Ellen's Esplanade Sew Along - Week 3 (and 4 If You Need It!)

It's zipper time!  For this week, we are going to get all the zipper things sewn and then put the entire bag together!  If you need to stretch this out over 2 weeks, you have time, but I bet you can bust it out!  If you start getting overwhelmed, just do it one step at a time and get up and take breaks.  This seems like a lot, but it's (hopefully) going to come together easier than you expect!

WIP Wednesday - Time To Wrap Everything Up!

It's almost time to pack up my sewing area for a move to a sewing STUDIO!  (or at least that's what I'm going to call it, which sounds fancier than a sewing room.)  I need to get at least some of my WIPs and UFOs cleared out so I don't lose the pieces in the move, or forget what I was doing...

My sewing machine likes to wear purse hats.  Says it makes him feel fancy.

Ellen's Esplanade Sew Along - Week 2

Now that you have your pieces cut out, time to get sewing!!  (I apologize in advance for the quality of pictures, my sewing hasn't been taking place until after dark on most nights and I don't want to stop to drag out the light box for every step!)

One quick announcement, if you post your finished Ellen's Esplanade on Instagram and use the #sewalongcwd you will have a chance to win a free pattern!!  If you aren't on instagram, go ahead and post it on the event or in the main FaceBook group and Christine will be able to post it for you!

Back to the sew along...
First, get the strap out of the way.  This is an easy step that is fast and nice to have done.

Swivel clips from Emmaline Bags - pretty and solid!

WIP Wednesday - April is Rushing By!

I'm still looking for that magical pause button for life, but so far no luck... It's almost time to pack up my sewing sprawl for a move to a new sewing room...which means that I won't be able to sew for WEEKS!!  I might go crazy!  Or, it will inspire me to clean and unpack faster so I can get back to sewing.  ;)  Before I go through sewing withdraw, I'm trying to get everything done, like the Ellen's Esplanade Sew along!

Magnolia Mini Messenger by Blue Calla

Dachshund Boon Wallet

I'm definitely going to use every scrap of this fabric!  This time the wallet is a Boon from XOXO by Lauren.  This wallet is still a good size and lots of pockets, but a little faster and less detailed than some of the other ones!

Ellen's Esplanade Sew Along - Week 1

This is one of the Easy Street Patterns from ChrisW, so feel free to move on ahead if you are on a roll and don't want to stop!

To start out, you need to have the Ellen's Esplanade pattern purchased and printed, pick out your fabric, and gather your supplies.

Judith made this awesome Ellen's Esplanade, looks like leather!

You're Welcome - India Hobo Bag

Not only did I have the opportunity to sew up the fun Neon Character fabric, I also got to play with some pre-order strike offs.  This one is full of Little Maui, and totally cute! You can still preorder it for a few more days at the Little Hatcher, otherwise you'll have to wait for retail!  For another super fast project, I chose the India Hobo by Swoon (affiliated link), a VERY fast project!  I had to do the small one since I only had a fat half of fabric to work with.  I was able to cut ALL the outside main pieces from it and one side of the inner slip pocket.

These fabric look like they were made for each other!

WIP Wednesday - Getting Caught Up...Again...Almost

It's time to start organizing and rearranging my sewing area, which will be a BIG task, so I'm trying to get all the orders out the door and get ahead of everything else I might need for the next month or 2...which means I should probably stitch out more Mulan combs, just in case!

Tab for the Pick a Pocket wallet, Too cute!!

Neon Characters Sandra Saddlebag

Now that I've conquered my fears of sewing with knit fabric, I decided to go for broke and combine it with glitter vinyl!  The Disney inspired fabric is a custom knit from The Little Hatcher and I was fortunate enough to be picked to play with it to help her show it off!  She needed a quick turn around since the fabric is already available for retail, so that meant picking a super fast pattern.  I chose the Sandra Saddlebag by Swoon, one I used before on my mermaid purse, and I exactly followed the pattern this time, no changes to the snaps or pockets!  It feels very pocket-lite to me, but the inside not having any pockets means that whatever you stick in there will just glide in.

All the great characters, no princesses but just about everyone else!

Ellen's Esplanade Sew Along - It's coming !!

I hope you were a part of the shindig in the ChrisW Designs FaceBook group and took advantage of the discount code to pick up your own copy of the Ellen's Esplanade because we are going to be sewing up that pattern in the next sew along!  (Thanks to Ellen and Judith for letting me borrow their finished pictures!)  We will be starting on the 14th, so pick up your pattern now if you haven't already!

Ellen's Ellen's Esplanade.  (confusing?)

WIP Wednesday - Another New Month!

I would really appreciate it if time would stop zipping by.  I bet I could get a petition going to slow down time, every mother would sign it so their children would never grow up.  Or maybe not, there are some days when you can't wait for them to move out of the house and only come back to visit...I'm sure that's not just me...

Disney neon characters!  trying to find the perfect vinyl color...

Super Fandom Sydney by Swoon

Did you ever get a request that makes you sit back and question your own sanity for agreeing to it?  This purse had the potential to be either amazing or seizure inducing...good thing it turned out awesome!  This is for my friend that loves so many different sci-fi worlds that she couldn't pick just one for her own purse.  I did limit her to only 10 fabrics, and fortunately for me, they even kind of went together with similar color schemes!

It's not TOO crazy looking...