New Bag Tutorial

In this post I am going to unveil my new Everyday Bag.

I’ve used furnishing weight fabric but it would do just as well in cotton with iron-on interlining. I lined it in satin as I had quite a bit of this left - it's nearly all gone now. I glam’d it up with a brooch from “Accessorize”. This bag gives you the chance to practice your skill in metal eyelets and hooks, and because the straps are made by you they can be short handles or shoulder straps. I made straps long enough to go over my shoulder and wide enough to be comfortable. The zip closing keeps the contents safe and private and there’s room inside for anything you want to carry – even for busy Mums on the go! There's an internal zippered pocket too. The tutorial for this bag has plenty of pictures and can be found here: Tutorial in PDF. The download is in PDF format information about this in the right column of this blog.

Thank you to everyone who has put a photo in the Flickr group. I will be drawing the winner of the two books at the end of the month so there's still time to enter if you haven't done so.

Final days of Autumn...

I bought these gorgeous fabrics from Fabric Worm on Etsy. (For UK readers I didn't wait long for the parcel to arrive and I didn't have to pay any tax.) They have a great selection of fabrics. It might be overcast and rainy outside but these fabrics have brightened my day. Autumn is probably my favourite season. I am not a heat and sun person. I love a sunny day but once the temperature starts to rise I want something cooler. In my walks with Jessie (the sewing wonder dog) we have had a lovely Autumn here in beautiful Kent. I am surrounded by orchards and this is what we found:

This last photo is actually of my garden. Pretty isn't it?
Of course I've been sewing. I made this black velvet hex frame clutch as a Christmas present. The brooch I got on a jumper I bought, but I wouldn't wear it on the jumper so it's now been repurposed (as they say:-))

I do love the way these frame open up and snap back. Easy to get to what you want and when shut nothing can fall out. I'm off now for a bit more sewing. Please don't forget my giveaway. It is open until the end of the month. Just pop a photo of something you've sewn into the Flickr group and leave me a comment. two nice quilting publications up for grabs!

Calling all quilters - a giveaway!

I am a sometime quilter although my quilts are pretty basic and pieced on my sewing machine. Still they look warm and cottagey when they're finished.

They make good changing mats and floor mats for babies too! (How cute is this photo of my granddaughter Bethany?) But for this post I thought I would mention quilting and Stack-n-Whack quilts. Quilting can be very complicated and technical making absolutely wonderful heirlooms. It can also be quirky, quick and fun. This is where Stack and whack cames in. These quilts are made using sets of identical fabric design pieces and the results can be bright, vibrant and surreal. Bethany Reynolds is the author of a number of books on this subject and I have one of these to give away.

Also on the subject of quilting, in the UK we have this wonderful magazine called Popular patchwork:

I couldn't resist including this magazine in my giveaway. It not only has some lovely quilts and quilt making information but it also has a yummy quilted bag. If you would like to win the Stack n Whack book and the patchwork magazine you need to leave a comment and also join my Flickr group and pop a photo of your sewn item in it. (If you are already a member you need to add a new item to my Flickr group.) I will be choosing the winner from the photos the 30th November.

Winner

Wallet outside
Originally uploaded by 2teach2u

Thank you to everyone who joined my Flickr group and posted pictures. They all looked really great! I have chosen a wallet by 2teach2u as the winner for the book prize. Congratulations. I love this bright fabric. You will need to contact me with your real name and address so I can post it to you. Don't stop posting in the group though. I will be having another giveaway at the end of the month and I will again be choosing from a group picture posted during November. More about this in my next post.

Etsy, Moo and my giveaway...

I really like Etsy for both selling and buying. It reaches a wide audience and has a wide selection of goods to choose from.

Like this:

and these

I have friends with pre-teen and young teen girls and I recommend that their mother's let them loose on Etsy to come up with their wish list for Christmas or to buy items that they can use in a project themselves. I came across this listing and thought it was out of step with the spirit of Etsy. I flagged as inappropriate but got no response. What do you think?

If you've thought about getting business cards or stickers that are personalised have you looked at MOO? There cards are really lovely quality and you can import your own images for the front and the back along with your information. Great for popping in a parcel or even as price labels.

If you are an Etsy seller there is a current offer of 15% off. I also ordered stickers with my images on. I can add these to my price labels and also use them to stick on the tissue paper I use to wrap my goods for postage.
I now have 8 members in my Flickr. When I have 12 I will be picking one of them to get this book. It's easy to join the group. Just use the link on the right hand side of this blog, go to my Flickr group and click on "JOIN". You will then be able to add photos of your finished items.

Space Bags and Book Giveaway

You may remember that last year I had an exhibition and sale of my bags at the Cirencester Museum. It went very well and they have asked me to supply more bags this year in the run up to Christmas. They are currently having a special exhibition about the Year of Astronomy and asked for bags on that theme. As I'm not sure what bags I'd take into space I opted for space related fabric for the bags. You can see most of them on Flickr but here is a flavour:

One has planets and stars, one has suns and two have zodiac signs and stars. I hope they like them. They have also asked for more general bags for the museum shop. So I'm busy bag making. I've had to take my wonderful Brother 3000 (called something else in the USA) into the hospital for a check up. She does a lot of really hard work for me so I treat her well!

I hate it when my machine goes in for a service! I hate being without it. But while she's away I'm going to bring out my Singer Featherweight to play. She is a really pretty machine and she sews straight stitches like a dream.She's not a toy but a real working machine! Comes in her own little carry case and everything.

Now I've been asking you to put some pictures in my Flickr group but I haven't had much response. I thought you might like an incentive. I have this lovely book of bag projects to give away.

One lucky person will be getting this book. All you have to do is put a picture of your finished sewn item in the Flickr group. I will check the group photos and when there are twelve more members I will choose one at random. You can leave as many photos as you like.

Not just bags but dresses too....

I do sew other things besides bags. Here's the proof! Three little dresses for my granddaughter. They are all in pinwale cord. (very fine corduroy) I'll let you into a sewing secret. Although they look different I made the patterns for these all from the same basic shape. I bought a commercial pattern for a dress in the right size that had a bodice or yoke that finished just below the armholes. I used the yoke pieces of the pattern as my template. For this pop-over or pinafore I just redrew the side seams on an angle from the armhole to the hem and reduced the size of the outer armhole seam and lowered the neckline.My granddaughter loves chickens, so I embroidered a chicken pocket and attached that to the front. I also made a little zip-up bag from the remnants and embroidered some chickens on that too. A red long sleeved top and red tights complete this outfit. For this next dress I used the same method as above but made the whole thing 8 inches shorter. Then I gathered a long ruffle 8 inches wide and added it to the bottom. She can wear this with the red top too.The last dress I left the yoke length as the original pattern. I then added enough fabric to the centre front fold to allow for front opening button and buttonholes and cut down the front fold. I followed this through by doing the same thing with the skirt and hey presto! a front buttoning long sleeved dress.
In this day and age you can't reuse a bought pattern enought times. They are so expensive!

If you look down the right handside of this blog you'll find tutorials for bags and clutches etc. I have posted some of these in PDF format because it is faster to download and easier to print out. However, I've had a couple of people say they can't read PDF on their computers. Yes you can! You just need a PDF reader. This is available free from Adobe (a trusted site). If you go here you can download the reader.