Genius Hour 1.8

As this last week comes to an end, I am happy with how this project turned out. I stayed on track with my action plan fairly well. I have improved throughout these eight weeks and learned many things. Patience is an important part of getting these projects done quickly and making them look good. With the pillow case that I finished this week, the stitching around the white border of the pillow looked very good and I saw how much I had improved. This will be a good lifelong skill to have knowledge in. 

Genius Hour 1.7

This week, I started on the pillow case that I mention last week. I didn't get too much done since I have been busy this week. I am still on track with my action plan but I had to manage my time to get started on the pillow case this week. First I picked two fabrics that would go together nicely. I decided to make the border on the edge of the pillow case white and the main part of the pillow the patterned fabric. I sewed the white strip on the inside of the pillow case and will fold it and flip it over to sew it on the other side of the fabric. I will then finish piecing the pillow case together. 

Genius Hour 1.6

     This week, I steered away from clothing repair a little bit and made a pillow. I was planning on making a pillow case, but my grandma suggested that it’s be easier to start with a small decorative pillow. I measured the pieces of fabric and cut them out. Then I showed them together, leaving an opening so I could turn the fabric right side out and put stuffing in it. After stuffing it, I sewed the remaining gap. The most difficult part of this was sewing at the same distance in from the edge on each side. It was frustrating at times but I was able to fix my small mistakes and finish the pillow. I am happy with how it turned out and may end up making another one.
Here are some pictures of the process:

Genius Hour 1.5

     This week, I repaired another item. One of my classmates was kind enough to lend me his tie to sew. So, thank you to that person for having enough faith in me to do this. This was a pretty simple repair, although I would have like to hide the stitching but I think it will hold better with the way I ended up doing it. I am happy with how it turned out. Hopefully he will be content with it also. I am still on track with my plan. I might jump ahead one week because I think a pillow case will take a while to make. I think I am making good progress and getting lots of experience on different kinds of clothing and material.

Genius Hour 1.4

     This week, I decided to try something a little more challenging than before. Previously, I have just been sewing fabric back together to repair the item to its previous condition. This week, I decided to hem a pair of pants. I thought it would be challenging and it was, so I had my grandma there to help me through it. First, I had to cut the pants to the length that I wanted. It was hard to make sure the cuts were straight and even, since the material was stretchy. Next, I folded the bottom of the pants so the cut part of the fabric was on the inside, and ironed and crease in them. Then I doubled checked to see if the pant legs were even before using iron on adhesive to make secure the fold in place. After the fabric cooled, I sewed around the fold to make the hem more secure. The sewing wasn’t too difficult since there was already the adhesive holding the fabric in place. After the hem was complete, I folded the bottom of the pants up an few times, because I was making the pants into capris. After they were folded and even, I racked them in a few spots. I’m sewing, this term means to join two pieces of fabric together by sewing in the same spot. I did this on both sides of each leg. This would hold the fold in place, and complete the process of hemming the pants. I was happy with how they turned out considering that they were my first pair of pants than I hemmed and the fabric was hard to deal with. I am right where I’m supposed to be according to my action plan.
Here are some pictures of the process:

Genius Hour 1.3

     This week, I decided to repair another item, but this time it wasn’t clothing. I decided to venture out a little bit for a few reasons: one, I couldn’t find a piece of clothing to fix, and two, I thought it would be helpful to apply the skills that I am learning on some other things. I decided to fix one of my blankets. Part of the fabric on the edges had come apart from the blanket. There were some challenges with fixing this. It was difficult to place the fabric where it needed to be before I could begin sewing. I had help from my grandma on this part. It was also difficult to tell if I where going through the fuzzy fabric since it’s hard to see the thread in it. I got frustrated a few times but I kept trying until I got it. It’s easy to get frustrated with things, but it’s rewarding when they are finished. I am happy with how the blanket ended up looking, it blended in well with the rest of it.

This was the blanket before.

I used these pins to hold the fabric in place.

This is the end product.

Genius Hour 1.2

     As I said last week, I got a little farther than where I planned to be. As of this week, I am still a little farther than planned. I had planned to practice the stitching this week, but since I started that last week, I didn’t have much else to do. Because of this, I decided to hand sew my first piece of clothing. I was nervous to mess it up, but once I got started, it became more comfortable and kind of fun. There are still some things I need to work on, but I am content with how it turned out. I can be too hard on myself sometimes, but I’ve come to realize that I’ll get better with time, so I just need to keep perfecting it. For the next few week I plan on fixing more clothing, and maybe trying to hem something. This first repair wasn’t very difficult, so we will see how this following week will go.

This is what the tear looked like. It was on the inner seam of the thigh pant leg.

This is what the sew looked like one the outside of the pants after I was finished. It blended in with the seam fairly well and the stitch seemed to be strong.

Genius Hour 1.1

     The first week of Genius Hour has come to an end. During class for Genius Hour, I did some research on the basic types of hand stitches that are used for repairing clothes. I found that most of the stitchings are continuations of one basic stitch. Outside of class, I watched videos on how the stitching is done. I am already ahead of where I planned to be. I had only planned to do research, but it seemed to take less time than I had thought. So, I decided to start what I had planned for the next week. I started practicing one of the stitching techniques. It wasn’t one that I had researched, my grandma showed me the stitch that she uses for most things. I also learned how to sew on a button. Catching on to the actual hand stitching wasn’t as hard as I had expected. The hardest thing for me was learning an efficient way to tie the knot in the thread so it doesn’t fall through the material. The stitch looked pretty good for my first one, but I need to work on having less thread show where I had stitched. With having practiced some of the stitching this week, I will have more time to get the hang of this stitch and the other stitchings before I begin attempting to hand stitch actual clothing. This week was full of managing time and planning things out so I could work on this project. Genius Hour is unlike anything I have had to do for school, but I think it will be a good learning experience.

This is what the stitch would look like on the hidden side. I used different color thread so I could see how it looked easier.

This is what the visible side of the stitch would look like. The thread would normally match the fabric, but as you can see, I need to be more consistent with how much fabric I grab with the needle. This is also the button I sewed on.