bargain bag patterns

Michelle Patterns is retiring some of her bag patterns so right now you can get 8 patterns for just $5!!! 

The patterns included are:

• Bracelet Bag
• Cross-Body Bag
• Laptop Sleeve
• Pocket Clutch
• Messenger Bag
• Fold-Over Clutch
• Zip Clutches
• Inset Zip Clutch and Pouch

That's a load of cracking patterns for a bargain price. I especially love the Cross-Body Bag and The Messenger Bag. I've made the Messenger Bag twice now and I'm just about to make another one. I borrowed the Melody Miller version I made for my daughter for a trip into Edinburgh last weekend but she wants it back so now I need to make my own.

I hope you're having a nice weekend, it's a bit dreich here today so some sewing is in order I think.

Bye for now

swap goodies

Just pretend that there's hasn't been a full week between posts even though I said last Tuesday I'd be back tomorrow...  well you know how it is.

Anyway I struck it lucky in the Mouthy Stitches swap and received a gorgeous tote from Sarah at FairyFaceDesigns. I had an inkling when I saw the post mark and then even just peeking through the tissue paper I knew what gorgeousness was waiting inside.

Nice ain't it and wait there's more, look at the back...

Then there's the inside, 

See I told you I got lucky, oodles of my favourite fabrics, great quilting, hand stitching, scrappy and full of colour against a grey background and oh circles too. I totally forgot to photograph the key fob which is a crime as it's blinking cute, nip over to sarah's blog for a squint and a run down on her making of this bag.

It's been a total nightmare getting photos taken here lately, honestly it's grey and half dark and mostly raining all the time, grrr! 

I'm not getting much in the way of sewing for me done at the moment so there's not much to share with you. I've booked a stall at a local fund raising event and I'm desperately trying to make enough stock for that. This'll be my first attempt at selling directly to the public so I'm as bit nervous about the whole thing. Although I will probably have met most of the ladies before at various toddler groups etc so it's probably the best venue for a first table sale.

So this year I'm not planning on making many Christmas gifts for my family. What about you, are you well under way with the Christmas gift making?

bye for now

birthday time again

It's birthday time again which means my daughter is now 12, yes 12!! She's off to High School in a week or so which she's really looking forward to but I just can't get my head round it at all.

Mostly what she wanted was money to buy clothes so her actual number of presents isn't that huge but that's the way it goes as they get older. I got her a couple of surprise presents one of which was some Cherry Chocolate Marshmallows, these are a gorgeous treat (made in Edinburgh) and the seller Maggie is lovely and the were posted out super fast. I didn't manage to get a photo before we'd sampled some so the bag is minus 4 marshmallows not half empty.

As I mentioned in my last post she requested a bag made with the same melody Miller print as my 241 Tote so I dutifully complied. I used the Michelle Patterns Messenger Bag pattern and that worked out really well as it used up the bit of fabric left over from my 241 Tote - I love it when I can completely use up a whole cut of fabric - so does my scrap box it's bursting at the seams.

Here's the bag next to the jeans she wanted we honestly didn't realise at the time that they matched her bag. If anyone is trying to find jeans to fit slim kids H & M is the place to go, in fact the only place we can get jeans that fit and still have adjustable waists even at age 10 (yes she is quite petite so still not in age 12 clothes).

I left of the side pockets this time (here's my first version so you can see what I mean) as I wanted it to be a more simple bag but of course now I'm thinking maybe I should have added them - perfectionist me - never! Anyway apart from that I made it exactly as it's written in the pattern, next time I might use a magnetic snap instead of a button maybe.

The inside flap is some red Summerville Hatch and the lining is Klona cotton in Crimson. I used cotton batting and Vilene G700 (SF101 equivalent) interfacing. The outer is some denim that has been a half made skirt for me for about 20 years which needless to say would never have fitted after all this time so I was really glad to find a use for it.

Kirstin's has a really chilled birthday with lots of junk food, popcorn, fizzy juice, visits from family, a friend over for a Harry Potter marathon, not sure when that'll finish so just as well it's a sleepover too.

