Tote samples for class

Hello there. Yes I have a sewing related update, albeit not one of a quilty nature. This morning I made a couple of totes I want to use as samples for my upcoming classes at Fancy Moon. I love making totes for two reasons. One, because they are assembled really fast and two, because one can really have fun with the design.

Not much in terms of bag making accesories is required either. Just fabric, interfacing, wadding or needle felt  and if you can't be bothered to make the handles, just get some ready made leather or twill handles (which I love using). I keep all of this in my stash just like milk in the fridge....






For this smaller tote I used some of my precious Japanese fabric, much of it from the "First of Infinity" line - if I stack all of my Japaneses fabric it probably is about 2 foot high which really is rather ridiculous. Use it or lose, right ?

This smaller tote is quilted with 1/2 inch horizontal lines to give it a bit more structure as the fabric is quite fine.


 




The next one is much bigger (about 50 x 52 cm) and I used some of the precious linen I have from my grandmother and appliqued some VW Bullies onto it which I find rather cute in a flower power sort of way.





One of the Bullies is appliqued across the seam and all appliqued simply with a straight stitch twice around the outline.






And the lining as is the case with the smaller bag is again from the "First of Infinity" collecton that has many, many text prints in wonderful vibrant colours.

 


Happy shopping everybody !

A new shopper for me

I almost never use plastic bags for grocery shopping. We never did at home and although Mum and Dad have a bakery and we do give out plastic bags in the shop if customers ask for, we just never use them ourselves. So this is something that comes natural to me.

But cotton bags do eventually wear out and I was in need of a new one. The other day at the Village Haberdashery I spotted this wonderful cotton twill and I knew I wanted to make this bag with it. No other, just this simple number and oh boy am I happy with it.

The bag uses vintage linen that I have from my grandmother and I used the twill not just as a handle but also as decorative straps around it. This does make sewing a little tough but I used my trusted walking foot throughout and that made the process quite easy.

The handles are 17 in long which is perfect to carry the tote in your hands or on your shoulders. It's got boxed corner of course and is lined with 'Annali' from Dashwood studios.

Shopping totes

The other day I looked at a few of my fabric panels I bought ages and ages ago and thought something ought to be done with them.

So I made a few rather lovely shopping totes that are completely lined. 

And I even dived into my 'Hope Valley' stash for the coffee themed bag to find a matching print for the lining.

The bread themed bag is really large so that a few dozen baguettes will fit in nicely..... that is if you have to buy that many or feeling rather French......

 

This one is lined with a bright 'Pezze' print. All are available in the shop here and here.

Almost there

Well in fact sewing wise I am there (there as in done for the Craft Fair) or let's say I stopped sewing because I think I have enough 'sellable' small craft itmes. Of course I could always make more but I think if I keep going I'll force myself and that is counterproductive.

So let me share with you some images of purses, covers and bags I finished last week. I also made drawstring bags with London fabric, some more i-pad covers and lavender sashes with London fabric too but I spare you even more images.

Above and below five kindle covers, some with pockets and some without. As you can see I already attached 'needlesandlemons' tags on which I will write the price. Favorite ? Possibly the one sewn from Melody Miller's viewfinder fabric (no surprise there).
All covers are lined with Flannel leftovers I had from making my baby blankets. Unlike i-pad covers, kindle screen are exposed and I think they can do with some extra soft padding. Most i-pad have smart covers these days so really only need a scratch cover.

Then I made large frame purses in addition to the small ones I already made. These here have a 6" x 2.5" frame.

 I again drew a pattern based on this excellent tutorial and the finished purses fitted perfectly into the frames.

Love them all.

I also made another bag like my 'Handsome bag'. U-handbag from whom I have the frame in this case provide a free pattern for this bag which is very good.

Red and white dots for the inside.

The backside is just a fab as the front. Oh I do love this fabric.

And from next week on its quilting and more quilting again.....(Thank God)

The handsome bag

Last Saturday evening whilst in the middle of designing a new quilt (see next post) the sudden urge overcame me to make a new bag (as it does sometimes ! ).

Now as you know I bought this fantastic fabric of handsome men a little while ago and was pondering what I possibly could do with them. I was thinking a pillow I could put my tired head on but I wasn't quite convinced by it.

Some of you also pointed out to me that those boys are probably not interested in me (for obvious reasons), which is a real shame but they are still nice to look at ! So I thought I make them into a nice bag and I am sure the boys will enjoy to be paraded around. I had these metal purse handles from u-handbag a while and was waiting for the right moment/fabric to make a bag with them. The great Lisa of u-handbag has written a fantastic book about bag making that I have in my stock, is currently writing a new one and every now and then spoils her clients with a free pattern.

Before I dive into it I just want to say the pattern is very clear and easy to follow. I really enjoyed working from it.

