Bag Lady Week- Japanese Knot Bag

To continue with my bag fascination this week, I have resurrected these babies, which were my go-to gift last fall and Christmas for my girlfriends: Aren't they sweet? A nice variation from the normal purse. They hold surprisingly a lot of stuff, and can be casual or dressy, depending on the fabric. They are fully reversible, and look so cute dangling off your wrist. This lovely pattern is by Helen Heath of New Zealand, and the free pattern is available here. Go check it out!

Bag Lady Week- Bias Tote Bag Tutorial

I love me a good bag for toting stuff! I guess that comes with being a mom of 3...never enough hands! So here we go, another bag hopefully help you schlep stuff around like me!

You will need:
approx 1/3 yard canvas or decor weight material (vinyl would also work)
one package of coordinating bias tape
strap material...such the cotton webbing seen here
coordinating thread
Cut:
2 pieces measuring 17.5" by 16" for front panels
1 piece measuring 46" by 6" for side/bottom panel (Note- the fabric I used had a wide WOF of over 50". If your fabric is less, this length can be pieced together) straps- cut 2 piece of 26" each

Let's go!
1. Place 2 bag pieces wrong sides facing, and cut slight curve to bottom edges as shown. 2. Fold over top of each piece 1/2 ". Press. Fold over 1". Press.
3. Insert edge of strap under fold, 5" from each end. Fold over so handle is facing up as shown. Pin in place to secure. 4. Sew 1/4" from bottom fold and from top fold to finish top and to secure handles. Repeat with second piece and handle.
5. Fold over short ends of long piece of fabric (sides and bottom of bag) as you did above- fold over 1/2 inch, press, fold over 1 inch, press. Sew at 1/4 inch from top fold and from bottom fold.


6. With WRONG sides facing, line up bottom/side fabric along length of one of the front panels. Unfold bias tape, and pin along, with folds facing downwards and with about 1 inch extending over the top, and all raw edges lining up as shown: (NOTE: I goofed in this picture and did not have the extra 1" of bias tape extended past the edge of the hem. You will need this later to finish the corners)


7. Sew along pinned edges, using 1/4 " seam allowance. Fold bias tape back up over the raw edges.


8. Tuck ends of bias tape in to finish corner:

9. Sew, close to edge of bias tape, to finish edges.
10. Repeat steps 6-9 to add second front panel to other side of side/bottom panel. This will complete the tote!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial for the Bias Tote. Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions or problems! As with all of my tutorials, this is intended for personal use only. I would love to see your creations! Please feel free to blog about them, but credit and a link back to this tutorial would be appreciated. Happy sewing!

Bag Lady Week- Monday Messenger

NOTE: This bag now has a tutotial! Find it here.

Bags have been my project of late, so I thought I would do a bit of a "theme week" to show you some of my latest. Remember that pile of wool and suiting I mentioned? Ta da! I love messenger bags. They are casual but functional, stylish but can be very practical, slung over the body to keep hands free for a mom like me. I have been checking out a bunch online, and have seen some I covet, but they were all over $100. So, I drew up a pattern and tried my hand at making one. This one is not for me, but for my lovely little sis, who is a fan of black, grey and blue. It was her birthday and she is about to go on an adventure to Holland, England, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, and I thought this could be a useful tag-along. I picked up this charcoal suiting with a blue pinstripe at my local fabric store, then paired it with some Amy Butler for the lining to add some fun: The strap is fully adjustable so it can be worn as a purse or over the body. The back features 2 deep pockets, so you can stash phones or keys for quick access, without having to undo the buttons to get inside the bag.

Inside, there is room for just about anything you could want to carry, and it is padded with a fleece lining so that it would work for a laptop. There are 3 pockets along the back inside as well.

I finished it off with some cute buttons as closures, with loops made of the lining fabric.

The second bag is for a good friend of mine, who loves orange. She is an incredibly smart and brave girl, who, at the age of thirty(-something), followed her dream and went back to school, and after lots of hard work and perseverance, was accepted into veterinary school. I am so proud of her!

I thought this bag was fun, because the pinstripe wool outer says "business" but the bright orange floral lining and rainbow strap say "fun"! It should even match the orange retro couch that will adorn her new living quarters :-)

It also has the three inner pockets. And did you see? I tried my hand at an "OCD" label inside and also on the front flap to make it look more "pro." Just used some twill tape and my transfer paper from Dharma Trading.

I also jazzed it up with lots of orange top stitching. And, do you recognize the rainbow strap? It is the belt that I told you about on Thrifty Thursday. See, I told you I wasn't going to use it as a belt! It is the perfect length for an over-the-body strap, and the belt holes makes it adjustable. I thought it was a cute reinvention!

