Throughout the whole year I have been working on several projects that have to do with sewing. I must admit that a lot of them were too hard to continue which is why I would look up so many projects; I was trying to find the perfect one for me. Eventually, I did find the perfect project for me. I found a project on how to make a tote bag. I told myself that I was going to actually finish this project and complete my tote bag so that I can be proud of my work and see how it is possible to get something done that you set your mind to. Making this tote bag was difficult at first because I kept messing up on the measurements and I had to start all over again. I eventually got the measurements done right and continued with my project which ended  up being a wonderful masterpiece. A picture of my bag can be found on my flickr page. Overall, I have learned how to sew many projects throughout the year and I hope to continue pursuing sewing after this school year. It is definitely one of my favorite hobbies now.

This week for my 20% time I decided to fully finish sewing my cloth tote bag. As I mentioned before I got the instructions from essortment.com. I first had to sew the seams, then the upper hem, and then the straps. Then I had to form the bottom hem. This tote bag was a little bit difficult at first because I kept messing up on the measurements. I couldn’t get them at the right measurements and now I finally did. It took me a while to finally get all of this done but its better late than never. Here is a picture of what the fabric looked like at first:

And this is how the final product came out:

This week during my twenty percent time I continued looking on google and yahoo for some more fun projects that I can start on. I haven’t really found anything yet that appeals to me. The projects that I have found that do appeal to me are a little bit too advanced so I was thinking of possibly having my grandma help me out with these advanced projects. I am going to continue looking for good fabric that is going to last long because I have used cheap fabric in the past that ends up ripping right away and doesn’t last long. The other day my brother asked me to sew his pants for him because he wanted them tighter on the legs then the way they were. So far I have only sewed one leg but I will continue on the other leg this week. It’s different and a little bit more difficult because this time its not my measurements, it’s someone elses measurements that I have to worry about and make sure that it still fits. My camera is still broken so I am going to try and fix it or get a new one so that I can post up pictures of my projects.

I thought this fabric would look cool for my bag because it’s a whole bunch of different fabrics put all together which I thought was a pretty neat idea:

CC photo “New Year Hen Bag” by bububuBB

This week during my twenty percent time I continued to work on a cloth tote bag but I haven’t really continued to make a lot of progress. This is because I have been so busy with prom this past week and it was hard to work on my tote bag. However, I did work on my prom dress. The dress that I had for prom was too long so I decided that I needed to hem it. My grandma taught me how to hem it with an actual sewing machine which actually made my dress turn out better. Now it wasn’t dragging on the floor like it was when i first purchased it. I don’t have any pictures right now because my camera is down but I will put some up next week of the before and after. I am going to continue looking on google for more projects.

I am continuing to work on my tote bag but I keep messing up. I started off with the measurements and I started to cut the fabric but apparently my measurements weren’t exact. I thought I had the correct measurements so I started to sew my bag together but something wasn’t coming out right. I tried to figure out what was wrong and for a while I couldn’t put my finger on it and then I eventually figured out that my measurements were all wrong. I tried to start over but the directions were a little bit confusing so I tried looking for some better directions. I eventually found these instructions on essortment.com on how to make a cloth tote bag. Hopefully these instructions will help me on making my tote bag. If not, then I can continue to look on google for better instructions.

This past week I took a trip to the fabric store and I didn’t really find the fabric that I wanted in order to make my simple tote bag that I talked about last week. I wanted a cool, cute, and stylish fabric but unfortunately I couldn’t find what I was looking for. I think this is because the fabric store was really little and they didn’t have a lot of supplies. There weren’t a lot of options that I was able to choose from. I am going to continue looking for fabric but this time I am going to go to the Joann Fabric and Craft Store. Hopefully I find what I need. I continued lto ook at the website of the Joann Fabric and Craft Store and I was browsing around and happened to come across another neat project. I found a project on how to make a crochet-edged fleece blanket and I was thinking that this could be a great Mother’s Day present. I’m hoping that when I’m done with the tote bag project I can continue to this new project that I have found.

Every week during my twenty percent time I always change my mind about the project that i’m working on. I look forward to start a new project but then I always end up finding another cool project online. This week I found a set of instructions on how to make a simple tote bag. I found these instructions  at about.com where it has a lot of other simple instructions on sewing for beginners. I’m excited to work on this project because I love bags and its something that I can use everyday. I can use it to carry my school supplies, I can take it to work, and I can even use the bag when I’m just hanging out with friends! I first need to find some fabric that I need in order to make the bag. I’m thinking of getting fabric with some kind of cool, unique pattern. Hopefully this project doesn’t take too long. I’m hoping for my tote bag to end up looking something like this:

Photo “Mini tote bag” by Sibi

Today during 20% time I decided that I am just going to look at the different styles before I continue because I want to see what it is that I can come up with next. I’m not sure if I want to make a bag, or if I want to make a pillow, or even try something hard like making a dress! I don’t really know what it is I have in mind. So i decided to look for a website that can help try and decide on my situation. I found a fun, cool, easy website called sewing.org which has so many projects that i can get started on! They have kid projects, mens projects, teen projects, and more! As I was looking through these many different projects I decided that I am going to work on a cushion couch because you could never have too many pillows lying around on your bed. Its always nice to come home from a long day at school and lay yourself on a nice cushion couch. I will continue on this project as the week goes by.

This week during my 20% time I couldn’t really think of anything to do. Then I realized that I’m always having trouble with finding the right pair of jeans. They are always either too flared at the bottom or too tight at the bottom; nothing ever seems to fit right. So that’s when I came up with the idea that I am going to learn how to cut my jeans, fit them just the way I like it, and then sew it. I like my jeans to be skinny jeans so I looked up the instructions. I am going to do this at home and next week I will post up pictures.

This week during web page design class we learned about a new source of technology that is called multitouch computing. We watched a video about this new source of technology with Jeff Han. This is an amazing invention because it can be used for so many advantages. First of all, it has a touch screen which allows people to use the touch of a finger to explore this new type of computer. It can also be used by multiple people simultaneously.

It has a lot of cool applications such as grabbing a photo and stretching it out, zooming in quickly, world map, and a keyboard that can rescale. These applications can be used for everyone’s advantage and can be a lot more easier than regular computing. The screen is also pressure censored and the keyboard can rescale.

I think multitouch computing is very important because not only does it have certain applications that can be used, but it can be used with the touch of a finger which shows the advance in technology. It can be used very easily and makes things more fun to complete.