That was so last year...

Circa Christmas Time anyways.  I made a few of my Christmas gifts this year - three bags and a fleece shirt.

This is why that was all I has a chance to make:

This pattern is from the Fall 2011 Stitch magazine (Slouch Bag).  There were a ton of steps in the pattern, and tons of layers (Holy crap, i felt like a spent 8 hours cutting out the shell and lining fabric, and muslin, headliner and stiff interfacing pieces) to work with.  There was also a lot of top stitching required in the pattern. 

The pattern also asked for silk douppioni for the thick trim on the bag lining.  Fabricland sells it for $34 a metre so I found the perfect substitute in their home dec section which was $7 a metre.  The lining once done though was about 2 inches longer than the shell, so I had to cut off some of the trim.  It might have hurt a little doing that if it was silk douppioni.  I find there are always minor glitches with Stitch patterns, whether the pattern pieces are off, or there are missing or weird instructions.  I have actually made a few projects from Stitch magazine, so I don't mind them too much, I just need to keep an open mind when I am completing them.  (I also made the fleece shirt from the same Stitch mag which didn't go as well, but I'll leave that for another post.)

It took a few days to put together but the end result is a pretty sweet looking bag with a surprising inside.

I love the strap details at the sides of the bag.

The clear vinyl was ironed onto the bottom piece for added protection.

My sewing machine was very testy while I was sewing this bag, although I can''t blame it now - I started out using the wrong size top stitch sewing needle for my thread.  On top of that, the Teflon foot I bought to sew the vinyl bag strap was weirdly thick and when I was sewing over more than one layer the foot would slant up and the sewing needle would jam into the back of the foot opening.  This happened a few times while I was trying to figure out if there was something wrong with my machine before I realized it was the foot causing the problem.  It was a $30 Janome foot for a Janome machine - hopefully I can send them an email and get a refund for it...

I didn't want to ever make this bag again the day I finished it, but after I gave this to my sister from Christmas, I keep thinking about it, and just might make one for myself but with these changes:
*take out some of the inside thickness - it has about 4 layers of muslin, plus the headliner.
*make the bag strap a few inches longer and about a half inch narrower - my sisters one complaint is that the strap sometimes falls off her shoulder because it is pretty wide.

My sis modeling her bag

If you have made this bag, or anything else from Stitch Mag, I would love to see it so please feel free to link to your blog or pics in the comments section

Looks like this post is getting a little lengthy so I will write about the fleece shirt and other 2 bags later.

Thanks for stopping by, and Happy 2012 (February and beyond...)!!!

Placemats In Progress

I am making these for a girlfriend's 30th, that has honestly just passed.  With all the quilting required they took longer than I thought they would, but I was still able to give her a flirty little felt pencil holder and an embroidery hoop wall hanging of button flowers (no pics of those unfortunately) that I had also made.  I think I went a little overboard with this project thinking it wouldn't take a lot of time, and now I am in love with the placemats, so they may be hard to part with...

I have the backing and edge trim left to attach, and then they are finished (finally).  Next up for gifts is a slouch bag (from the Fall STITCH magazine) for my sister that I am a little nervous to start because it has quite a few steps involved.

And for me, I will hopefully start working on some curtains next week.  Two sets for the front room and dining area in our house, a ruffle shower curtain using this tutorial from Sweetie Pie Bakery, and a curtain for my sewing room to block out the blinding sun in the morning (no complaints though for sunny days!!).

Cheers!

Cottage Days

I don't know about you, but it is much easier for me to sew handmade gifts for my girlfriends, rather than the men in my life.  Bags, pillows, aprons, eye pillows, scarves...  I have made these and more as gifts, but for the boys...  I made my Dad a snuggie-style blanket last year, and another one for my boyfriend's birthday that just passed. 

But I had a lot of trouble this fathers day coming up with a gift to sew for my dad.  I had tossed around the idea of embroidering different fish hanging from lines on 3 hoops, but I wasn't too sure if he would like that (although I know my Dad would love anything I made for him).  What I finally decided to work on was a painting of the government dock by our cottage on Lake of Bays, in Muskoka, Ontario.  My grandfather built the cottage in the early 50's when my father was a young boy, so both he, and my sister and I have grown up here.  This place has so much meaning for our entire family and we have all collected our own stories at this government dock.  My sister and I would meet up with friends there at night with the cheapest alcohol we could all find/buy, and climb on top of the roof to hang out.  And every local has their name carved on some portion of the dock.

This was the first time I had done a painting for anybody.  It's not that large, but I am pretty happy with the outcome.  It was a smaller canvas that I bought in a set of three and the other two I am thinking of painting a solid color and embroidering birds on them (can that even be done?) for our place.
For Christmas I am knitting a scarf for my Dad, and for my man I am embroidering a cover with different types of electric and acoustic guitars, for a binder that he can put his music sheets and tabs in.  The Fall edition of Stitch magazine has a few more ideas for man gifts - I am considering making the zip-front pullover for both of mine.  2 months until Christmas - hopefully I can get everything done in time!

Thanks for stopping by!

Where Did The Summer Go?

I see it has been a long time since my initial post and I had the intention this summer of having a lot added by this time...  But the summer sometimes takes you away from things like a computer, and places you on a dock with family and friends, and some cold beers!  There were some stresses as well but Fall has brought an opportunity to start new routines and focus on reaching my sewing and career goals.  After moving into our new place this summer, I now have a home that is completely unpacked and furnished, but waiting patiently for some curtains for a couple rooms, and an Anthro-inspired ruffle shower curtain!  I will post as soon as they are done!

I did finish a few items this summer, including the Lonsdale dress (pics to follow:))!

I made this shirt from Simplicity 2361.  It ended up being a bit tight (I cut a size 10 knowing that I am more of a 12 right now, but have a Simplicity dress I made a couple years ago in a size 10 that ended up being a bit roomy - Silly move for me!) - It's supposed to be a tunic!  I found that the side seams angled in quite a bit at the bottom, but I was also working with slippery fabric so the tapering could most likely be my fault too in the cutting!  Things to learn for next time...

For one of my closest girlfriends birthday in August, I made a celebration banner, chamomile eye pillow, and crane mobile.

I didn't have a good picture of the full crane mobile, but there were 7 cranes in total, each a different colour.

I used the lavender eye pillow pattern from Amy Butler, but after buying the lavender, and having it next to me while stitching the pillow case together, I got a little nauseous and decided to pack the stuff away and use chamomile instead.

I made her birthday card too!

  

More to come from here, and much much sooner I promise!