Hand Sewing
In addition to knowing my way around a sewing machine I can also hand sew. I am not a master at hand sewing but I can get by. A few years ago I bought a felt kit from Herrschners to make ornaments. I finally decided to do some hand stitching.
Of course like with any craft there is prep work to be completed. I cut out all the paper pattern pieces. I then used those paper patterns to cut out the pieces of felt I would need. Now arose problem number one. There was not a sufficient amount of white felt in the kit to cut out all the needed pieces. I was very careful when placing all the pieces but there was just no way to cut all of the needed pieces out of the one piece of felt included.
I cut out all the other pieces and put white felt on my craft shopping list. After all the pieces were cut I threaded the needle included in the kit. Oops, issue number two. I'm not sure what the theory was with the needle included but it was very dull. On the first stitch the needle broke in half. Not only was the needle dull but it must have been very weak. I am not a strong-armed person by any stretch of the imagination. Luckily, I have many hand sewing needles. I just rethreaded with an actual sharp needle that would pierce through 2 layers of felt and got to sewing.
What kind of felt project would this be if it did not include sequins and beads. I completed all the hand sewing and letter embroidery. The kit arrived with lots of sequins and beads. It even included a beading needle. Issue number three with the kit reared its frustrating head. The beading needle was damaged at some point in the manufacturing process. The needle had no eye. The eye of needle is where you place the thread for sewing. The eye looked like it had been cut in half after being manufactured. I do not have beading needles in my supplies. I rarely, if ever actually do beading work. Beading needles went on the craft shopping list.
It is a wonder that new people even try crafting. Granted this kit was not break the bank expensive but still it has major supply issues. No wonder you see so many unopened or just barely begun kits at thrift stores and yard sales. It just becomes frustrating after a while. In addition, I knew exactly how to solve my crafting problems, but I doubt whether beginners would know how to solve the issues I encountered.
My next post will contain all the ugly details about my beading and sequin adventure.