Perfection? HA!!!

If the machine breaks, that is a tragedy. If I am not careful and injure myself with a rotary cutter, that is an accident. But if my points don't match - well, that is just the process. Try again, maybe.

Thanks to Bernie, today I am happy to shamelessly share my mistakes with you. 
For ease of understanding, I will be discussing three kinds of mistakes. 

1. Ignoring the Golden rule - Never do this.

2. Experimentation - Do this often

3. Stitching Errors - Whether you like it or not, this will happen

IGNORING THE GOLDEN RULE

The biggest mistake that I have made is ignoring the 10-foot rule.

Not stepping away from the design wall to look at your work from a distance is a huge No-No.

Murky & Meh

In American Hustle, the blocks had no contrast and the design was impossible to discern. I tried to add sashing and borders but in the end I decided to give it away. It was not going to get better.

Not much better

In Strawberry Salad with Pepto-bismol Dressing, I was working with a bag of scraps. I chose a square block with partial seams.  The first block looked fine.

Audition Block

But the whole quilt was too much. 

Since the fabrics were so busy, I should have kept the design simple.
Or added contrast fabrics to balance the muddy pinkness or the pink muddiness.
Hindsight is 20/20.

Strawberry Salad +Pepto Bismol Dressing

This really is the worst mistake, in my opinion. It is pure disaster. And mostly the project cannot be salvaged. I love you all who comfort me with kind words (the depth of your kindness far exceeds the height of your brutal honesty). Moving along.

Now I agonize over contrast. The 10-foot rule helps me evaluate this contrast. 
Some quilters use red glasses or see the layout in grayscale.

I chose blue and green solids for Neel. The 10-foot rule revealed that one particular blue would be too dark and not have enough contrast against the midnight background. Swapped it. Killed it. No mercy.

Blue (top right) was too dark

I chose only light and medium values and alternated blue and green stars in the layout.

Neel 

When I was making Esmeralda, it was a fabric line sent by Moda.  I picked and chose and discarded those squares that were too light.  

Esmeralda's discards

They were used in another quilt - Charlie's Birds - with contrasting fabrics.

Paired with aqua and navy

Charlie's Birds - Pop of orange

Similarly when I was making Meet Cute, I discarded those fabrics that would have a poor contrast against the white background. 

No way

Yes!!!

Meet Cute

Most other times, I choose my own fabric. Even when I am using precuts I add/subtract fabrics based on contrast.

Let's compare two quilts - Esmeralda and Queen's Necklace. Same design but different fabrics.
You can see the interlocking circles in Esmeralda but in Queen's Necklace, they jump out at you. 

Esmeralda - Subtle

Queen's Necklace - Bold

Contrast creates the dramatic difference between the two quilts.  There is not a right or a wrong approach here. Once you know how to work with different values - lightest to darkest - you can create the desired effect. Gentle contrasts for a subtle quilt or sharp contrasts for a bold impressive one.

Whatever you do, remember the 10-foot rule!!!

EXPERIMENTATION - IDEAS TRANSLATION

An idea in my head always seems terrific.  When it is applied to fabric, it sometimes gets lost in translation. When I was making Trees of Life, I thought that bright floral trees on a dark background will pop and sparkle.  They did not quite impress in reality.

Looks good

They looked hideous. I took no pictures of those ugly blocks by themselves.
I switched to low volume backgrounds and liked the results much better.

Looks better

I did not wish to discard those dark background blocks and considered throwing them in the mix randomly or using them as a part of pieced backing.  Using them as a border was probably the best decision.

Light blocks framed by a border of dark blocks

See contrast!!! Makes all the difference.

If I was making quilts from kits and not deviating one bit, this would not be a problem. But I want to play and I want to experiment and I wonder - what if? 

And this "mistake" is really one which I suggest you try to make. Playing with fabric, trying a new block, or just making alterations to an existing block and discovering something is the joyful part of the process.

Paul: What if your "experiment" does not pan out?

Me: Like what?

Paul: Like when you used cinnamon instead of vanilla in the chocolate cookies

Me: Well then I know what does not work. Besides, my co-workers liked those cookies.

Paul: Why not just stick to the recipe or the pattern in this case?

Me: Firstly, I was out of vanilla. More importantly, experimenting is great because then I discovered a new method for making QSTs. Just like the combination of mint chutney with mayonnaise elevates a mundane turkey sandwich to gourmet food.

QST Tutorial

Four QSTs

Paul: When I am painting my models I stick to the suggested color scheme.

Me: I know. You are a cook but I am a chef.
Paul: Sometimes. Sometimes you are a chef.
Me: Yes. Because I experiment and willing to make mistakes.

Serendipity

Tube Technique

What eventually became the Serendipity tutorial began as an experiment. 
But it worked.  And it is a really popular tutorial.

