3 in 1

Rather then writing three separate posts I decided to just combine them.

A few weeks ago I went to the library and brought home 4 different sewing books. Among them was one that I have to buy for myself. It's "Weekend Sewing" by Heather Ross. It's so full of great sewing projects. I spent the first few days tracing patterns. I would get one traced and go to cut it out of fabric when another awesome project would jump out at me and distract me. So before anything was ever cut out of fabric I had 4-5 different patterns traced. Now it's crunch time cause the book is due back to the library soon. (It's already been renewed once;)

In spite of all the inspiration distractions I have successfully finished two projects from the book.

Heather Ross' Town Bag (I just love how the top scrunches down)

The Fabric was a home dec sample an interior design roommate gave to me years ago. Those samples make great bags, I believe I've have at least two other bags made from them. I didn't like the length of the strap so I ended up doubling it and am now very pleased with the results. This may also be my first bag that made me really think of hardware. I had chosen silver clasps and d-rings. While I was matching thread to the fabric, I happened to place the fabric right next to the hardware. The fabric just screamed for "gold" hardware and boy does it look awesome. Considering how much time I spend matching lining and bag fabric, I wonder why I didn't think the same rules apply to hardware.

An outfit for a little Miss

(who is expected to arrive very soon)

So much fun. This is only the second outfit I have ever made for a child. I believe I have caught a bug, probably a good thing considering the number of little ones coming this year.

A closeup of the top

This pattern is from "Weekend Sewing" and I really love it. There is certainly more in the future. Hopefully the Little Miss doesn't mind having her aunt having a blouse from the same fabric. I had originally planned a nice summer blouse for this fabric. I wanted to make this Kimono newborn shirt so much that I used scraps and actually finished it before the blouse. (Told you I get easily distracted)

A closeup of the Bottom

Which was made from a Butterick pattern. The top felt so incomplete that I went searching for a pant pattern to complete the outfit. This was an easy sew being completed in a couple of hours.

Now I just need to mail it and impatiently wait to see if it actually fits, if the fabric is soft enough or not, whether the pants will be too large, or the shirt too small.... Although my second outfit, it's the first to be worn. Really my only experience in dressing a baby is as an Aunt, so I just used what the parents had already picked out. I'm sooo nervous ;)

A Bag for Blue & Brown days

In February I came across some pretty brown and blue fabric that I thought would make a nice purse. I chose another wonderful pattern from Lazy Girl Designs.

The "Towne Purse"
What made this color/fabric choice even better was I found these buttons at Jo-Ann's.
They are a blue background with brown flowers.
(sorry for the picture quality- Think it's time to take a photography class?)

The straps are short so the purse tucks under my arm. I love the size, which holds all my usual purse stuff, but also has room for a book (very important to me).
It also has about 9 pockets along the inside, which is really nice cause I hate digging for pens, and all the other small items I can't leave home without.

A Lovely Bag with a Confession

So this is a bag I made a couple of weeks ago. I was feeling the itch to do some sewing and I really "needed" a bag to hold my knitting supplies. Actually I've got a ton of bags already but none of them quite worked. Or so that was my rationalization. Anyway after spending several days digging through my fabric stash and covering the guestroom with all my options, I had the print I wanted but not a solid. (I have to mix and match fabrics, I have a hard time just using one). Still not completely happy, I decided to go and take a look at my "clothes" fabric boxes, which basically hold fabric best suited for ... you guessed it clothing. That's where I found some green/grey material already cut for pants but definitely destined for a higher purpose. The two went so well together. I was thinking the print for the outside and the pocket and the twill for the lining and the bottom of the purse.

McCall's Pattern Pieces and a second Challenge (the first was choosing the fabric duh)
There wasn't enough twill to cut out for lining (Piece #4)
And McCall's design, although nice, didn't really fit my "image" of what I wanted.

My Interpretation of McCall's Pattern Pieces

Since there wasn't enough of the twill for the lining and I really REALLY wanted those two fabrics together, I decided to cut about 3" off the bottom of the bag, making that piece out of the twill, added more visual and physical weight to the bag. I also chose to stick with an off white muslin for the lining, which I have plenty of. Oh but I didn't stop there. That square pocket was going to be quite inadequate for my purposes.

TA DUM
My new and improved pocket with several different sized pockets.

See how it works so well to hold those future knitting projects.

What it generally looks like, can you see why I had to redesign the bag. I just couldn't image having only that print for the bag, the twill adds such a nice dimension and it gave me a wonderful opportunity to add top stitching. Top stitching and edge stitching adds a nice dimension and finishing touch to most projects.

