I imagined the red piping to look like part of a shooting star, hence the flaps shape. But its unique anyway so i went with it.

I used contrasting colors for the pockets. The pattern is very similar, but with different size and color.

I have another bag in the works and an eyeglass case or two, plus some other inquiries.  Its great because it generally doesnt cost me anything but my time and i trade that for skill. Huzzah!

Of course, pockets were requested! She gave me some cute blue fabric with tiny colored hearts and butterflies, which really makes the lime piping jump out.

I love summer:)

She prefers long straps, so that was an easy twist to the pattern. But, I am new at this right? So of course when she had requested some adjustments I didnt make the appropriate adjustments to the amount of fabric needed. The straps are pieced together, but she didnt mind.

She also wanted a divider in the purse, along with the cool pockets. It is not as stiff as I had envisioned, so its a little wonky, but for my first try, I understood what I was going to need to do to make up for that (so its not as wonky as it could have been)….I just didnt do it well enough;) But once stuff gets put in there, it will be fine.

She has space for her wallet and checkbook, some odds and ends, and a special pocket for her music device. The divider makes two sections, and then on one side are two large pockets, and the other has 2 medium and a small one in the middle.

Like my bag’s window, I used fray check to make sure it would be a clean cut. Hers needed a little something extra though, so I framed it with brown stitching using my machine (a squished small zigzag stitch). I was kinda excited to do that but I am more excited to finally give it to her:)

Its another buttercup bag, from Made by Rae. I modified it just slightly, by sewing it together with the handle between the inner and outter fabrics. Silly me though forgot the button detail on the front and tried to do the best I could not being able to get behind the fabric. Its all good though, it is handmade afterall.

I also whipped out the March toy for my neice, “Arch”. Another Super Cute Sea Creature from Futuregirl. I admit I chose the jellyfish this round because I could slack off a bit and pop it out real quick. But I do what i can, you know? I used glittery white felt, but you cant really see that in the photo.

I learned how to tie a Lark’s Head Knot with this pattern too, which I think will come in handy in future crafts.

I have one other bag ready to be sewn together, but I ran out of fabric for the handles, so I will have to wait for that. And then another bag almost ready to finish up. And then yet another bag that is still waiting just to be cut. With all that being said, Im surpised I even got to take my vespa out for a ride!

]]> http://www.thecrafties.com/2010/04/weekend-crafts/feed/ 0 http://www.thecrafties.com/2010/03/wips/ http://www.thecrafties.com/2010/03/wips/#comments Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:42:31 +0000 CaLynn http://www.thecrafties.com/?p=1231 Here are some sneak peeks of current projects. All of these will be bags and the fabric was (mostly) chosen by the future bag owners. The patterns are cut out, but I need to start sewing the pieces together. I had a bit of a crafting lull for a while when the last bag i made just didnt turn out right. But the good news is that (i think) I know what i did wrong so hopefully it wont happen again.

I also have made more book covers and am working on the March toy for my neice (yep, im running late). I havent taken photos of those because a) the lighting is really horrendous but the weather  seems to be finally breaking so maybe that will no longer be an issue and b) i was waiting for my new craft table, which i finally got put together last night! I got it from Macys for half off, but they are already discontinuing it so good luck trying to find one.

It is awesome because its very deep, but not long enough to be too large for the room, and my favorite part – it is counter height! I could have been crafting all morning with it, but since the weather is actually nice i was cleaning out the garage and i took the girls for a stroll while i dreamed all the changes i wanted to make on the outside of the house. I might not start crafting yet still, because now the whole set up of my craft room has been upset and it needs to be reorganized. Good times!

Recognize the ladybug print? Its Heidi Grace – one of my favorite scrapping designers. Those little windows were fun. With the additional knowledge of interfacing, i have so many new ideas! And i used fray-check to keep the corduroy from fraying.

Pockets on one side are sized for my wallet, phone, itouch, and little things like my addiction to Avon’s Care Deeply chapstick. The other side is reserved for my dsi and checkbook. There is also a pocket that fits off to the side of the bag, for my lotion bottle (another addiction, Jergens Ultra Healing lotion).

Did i ever mention my wallet? I love him. I picked it up at the Bristol Renaissance Fair, from Grichels, a Wrinkle in Reality. She makes all kinds of leather goods, with awesome faces, reminiscent of the Necronomicon from the Evil Dead series.

But i digress. My new go-bag is awesome because it holds my book but there is still room for additional things when Im on the go, which my old one didnt allow. For instance, if I ever wanted to take my camera, now i can.

So, originally the pattern came from ArtsyCraftyBabe. I tweaked it so much that perhaps I shouldnt really advertise it as her creation, but this bag wouldnt have existed without her Phoebe bag pattern. The changes I made were the shape (mine is more squarish, and a different size – the same goes for the latch part) and mine has lots of pockets. If i did it again, i would widen the strap and attach the pockets just a tad differently. But overall, this will be my new go-bag for quite some time i think:)

Another project I made was a very belated project – a purse for my sis-in-law kt. I was a little nervous at how small it came out but shes into small purses so it was a perfect choice for her afterall. Phew. I also learned how to do one of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine. I still need way more practice with that, but I was really excited about it! I got this pattern from Made By Rae. Its her internetly famous buttercup bag pattern.

I also made a a little monster for my friends daughter as a birthday present. I had fun personalizing it for her from RevoluzZza’s How to sew a RevoluzZzionary monster tutorial.

This is the first bookcover made with my new process. Im very proud of it because it has a much more quality feel to it but its just so easy. I took some pics for a tutorial, but the light was poor (much like most of my photos) so I am going to sit down tomorrow and make a better effort. Hopefully, fingers crossed, ill have the tute up soon.

There is still one more project to talk about, but Ill save that for tomorrow. Good night and dont forget to change your clocks!

I found the pattern at IS*LY, through a quick google image search for a purse pattern. It looked like the perfect size for all my gear (novel, dsi, ipod and headphones, camera, card wallet, cash wallet, coin purse, phone, sunglasses, notebook, keys, and the most important – chapstick!).

However, i adapted it a bit because I had a bag that fit all that in it already, but it was just that – a bag. For the comfort of the airplane and travel, I wanted pockets, so I made a little bag that fits inside the bigger bag, then sewed it up at the corners for a total of five perfectly sized pockets.

I added magnetic enclosures and made the handles just long enough so that the bulk sits at my waist. Honestly, i expected to blog about my giant failures with this one, especially because i was in a time crunch and rushing, but even on the prototype, I didnt have many blunders. Okay, the occasional sew-rip sew-rip event did occur, but seriously I am gushing with pride over this. *And* its even outside my comfort zone for colors. I must like it a lot!

I leave tomorrow so I may or may not be posting “soon” about my venture to the Big Apple. Toodles! :)