This is one of my earlier projects c. 1988. It's a little drawstring bag that I made on my sewing machine. It may not be the fanciest looking bag you've ever seen, but the drawstring does work and there's even a little snap pocket on the front. Thanks, Mom, for keeping this stuff around (and probably for telling me it looked lovely when I showed it to you).
I must say, I think my work has improved since then. This just goes to show that you have to start somewhere. If you want to learn to sew, don't be upset if your first few projects turn out like this... it'll get better.