You know how sometimes, you dream up a project in your head, but when you make it happen, it doesn't meet your expectations? This happens to me often- I dream big, but sadly my skills lapse far behind my aspirations! Well, this time, the vision finally matched the finished product. It's not perfect, but I am happy. And I have a few more in the works, hopefully even one for me to keep!

And as a side note- there is a giveaway at Quilt Story today...you can enter here.

Also some sweet fabrics being given away at Lucy and Norman....enter here.

Finally, this will be linked up to Sew and Tell Friday on Amy Lou Who- see the button on my sidebar? Go check it out!

Gear

Some new toys I have acquired this week that make me happy :-)

Finally. After shopping at several quilt stores, I found a free motion foot that fits my crappy cheap machine. I was doing it without a foot before. I know, I know. I'm crazy like that. But now I have one, yahoo! For the bargain price of $2.99, I, too, can sew straight lines. Kelli was kind enough to enlighten me about 1/4 inch tape. Duh. Why didn't I think of that? We'll see if this helps or if I am completely hopeless.
Ooooh. Aaahhh. This crazy contraption cuts perfect circles. Because I might want some, someday. And it was half price. Fun!
Yes. This is the stuff that is "high tech" to me. I am so easy to please :-)

Pillowcase dress tutorial- Style 2: "Party Girl"

Like "The Classic," this dress was made from a pillowcase, and for less than $2! The big side bow at the neck is perfect for a party princess.

You will need:
- a pillowcase
- coordinating fabric for the bow and hem band (1/3 yard)
- coordinating thread
- safety pin

Steps:
1. Measure your little girl from her armpit to about the knee (I usually go a bit longer because I try to make it to last 2 summers!).
2. Fold your pillowcase lengthwise, and cut a j-shaped section from the top (closed) end, with the bottom of the j starting at the distance you just measured from the bottom (open) end of the pillowcase. This will be the armhole. The j should extend about 3-4" into the fabric horizontally, then continue up to the top vertically (see first photo below).
3. Cut a diagonal line along the non-folded side, starting about 2" into j shape of armpit and extending towards hem (open end of pillowcase). This helps give the dress some taper along the sides, otherwise I found it to be too boxy. 4. Cut 6 inch band of coordinating fabric to width of fabric. Fold over long raw edges 1/4 inch. Press. Fold in half. Press. Align along bottom hem of dress, and stitch into place near top of band. Trim excess. (Sorry! I must have forgotten to take a picture of this step!)
5.Sew side seems of dress with a straight stitch. Reinforce with a zig zag for good measure.
6. Fold the armhole area over 1/4 inch. Press. Fold 1/4 inch again, press again. 7. Sew along folded edge to finish armhole. Repeat for other side. 8. Fold the top edge (neck) of the dress over 1/4 inch. Press. Fold over again 2 inches and press. Sew, staying close to edge, leaving ends open. This will be the channel for your bow fabric. Repeat for other side. 9. Cut a 4.5 inch strip of your coordinating fabric, length the width of fabric.
10. Fold fabric in half, right sides facing. Press. Sew length to close strip using 1/4 seam allowance. 11. Use safety pin to invert strip tube you have just made, using fingers to work the safety pin out the other side. Press. 12. Tuck ends of strip in. Press.
13. Sew ends closed, and sew along all edges so that all of strip has a nice stitched edge as shown.
14. Attach safety pin to strip and use fingers to work it through the front channel until it emerges on other end. Continue through the back channel so that the 2 strip ends end up on the same side of the neck.

15. Measure 15 inches from end of each strip, then sew strip to dress as shown to secure. 17. Evenly distribute ruffles of neck. At other end of neck, sew dress to strip, arranging so that top part is shorter than the bottom, as shown. This will help the dress to sit flat on the neck.

Put it on your little princess and tie a big bow! You are finished! Congratulations! I hope you have enjoyed the Pillowcase Dress Tutorial series. I would love to see a picture of your finished creations in my Flickr group. Have fun!

Thrifty Thursday

Well, I have been at it again- more finds at the local Thrift Shop!

First up- this lovely blue case.... .....which contains.... .....knitting needles! Lots of 'em! Since I have only slightly entered into this domain and own but one pair of needles, this was a great find, and under $4!

Also found another sweet vintage pillowcase (although I will not use it as a pillowcase) and some colorful belts (although I will not use these as belts, either!).The whole stack, $6.25! I love me a good deal :-)