Emily's Slouch Bag

 

I tried out a new purse pattern today. I'm pretty picky about my purses, and I have made a couple. The one I'm using right now is embarrassingly worn, if truth be told. It's time to make another.

A friend of mine found this slouch bag pattern online, and wanted to try it out. I liked the look of it, and thought I would give it a try too.

Emily's Slouch Bag

So here's the bag I finished today. It is a light denim on the outside, and a cotton blue and tan floral on the inside. For a trial run, it went pretty well, but there are definitely things I will do differently when I make it again. And I will. Soon.

The pattern for Emily's Slouch bag

First of all, this bag is bigger than I want to carry. I added seam allowance to the pattern (plus a little, to be honest) and I think the next version will just be the pattern, and then it won't be as wide as this one. If a paperback fits, it's wide enough!

Second, I lined this one, and I'll line the next version, too. PLUS I think a little light interfacing will help it feel sturdier. 

Third, the straps definitely need to be longer. I cut them longer than the pattern, I thought, but when I looked again at the pattern pieces, I noticed that there is a section missing. Dang it!  This version will be fine as a shoulder bag, but I like a hands-free cross body bag. I've never had the strap on a shoulder bag stay on my narrow shoulders and it always makes the bag more of a hassle.

Finally, when I sewed this one together, I didn't do it in the right order. This is a lined bag, and some how, I didn't remember ALL THOSE BAGS I'VE SEWN, sewing the outer layer and the inner lining layer, and then sewing them together. 

Some of the features that I WILL keep? Pocketses, (Hobbitses need their pocketses...) of course. 

Pockets along the side panel

And

A pocket for bigger stuff, too

I love pockets in a purse! Along with those, I currently have some rings that I can clip my keys to, and a handy dandy take along shopping bag that comes is awesome.

So is this bag a fail? Sorta. I mean, I won't be using it. On the other hand, it is a perfectly serviceable bag, so I'll be donating it to the almost always ongoing bag collection at Cruces Creatives from Charitable Crafting. Am I disappointed? Sorta. I mean I need a new purse, but I'm still going to make one. I learned a lot making this one, and I think the next one will be a keeper.

Bunny Wardrobe, Part 2

 

I finished up the bunny wardrobe pieces that I have been working on , and posted about earlier. I keep thinking I will do a bunny mix and match outfit photo shoot, to include in this post, but I keep NOT doing it. So, I'm writing this anyway, and sharing some of the finishes and we'll all pretend that the photo shoot was fabulous. Maybe bunny recipient will have fun playing bunny model photo shoot, and I can share that (or at least they will, right?)

I finished up the rust colored set of garments, which included my first ever pleated bunny skirt.

Pleated skirt with blouse

While I like the pleats for a change of pace, it just doesn't  show the same aesthetic fullness of the gathered skirts. Still, I'm glad I tried it, and I'm not ruling out the possibility of making another. 

The rust set included this skirt and top, and two pairs of bloomers, one of which was sorta poofy and the other pair was very poofy. Because bunnies need options, that's why. There is also a reversable vest, with the yellow fabric on one side. The vest got embellished with a bee on the rust side, and a gathering of flowers on the yellow side.

A little bunch of daisies

I had some trim that i just stitched on to cover the stitches the attached a little bee applique on the other side. The little bee looks like this one, that I added to the tie on yellow collar (also because bunnies need options).

Happy little bee

I think the collar will be a cute addition to the yellow top under the dotted dress. Speaking of which, I was offered this perfect flower applique along with the cute little bees.

A cute little flower to tempt the bees

I placed the bee on the collar so it would look like it was headed for the flower when they are worn together. I know, right? I don't always embellish stuff, but when I do, it's often because someone said, "wouldn't it be cute if...?" 

The next step for these outfits is to be entered into the fair this year. After that, they will get packed up and mailed to the person who thought they probably needed a bunny with some cute outfits. 

WHAT?? A Dinosaur Unicorn? Of Course I'll Make That!

 

What if I start off with a picture of the finished piece this time! You know you want to see it!

The cuteness, right?

So I made this for someone who loves dinosaurs. As one does. I got the pattern from this book of cuteness:

The same book that I got the turquoise dragon from

I'm sensing a turquoise theme here, and it doesn't hurt, does it.

Bobby the Dinocorn

I think you probably want to look at the pictures, and see kind of how this dinosaur came together.

First up, the head

Body, belly, and legs. Love the head tilt

And the arms

The ears!

The tail, then the horn, and the flowers

I like the flowers so much that I had to make some extras to add to the hat of the Ring Toy Sheep! 