And that is all of the pictures because it was about this time I got more interested in sewing the bag then documenting it's progress. That and my sewing machine is in a dungeon and all the pictures turned out too dark to see any details (see last picture) The first four pictures were taken upstairs where I cut everything out (and no I was not about to run upstairs after every step, I love you guys but not that much)

What I love most about this bag is the color/pattern coordination. Before I chose the green twill, the leaves pattern looked like it was Grey, but next to the twill, they looked more green. I also really liked the purple/violet flowers and wanted to emphasize them, so I chose to top stitch in a dark purple. From far away it looks like black but up close it complements the violet flowers and the green twill marvelously. I just love to stare at how the colors play with each other. ( I love color especially with fabrics, which is one reason I've never considered working in a Bridal Shop-my creative sensibilities demand color.... and less expensive fabric)

Now for the confession: It's too big for the knitting project I was thinking of and ..... super smart Amy with her pocket design didn't think about how the bag would be worn. The pocket stretches from seam to seam right? Well the purse slips over the arm with one seam against the hip. Which means if there's a whole lot in the pockets, that purse just ballons out from my waist (and trust me my waist doesn't need anymore "visual" weight. Ah nuts!!!!

I love it anyway and have used it for a purse, although don't ask me to find anything in it too quickly. Although it does have an annoying habit of slipping off my shoulder (a purse characteristic that makes me crazy!) So if my knitting skills ever move onto sweater level, then I've got the perfect bag to hold all that yarn. In the mean time, it's still cool to look at.

More Bags and Some Embroidery

Just so you don't think I have been neglecting my sewing habit, here a few small items I've been working on. The red bag is a small drawstring clutch. It works perfectly for Sundays when I don't want to carry a large purse along with everything else I have to take with me. It fits the essentials just great too.
It's called a Japanese Origami Style Purse. It's made from a square and then folded and sewn into it's current style. Just a hint though - make sure your square is a true square when you sew the two pieces together. Otherwise you've got to get creative, and fudge a little. I actually like the strip of lining that shows on the side ;)
http://www.amitymama.com/vb/sew-along/233248-sewalong-japanese-origami-style-purse.html


I've been really interested in embroidery lately and have wanted to get back into it. It's been years since I've done any of it. so I found this cute pattern on www.patternbee.com . Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to make out of it. A pillow, a tote bag, a wall hanging, a quilt ...????? I just don't know. Any ideas?





Now it's kind of hard to see, but this is a nice little zipper bag. I made it up last night and it was so easy and quick. I used a rectangular piece of linen. I really love how it turned out.
I got this idea from Amy Karol's book "Bend the Rules Sewing" http://angrychicken.typepad.com/angry_chicken/ She has some cute ideas and great advice. Although I did use some "Lazy Girl Design" sewing techniques from Joan Hawley at www.lazygirldesigns.com

I've been collecting so many ideas and patterns lately, that I've decided to challenge myself to work through them on a weekly (ok, it may be more like monthly) basis and see what I can come up with.

This one's a keeper ......

And let me tell you, it was much easier sewing this then trying to a) use a digital camera to take a picture and 2) get it posted on the blog (the way I wanted it to look). Which is why the pictures are at the top, with the back first. So annoying!!!!!

So third purse and I finally get one I like. Denim and Red is my color scheme. I wanted a purse I could take camping, which is why denim made the most sense. Now with denim, it frays rather nicely so then I could leave the seam allowances on the outside of the purse, eliminating the bulk of turning the seams to the inside. Now if my seams are going to show and fray, I wanted a color and fabric that would really look good frayed with the denim. So I chose the solid red fabric that is used for the small pocket and straps and lining. The only print is the top portion of the front and it came from a small scrap. What's amazing is I didn't purposely try to make it centered, when I folded it and sewed it into place, the horizontal print just naturally centered itself that way. (Now that's what I call a quality woven print and a bit a luck)

It's funny how the whole design came together when I sat down to sew. Last Wednesday night, I pulled out the fabric I had chosen. I had several zippers I was trying to match up with and had originally planned on a red zipper with red stitching, but the white zipper just looked better. So to pull the white in, I decided to use white thread for all the stitching.

The pocket is another lazy technique, it's hard to see in the pictures, but I left the edges to fray as well. Lazy, because I just cut a rectangle piece of fabric, folded it in half, top stitched the fold and centered it on the front of the purse. After it was pinned on, using chalk, I marked the "v" line at the bottom and then sewed it on. After it was sewn, I cut off the corners and it too has a cool frayed edge.

Now the back of the purse has a pocket, which I call the "Book pocket" cause it's the perfect size for a paperback. Because of how good the front pocket turned out, I decided to do the same "swish" and leave it.

Sorry for all the sewing details, but I just love how this turned out. As each step was finished, I could feel myself getting more excited with the project. And when it was done, I hung it from a hook in my room so I could just look at it. Vain? I don't think so, it's more the fun of creating something that just speaks to me. That's why I love sewing so much. It's the same pattern as the other two purses, but fabric, color and my own tweaks makes this purse stand out as the one for me. Now I feel like I can move onto a different pattern, .... except Mom liked this one so much that she's already picked out fabric for me to make her one. Well .... maybe just one more.... she is my mom after all ;)

Oh, my goodness, either the spell check isn't working or I just wrote my very first perfectly spelled post. Now that's something to celebrate..... oh wait.... perfectly spelled just the wrong words. Oh well, lucky for me, perfect is not what I was going for.