T-Shirts are Tough

So I just finished my first t-shirt and I have to be honest with you...I wanted to set it on fire so many times and just be done with it.  But I kept charging on, mistakes and all.  I only had two yards of this black jersey knit fabric, which means I only had one shot at this shirt.  There was no way I was going to quit and just waste this material.

I'm not going to lie...it did not come out very well.  Chalk this one up to a learning experience.  The next time I make this, it's going to rock out.  The pattern was not very hard to follow.  In fact, it was kind of super simple.  What was getting me was the dang fabric.  This stuff has a pretty good stretch to it and it LOVES to roll up at the edges, making sewing a seam an exercise in patience. 

At the base of the placket, you might notice that it puckers a little bit.  The collar is a little rough and my right shoulder...well, if you have a good eye, you can tell that the seam on my right shoulder is inside out.  That's right, I'll admit it...I sewed it on the wrong side.  This mostly happened because I was already frustrated with the darn thing and was just not paying attention.  So, this is going to be a shirt for me to wear, probably to the barn! 

I love this fabric though.  Jersey knit is so soft and comfortable.  I have some more jersey in a gray color.  I'm not really sure if I want to try and make another one of these t-shirts or make a tank top with it or another polo.  I can tell you this though, whatever I do next, you will see it right up on here.  Everything from the perfect sewing project to my Frankenstein t-shirts!

A Nifty Little Tablet Cover

So for Mother's Day, my dad bought my mom a tablet to help her keep track of her business stuff.  It's handy for quickly checking emails and scheduled events in her calendar.  He neglected to get a screen protector or cover for it.  The way things are around our house, this was just begging for problems.  Stuff just gets set on the table...sometimes on top of other things.  I could just see this beautiful new tablet getting crushed by a bucket full of fresh chicken eggs.  So, I made her a tablet cover.

I'm going to be honest...this was more of a chore to make than I thought it was going to be.  That was mostly due to the fact that I had to quilt the fabric myself.  I found this really cool horse print cotton at Wal-Mart that I knew mom would love.  So I found some brown material that went with it and got some batting.  I figured, sewing two pieces of fabric together with a layer of batting in the middle can't the THAT hard, right?  Well, I was wrong.  It was way more cumbersome than I thought it would be.  This was my first foray into quilting and though I get the concept of it, implementation was a little bit tricky.

The end product looks great though and mom loves it.  There is a spot on the back (which I didn't take a photo of because it would ruin the illusion of perfection...) where I messed up sewing the bias tape on.  Lesson learned.  Other than that, it was awesome.  There is a zipper pouch on the front for her charger, headphones and stylus.  Thanks to So Sew Easy for the tutorial.  This was so much fun and I hope to make a few more to sell soon.