The idea was to use the fabric for the exterior and use a very contrasting fabric for the lining.  Contrasting in colour and style.

I spend probably longer than an hour trying to find the right fabric for the lining. I wanted something with a large pattern and something that was female, almost girly actually. And finally I found the perfect print, a Kaffe Fasset print 'Brokade Floral' that I used in one of my first quilts. Now, I never really liked this fabric as it is way to baby pink for me but it did fit well into the quilt I made at the time and I love the rose. I had quite a bit left over which was lurking at the bottom of my Fassett fabric pile.

So I cut the pieces for the lining exactly with the rose in the middle. That though let me to not include the elastic inner pouch for which the pattern calls as it would have hidden the roses. But I included a very small pouch on one of the gussets (you can see it if you look closely on the left) which is just big enough to hide keys. I will certainly make more bags like this and and probably include the elastic pouches but strictly speaking it isn't necessary as although the bag is of decent size it isn't deep enough to lose all your bits and bobs.

And I can't tell you how insanely in love I am with it. I originally thought to put it in my online shop (the pattern allows for small sales) but I just simply can't.

Holiday sewing part 3 -drawstring bags and other bits and bobs

This is the final bit of holiday sewing I want to share with you today. I decided to take my Ruby Star Spring linen throw with me in holiday so I could work on the bee cross stitching a bit and also knit a new pair of socks during the flight. And to carry and protect all of this in style a couple of bags are of course required.

I made two drawstring bags using this popular tutorial. It is well written and easy to follow and makes as you can see perfect bags. For the one with the VW bully I fussy cut the bus from a print I bought last year in Germany and added a border at the bottom of Echino cameras and the top is a left over Kaffe Fassett print. The one to the right uses Ruby Star Spring fabric throughout.

The VW bully bag is abut 11 inches and I didn't think my embroidery hoop would fit in it but it does with everything else. How fantastic is that !

Then I though I needed a purse to keep the thread and scissors separate so I made with my laminated 'Going Coastal' fabric a purse.

And to top it all a mini travel-needlebook was also required for which I again used my favourite Ruby Star Rising fabric 'Vintage Ladies' for. I think this is actually my favourite piece of my holiday sewing collection as it is so cute and because I used a clever hook for my mini scissors to ensure they don't go walk about (the blade is only 1 inch long). The lining is from the new Momo line 'Half Moon'. 

Holiday sewing

No not the type in the American sense of Christmas but the type where one goes in an actual holiday. I am off to a sunny place this week to freshen up that all important tan and to top up the rather low Vitamin D deposit. And because I want to go in style I engaged in some fun holiday sewing.

Over the next couple of weeks I will feature a few items I have sewn so you have something to read while I am counting sand grains at the beach (sorry !!).

First off my new bag. This is a bag I mirrored on this beautiful hand embroidered shoulder bag that I  bought some years ago in Vietnam. This is the perfect holiday bag because it weighs next to nothing (unlike a leather bag) and has enough space for the important bits (wallet, sunglasses, book, suntan lotion). As you can see it has this clever drawstring unit at the top that helps to keep longfingers out of the bags.

The arrival of 'Ruby Star Shining' inspired bag sewing action my house so I copied my Vietnam bag for which I used one of the panels of the new Melody Miller fabric collections. I think the fabric panels lend themselves ideally to bag making and I used them on most of my previous bags.
The bag is approximately 13 x 12 inches and has a long strap so the bag sits on the hips.

Front

Back

On the Vietnam bag the drawstring unit was simply attached to the top but I wanted a fully lined bag this time and I also wanted the right sight of the lining to show inside the bag AND outside on the drawstring unit. The only way to achieve this is by producing two lining units whereby the top (drawstring) unit has to have a French seam as the seam will be visible on the inside of the unit. French seams are nothing else but a double seam resulting in a clean seam that doesn't fray. You first sew a very narrow seam where the two fabric pieces face wrong sides together and then fold the pieces right sights together and stitch  a normal quarter inch seam over the first seam. There are plenty of tutorials around, a good one is on Sew Mama Sew. You can see my french seam here in this image.

And here you see how the two lining pieces look when sewn together and attached to the bag.

 

 For the straps I used a newspaper print I had in my stash.

  

This images shows the drawstrings pulled together.

The Italian

After I made my first Ruby Star Rising bag  back in March, I received two commissions for bags that were all a direct result of it. Since I also made a messenger bag called "See you later" . For those of you who are waiting for a pattern and tutorial on the messenger bag I have to ask for a little more patience. I am waiting for another commission for this bag to come in that I then want to use as the base for my pattern.

But today I would like to share with you the second instalment of "The Italian" (formerly known as Jude's bag). This one will not become a pattern just jet as I am still changing things but I am hoping it will become one in the future.

