Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Messenger Bag

So last night I was actually able to accomplish something. This isn't the pattern I was speaking of in my last post, but it's a tutorial I've been really wanting to try. Ally and I went shopping for fabric last week specifically so I could make her this bag but I haven't had time til now...well, I mean, if you call feeding a fussy baby in the middle of cutting fabric as having "time." Ha.


I was surprised at how easy it was to make - the author of the tutorial tells no lies. The straps are really long cause it's supposed to be worn across your chest but you could also tie a knot and wear it as a shoulder bag.


Cute and fun! For reals.





You can find the tutorial here:
Diary of a Quilter: The 32-minute messenger bag tutorial

tic

Monday, December 28, 2009

Practice

So, with Christmas and work and kids and all that, I really haven't had time to sew. I need practice! I go to bed at night with so many ideas in my head but no time to execute any of them.

Anyway, here are a few things I made on a whim a few weeks ago. No pattern, just ideas in my head. The stitching is kinda bad, but I think with more practice, these would be pretty cool.



coaster and pouch



backside. not sure why this pic is so much brighter. whatever.

Last week I bought a pattern for a purse on etsy - looks easy but then again, I'm a beginner. Hopefully I will have a chance to try it this week. We'll see...

p.s. I use that coaster all the time and it works really well! Maybe I shoulda made some for gifts. Oh well. Too late. 



TIC



Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Flannel Baby Blanket - Success!

So, a few weeks ago I decided that LittleFoot needed a new blanket. He has several baby blankets we received as gifts, but I wanted a blanket big enough to tuck into his crib mattress, not too thick, a cute pattern of my choosing, and one that didn't cost $30.

Enter Monaluna Urban Blooms flannel fabric. Cost = $7.75 a yard here.





I had planned on purchasing some organic flannel on Etsy for around $14/yard but on a trip to Wal-Mart a few days ago (on a Saturday smack dab in the middle of the holiday rush) I found some super soft, unbleached, undyed, flannel fabric for $2.97/yard. Yeah. 11 bucks cheaper than the organic one. I guess I can live with that.

Since I don't have a rotary cutter or self-healing mat yet (but I will in 3 days), I had to measure the fabric on the kitchen table using scissors, a basic ruler, marking pen, and some faith that I could cut the fabric straight, which I didn't. Oh, I also had E helping me, which was good and bad. But I won't go into detail here. 

Anyway, after I cut the fabric, I let it sit there for a few hours and look pretty cause I was too scared to sew it for fear that I wouldn't sew it straight (I have a problem with straight lines - cutting, sewing, drawing). It was somewhere around 10 at night when I finally threw caution to the wind and just did it. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined. When I was finished I turned the blanket right side out, ironed it, and had E top-stitch it the first time around. Then I took over and top-stitched the 2nd time. I think it turned out pretty good, considering how worried I was that it would turn out lopsided. 


Here is LittleFoot moments after we finished it:





 Here is another pic of it, up close:



It would appear that Littlefoot likes it, no?


So let's see....


$7.75 for the top fabric
$2.97 for the bottom fabric
1 hour total of my (and E's) time

= a happy baby and his happy blanket


tic