New Projects and...

I recently purchased a yard of fabric that was just perfect for a friend of mine. She loves and collects Matryoshka dolls, so I knew I had to get it and make her some special things.  Here is what I ended up making for her:

From the top of the picture going to the right:  Jar cozy, the zippered pouch I told you about in my last post, a small fabric tray, and a sunglasses case. I still have some fabric left, so I need to figure out a few more small items to make with it.

This is the only picture I took of the sunglasses case, because it did not turn out at all how I wanted and to me was a project fail. I followed a tutorial from a fairly well-known blogger and it was HORRIBLE!! Not only were the directions minimal at best, but I e-mailed the blogger and asked her for help and she has never responded. That was July 3rd - still no response from her. Good thing I didn't wait for her, or it would never have gotten finished. As it was, I just kind of had to wing it and figure out another way to finish the case.  Her original case had a bow on it and here were her instructions for that:  "Sew on a bow."  That was it - no directions, nothing. She didn't even tell you how to make the bow. To make matters worse, her photos used white fabric with a white background - it was impossible to see the stitching, or anything she had done. 

I am not going to mention any names, because maybe she has a good reason for not responding.  As I looked back through her blog, most of her tutorials are the same - very minimal directions and photos.   It doesn't really matter though, because I have stopped following her and will never use another of her tutorials again.

Which leads me to my rants.... 

• We as bloggers need to remember that our audience consists of BEGINNING sewers as well as more experienced ones. 
• More, more and more!! The more information and photos the better. I do not see it as "talking down" to your readers, but rather, trying to give them the most information possible so that their project will turn out well.
• Whenever I make a project from a blogger's tutorial, I always read through the comments. I have learned the hard way that I have to do this, otherwise I will never know what is missing or incorrect in the tutorial. 
• I want my end result to look like yours - so if you're going to use any kind of interfacing, please be specific about what kind/type you used. It is very frustrating to have to play the guessing game and try to figure out what you have used. 
• Finally, if I let you know I used your tutorial, and gave you a link to my blog post about it, the least you can do is acknowledge it in some way. A comment or a simple thank you is much appreciated. 

I know I only have a very small readership, and half of you probably don't even read my posts, and few of you ever even comment.  The people who need to see this will probably never see it. But at least I feel better for getting that off my chest!  Thanks if you're still reading  :0)