Thrifty and quick pattern weights

I don’t know how many of you do a lot of sewing, but for me, sewing is my happy place.  When I’m stressed, I sew.  When I want to pretend that I don’t have dinner to cook and laundry to fold, I sew.  When I’m cranky, I sew…it’s just where I go to gather myself together and get lost in something for a bit. 

Now, that being said, it’s also my "fuss at the machine and curse at the patterns" place.  My husband usually stares at me blankly when I start yelling at pieces of paper or begging the machine to please just finish before the bobbin runs out....but it makes me feel better so I just keep right on talking to my inanimate sewing items.

Well, my latest fight has been with the patterns.  With the humidity here in Oklahoma, my paper sometimes doesn’t want to cooperate and will curl up at the edges OR I get to the end of tracing only to realize that, the pattern piece MOVED!!!  It’s sheer awesome when that happens.  So, today, I finally gave up the ghost and decided that I’m making pattern weights.  Weights are really so easy to make that I have ZERO reason for being lazy anymore.  Except that I’m being lazy…

So here goes!  I used scraps because I have gobs and gobs of scraps that I “might need someday so I’ll keep it”.  I know a lot of people use washers that you can get from the hardware store, but I’m trying to be thrifty here so I used some glass rocks that have been sitting in my office for ages; relics of a long abandoned project.

I decided to make four of these little weights to start with.  I wanted them to be about 4”x4” so I cut eight 5” x 5” squares (2 per weight, ).  I used a ½” seam allowance on each side because I was too lazy to do the math for any other measurement.  I decided to make all the squares a different print just because I have so many scraps to pick from.

Next, I sewed up 3 sides of the squares (right sides together) to make a pocket for each of the weights. I trimmed down the corners and the sides to reduce the bulk.

After I turned it right side out, I topstitched the three sewn sides.  Ignore that I went all the way to the edge on that.  I should have stopped at 1/2" from the top on the open edges. 

Topstitching all the way to the top...yup, I got carried away!

I plunked about 4 or 5 stones into each pouch.  I think if I make more of these I might use beans or something to fill the bags to see if that makes a difference in how they work.

I folded the open edge inward 1/2" and sewed the top shut...and voila!  Pattern weights that took me about 40 minutes to make and used stuff I have already!

I know it seems small but this was a big deal for me to actually get some pattern weights made.  I've scrapped a couple of projects because the pattern moved while I was tracing and completely threw off the pieces!  There are a ton of tutorials out there on how to do something like this, but I figured I would share how I did it.  I might even try making some other shapes next time!

Thanks for stopping by and Blessings!!

Kim