Pencil Case

It really has become my go-to gift.  The kids love them, and I'm hoping that the parents love that they're a small addition to any child's arts and crafts drawer.

So be forewarned....if you invite us to a birthday party and I haven't already made one for you....it's cooooommmmmiiiiiinnnnggggg......

And more pencil cases...

Gotta love how quickly these little pencil cases come together...

Travel Bag

The problem with knowing how to sew is that you can't help but re-invent everything you see to suit your needs better.  Take my new travel bag, for instance.

I wanted a good size bag to use as a carry-on for an upcoming trans-atlantic flight.  I LOVED this bag from Luckycann.  Unfortunately it was a little undersized for what I wanted, and it lacked a cup holder on the outside.  I really, REALLY wanted a cup holder.  So I made one.

Front:

Back (love me some zippers):

I also have a long removeable shoulder strap that clips on to the sides of the bag for hands-free carrying.

Inside (with perfectly sized pockets for my Kindle and sunglasses! - the top zipper closure is tucked out of the way):

An inside zipper pocket for my wallet and a divider.  On the left you can barely see a key fob.

I made a cup holder for the inside and outside ('cuz really, where would I put my empty teacup?).

This is a closeup view of the top of the bag from the outside.  I wanted a zippered top that wouldn't get in the way.  It's a separating zipper on flaps that cover most of the top of the bag.

I love my new bag!  Unfortunately the hardware alone cost me nearly what it would have cost to just purchase the bag from Luckycann.  Too bad the Luckycann bag wasn't a smidge bigger!

Kids Fanny Pack

We got our 4 year old a camera for an upcoming overseas trip, so that she could take her own pictures...and really 'own' the experience.  Of course, you know she needs a camera case.....which got me thinking "what type of camera case could I give a 4 year old that she couldn't drop".  A fanny pack!  TOTALLY.

I found a pattern here, but really only used it for the dimensions.  I will post a tutorial sometime on how I made Miss A's, since I think my way was a lot easier.

Gotta love it when 4 year olds pick out their own fabrics!  How great is that?!?!  She likes it so much that she's worn it for the past 12 hours straight.

Wetbag

I used to cloth diaper Miss A when she was a baby, and I have this stash of PUL (waterproof fabric)....I figured I could put it to good use and make up a little wetbag!  Dinosaurs on the outside, white PUL on the inside...easy peasy.  And can you ever really have enough waterproof storage in your diaper bag?

Target Bag

Have you seen these giant tote bags at Target?  I know, it's not something I made.  But why make a giant mesh swim bag when I can buy it for cheaper!  $9.99 and super cute.  Sold!

Clutch

I made another one of Anna's gathered clutches.  My mother requested one made out of the same material I made mine, but in a smaller size. 

This one ended up being roughly 6 inches long.  It turned out pretty cute (darned red duck cloth, though - really hard to get a straight topstitched line on that!!!), but it's a bit too small to be comfortable to use on the inside.  I'm not sure how much I'm loving it.  Hopefully it'll work for the times my mom wants it!

A bag for Miss Mady

I love kids' birthdays.  So much fun to sew something special!  This little birthday girl loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so I sewed her up a bag.  Hopefully I'll have time to make something to put IN the bag, but that completely depends on what else I get done this week.  Christmas is coming!

I really do love applique.

Over the Top Bag

Last Christmas I started making bags.  I thought I'd share one I made for a young cousin of mine!

The fabrics were a little funky, which I liked.  Hopefully she did too!  It was my first time installing a snap, but turns out they are SIMPLE. 

The pattern is free from allpeoplequilt.com, and is called the Over the Top Bag.  You can find it here.

If you try it, please read the instructions on the pattern pages, which tell you to set the Page Scaling preference to NONE.  I didn't, so I had to fudge some of the bag pieces when putting it together.  Woops.

Aaaaand we're back!

We're back from the big wedding and attempting to recouperate!!!  I have so many fun things to share....like my Mary Poppins Jolly Holiday costume (with matching one for Little A)!!!  I'll do that soon - I'd like to share it and give you a bit of direction on making one of your own.  I think it took longer to figure out how to make it than it actually did to make it.

In the meantime....a little zipper pencil holder. 
Nothing fancy, no big embellishments....I had an hour, and a birthday party, and there you have it.  Nothing a few Party City stuffers can't enhance!

Little Red Clutch

When I asked my sister what I could make her for her wedding, she told me she wanted a tiny little red clutch. 

Love, love, LOVE, this little thing.  Turns out clutches are pretty easy to make - and isn't the hardware pretty??

The clutch handle I got from Lulu After-workshop on etsy.com, and I'm so happy with it!

I embroidered the bride and groom's initials on the inside of the bag, along with their wedding date.  A little keepsake for my sister!