Loving it

Yummy

STITCHING ERRORS

We all make these. Sewing the wrong sides together happens all the time.

Paul: Do you fix a mistake when you see it?

Me: Not usually. Mostly, I let it be. Like the artist's signature. Someday someone will go over my quilts and look for these stitching errors - like clues in a mystery case.

Paul: You are so full of yourself

Me: There are three such mistakes in your quilt.

Paul (aghast): In Paulitiks?

Me: Yep. You did not even know and you sleep under it every night.

Paul: I must check.

Me: Let me know when you find them. It takes skill.

Paul: I don't think it takes skill to make mistakes.

Me: It takes skill to hide things in plain sight. Talk to me after you find them.

Paul: What if this is a wild goose chase? What if there is no mistake?

Me: If you cannot find it, you can admit defeat and I will show you.

Clockwise Block 

The blocks in Paulitiks had black strips going anti clockwise. All but three. And when the rogue block was next to the regular block the black strips connected. See the block above.  This was unintended.

Can you find all three?

I saw no reason to correct these mistakes and so I left them there.

I left it in Mayflower.  You cannot even see it unless you are looking for it.
Do click on the link above for my discussion with a knitter about her mistakes.

Bottom Right Corner

And if the lady is not ready to dance her palms are closed. Did I make a mistake in piecing? 
May be. But if she does not want to dance, it is up to her. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Closed Palms = No, Thank you

You can ask her to dance :-) because her palms are open.

Open Palms =  Ready to dance

But when it happened in "A Walk in thePark", the mistake was structural and needed to be fixed.

Front - Looked fine

Backing falls short

Added border strips on the back

Since the quilt sandwich was already basted, I was reluctant to take it apart. To make up for the shortfall in the backing, I added 2.5" strips all around the back in the Quilt-As-You-Go fashion.

Sew line in the front

 This added a stitch line in the front which could pass off as quilting.

Finished Front

Salvaged Back

Since the whole point of this exercise is to laugh at our mistakes and have fun, here is an excerpt from one of the episodes of Big Bang Theory.

Raj Koothrappali : Has Bernadette found a cure for something? 

Howard Wolowitz : In a way. She was working on a dandruff shampoo that has the unfortunate side effect of horrible anal leakage. 

Raj Koothrappali : That's too bad. But then, is there any good anal leakage? 

Howard Wolowitz : On the upside, they decided to market it as a constipation remedy.

In conclusion, it is a mistake only if you learn nothing from it. 

Learning, growth, joy and inspiration lie along the journey.  Perfection is the destination.

And even when we strive for perfection once (if) we get there it will be the end of the journey.  And who wants that? I want to continue on this ride - missteps, bumps and turbulence notwithstanding.

Hope your seat-belts are fastened :-D

Basket Case or a Nut Bag

That is right.  I am a basket case right now. Or you could call me a nut bag.

There is no dearth of inspiration (or temptation, depending on your perspective) in blogland.   Seeing so many 1-hour baskets, I dived in too.

One-hour basket

It took me 2+ hours to make mine.
I am sure that after I have made a dozen, and I remember the pattern by heart, and all the fabric/interfacing is cut to the correct size, and I don't make any mistakes, and I don't get distracted...I will be able to make such a basket in one hour.

Basket #1

You get the picture.

According to the tutorial, the outer fabric should be home decor.  Missed that detail.
Silly me. Proceeded with quilting cotton.  And the basket ended up being a bit on the flimsy side.

Decided to put SF101 on the handles to give them a little more body.  Definitely like the outcome.

Pros
1. The instructions are very well-written
2. Different seams for the exterior and the lining - Brilliant!!!

Cons
1. The handles need interfacing. Not mentioned.

The other thing that is a personal preference - I did not like the seam in the lining.  Ideally, I wanted it to be smooth.

Attempt # 2
Looked for another tutorial.  This one was from ayumills.blogspot.com.

Smaller basket.  I made the exterior panel using 2.5" squares and linen for the main basket body.   Used SF101 to stiffen it first.

2.5" squares, linen

I used decor bond interfacing on the handles.  See picture below.

Decor Bond Interfacing on the handles

Ready to quilt

Then I quilted the exterior panel with batting. I went ahead and also used interfacing (decor bond) on the lining.  

Since I wanted a smooth inside, I chose to do a drop-in lining (contrary to the instructions in the tutorial).  It did not come out well.
The two - exterior and lining - did not quite match, causing the exterior to be puckered :-(
Once finished, I showed it to a dear friend, Nancy.  Bless her heart. She did not see the imperfections and took it off my hands.

Tried again.
Attempt# 3 -  Smaller basket.  Much better but still not perfect.
The finished basket is 6.5" by 4.5" at the base, and it is almost 5" high. Actually, I am pretty pleased with this one.

