turns out, the sewing machine works pretty well on FABRIC, too!

go figure.

over the weekend my friend trish and i took a sewing class at flirt brooklyn's "home ec" classroom. we made totebags, from start to finish, using a commercial pattern. it was one of the best craft classes i've ever taken: our instructor, patti, was both knowledgeable about sewing AND great at teaching, and has developed the class so that a complete novice can confidently finish the project, and yet someone with a bit of experience is not dying of boredom. i also liked that we learned the "WHY" in addition to the "HOW" of each step in the process, so that we can translate the same techniques to anything we might like to sew in the future!

so do you want to see my totebag??
(resistance is futile...you know that, right? might as well say yes...)

the outside is the sort of grey-on-grey pinstriped material from which business suits are made, reinforced with iron-on interfacing; the inside is a lightweight cotton; the flower pin--which came from a trimmings shop in manhattan i stopped at on the way home--is layers of velvet, sheer tulle, and silky fake organza.

i have to confess that my expectations were modest: i hoped to have a fun day out, learn some cool techniques, gain a TON of valuable experience, and leave the class with a rather wonky but entirely lovelable item that would inspire me to go home and practice sewing fearlessly on any medium which took my fancy. and i was totally FINE with that. but as it turns out, i REALLY DID IT!!! not only did i achieve all of my goals for the day, i actually walked out of the class with a bag i absolutely loooooooove and cannot wait to use!

{♥WOW!♥}