Here's the before

And, the after!

Enjoy making stuff!

Bunny Wardrobe in the Works

 

I've been working on bunnies recently, and my current bunny related project is a mix and match wardrobe for my aunt's bunny. I started with a stack of fabrics, and much like what happens when I'm sewing clothes for people, I did my least favorite part (cutting out) all at one time.

An array of garments in various fabrics

The fabrics look to me like they will play well together to make a wide variety of outfits. It was kinda hard to decide where I would start... but I went with the rusty dots, since it was only one garment, an overdress.

Here she is, modelling

 The next set I did was the bees. When I picked up that fabric, I thought it was very cute, with chubby little bees on it... but I know how people are with insects, and especially bees, so I wondered it a whole dress would be too much. So, I made a skirt, and a top (with really puffy sleeves, and I think it turned out pretty well!

They are bee-having!

Then it was the yellow fabric's turn. Another skirt and top (not as puffy and a pair of bloomers. Also, I made a tie on collar. It's nice to have options, right? Also I thought the collar would be cute with the overdress.

So cheerful!

It is almost impossible to see in these pictures, but there is a little viney print on this yellow fabric, and I have some very cute white flower buttons I'd like to add here and there. Or a little but of daisy trim. Maybe on the waistband and the armbands on the sleeves?  I'll have to see... Opinions anyone?

Finally, I'm working on the rusty colored solid pieces. A shirt, a skirt (pleated this time, experimentally) and two pairs of pantaloons, one slightly poofy, and one pair more poofy. There is also a reversable vest, rust on one side, yellow on the other.

 I hope you can picture some of the variations and possibilities with these pieces working together in different combinations. I haven't had them made long enough to do a possibilities fashion show even for myself! And, of course the rusty solid pieces aren't even all finished yet! The made good progress towards that today, though.

I've had this little bunny jumper done for a while. It makes a change for the whole wardrobe, though.

In the front, it's a cute sailor type collar, in the back, ladybug wings

My aunt is patiently waiting for her bunny. I hope she can wait until after the fair! I would really like to enter this bunny and her wardrobe. I did warn her that might happen...

Basket Full of Projects

 

I finished a couple of projects today. Some that had been sitting in my project basket for a bit. My making process, especially for sewing, includes a cutting out day. Cutting out is my least favorite part of sewing, and I will usually decide on a variety of projects, and then spend a day or two cutting out those projects, and then when I feel like sewing, I can pick something from the stack and SEW it! 

Handy Dandy projects!

The projects are gathered together, and easy for me to find that way. When I cleaned my sewing room earlier this year, I found a few projects that I had set aside before I used the basket. The basket bunny dress was one of those projects. See it back in the basket, waiting on me to sew on the bottom ruffle?

These quilt blocks are another.

Blue star block

Evidently I had only cut enough of the background fabric for one block. but I had cut more pieces for the other parts and here is another version.

Same basic block, doesn't look the same

I got an accuquilt fabric cutter for my birthday, and I want to get some of the dies I got cut out and work on them some, so I thought finally sewing these together would get me ready for that.

Most of the projects in the basket right now are kid's clothes projects. One of the Charitable Crafting yearly projects has been making kid's clothes and donating them to a charity that had collected clothes so kids could choose them before school started. But the charity had to close their kid's room. Then they worked with schools to help them have clothes closets. Many of our clothes last summer were donated to helping families affected by a large fire here in NM. There were still several garments that hadn't been ready to donate when that happened, so I recently gathered those up and donated them to one of our local elementary schools. This week, I finished a little dress that will go in our next clothes closet donation.

Kid's Clothes!

I really like sewing for kids. I feel like fun fabrics are welcome, and I try to stick to "timeless" looks.

Having my project basket lets me have projects ready to work on when I want to work on something. Each part of the project in its own time.

Ready, Set Go!

 

I'm getting some new projects underway. When I post about a project I often have thought about it from beginning to end. SOMETIMES, projects can sit, waiting, for a while before I get to them, and whatever thought process there once was is gone. 

baskets of spring flowers

This dress, for instance. I cut it out a while back (I'm talking years back), and while I put the collar together, and put it in the bodice, that's as far as I got until this week. Now, it just needs the bottom ruffle to be ready for SPRING! 

This evening, instead of finishing it (it is nothing if not patient), I consulted my planning list, and cut out some bunny clothes. My aunt requested a bunny, and I am in the process of making a wardrobe for it. Why? Well, the wardrobe is part of the fun for me.