Treasure Bags

Amazing, isn't it, how you can have a huge list of craft things 'TO DO', and yet - stuff slips in.  Am I right?

Like these hobo sacks. 

I followed these instructions from the fabulous Dana over at MADE.  MADE is one of my favorite blogs, partly because Dana does so many 'boy' tutorials.  There are tons of great ideas out there for girls, but boys tend to get the short end of the stick.  Not true on Dana's blog.  Love, love, love her.

These bags were pretty easy to sew together during naptime.  Although, I will say, I H-A-T-E sewing brocade.  HATE it.  It's slippy and unwravels like crazy.  I LOATHE the stuff.  And I swear it multiplies in my stash because I never seem to get to the end of it, although I don't buy the stuff.  EVER.

Anyhoo, the reason why I just HAD to make these is due, in part, to a recent trip to Party City.  Ever been to Party City?  That place is super duper fun!  I found a giant bag of "gold doubloons" (anybody watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates on Disney?).  I know they're bound to buy me several minutes of cooperation during our hours in the car this summer.

Hence, TREASURE BAGS!

Instead of two open-ended strings around the top of the bag like Dana's tutorial calls for, I made it one string, sewn together in a loop.  I figured I'd be rethreading those babies all the time if they could come out.

I kinda feel like I should make myself one.  They look like fun, no?

Now, back to my 'to-do' list!

Teacher Tote

I had a lot of fun at Christmas this year sewing up projects for several family members.  One of my favorites happened to be this red/animal print totebag I made from a tutorial at kojo designs:

Gotta appreciate a little bit of leopard print, especially when it's fuzzy and soft.  I followed the instructions word for word, including all the inside pockets - of which there are MANY.  I'll definitely make this tote again, but I'll probably add a zipper pocket on the inside.  There's no closure at the top of the bag, but the bag is so deep and the foldover flap is so huge you really don't need one. 



A purse for Grandma...

I have been dying to try to make a purse out of clear vinyl, so when I heard my Grandmother was looking for a little see-thru change purse I had a go.  I hope she likes it!  I have big plans to make a similar one for my daughter and I'll take pictures of the process on that one.

This was zipper number two (out of ten) from my Zipit purchase.  Not too shabby, eh?  The first one went into my Gathered Clutch.

On a side note, I know my pictures pretty much stink.  I promise I'm working on figuring out how to take better photos!  I do have the hubs' nice Digital SLR - at this point it's pretty much user error!  Haha.

Gathered Clutch

Have I mentioned yet how much I love Anna over at Noodlehead?  She has a fantastic blog and I love just about every one of her projects.  One of my favorites is her Gathered Clutch.  I made one for a friend a while back, and really didn't want to give it up....

So when I wanted to make a little something for myself to match my new Cosmo Bag, I pulled out the ol' tutorial and had at it.  And I LOVE it.

Here's the back:

I added a small ribbon onto the zipper so it'd be easier to open if my hands are full....like in the middle of a fabric store when I've got two kiddos hanging on me...and a keyring so I could attach it to a ring I sewed into my Cosmo Bag.  Loving this set!

Amy Butler's Style Stitches

A while back I stumbled upon this Amy Butler's Style Stitches sew-a-long.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1615921@N22/

I'm not the biggest Amy Butler fan, but I really think it's just because her fabrics are a bit much for me.  After seeing some of the gorgeous photos of her Cosmo Bag (the first bag in the book) done in some non-Amy fabrics, I fell in love and went out to buy the book right away (Amazon link here).


The book really is fabulous.  Out of 12 bags (including several options), there are only one or two bags in the book I don't like.  I have a girls' trip coming up and just knew that the Cosmo Bag would do me right out and about with the ladies.

And so, I set to work.  There are a LOT of pieces to this bag, people.  A - LOT.

It took a while to put together, but I absolutely love the bag.  I wish I had added a large zipper pocket to the inside, but I simply didn't have the energy at the time and just wanted to finish putting this thing together.  I did add a little keyring to the inside of the bag so I could tether a small change purse....otherwise there's really no safe place to secure a wallet (or anything else you don't want lost in the depths!).  It turned out cute, no?

I will say that I should have followed Amy's directions on sewing the front pleats.  She tells you to fold and sew them one at a time....of course I tried to cheat and fold them all, pin them, then sew at the same time.  I never could get it to lie correctly! 

I also wished I'd chosen a different type of heavy-weight red fabric for the accents.  I chose duck cloth, and since I wanted to use black thread throughout the project, I learned that you can REALLY tell when the stitching isn't perfect.  And it's impossible to get perfect on duck cloth because the dang stuff is so thick and stiff.  Ah well, lesson learned.


I thought about working on this little number next...Project number 7:  The Key Keeper Coin Purse.

Except I realized I needed a bigger 'wallet' for my travels and settled on the Gathered Clutch from Noddlehead.  More on that another day!

Kate