2014 In Pictures

In under three hours it will be the New Year here so thought I'd quickly post the things I made in 2014. I must say I'm pretty chuffed with myself. I had no idea I had made so much.

January

 



February

 



March

 

April

 

May

 



June

 



July

 



August

 

The scraps in the top right hand corner of the photo below are from a project I tested, the pattern hasn't been released yet so I'll show that in 2015.

 





September

 



October

 



November

 



And Finally December

 

There are still a couple of bags left to show you from this year one of which I'll be posting during the first week of the new year. The other I have to wait for permission.

 

In my previous post I showed you hearts I was making for Valentines Day. Since then I have made another 12 in red and white polka dots which you can see in the bottom right hand photo.

 





I've enjoyed every minute of making these creations this year and being able to share them with you is an added bonus. Thank you all for taking a look and for leaving comments.

A very special thank you to all the wonderful designers I test for that make these creations possible, without you this post would be very bare.

Wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year. I've already got January planned out and it's fully booked but I'm sure I'll make time for anything extra that should crop up.

~ Maria ~

Hearts, Getting Ready For Valentines

Christmas is over with. Hope you all had a wonderful time. Now we have the New Year celebrations to look forward too. There's nothing I like more than seeing the New Year firework displays shown on the tv taking part all over the world.

I just finished making a bag that I will be doing a review on but thought I'd show you that in the New Year. For now I'm getting ready for Valentines. Yes you read it right, I didn't get the time to make any decorations for Christmas so I'm starting now to be ready for Valentines Day.

I've started off with stuffed hearts. Here's my first 10.

I adore this fabric which I found in a new shop in our town on Christmas Day. It's for making sheets so it's really wide, 2.5 meters wide. I bought half a meter of this colour and two meters with pink flowers. I used the lilac coloured one for the lining on the bag I'll be doing a review on so I'll need to stock up on some more before they finish their stock.

Valentines wouldn't be valentines without some red and white polka dot hearts. I had enough of this fabric to make two then went and bought some more of a redder and smaller polka dot.

Here are twelve more waiting to be stuffed. I'll also be making some Valentine coasters once I've finished with the hearts and then I'll send them on to my daughter to sell at the craft fair.

Wishing all of you a Very Happy New Year for 2015.

~ Maria ~

Get Up & Go Sling Bag X 32

My daughter came home for a week becasue she was tired and needed a rest, so what was the first thing she did when she arrived, she went straight to my sewing room and said 'mum teach me to make an easy quick bag'. I knew straight away which one to choose. The Get Up & Go Bag by Jane from Projects by Jane.

I did a review of this bag HERE. Brilliant pattern, very easy and quick to make with loads of detail in the pattern making it perfect for a beginner, you can buy the pattern from Jane's Etsy shop HERE. I showed my daughter what to do and before long she had us working on a whole bunch of them.

After making seven of them like the pattern she wanted to make it even simpler. Is that really possible with this pattern? She said lets make the bottom of the bag just plain so we tried and it looked great. She said these are perfect for the craft fair so we decided to make as many as we could before she left.

Three days later we had made a grand total of 32 bags!!!!

The bands were a killer to make.

Makes me cringe just to look at this photo.

Here they are all spread out in all their glory.

All the fabrics were chosen by my daughter except for six of them which were mine.
I'm sure some of you will guess which ones are mine.

I love the floral fabric of the one in the middle below.

 And the matryoshka below.

It's Christmas Day here and I'm spending it in my sewing room making a custom order for the Kentucky Bag. We had our Christmas a couple of days ago while my daughter was here. Hope you're all having a lovely time.

~ Maria ~

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I just wanted to stop by and wish you all a very Happy Christmas and thank you for making this a wonderful year for me. Your comments inspire me to create.
I've made many wonderful friends through my blog for which I am truly blessed.
My daughter has been here for about a week and we've been busy sewing together but she has to go back home on Christmas Eve so we'll be celebrating Christmas today while she's here.
Whether you celebrate it or not have a wonderful time with your family and friends.

No doubt I'll be popping in before the New Year but just in case a Happy New Year to you all.

May the New Year bring us all many sewing hours.

~ Maria ~

The Paris Clutch

I have been busting a gut waiting to do a post about the Paris Clutch designed by Rahimah Othman. I came across Rahimah on a bags sewing group that we are both on. She showed a photo of her clutch and said she was getting the pattern ready for release. I fell in love with it straight away so quickly sent her a message asking if she needed someone to test it for her. To my delight she said she did and sent me the pattern.

After making the first one I couldn't stop at one so went on to make another three straight away. I absolutely love this clutch. It's so handy, holding everything you could need for a quick trip to the shops as you'll see in my photos.

This is the first one I made. The pattern was very well written with photos and digital diagrams.

Inside the main zipper is another zipper pocket. Mine is a little different to the one in the pattern.
There are also 8 card slots but I just made 4 and left the others wider.
I don't know if you can make it out in this photo below but the inside seams are bound with bias tape. I thought this would be a bit tricky and bulky but it went fine.

The back of the clutch has another pocket with a popper button .

See how much space there is inside.

Cell phone fits with plenty of room to spare in the front pocket.

Or if you prefer you can keep it in the inside zipper pocket.

Here's my second one and my favourite. I adore the floral fabric on this the photos don't do the colours justice.

The third one I chose to do in a darker colour. I love blues so this one was perfect.

In the pattern there are two ways you can make the card slots. One for those using a domestic sewing machine and the other which I have chosen, for those who have industrial sewing machines. The method I have chosen can get quite thick so at least there's another option if you don't have an industrial machine.

This is the fourth and the one I kept for myself. I love taking it out with me. It fits perfectly into my handbag.

I keep some cash in the front pocket separate to my wallet so that if I want to go out quickly and not take my bag I have money and other necessary things when I grab my clutch.

Inside I keep documents like ID card and birth certificate. I also keep my health insurance booklet and other important stuff.

And here they are all together. The first one on the right has been sold and the first on the left is mine. I'm dying to make some more.

This pattern is excellent and I highly recommend it. It's a quick and easy clutch to make and perfect for taking out when you don't want to take a bag with you.

Rahimah has other lovely patterns for sale and all are for beginners. I can't think of a better way to start sewing bags than too start with one of her patterns. If you'd like to make one for yourself you can find the pattern for the Paris Clutch over at Rahimah's Etsy Shop.

Approximate Finished Dimensions :
Height : 5 ½ inches ( 14 cm ) Length :10 inches ( 27 cm)

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to look through all the photos.

Happy sewing

~ Maria ~