Project Portfolio Class

Yesterday, Marilyn, Jen1 and I took a sewing class at Quilter's Cupboard in Uxbridge ON where we made project portfolios to contain our stitchery projects. 

The prework was fairly extensive - getting all the fabric and vinyl cut and labelled in preparation for the class so we could get right to sewing. I also quilted the outer parts of the portfolio which also took a lot of time.

Tami provided us with a list of things to bring including a working sewing machine with a new needle. Right off the bat, I had trouble getting my machine to work properly. It skipped stitches and wouldn't sew evenly. I rethreaded it and the bobbin several times. I finally put in yet another new needle and that solved the problem.  It was frustrating and I had to catch up to the others but it turned out OK.

I had a few other 'issues' - like having too much on the cutting mat when I went to trim something and I cut through one of the fabrics for the small pocket! Oh well, I fused it to the interfacing and put that damaged fabric on the inside of the pocket. Crisis averted.

Honestly, I've never had so many problems with my sewing before. I'm sure Tami thought I was a rank beginner with all my issues.

We also decided to do the small floss pouch differently by using a fabric on both the back and front instead of batting on the back to use as a thread catcher. I had made thread catcher 'tacos' for Marilyn and Jen1 and will make one for myself.

The quilting in the prep phase took quite a while but I used the lines on my cutting mat for the first line - using a strip of masking tape. Then stitched the other lines 2 1/2" apart using the spacer thingy on my quilting foot. The closure tab was the piece I had so much trouble with my machine malfunctioning so it looks a little ragged. Will fix with some coercion and glue.

I liked the magnetic closure but hook and loop tape or even a tab over a button would work, too.

I decided to hand-sew all the bindings as it gives a much neater finish. It took a long time doing sewing around the small pouch and the periphery of the portfolio but I like how polished it looks.

I made a mistake cutting the binding for the small pouch - only cutting a 2" binding instead of 2 1/2". I ended up really liking how the narrower binding looked after all.

There is a vinyl pocket on the right (shown above), and an open pocket on the left.

There's also a smaller pocket on the larger pocket, and a scissor pocket in the corner.

I'm very happy with the binding I chose. It just makes the greens 'pop'. and the blue zippers worked out well, too.

Here is the back of the smaller pouch - using the outer fabric instead of thread-catching fleece.

I was pretty pooped after making the little pouch and knew how to do the needle case so I packed up a bit early and did a bit of looking around the shop before heading home. 

I did the hand-sewing of the bindings last night. It took a long time but the results are pleasing.

Even though it was an all-day project, I would definitely make another portfolio. This time, I would have the zipper on the vinyl pocket go from top to bottom (I defied the original plan and went bottom to top so it would be opening left to right), so any decorative zipper pull would hang down into the pouch when the zipper is closed rather than below the pouch as it is now. I would probably also make a pocket all the way across the smaller pocket (from the scissor pocket to the entire width of the small pocket) with dividers for small tools or needle packs.