A Break from Organizing

I needed a break from looking at notions, threads, tools and figuring out where to put them, so I picked up one of my many UFO's and decided to actually finish something. If you recall my previous post, this was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but obviously it will have to wait. The thread was pretty easy to keep the colors straight. It comes in precut lengths, so I just started a new length on each row. This used  slightly less than half the length of thread, so I used some of the leftover pieces for the edging.

It's a kit that I bought when taking a class by Barbara Meger back in September during a ferocious heat wave.

It has a simple whipped edgestitch for trim. It looks easy, but it's a challenge to see. I had to use two Ott Lights and a magnifier to see the black thread on the black silk.

Finished pouch, which I'm not at all happy with. The smocking has mistakes and the sewing isn't perfectly symmetrical. But I have another kit and will be trying again. It's made from silk dupioni, which kept trying to unravel at the edges of the smocked piece. Next time I'll unpick the pleating threads from the seam allowances and stitch them down with a triple zigzag. Since I don't have a serger, it's my favorite stitch for neatening edges.

With jewelry!

I hope you all have a lovely week ahead. Not to garner sympathy, but I came down with a miserable cough and sore throat. I'm completely sick of drinking tea, the roof of my mouth is sore from all the cough drops, and my chest hurts from coughing. With any luck it will clear up in a day or two as I've been at it since Thursday. Time for a nice, hot bath.