After sewing together the sides of this drawstring bag and discovering one side was an inch longer than the other, I wondered if anyone had come up with the idea of a game show called something like "Wear My Dare." In this show, new sewists would show their latest projects, and more experienced sewists would guess what the projects were suppose to be -- or more…

P stands for "Pisces" -- as well as for "Poof goes the pin cushion project when one fails to properly plan."

Two weeks or so ago, I watched Youtube videos in which sewists seemed to effortlessly create those cute, round pin cushions from scraps of various prints and colors. By Jove, if I could imitate what I saw in those videos, I could wind up with a…

Hurray! As a beginner sewist, I like my latest attempt, in all of its wonky glory, at quilting -- in this case, a fabric coaster large enough to hold a tea set. Who cares if no one needs a tea set fabric coaster? I made the coaster that size because I didn't feel like measuring fabric small enough to hold a mug. I like it because all the material came from my scrap heap. Last year, my husband spotted my heap, expressed a mixture of surprise and dismay, and extracted a promise that I would…

At least, I like to think that eventually, I will be able to cut a straight line and sew one, to boot. I've tried to follow those guide lines on the sewing plate. If sewing a zigzag, meandering line is an improvement over a line that slants toward a 45 degree angle, then I'm on the right track for sewing a straight line. The experienced fabric artists in the group probably think 'That isn't possible.' Alas! Where there is a will, there is a crooked way.

What has my lack of skill have…