An array of bunny clothes to be

I've made bunnies several times over the course of about 40 years (OH MY GOSH!! Has it really been that long? Yes, yes it has!) and I think my outfitting of the bunnies has evolved. The dress at the top is definitely from a while ago. It follows one of the patterns I have just so. That fabric, too. And muslin accents. OK, to be fair, I can still go for some muslin. These latest bunnies have had some experimentation. There is something to be said for that super gathered dress. It is cute. But lots of things are cute, right? I've tinkered with the patterns. Turned bodices into shirts, turned bloomers into pants. Made a vest or two. So, now there are some separates going on. I experimented with elastic waisted skirts, but this time, I'm trying a waistband. Some pieces still have that extreme gathering, and some have less. It is fun to experiment!

I made a vest that has ladybug wings

Two different versions of ladybug outfits.

This bunny has a collar that is wings in the back

So, on with the creation! On with the learning process! On with the fun!

Oh, yeah, and on the crochet front, I started this cute dinocorn. A dinosaur unicorn? Yes, please!

Another request in turquoise!

Hope you can find your happy place too!

More Eye Monsters

 

It is time for another eyeball monster. This time, it isn't quite a spider, but maybe an eye bug?

Ever feel like something is watching you?

This time, it's mostly about those legs. I mean. THOSE LEGS! They are what's cool and what's creepy about this monster. You can't really tell for sure from this photo, but there are six legs. More of an eye bug than an eye spider. I thought I would go for eight when I started, but there are a couple of reasons that it worked out to be six. First, I used all of the skein of that variegated that I had, and had to fill in a little with some of the orange on a couple of the legs. And really? six was plenty to have to make. Not quite as repetitive as the dragon spines, and they got easier as I practiced making them, but I was definitely ready to move on to something else. Plus, they are placed pretty close together, here, aren't they?

top view for leg counting

The pattern suggested leg options, like stuffing them or putting in a wire, or both. I opted for wire. Pipe cleaners (fuzzy craft wire these days?) are what I used, and if you pose the legs, they will keep their position pretty well. I did not use stuffing, but if you did, you should stuff as you go, I think, and really a light stuffing, but stuffing and the pipe cleaners would fight and be hard to have both. I also bought some armature wire, which is more substantial than the pipe cleaners. I think if you really wanted the legs to hold the eye up more, you would want to use that, and you might have to have the wire travel through the body and down one of the other legs. The book suggested  a front right to back left sort of pattern. For this monster, I'm satisfied with the pipe cleaners, although who knows what the future of eye bugs may hold. I do still have that armature wire, after all.

This is the second eyeball I've made, and I was pretty happy with how the eye turned out. 

Ready for a close up!

After I did the iris, with the shiny plastic safety eye in the center, I did a row of the light orange, followed by a row of the dark orange, which dropped into the lighter color every third stitch. I really like the depth of color that added, and I'll try that again. I was surprised that the eyelid was a little loose this time, but not too bad, and I was careful to sew into the eyeball to keep everything in place.

I'm going to be working through this book for a while! SO MANY MONSTERS!

So Much FUN!

A Story With a Happy Ending

 

When I was 12 or 13, I got a sewing machine for my birthday. Or maybe it was Christmas... or... ANYWAY, my mom thought I needed my own machine, so I could make stuff that I wanted to make, and practice my sewing skills while leaving her machine for her to use. It was an old (even at the time) Singer machine that just did straight stitching and it was a work horse. It was in a wooden cabinet, that you could put the machine down into, and fold the worksurface over the top of, to make it more of a table. I used the heck out of that machine for a LOT of years. Finally, I got to move on to machines that would do more that straight stitching, and the old Singer kinda got pushed to the side. Then a few years ago, the cabinet - at 50 something years old, in NM with dry rot, and moving a few times - gave up the ghost. I took the Singer out of the cabinet before it fell out of the cabinet. It was a close thing. Sadly, I didn't have another good place to put that machine, so it sat. On the floor. Collecting dust and sadness. I needed to put it somewhere that would hold the machine up off the table so that the mechanisms could move as they should for sewing. But I didn't know what or where that was.

So then, I was talking sewing machines with my friend, and talked about the machine my mother had. The machine she had taught me to sew on. Mom had a Necchi, a pretty fancy machine for its time, it had cogs wheels that you could put together on a handle, and fit into the top of the machine, to create different stitches, like making button holes. When my mom passed away, I inherited her machine, but I never used it much, so I gave it to a friend before I moved back to Las Cruces. When I went through my crafting stuff a few years after that, I found the instruction manual, the case of cogs, and the foot pedal for that machine. OOOps. But my friend had already gotten rid of the machine (and I don't blame her). BUT my friend looked online, and found a Necchi Supernova, like my mom's for sale, and she bought it. When it came, it had been poorly packed, and the bottom of the machine case (the only part of the case in the box) had been treated roughly in shipping, and broken apart.  

