Pincushion and Babylegs

This post represents about an hour and a half of work (Jeopardy through the end of Hell's Kitchen...but who is counting?)

Here are the leggings I bought today at Target. I tried them on him and they are the perfect width for his legs. I used the babyleg set I already have to get a length.
All the socks cut and prepared to sew, scraps on the right.
The grey was first, and it went just fine. Then I did the argyle. It had a horrible amount of stitching on the back of it so this was MUCH more complicated. And, as you can see from the picture, it rolled up pretty badly. I did the straight stitch as well as I could, trimmed, and then did the zig-zag stitch a bit neater. There is a bit of puckering (is that the word? One layer was missed, I will have to look that up) but I don't think any of it will show while being worn.
You can see a bit of puckering on these. I didn't like how these had to have a tiny bit of argyle on the cuff. There wasn't enough just white to fix that though.
All three finished. I think the striped ones turned out the best! They rolled pretty bad but by then I had done the argyle so I knew kind of how to fix that.
On to my pincushion. I used this tutorial.

I cut the wedges with the scissors after attempting one with the roatary cutters. NOT GOOD! (the rotary cutters, that is). The scissors were much better for this job, even though I can't cut a straight line.
Each set of 3 wedges was sewn together. The tutorial was careful to say don't worry to much about the points lining up, it can be hidden. I have to thank her for that! I then sewed this together right down the middle.
I started to sew the back onto the front. It was supposed to be right sides together, and I realised halfway through that I had right way+wrong way. I used the seam ripper and started again.
Filled with fiberfill. This is right before I had to hand stitch the hole. It did not turn out as well as I would have hoped on the hand stitched side, even though I am not bad at that at all.
Embroidery floss pulled through the middle to make the petals, a button in the middle covering up the mismatched points, and voila! Yea, it is fatter on one side. Part of that is because I missed the "seam" on one triangle when I was pulling the floss through, and part was because I over stuffed on one side and didn't even it out very well before I hand sewed the hole shut.

What I learned today:

• Joann Fabric is a vortex where time stands still. I was in there forever, it seems. Ours isn't even that big.
  
• Knit is a giant pain the butt. Patterned knit, anyway. The plain ribbed stuff wasn't too bad.
  
• I need to learn how to do a better chain with embroidery floss. This was an "optional" finish on the pincushion. I tried it, and I failed.
  
• An iron is an indespensible tool when sewing! I had to press the parts of the pincushion at each step!
  
• I should have probably washed the fabric before I even started cutting. It didn't occur to me until I had already cut out the triangles.
  
• I put Jack's real babylegs on today and he really seems to enjoy them. They look like cool flame tattoos. Yes, they are basically legwarmers for babies, but I think they are adorable and perfect for a cloth diapered bootie. I can't wait to try the ones I made out on him!
  

Upcoming Project:
Nate and I are going on a 9 day whirlwind road trip starting on Thursday. Tomorrow night, I think I will try to construct one bird for the bird mobile, just to see if I can! Now I have some scrap fabric and a better understanding of how to keep an even seam allowance on a curve, I think I might do an OK job on it. Then there will be no sewing for awhile! I should have the apron pattern by the time I get home, though. And some beautiful fabric from Ikea.