Wow! It’s hard to believe that it’s already mid-September. I have a whole list of things I want to complete by the end of October and I am slowly working my way through it. I finished yet another Professional Tote in Kaffee Fassett fabric. This will be used as a class/shop sample at Elegant Stitches.
I’ve also compiled a few items for a Fall craft show in which I am participating. It’s pretty close to Halloween (Oct 23) so I won’t have a lot of Halloween things. Instead, I think I will focus on Christmas stuff and things that people can give as gifts. It’s exciting to plan for, as this is the first show I’ve participated in!
This is a quick and easy purse pattern called “Wallet and Grommet” that uses large 2.75″ grommets. It’s a nice size to carry around town and the handle is made so that you can easily keep the purse closed. The handle is in one piece and you thread it through all four grommets and tie it off. This allows you to open the purse as wide as you need to, and then “zip” it closed as you throw it over your shoulder.
Grommet Purse
The pattern is very versatile, especially in fabric choice. You can also quilt a lot or very little on it (I did just the seams on mine) and you could add some fun embroidery or trim embellishments to dress it up or down.
The grommets are easy to install, even though I had some initial trepidation about cutting out the large circles in my almost finished bag! I suggest making a paper template of the circle size you need to cut, and then using a chalk marker to draw around the template. The pattern provides the specific measurements for where you need to place the circles, so you can just plunk down your template, trace around it, and that will remove a lot of the nerves. This also gives you a chance to make sure the circles are even with one another before you cut. I confess that I did not make a paper template, and instead just traced around the inside circle of the grommets directly onto the fabric. As a result, one of my grommets is slightly lower than the other one (can you guess which one?). After you cut out the circle, the plastic grommets just snap right in!
My mom called me a few weeks ago to tell me about the cutest sundress her friend made for her granddaughter — the “Cuppy Cake” dress from Pink Fig Patterns. My mom fell in love with this dress and wanted to make an adult version for herself! Of course, I am always up for sewing with mom, so when I went to visit her we went right to the quilt store to get fabric. My mom picked out some beautiful purple and yellow April Cornell fabric for the skirt and we found a great purple in something else for the bodice.
Mom's Sundress
The pattern was pretty easy, but I did have to re-size it so it would fit her. Luckily, my mom is petite, so we don’t have to change the length or dimensions of the skirt panels. I just needed to create a pattern for a larger bodice. Since the skirt was gathered, it would fit nicely on any size bodice we needed. My mom sewed all the skirt panels together, and then topstitched each one on both sides of the seam (16 panels in all!). I had the easier task of sewing the bodice and doing the shirring on the back:
Shirring Detail
It was hard to figure out how large to make the shirred panel as we needed to be able to get it over her head and chest, but also wanted to make sure the elastic was tight enough to hold the dress up. When I make this pattern again (one for myself), I can going to skip the shirring and put a zipper in the bodice so it will be more fitted.
First, I just want to say how much I love garage sales! My husband hit about 7 garage sales Saturday morning looking for random bargains. When he came home, he had spent less than $20 and found a kid’s table and chairs, puzzles, games, books, toys, and TWO boxes of random sewing notions!!
Garage Sale Finds
These were filled with zippers, lace, rick-rack, and other vintage embellishments. One batch even came in a cool biscuit tin:
Biscuit Tin
Wow, time has really flown this summer! I had all these big plans for the tons of stuff I would make this summer and my list is not getting any shorter. Several projects are in various stages of completeness, and they must be finished in the next two weeks:
Professional Tote Class Sample
Grommet Purse Class Sample
Tulip Purse Class Sample
As you can see, I am gearing up to teach a few purse classes this fall. I will be posting dates, times, locations in a few weeks! The other thing I am hoping to finish by the end of August is some new patterns! I know I was supposed to post something new once a month and it’s been almost 6 months. However, it does take time to write these up and do the samples :).
Finally, I saw this cool fabric called “Prairie Gothic” that I had to have. I’m not sure what I will make with it, but likely some type of bag or apron.
Like any typical four year old, my son loves bugs – any shape, size, or kind. He is especially fond of ladybugs and bumblebees, so you can imagine that when I saw Heather Bailey’s “Flutterby” pattern I had to get it. This pattern shows you how to make a butterfly, bumblebee, and a ladybug pincushion. Of course my son pointed out that he “didn’t want antenna pins” on his bugs :). I started with the ladybug, since I had some great red and black scraps left over from a dress I am making (to be posted later…) and it seemed like least time consuming since there is no additional applique or embroidery required. That said, it still took a few hours to put it together because it has so many pieces (15 I think). Here is the finished product:
Max the Ladybug
I think he turned out pretty cute, but I am planning to make another one this week now that I understand the pattern better. For the next one, I also plan to add on the legs and antenna (I left these off my first one since my son would have likely pulled them off), embroider a mouth, and do something different for the eyes (the wool felt I used for the gold part has started fraying, so I think I will glue the felt down first and then sew on the eye).
