The Worst Tutorial Ever!

So, as I was saying, I started a fleece project Wednesday night following a pattern from one of our new books.  The project was for a child's fleece poncho.  I got the fleece ready, as well as my tape measure.  I ran down the hall to the Rose Room (where I sew and craft) for my scissors.  I did NOT run back with my scissors because that would be bad.  Of course the reason I am not currently crafting in the Rose Room is because it is still in upheaval with the whole carpet mess.  Anyway, when I returned with the scissors (not running) I saw Bode with just a piece of my fabric tape measure hanging out of his mouth.  I grabbed it and pulled, and pulled, and pulled.

I thought I got it all out of his mouth and throat. 

This morning, when he did his morning business, it became apparent that I had missed some.  That is all I am going to say about that.  Well, one more thing I want to say...

EEEEEWWWWWW!

But Wednesday night I was still determined to measure.  Since I'd thrown away my tape measure I made do with what I could find.

It was a bit tedious but I actually did measure things according to the pattern.  I copied the pattern piece for the neckhole onto newspaper and then cut it out. 

When I opened it all up it became apparent that I was NOT making a child's poncho but rather one to fit a teen-ager or adult.  Well, poo.  That wasn't what I was going for.

However, I take pride in being adaptable.  So, an adult poncho it is.  OK, then.  I decided to finish the edges with a pretty green thread using the blanket stitch.  The first needle I used didn't work well as I couldn't get it through the tight weave of the fleece.  Finally, I found a needle that would work.  I sat down and started sewing... wait, that looks weird...take it out...start over...still weird.  I finally opened up the computer and looked up how to do a blanket stitch.

Oh yes, now I remember.  It was going well.  I thought it was looking rather nice...

...until the big knotted mess occurred.

It took me FOREVER to fix that!

After that it went very well...for awhile.  Eventually I chose to use Wunder Under to apply some hearts to the front.  Have you ever used Wunder Under?  It is very easy really.  You draw on the paper side of it first.  Then you place the rough side of the Wunder Under facing the back side of the applique fabric.  The directions are on the bag of the Wunder Under and I read them carefully.  I counted out the exact number of seconds that I was supposed to heat it with the iron.

When I lifted the iron off the paper came with it BECAUSE I'D PUT THE WRONG STUPID SIDE OF THE WUNDER UNDER AGAINST THE FABRIC!  I simply could not believe I'd done that.  I was able to get it off my iron, but cleaning the iron took some time.

Once I properly applied the Wunder Under I managed to peel the paper off the fabric and apply the appliques to the poncho.  I used a wet cotton dish towel while holding the iron down for 10 seconds.  It worked like a charm.

Finally, I got on with it.  When I came back to my chair to do a decorative stitch on the appliques I discovered that Bode had chewed up an entire little skein of green embroidery thread.  Figures.

Because I was using all strands of the embroidery thread it was a pretty fat piece to push through the fabric.  When you have to push that hard you have to be really careful not to lose control and poke yourself.

After all that, I finally finished the poncho.  We will have it up on our store,
Wyoming Rose Boutique, very soon.  It will be priced at about a kazillion dollars.