Oh and of course cake, you've got to have cake, it's the law you know ;)

Bye for now

another 241 tote

I've had the Melody Miller typewriter fabric stashed for some time, afraid to cut into it in case the project didn't live up to the fantastic fabric. Do you do that? Do you stash wonderful fabric only to delay using it, waiting and waiting for the 'perfect' project?

Why it didn't come to me sooner I have no idea but of course the 241 Tote is the ideal pattern to show off those wonderful typewriters.

I used some Hometown by Sweetwater for the side pockets, keeping up the typewritten theme and some natural Stof linen/cotton for the sides and the strap. This linen blend is super wide and comes in a great range of colours, I got mine from The Bramble Patch. 

I lengthened the strap so I could wear it across the body and also used some metal rectangle rings which I think adds a nice touch. 

The lining is Klona cotton in teal with the Hometown as the inner pocket lining. I didn't have a zip the correct size or colour so I just left it out. To be honest I find inner zip pockets a bit of a faff to use and really like the way that you can see the lining detail so I'd do this again.

Here's the pocket again just so you can see it the correct way up.

I am rather in love with this combo of fabric and bag pattern :) this bag is going to be my 'new favourite' for a very, very long time. 

My daughter feels the same about the typewriters and has requested I make a bag for her birthday (which is next week) so I've started a denim and typewriter version of the Michelle Patterns Messenger Bag. You know I might even have it finished in good time instead of the usual frantic rush, hope I haven't spoken too soon. The best thing is, I've still got another half metre stashed so I can spend another 6 months working out what to do with that now.

So go on, tell me which fabric do you have stashed that's long over due to be used?

Bye for now

PS How exciting have the Olympics been today, absolutely brilliant!!!

bags of bags

I seem to have been on a bag making frenzy lately. A couple of these have been finished for a week or so but I've not got round to blogging them until now.

First up is this one made from Alexander Henry Farmdale Blossom and some rather nice ecru linen/cotton blend. I'm sure you'll know without me saying but it's a 241 Tote from the brilliant pattern by Noodlehead.

It's a great pattern for show casing your favourite fabric. I made the strap a bit longer so that it can be worn across the body. I've been very good and put it away to be added to my shop just as soon as I've sorted out prices. It's pretty hard to work out prices for handmade goods don't you think.

Next up is the Cross-Body Bag from Michelle at Keyka Lou's pattern. I made the medium size and after my ramblings in previous posts I actually really like the plain and simple look of this one now.

I used some lovely Kokka linen fabric with buttons on for the lining and a denim coloured cross-weave for the outer. I also made a brooch that I thought could be attached to the outside to jazz things up a bit. However the brooch is a tad too heavy so it would really need to be sewn on or it could just be an added extra. This one is destined for the shop too.

Now if only I could find the two reusable grocery bags I made that'd be four items for the shop.

The next one is for me, yay! It's from Noddlehead's Go-Anywhere-Bag pattern and I loves it. I've had the Heather Ross fabric for a while waiting for the perfect project and this is definitely it. The gorgeous yellow is the perfect antidote to the grim grey weather we've had up here in not so sunny Scotland. The outer is Kona Essex in Natural and I used calico for the lining, they're just about exactly the same colour which is great because I'm rapidly running out of big pieces of fabric.

Last but not least is a gym bag for my youngest. The other week I realised I'd not been a good mummy and Jamie didn't have gym bag oops! So guilty me rushed home to remedy that. I made this from a pair of my jeans that were sadly no longer any use to me and some Klona cotton and Zoo Menagerie.

I cut the pocket from the jeans and added a lining then attached it to the bag fabric so in fact there are two pockets on the front. I'm not really sure why he needs pockets on a gym bag but it jazzed it up a bit. As a final touch I added his initials and a little star button as he is, well 'a little star' after all.

So finally I feel properly caught up on things, phew! I'm going to link up to Sew Happy Geek's Manic Monday Linky Party - I know it's Tuesday now but submissions are still open so I'm going for it ;)

Bye for now

messenger bag

I made this messenger bag from the Keyka Lou Messenger Bag PDF for my daughter to give as a birthday present a few weeks ago. I had planned on making a trial run first but as usual I left it too late. I just had to go for it with the final version, keeping my fingers crossed (not recommended while sewing of course, can make the machine hard to operate) it came out ok. Apart from an inability to cut out a rectangle the specified size (duh!) it went pretty well.