(Do you like my story telling so far? Wish you could see the pictures in my head of my memories of these machines.)

Enter Cruces Creatives, the makerspace that I belong to. Well, besides the textile area, and art room, there is a woodworking area, and people who like to work with wood, like I like to work with textiles. We saw an old machine that someone had built a wooden stand for. UREKA!! I posted on the CC communication platform about needing some built for my machine(s), and a week later, I had them! WOOOO!!!

A new base, and welcome back!

Hello machine like Mom's!

Yesterday, I had a goal to actually get the Singer sewing again. I have already had it cleaned and checked, and I plugged it in and put her to work! She's now part of the happy sewing place! She needs to use the templates I have to make some beautiful button holes soon!

New quilt block, old machine

As you can see from the picture of the Necchi, it needs a good clean, and going over, and a new cord (the plug on the old one was in a state. NOT a safe state), so she has gone into the shop for a going over, and probably won't be out until June.

The Turquoise Dragon

I finished another dragon. This one was a special request, AND my first time using a new pattern.

He's a cutie, right?

 

My cousin requested a dragon, for a friend of hers, who saw her dragon and wanted one too (I mean, not to toot my own maker horn, but right??). So when she brought out yarn for me, I couldn't say no.

I wanted to start fresh with a pattern I hadn't used before, so this is where I started.

Here's the book...

And here's the pattern

The pattern looked like it would be reasonably easy to make. SO I got started. I found the instructions to be pretty accurate, and could follow them well. Even though there were a lot of parts to assemble on the head, I got them in place pretty well. The eyelids were a little problematic, but ultimately, I feel like their slight wonkiness creates expression on the dragon's face.

fascinating (a Spock reference)

So what are my take-aways? 

One, the row of spikes on his back are BORING to create. Tiresome. They actually stopped me for a while. I got the head spikes done and sewn on, then FINALLY powered through the rest. 

Two I'm finding that sewing the parts on with a needle helps with more accurate - even if not always perfect - placement of those pieces, and I think it goes quicker as well. Tapestry needle for the win!

Three. Dragon toe beans!!!

Cute as heck!

In fact the construction of the leg as a whole. It was made it two pieces and I think the shaping allowed by that was good! Between the legs and the tail, this dragon is very stable sitting upright. I appreciate that.

Four, I'll be trying another pattern from this book SOON!

So, are those spikes worth it???

An Eye Monster Named Charles

 

Once upon a time, there was a bestie, who had a daughter (Ok, two, actually). Their family is definitely part of my family of the heart. I shared how I made the younger daughter an apple, because she is a teacher with a new teaching job. Now it is time to meet Charles.

Everyone, meet Charles

One of my Christmas presents was this book:

A very fun instruction manual

It has instructions for all kinds of monster parts, to let a crocheter build the monster of their dreams. It is not the first or only book I've gotten by Megan Lapp, and I have found their instructions reasonably easy to follow. So this would count as a recommendation.

Here's an example eye monster

This, then, is where we started. I didn't have much trouble with the eyeball itself. I did one with a crocheted iris, and then added a safety eye anyway. I used the biggest one I had, but wished I had a bigger one. Still it does give a shine. I didn't have trouble making the eyelid, but the yarn was bigger than what I had used for the eyeball, I think. Anyway it looked like this

Not the close fit I wanted.

Darn it! So I tried again with a little smaller yarn.

Better, right?

Still, I kept the green/blue eyelid, you never know what you'll need some day...

Then, came the arms and legs. I debated with myself whether I would even stuff them at all. Lapp does include instructions for putting wires in, in case that is something you want to do, but I left Charles soft and lightly stuffed.

In process with one arm

In process with feet and legs

I wasn't positive I had enough of the variegated yarn to make the whole monster, so I added a bit of grey for the eyelids, and at the elbows, heels and knees. I couldn't resist pinkie toes either. I mean!

I got him sewn together with the needle (Yep, I think that's a learning curve I navigated), and I'm pretty happy with how he sits.

So, this is not the only eye monster on my agenda. I think I have to make one for Ron, and maybe one that has spider legs. You know what else? They turn out the perfect size for a Christmas ornament! Would it freak you out to find your Christmas tree looking back at you?

What else will I find in this book of monsters???