I made a few changes compared to the first model in that I chose not to do external seems as it was a to much fiddly work to add the bias binding around the whole back. I only chose to do that at the top of the back this time.

And I also added a zippered inside pouch.

I absolutely adore this bag as it is so roomy but still very light. This is the perfect bag for those of us who like a big bag (like me !). I just can't really deal with small bags where only a mobile phone and a key fits it.

Meet the "See you later" messanger bag

The month of July has been really good to me with two commission that have given me the chance to explore my bag making abilities further. Today I'd like to introduce you to my new messenger style bag "See you later".

Front with Flap

When I went on a business trip to Germany a while ago I carried my "Jude" bag with me and some of my colleagues  were really impressed with it which to be honest took me utterly by surprise. They in fact liked it so much that they commissioned me to make bags for them. One colleague wanted the Ruby Star Rising fabric but in a different style and the other wanted an exact copy of my "Jude" bag (will post about this at a later point). 

I tackled the messenger back first. I loved this commission as I have had a messenger bag on my to-do-list for a while and this gave me finally an excuse to do it. I opted for a slightly more formal style with a flap that can be closed through a magnetic clasp and separate side panels that provide enough room albeit it being a fairly small bag (10 x 12 inches).

The bag is again made from the wonderful Ruby Star Rising Autumn 2010 collection (the new Spring collection is inanimate !).

Back

The bag is fully lined with Kona cotton and has integrated pouches; one that is parted in two and one zipper pouch for keys etc.

For the sides I fussy cut panels from 'Vintage Dishes' in Pink.
I am planning to make this bag into a pattern incl. tutorial on how to tackle an integrated zippered pouch. Would anybody be interested in this at all ?

Jude's Bag

I was in need of a break from quilting this weekend. I quilted like a maniac last weekend and Monday to Wednesday evening after work on my Single Girl Quilt and just couldn't face any more this weekend. I quilted half of it and probably used about 400 m of thread on it just to give you an idea. Don't get me wrong I love it and it will be beautiful but I just needed some time out from it. I also would like to thank everybody who so kindly commented on the quilt. I really am very grateful for every comment, it inspires and encourages at the same time.

So what did I do this weekend ?

I made myself a bag from my favourite fabric - Ruby Star Rising - by Melody Miller. I raved about this fabric previously here and here. And  what is best is that Melody is working on a new line but more raving about that later.

I love shoes , bags and hats. One could say every woman love shoes and bags but I really really love them and have a sizeable collection of all three. So the other day I once again found myself looking, touching and refolding my Ruby Star fabric and the urge overcame  me to make something with it. 

So here it is - meet "Jude's bag":

These photos below are to explain the process a bit. I made 5 paper templates from a  handmade leather  bag I bought 2 years ago in Italy. I love the shape of this bag and always thought to make a similar one.  So basically the bag is made from 5 pieces. Below composite shows the inside pieces. I used a sturdy linen and added fusible and quilt batting to both stabilise and pat it out a bit. I added two little inside pouches to the front and back pieces and appliquéd the ladies to the side panels.

 

The seams of the outer (patterned) fabric are on the outside and I covered these with ready made binding that I stitched on by hand. This worked really as this kind of binding is quite thin. It also frames the bag rather well I think. 

 

I secured outside and inside by folding over the outside and sewing both together. The handles were stitched on in the inside which ensures that the Ruby Star Rising pattern remains untouched so to say.
Lastly I made a sort of sleeve in which I put some corrugated cardboard that stabilises the bottom of the bag. I left the sleeve open on one side so the cardboard can be changed if need be. Corrugated cardboards are fairly strong but as I have a tendency to overload bags I thought it best to make something that gives me the option to renew it easily. As you can see it actually is already broken but that is because I made it to long in the first place.

It's been great fun doing this yesterday and the "Epherma Aqua" fabric of this collection is just perfect for it. I also will make a skirt with Ruby Star Rising as I already threatened weeks ago. I now found a pattern and ordered some more of the "Vintage Ladie's" in Ochre at Eternal Maker. Thank God they are stocking the entire range now here in the UK so I don't have to wait so long for it.

This is an astonishing collection of fabric and Melody is producing another stunning collection for the summer which is printed on a more lightweight cotton/linen blend similar to the latest lightweight collection from Echino (see the back of my Single Girl quilt). Images of the prints can be seen here. I honestly can't wait to get my hands on it. Together with the Sherbet Pips collection from Aneela Hoey for Moda these might just be the best fabric collections that will come out this year. Sherbet Pips will come out any day now but a fairly large number of fat quarter and jelly roles have been pre-released already. The new Ruby Star Spring will come out in June.


So what are you up to this weekend ?