The front fabric is My Folklore Horses in natural by Lecien from M is for Make, the lining is Kona Cotton in Stone from Simply Solids and the cord I've had in my stash for quite some time. I made my first ever bag from this cord and it's almost all done now. I'll need to scout around and get some more this colour as it's a brilliant background for setting off other fabrics much the same as the Kona Stone. While previewing this post I realised that I do seem to be going through a grey/beige and red thing at the moment.

I'm now frying my brain trying to decide what to make for my shop. I'm not sure I'm cut out for running a business (no matter how small) as I'm the worlds most indecisive person. In fact if indecisiveness and procrastination were sports I would finally have found an area in which I could truely excel. I find that making, just one more cup of tea, seems to be a great avoidance tactic for most things including making any kind of decision at all.

How are your sewing plans going? Are you a list maker or do you just go with the flow? I'm a bit of both which means I write a list and then ignore it. Somehow writing the list seems to make me think the jobs are as good as done - deluded or overly optimistic? Also just how many cups of tea a day is too many do you think?

Well after all those questions I'm now off to see if I can wake up a napping 4 year old as I really do want him to go to sleep tonight at a decent time unlike last night, wish me luck.

bye for now

How can it be Friday already?

The weeks are just flying past and we find ourselves at the start of the school holidays already. April is a short month this year for the kids as they seem to be on holiday more than they're at school. I need to start work on birthday gifts for my youngest who will be 4 the day before the Royal Wedding. I have some Thomas the Tank fabric ready and waiting for a couple of projects. However the top of his birthday wish list is a Ben Ten bike and  no matter how hard I try I won't be making one of those :) oh and it has to be a blue one!

So what have I been up to this week? Well I am very pleased with myself as I managed to piece the inner circle on my block for the Lily's Quilts QAL. I have to say that I was very skeptical as to how this would come out as my track record on accurate seams and curves in general is not good. In fact as I was sewing it I muttered the whole time to myself how this was going to be a disaster and that I would no doubt have to rip it all out and start over a zillion times. So you'll understand my joy when after pressing it looked great and first time too yey! I'm not sure my family really appreciated why I was jigging about shouting "it worked, it worked" but they nodded wisely and smiled so I take that as understanding or is that more like humouring do you think? 

Now my next thing to do is to fix the outer edge of the dreseden plate as I managed to have a discrepancy in my cutting/sewing and the yellow blade seems to be at least 1/4" shorter than the rest. I'll deal with this next week as I don't want to spoil my excitement over managing this weeks task.

Also this week I made a coin purse for my friend. She loves all things owl so I used some of the Alexander Henry Spotted Owl fabric have in my stash to make her this wee coin purse/button holder.

I'm very pleased at how it came out and me being me I had to put binding on the inside seams as I just can't stand unfinished seams. I can see me making loads of these as thay make great presents and also are a re fab way of using up all your scraps. I love it when I feel I'm making use of every last bit of fabric, maybe it's the guilt of stash building kicking in there.

Did you know today is the first Fresh Sewing Day ? Lynne of Lily's Quilts has teamed up with Sew Fresh Fabrics and on the first day of the month there is a chance to win gorgeous fabrics by sharing you favourite sewing project of the last month. I can't decide really but I'll go with the owl purse as it hopefully it  made my pal happy and I loved how it turned out. What's your favourite project, why not share it over at Lily's Quilts. I'm of to have a look myself.

Anyway I've rambled on enough today, bye for now and happy sewing.

New Favourite Handbag

I have a new handbag, it combines three of my favourite things, beautiful petrol blue needlecord, Ruby Start Rising fabric and a Keyka Lou pattern.

I did buy this cord for another bag pattern but when I saw it next to the Ruby Star Rising scrap (won from Sarah at Pings and Needles) it just screamed 'Bucket Bag' to me.  I'd seen lots of nice versions on the Keyka Lou Flickr Group but until now hadn't found the fabric combination for my version. I have to say that this bag was the most stress free pattern I've used. I didn't unpick a single line of stitching, which is a complete revelation to me. Usually I rush through a pattern making stupid mistakes but not on this one. Once again Michelle's pattern is so clearly illustrated and written that I would have no problem recommending it to anyone and everyone. 

