Ongoing projects

Here's what I've been up to for the last couple of nights: more kee keeper coin purses. (Pattern from Style Stitches) One of them is already put together, but I thought I'd wait until all of them are finished before I'll post a picture. The final stage of assembling the purse wasn't as easy as I remembered it, though, so it turned out a bit wonky. Maybe I'll do something else in between, I have a lot of projects that I want to make, I just need more time to sew.

High Street Messenger Bag and review

Yet another bag I've made. This time for my husband. The pattern is the High Street Messenger Bag by Amy Butler and my version is made in a thick (but a bit stretchy) upholstery fabric. Inside is a thinner linen-like fabric. Both of them bought at a local fabric store. I interfaced the bag with super thick canvas and the bag turned out very sturdy. Unfortunately it also added a bit to the weight and the messenger is kind of a heavy bag. If I'll make it again I think I'll use regular canvas instead.

I've read a lot of reviews on this pattern saying that it's really hard to work through all the layers, but all in all I thought it went rather well. No broken needles. Went very slowly with the machine for some parts of the bag and it worked just fine. My fingers hurt from pushing the pins through all this thick fabric, though. I suggest using clips instead.

From start to finish, it took around 18 hours for me to complete the bag. There are a lot of pieces to cut out. Marking them will make things easier, since many of them look similar.

I chose to not add the tab with the magnetic snap, and added a bit lenght to the flap instead. I also did't put a zipper on the inside of the flap, since I did't feel you would get much use out of it. Other modifications I did was to lenghten and widen the band a bit ( 4 inches lenghtwise and maybe half an inch on the width).

Front and side

Pockets under the flap

Inside of the bag

Back zipper

Back of the bag with open zipper

Toddler Pants

My one-year-old had worn out his pants from crawling around on the floor and was in need of a new pair. I thought I'd give it a try, even though I haven't made a lot of clothes before. So I borrowed this old book from the library, with patterns for children's overalls, sweaters and more. (A Swedish book: Sy enkla barnkläder av Lisen Elmberg och Lena Lidbeck) Some of the models looked really outdated, but I thought these pants looked allright.

I managed to sew them together after some seam ripping and allthough they are a bit big and poofy, I think they turned out okay. And my son seems to like them :-)

The fabric is a piece of corduroy with some stretch in it and I used ribbing for the cuffs and waistband. 

Perfectly Pleated Clutch

Yet another bag from the Style Stitches book, The Perfectly Pleated Clutch, in size medium. The exterior is Kaffe Fassett "Spray". I added a large flower bought at H&M.

I used heavyweight fusible interfacing for the pleated panels and am pleased with the result. It definately keeps its shape, even if empty and standing up.

The pattern says to use 1 7/8 yards, but one yard is enough if you sew two pieces of fabric together for each side of the bag. The seam won't show since you will hide it under the pleats.

The pleating part wasn't that bad. I just made sure to pin each pleat on the top and bottom to keep in in place.

The band is a little bit longer than in the pattern.

Inside fabric from Kathy Miller "Dots and Stripes"

Used an old zipper from my stash.

Grocery/Anything Bag

A friend of mine got this grocery bag as a step towards becomming a bit more environmentally friendly. I made it from home decor weight IKEA cotton in a large print with birds and nesting boxes. (Can't really se the birds in these pictures, though)

Kee Keeper Coin Purse

This sweet little purse is made from a pattern in Amy Butler's book Style Stitches. Exterior in Midwest Modern by Amy Butler. It doesn't take much fabric to make, so I could use scraps from privious projects.

Inside view

Marlo Bloom Bag and Pattern review

I made this Heather Bailey Bag called the Marlo Bloom Bag, a while ago. My husband bought me the pattern and fabrics for my birthday, and I think he did a great job picking them out. The exterior is a soft linen with just the right amount of texture to it, and the interior and flower is regular quilting weight cotton. I also used canvas as interfacing.

In all, the instructions are well written and easy to understand. Sewing this up wasn't that hard, exept for the handles. Or it wasn't difficult, just very time consuming. I didn't have the double sided fusible interfacing for the handles, which means you have to glue the fabric to the wrong side of all four handle pieces...and hold the small pieces in place while the glue dries. It took some time. I would strongly recommend using the double sided fusible.

