). The fabric is super stretchy so it is 2"-ish...some places a little more, some a little less, but in my world good enough!

My 2"-ish hem, super straight- HA!

Next was sewing, I did a few practice runs on the extra fabric I had. The normal zig-zag stitch wasn't really looking good, so I switched the settings to something that looked like a little fancier zig-zag-ha. After doing about 40 practices runs (alright we know I don't have the patience for that, I actually did 4). I decided it was time to sew my shirt. I was so excited, I just wanted to finish the shirt today.


I started sewing, very slowly as my mom instructed, and I got nervous it wasn't going right. So I stopped to take a look (MISTAKE!). It was looking just fine but I couldn't get my fabric lined up correctly so I had to rip out about 3 inches of sewing which took 30 minutes. It was the ultimate test of patience because I didn't want to make holes in my fabric and the 'fancy' zig zag made a bunch of extra hidden stitches which were a pain to take out.

The fabric looks grey in this picture but you can see the poor sewing skills I have! 

Rethinking my choice of stitch, I decided to go back to the normal zig zag. Thank goodness I decided to practice on my extra fabric again because the machine ate my fabric and made holes in it. I wanted to throw the machine out the window, but since it is my mom's I decided that wasn't a great idea. She must have sensed my frustration across town as she decided to call at that point. After describing the situation, she suggested I put this craft on pause until she could assist. I agreed because at this point I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this craft.

The sewing machine ate my fabric......

I am heading to happy hour in 3 hours- thank goodness. Crafting is stressful. :)