I added an inside pocket to keep my mobile in and a keyring to save me having to empty my whole bag  to find my keys. This also meant I could use some more Ruby Star Rising fabric, don't you just love this stuff?

I'm still not entirely convinced about the iron on interfacing I used, Vilene White Firm Flexible Iron-on VS320, it does a great job but maybe still a wee bit  bit carboardy but that's my only a minor niggle. I'm loving the shape, colour everything about this bag and I'm retiring my last creation in favour of this one. 

Now you might be forgiven for thinking that I'm only waxing lyrical about this pattern because I now have a Keyka Lou sponsor button on my blog. Not so, I joined her affiliate scheme because I rate her patterns so highly and I fully intend trying many more of them myself as I know they'll come out really well. I've already made her Shopper (not blogged yet)  and Camera Wristlet patterns and next on my list is the Curvy Clutch or maybe the Small Satchel.... I mean you can never have too many bags can you? Although I'm not sure when I'd use an evening bag, since I'm hardly a socialite but you can but hope.

Bye for now

Nikki

Orla Kiely Charity Bag at Tesco

I love, love, love Orla Kiely designs and I guess many of you do too. Unfortunately my wallet doesn’t love her quite so much but there is hope. Together with Tesco she has designed a range of Orla Kiely reusable shoppping bags to raise funds for charity.




They’re only £4 and 50p of that will be divided up between CLIC Sargent the children’s cancer charity and Orla’s personal charity.

My local Tesco probably doesn’t have any yet (running out of bread and milk last time hubbie made the trek) but as soon as they do I’ll be snapping 1 or 3 up.

Bye for now

Nikki

the very slouchy hobo bag

I am taking part in the Monthly Craft Challenge on the Cloth Nappy Tree Forum. Every month a new challenge theme is chosen and August's theme was bags. There were quite a few pattern suggestions and I really liked the look of the Hobo Bag pattern.

Well after being sidetracked by a few things I've finally finished it. I bought this rather nice Robert Kauffman cord fabric to make it from and I already had some Amy Butler solid fabric to use for the lining.

I do like it but there are a few things I wish I'd done differently........

The pattern calls for Pellon 65 interfacing which I didn't have so I used Vilene heavy weight interfacing instead. On reflection this was not firm enough and I should have used some iron on interfacing as well as the sew in as the bag is very slouchy. I don't mind slouchy but that's not what I was looking for in this bag.

Another niggle is that I got so far into the pattern and then realised that I didn't have a magnetic snap for the bag closure, (I'm convinced I do have a few but currently I can't find them)  so I ordered one. When it arrived I promptly sewed the lining to the outer without fitting the fastener first, duh! I thought I would just give it a miss and carried on to complete the bag. Of course when I tried the bag out I realised it did need a fastner and then had to unpick a small section on both sides to insert the snap, aargh!

I did try to use top stitching thread on this project but for some reason my bobbin kept jumping causing skipped stitches and bird's nests of thread so in the end I jst stuck with standard thread. This was no doubt a tension/needle issue but I was close to loosing interest all together by this point so couldn't hack trying to solve the problem after the first couple of attempts. I used plastic canvas for the hidden bag base instead of the foam specified in the pattern and I'd definately use it again and goodness knows how much more slouchy the bag would be without it.

Anyway, here it is .... all my moaning has nothing at all to do with the pattern which is great and free too. This photo is not the greatest so will probably update it tomorrow.

Just to go on about interfacing a bit more..  I did discover some iron on interfacing at Gone to Earth called Vilene White Firm Flexible 2VS320  which sounds promising for future bag projects so I'll let you know how I get on with it. Gone to Earth have a great bag making section and I find their prices and service to be very good so would recommend them highly. I also found the Nicole Malalieu Design website which gives you loads of info on bag making including interfacing for bag making (pity I hadn't found it before I started this project).  She seems to really rate Vilene S520 interfacing which I've only tracked down in the uk here but that will have to wait for another time. Anyway if you've made it to the end of this post, thank you and goodnight :)