Also, July 23rd marks my one year blog anniversary!! Thanks to all who have started reading my blog, I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Check back on the 23rd for a special anniversay giveway – I will be pulling something from my stash and giving it away to some lucky reader!!
As you know, I am a huge fan of Creative Thimble’s Professional Tote pattern. I’ve probably made at least 20 of these in different fabrics and I love how they all turn out. I decided it was time to make myself one to take the beach – with a few modifications.
Professional Tote Beach Bag (Exterior)
This bag is 2 inches higher and wider than the pattern, which provides extra room for towels and other beach supplies. There is no center zippered pocket – again to provide more room for the supplies. The idea is to have enough room to roll up three beach towels so they can stand on end inside the bag (thanks for the idea Amy :)).
Professional Tote Beach Bag (Exterior)
I thought about creating a water resistant pouch with some oilcloth, but figured it would be too bulky. Anyway, a grocery bag works fine for storing wet bathing suits. Of course I had to select beach themed fabric for this – I love how the lining turned out with all the shells!
My son had a birthday party a few days ago and the theme was Outer Space. My plan was to make individual drawstring bags for each child with this cool spaceship fabric I found at JoAnn’s. Needless to say, I was running short of time and didn’t have a chance to sew a bag for each child. (I did manage to personalize ready-made canvas bags for them – which still were super cute). Instead, I used some of the fabric to make myself an apron to wear to the party.
I love the colors, especially the orange ruffle and pocket. The pattern is by Cindy Taylor Oates from her “More Retro Aprons”. The yellow rick-rack turned out well – it was all I had to choose from in my stash.
On another note, I was able to get a great dress form from my friend Laura. She had this in her attic for years and sold it to me for a great price. She is about my height, so this is a petite dress form. My polka sundress (which I finished last week) fits perfectly :).
I’ve worn this a few time and people always ask me wear I got it. My standard reply is “this old thing? I made it myself.” They usually don’t believe me – one person swore she saw the same dress at target awhile back (then she asked me to make her one). I have the pattern and fabric for my next dress, so it should be finished in the next few weeks.
I am working on my next free pattern, I know it’s been awhile – so please hang in there!
Wow, I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve posted. I’ve been busy working on some wool projects (hope to post some pictures this week) and also sewing my first dress. After I successfully made matching Hawaiian shirts for my son and husband, I decided to tackle something more difficult – a sundress. The pattern is McCalls 4444:
Sundress - McCalls 4444
I still have a few things to complete – the zipper, neck strap and hem, so no pictures of the finished product yet. Hopefully it will be finished this weekend. So far, the pattern has been fairly easy. I got a bit confused when trying to sew the straps onto the halter top, but the diagrams in the pattern were very helpful after I studied them for awhile.
It looks like the size will be OK, although I did have to let it out in the hips a little. If I sew more dresses, I am thinking about getting a dress form. Dritz has a very fancy dress form that seems to do everything – any advice on whether it is worth the investment?
Here is this year’s spring bag – made with one charm pack and one yard of fabric! This is a really cute pattern called the Borsa Bag. You have to sew the squares together in a specific grid pattern, and then you start sewing the seams to turn it into a 3 dimensional bag. You really had to put your thinking cap on to get it put together correctly – I had to wait until my son went to bed so I could totally concentrate on it.
Borsa Bag
The pattern is cool, because you can use any size squares – 5″ charm squares make a nice sized handbag, while 8″ squares would make a nice roomy tote. I used the left over charm squares to make a little zip topped bag, it still needs some tweaking. However, once I get it just right I will write up as a pattern and post it for you :).
I gained some weight while working on this Professional Tote. Don’t the donuts look yummy? Seriously, I had to go to Dunkin Donuts to get a strawberry glazed donut after I finished this.
Donuts - Professional Tote
I am made this delicious looking tote for Arlene – she picked out the fabric and thought it would make the perfect bag for her trip to California. She had taken a professional tote class from me last fall and wasn’t too keen on making up another tote, but she really loved the fabric. She asked me to make it for her, and I was more than happy to!
Keep it Thimble 