And it begins...

There was much pondering on what project I would start with on The Machine. I have a list of roughly twelve thousand things I'd like to make, including several items for Christmas. However, due to my limited sewing supplies, I decided to start with some car seat belt covers. I figured it would be a simple enough shape - no curved lines or anything weird.

So I started with a pile of scraps my mom bequeathed upon me. These particular scraps are from a quilt that she made for Ava.  None of them were big enough to create aforementioned project, so I thought, maybe I could quiltify it. Yeah, I just made that word up. All you MCS* quilt ladies would be so proud of me!

Since this pile of scraps was shoved in a bag and left to die for nobody knows how long, it was a bit wrinkly. I went ahead and busted out the beloved iron. (Does anybody actually like to iron?) 

I snipped the fabric into the lengths I thought would work and laid them out in an arrangement that I found pleasing. By the way, I'm not using a pattern for this, heh. It's one of those fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants projects.

The first line could've been prettier, but you'll see, you can't even tell! That's what I'm telling myself, anyway. I found that I just have to go slower, otherwise the fabric gets away from me, and I end up with curved lines. Could this be a lesson in patience maybe? Hmmm.

 Again with the iron. This time I'm ironing the seams down in what I think might be the correct way...??? I split them open and pressed them down. It seemed to add the least amount of bulk.

So far so good...

Next, I pinned the strip piece to some batting and a lovely flannelly fabric (I have so much to learn...) and sewed a line straight down the middle perpendicular to the seams already sewn, then a line on either side of that center line, about halfway between the edge and the center line.

I didn't sew it like this, if you're wondering, I was simply "posing" the piece on The Machine. I later realized that it looks like I was trying to sew like a buffoon.

See how pretties?

This I what I have at the moment. Two unfinished car seat belt covers. They look pretty awesome at this point, in my humble opinion. Okay, there are some crooked lines, but cut me some slack! This is the FIRST thing I've ever made on a sewing machine. So far, this project isn't taking forever. I think I really only spent about two hours, maybe, working on it. And that's with the slow start, getting a feel for The Machine and all.

What I need now is some Velcro, which I plan on getting tomorrow. Then I'll slap some of that goodness on these things and figure out what to do with the edges.
 

*MCS is Milpitas Christian School, where I taught music for four years. Lots of the ladies there are phenomenal quilters. They're hard core, too. They have "quilting parties", where they pull all nighters quilting. Yeah. I know. Right?