My Sewing Space

At the end of the summer I shortened a dress for a friend. It was a dress she had worn as a bridesmaid in a wedding. Shortening it meant that she could wear it again and she did - as a wedding attendee. I was left with a pretty good size swath of fabric that was cut off the bottom of the dress. I didn't really have a plan for it, but thought it would be best to hang on to it. Fast forward a few months....and I turned some of the fabric into a matching clutch: I drew up the pattern, but copied the shape of the bottom from one of my daughter's purses. The bag is underlined with a pretty heavyweight upholstery fabric. It gives it some heft and stability. The fashion fabric actually has a lot of stretch. The flap is finished with a bias binding and the bag closes with a magnetic snap. The inside is lined. I actually made this gift using her sewing machine! She loaned it to me when mine needed some attention in the shop. She's a good friend!

My goodness, it's been awhile. I've been spending all my time sewing and none of it blogging. Getting ready for the art sale (this coming weekend) has kept me really busy and I'm very excited about it. I've never done anything like this before, so there is much that I am uncertain about, but I'm sure it will be a good experience however it goes. So, let's have a look at the goods... Buttercup Bags These are the same as the ones I made here . Now that I'm familiar with the pattern and made good notes about my changes to it, these come together pretty quickly. I was hoping to use some tortoise shell rings or other hardware on either of these bags, but couldn't find any locally. Tote Bag This tote bag is also a repeat . The fabrics in the patchwork strip are mostly the same, but not in the same order/configuration. I zig-zagged over each seam with an off-white thread for this version. Inverted Box Pleat Bag   (needs a new name) This bag...

A few months ago, I purchased the Gathered Clutch pattern from Anna of Noodlehead . Similar to the Buttercup Bag pattern I used here , the purchase of the pattern includes a limited commercial license to sell what you make with it. This is great for people like me who have good sewing skills, but aren't great designers. Someone else thinks up something cute and I can make it and sell it. I'm adding these three to my art sale inventory . The pattern was really easy to follow. The only thing I thought was strange was that she has you sew that front band as a tube (RST and then turn), press it flat and then sew it on the gathered front. I didn't see why that was necessary. I pressed the long edges under and sewed it on that way. The inside of the clutch has a divider and two credit card pockets. The overall size is about 8.5" x 5". As far as a handbag goes, the clutch has never appealed to me. I wear a cross-body bag because I need to have my hands free. A ...

Thanks for the compliments on the tote bags.  It's good to know that many of you liked them - hopefully people buy them! When I dropped off the tote bags, I also dropped off three purses. The first is my own "design" - a combination of a purse I saw my sister use awhile ago and the one that I currently carry. It has a long adjustable strap and I pictured it worn across the body, but it could go over one shoulder, too.  The top folds over and doesn't have any fastener. I wanted the sides of the bag to be straight, not angled toward the bottom (like the tote bags ), but wanted boxed corners, so I followed the same tutorial as I did for these little pouches , just with different dimensions. It worked well, but since I kept the bag pretty flat/narrow (from front to back) any angle from boxing the corners the regular way probably wouldn't have been noticeable. The tab with rings is primarily decorative, but works as something to grab to easily open the bag, t...

S asked me to make more little girl purses to sell in her shop.  The first three I made took awhile to sell, so I thought I'd add a little more to them to make them more interesting.  So, each bag has a zippered coin purse and crayon roll to go with it. I used the crayon roll tutorial found here , but substituted an elastic loop and button for the closure rather than a ribbon tie.  It seemed to me that most little girls wouldn't be able to tie that ribbon and I'm all for kids doing things independently.  The elastic loop on the purple crayon roll is 1/8" elastic.  For the other two, I used a pony tail elastic (a tip I think I read in Threads ). This fabric was given to me by S when she was clearing out her stash.  She was happy to see it used well.  :)  The lining is a coordinating print. The green is brighter in real life than it shows up here.  It's lining leftovers from this jacket . I finished these last w...