I'm very pleased with the result and think the fabric flower makes the design really lovely. I miss a small pocket on the inside (A zipper pocket would be great, since the bag is quite wide and open.) and would probably add that if I make this again.

Practical Bag ( from a pattern by Tanya and Linda Whelan )

The practical bag may be my favorite bag out of all the ones I've made. It did´t take too long to cut out and putting it together went rather smoothly (exept that I put the handles on the wrong way and didn´t notice it until I (thought I) was done). 

I added some extra strudiness by interfacing it with canvas, and also used lightweight fusible interfacing on the exterior fabric, since it is a thin one.

 The pattern is from Tanya and Linda Whelan. Exterior fabric from Kaffe Fassett and interior from Michael Miller´s "Dots and Stripes".

Added a small pocket to the inside

Henry II Elephant

From Valori Wells´ pattern Prudence & Henry comes a new cute and cuddly Elephant.

He´s quite easy to make and there´s not so many pieces to cut out, which is nice. 

Made from an old fabric I got from my husband's grandmother. The ears and eyes fabric is newer and from my own stash. Trying to use up some of the fabrics I've been collecting for the last few years (so I can buy new ones :-))

The pillow pose

Who can resist this adorable face? 

Amy Butler Reversible Everyday Shopper

I've been wanting to make the Reversible Everyday Shopper for some time now, but didn´t get around to it until last weekend. This bag went together without too much difficulty and I thought the pattern, as most of Amy Butler's patterns, was quite easy to follow. A rather fast bag to make and I will definately make it again. But then I will shorten the handles, cause they're too long to carry the bag with your arm straight. Hadn't really planned on carrying it on my shoulder...

I bought the fabrics at IKEA some years ago, and since it is thick, I chose to completely skip out on the interfacing and fleece. It worked out great. Don´t think it can stand by itself, though, but that's fine with me.

I put both pockets on the inside (reverisble side) so they would´t interfere with the large scale pattern on the exterior fabric.

Side view

The inside

Amy Butler Cosmo Bag

My version of the Cosmo Bag, from Amy Butler´s book Style Stitches.

The exterior is French Journal by London portfolio and the handles are Michael Miller, I think.

 Really like this bag. It´s huge so you can carry a lot in it.

Henry makes an entrance

This is Henry the elephant, from the pattern showed in the previous post: Prudence and Henry, by Valori Wells. If strictly following the pattern instructions, Henry should be made from flannel fabric, but I decided to go with quilting weight cotton instead. I also made a different kind of tail than suggested.

Henry looks pretty good as a sofa cushion and is very comfortable to rest your head against.

He can stand with some support.

He has cute flapping ears and a very long trunk.

And he is super huggable. 

Henry will be very missed when he moves to his new little owner at the end of the week.

Lots and lots of lovely fabrics

I received some new fabrics this week (ordered from Quilt Home, which is like a goldmine of designer fabrics). Some fun prints and lots of dots in vibrant colors. Can't wait to use them in my upcoming projects. In fact, some of them are already being turned into flag banners, so they won't be shown in this blog post.

Kaffe Fassett , Heather Bailey (Nicey Jane), 

Michael Miller (Dots and Stripes) (Children at Play) (Tammis Keefe)

Michael Miller (Dots and Stripes) (Children at Play) (Tammis Keefe), Kathy Miller (Color Stories)

And last but not least: a cute pattern from Valori Wells - Prudence & Henry.

My first garment (almost)

I've made a skirt!! After a lot of ripping, some grouching and some not so nice words it's finally done. It's not perfect, but I'm so proud I managed to get it done :-) And I think this is something that I'm actually going to wear. (Unlike the bright orange anorak with a large floral print, that I made in school)

I had lots of trouble understanding the directions for sewing this thing. The pattern is from Burda Style (2/2010) and it might have been a bit too much for me and my sewing abilities so far. It didn't really say anything about how to finish the different steps, just "attach the zipper" or "make the waistband". Difficult for a novice. (The pattern was rated easy, but maybe they meant easy for an experienced sewer?)

Fabric from Stoff & Stil (don't know what kind of fabric, but it's kind of thick, and if you cut it diagonally it's a bit stretchy.

From the side

 Back

 Removable belt 

 Without belt

Button, zipper and pocket