The exterior panel was first interfaced with SF101. Then quilted with batting.  The lining was interfaced with decor bond (maybe try SF101 next time).  Since the lining was dropped in, the insides are smooth :-)

Smooth Insides

Since the lining has decor bond interfacing, there is added bulk along the top.  It is top-stitched but that could be neater.

Attempt # 4 - Making the initial 1-hour baskets

I decided to use my just acquired knowledge to try my hand at the 1-hour basket again. I used quilting weight cotton (gorgeous blue/purple batik) but this time I interfaced it first with SF101.  Then used Thermolam as a second layer of interfacing.
Like before, I did not use any interfacing on the lining, because I wanted to avoid the bulk in the top stitching.  Used interfacing on the handles.

But my lining still had a seam and it was just a tad bigger than it needed to be, making it look wrinkly and crumpled on the inside.

Attempt #5 - Repeat Attempt #4.
The only thing I did differently this time was measure the lining and the exterior just before stitching them together. the lining was tad larger than required.  So, I increased the seam by 1/8". Remeasured. Much better.

Attempt #4 on the left, Attempt #5 on the right

Do you see the difference? The lining on the right one fits just a tad better.
These baskets are 9.5" by 5.5" at the base. The height is almost 6.5" They are pretty and I am sure they will make someone happy enough that they would pay for them :-)
Just wish that they did not have that seam in the lining.

By now, I have made five baskets using two different tutorials and I am still not completely satisfied.

So, I tried once again. Attempt # 6.
This time, I referred to no pattern. Made a much smaller basket.  It measures 4" by 6" at the base and it is almost 4.5" high.  Since it was small, I reasoned that Thermolam would be enough.  Interfaced the handles.
This time, when I made the lining, I did not leave an opening in it.  Once the lining was made, I matched it with the exterior of the basket.  It was a little bigger. I chose to sew again, increasing the seam by 1/8" to make it fit better.

After the handles were basted, I put the exterior inside the interior, RST.  Stitched all around at the top but left a 2" gap. Turned it inside out, and sewed the opening shut using top stitching.  Now, the interior was smooth :-)  Makes me very happy.

Smooth on the inside :-)

How smooth? I turned it inside out and it could be (almost) reversible basket :-)

However, I realized that I should have used SF101 on the exterior, followed by Thermolam.
Should have used SF101 on the lining. I am sure there is an Attempt #7.

Medium and Small (ignore the screwdriver, please)

Paul: More baskets. Pretty!!!
Me: Yeah, but I am still not there yet.
Paul: Where?
Me: Where I have all the features I want and it is neat.
Paul: Try a different pattern
Me: I did
Paul: Is it a free pattern or did you buy it?
Me: (I knew where he was going with it. I got irritated.)
You know there was this one time I bought a pattern for making zippered pouches.  It included fabric as well. In a kit.
Paul: The kit and caboodle?
Me: NO. There was a kit but the caboodle was missing.
Paul: How so?
Me: So, the pattern says - use interfacing. But they do not tell you which one.  You have no idea how many different kinds of interfacing they have out there.
And I have made bags with no interfacing and with wrong interfacing.  I am ashamed to show them to even myself.
Paul: So a free pattern may or may not work. Buying a pattern may not have everything.  What is the solution?
Me: Trial and Error. That is WHAT I AM DOING!!!
Paul: Could you take a class or learn from a live person?

Once again, Paul had a made a valid point.  However, by now I could (almost) teach a class on the dos and don'ts of fabric basket making.

Three sizes - Nested Baskets

What if the tutorials and pattern still leave something to be desired. Yes, you could do what I have been doing - Trial and Error.

Did you know there are classes (yes several) on making bags, and pouches, and organizers on Craftsy? Best news - they are on sale!!!
Wish I had known this sooner. Silly me. Check them out.

Building Better Bags with Sara Lawson

Easy Techniques for Zippered Bags

20 Essential Techniques for Better Bags

Quilt as You Go Patchwork Bags

And if you are into making fabric baskets and organizers, you must check out these two classes.

Sew Sturdy Home Organizers

Sew Sturdy Travel Organizers

Some of these classes are on sale now which makes me feel like this!!!

Goofiness!!!

Paul: What if you don't like the class? 
Me: Well, Craftsy will refund your money.



In the mean time, I am making more pouches for the quilt show.

A Bag a Day!!!

Cuteness Overload!!!

Light Aqua inside

Green Swirly Lining

Dotty - Inside and Out :-)

Pretty in Pink!!!

I feel very guilty right now.  I am addicted to making baskets and pouches while several quilt tops languish away waiting to be quilted.  I am Sew Preeti - No Quilts!!!

Now, that I have confessed, it is time to put away these little evil distractions and finish a few quilts this weekend. What do you think?

As always, I'd love to hear from you.

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