Pink and purple - a request.

I said I was never making another one. 

I had made way too many and producing on demand was tiring me out.

But as we all know we should never say never.

And really it was rather fun.

Searching through the old curtain samples, mixing and matching till my mind said it was right. 

I even managed a little pocket inside and for me that is worse than most people's fear of installing zips.

Just hope the little lady likes it.

And then there were two.

A bag

More bags in my creative space

In response to all your lovely comments on my last bag I decided to make a similar one and pop it in my madeit shop.

I have also decided to make a couple of others and will put them in as soon as they are finished.

Here is the next one half way done.

For a peek at what other creative people are doing this week go here.

A bag for Patricia

I find it amazing that a  project that has defeated my creativity for months could suddenly be finished in an hour and a half after midnight.

But there it is.

I was asleep or almost asleep when this bright spark leapt in my brain and next thing you know I had produced the long awaited bag.

Just a little purse bag and not precisely according to my original plans but it is finally done.

I'm thinking that I probably should have nipped the sides in but Pat says it is fine as it is.

Hope some bright sparks leap in your brain from time to time too. 

Bags for Mel

My friend Melanie is going away for a two week school and I thought I would give her some special bags to help carry her loads. 

She happened to mention a couple of months ago that she needed a laptop bag so this is what I whipped up for her tonight.
That buckle was originally on someones belt. Another weighty op shop find.

This next bag is for her big study books.

It is basically like a green bag and doesn't even have a flap. Listening to the rain pour down right now I am wondering whether I should add one quickly. 

This gorgeous print is from a little ebay shop called Vintage Creation. 

There are so many superb prints and it was really difficult to choose one. The print ended up being larger than I thought and as I am too tired to think straight it hasn't been framed as nicely on the bag as I wished it was.

The lining was made using an Ally X shirt from the oppy. 

The fabric is cambric which I simply adore working with as it always does what you want it to. 

I love the way the shirt details have added individuality to the bag. That last button on the top is to cover the fact that my measuring was lousy and I simply tucked at least an inch in instead of recutting it.

Thanks for stopping by.

I think I'll go to bed now and enjoy the rain on the tin roof.

First clutch for New York

This is my first version as a trial of the pattern.

It is an all in one piece but next time I think I will add the flap in seperately. 

I didn't like turning the inner corners although this may be the best way to have a neat, compact finish. 

The lining has it's own reinforcement made by cutting heavy sunblock fabric to the exact size of the finished article and top stitching them together in a pleasing pattern.

I think that worked because it means there is no extra bulk in the seams but the piece is still stiff.

The strap is one of my Mother's necklaces. 

Next time I need to use a smaller magnetic closure and place the magnet on the flap so there is less interference with credit cards. 

Also a flat button would have been better than one with a shank.

Other creative spaces are here.

My creative space

 Just dabbling with material this week.

A recovered memo board, a matching shoe bag to use up the left over fabric and ribbon and a new bag to hold the Dad's stapler.

More non-bedroom sewing

Still further derilection of duty occured in order to make these little girls bags, suddenly requested for a friend's two and three year old grand-daughters.

 They are completely made from stash items and were quicker than normal because I made the executive decision that such little girls don't need pockets.

I can't say no

I mightn't have the energy for much but I still won't say no to a foray into the op shops when I am forced to go out for important things like more library books or new glasses.

I've found heaps of great doilies and I am happy to say the prices have gone back down to reasonable amounts. 

Some gorgeous tablecloths - hopefully I will get to the point of showing you some of these in their refashioned states.

Also a couple of bags that I am trying to sell on ebay. This leather is what I absolutely wanted back in the eighties but couldn't afford.
Now that I find one for next to nothing I can't use it because DD2 can't stand second hand things.
Another funny thing about this bag is that it is genuine cowhide from India. Who woulda thunk it?!
  The leather has a definite offer on it which is exciting because I've never sold via ebay before and the other is going to the lady I bought it for in the first place if no one sees it's beauty from the photo.

This little tot sized beauty definitely reminds me of dorothybills but I am afraid her daughter is too big for it now so it will have to hang around my house till I find the perfect person for it.

Bags on Madeit

Yippee!!

I've finally listed some bags in my madeit shop.

No white backgrounds.

No fiddling with photos or worrying about wording. I just did it.

And it sure feels good!

Yeehah!!!!!

SOLD

A finished bag

Well it is finished and my daughter says it is good enough to sell so when I get the correct photos taken I will be uploading this one and the other two in  my room to my shop.

This is all made from curtain samples except for the vintage doily and new button!

Another post for Cam

Today Miss CurlyPops informed us that she is again holidaying in her room with a view and asked for additional reading matter from all of us.
So here goes: 2 posts in one day!!
Only for you CurlyPops.

On Friday my little one year old friend (translations courtesy of her mother) asked for a bag. She wanted a pink one, shabby chic style and just short handles.
This is what I came up with - all out of the stash.
The main body uses a heavy cotton overlaid with a course, square pink doily. I've used a fair bit of vlisofix to hold the crochet in place but it is also securely stitched.
I forgot to take a photo of the back which has a small round doily, with about a sixth folded under, sewn on for a pocket.
Apparently my little friend likes it so much that her mother says it will not stay pink for long.

Another giraffe nappy bag

Another bag off the incredibly slow production line. I was asked for this one a couple of months ago, got nearly to the end, found there was a zip missing from my repertoire and promptly forgot about it.
Until a fortnight ago when the lady asked whether it could be finished by the 19th because the mum-to-be wanted to use it for her hospital baby supplies and the middle person was coming up to collect it on that date.
So in a mad flap I refound it and then proceeded to do everything to not get it finished. Afterall, a fortnight is 13/14 days and I had a wall to build, loads of washing to attack and I didn't even know where the sewing table was because it was buried under miles of other essential jobs.

That was how life went until yesterday.
Yesterday was the 19th and I hadn't done a thing except to buy the zip. I still didn't want to do it though.
The rebel inside said I needed to change my entire room around and maybe I still wouldn't have the time for it.
So I changed the room around, wandered off and had another long nap and finally at around 8:30 in the evening decided that in all honesty and fairness to my dear friend I had to get stuck into the final few seams.

Wouldn't you know it! I really enjoyed the process.
Sewing is fun.

I've used a heavy weight black backed curtain fabric from spotlight and lined it with a black and white alphabet cotton from the same shop. The straps should be long enough to hang over the pram handle. The flap has a preprinted giraffe panel and it closes with a magnetic snap.

Just a touch of sewing in between the man jobs

I finally got my mojo back sometime last week after all that white painting and rearranging of our home, only to have it cut short by work last Thursday and then an annoying case of back spasm for the last couple of days.

But I am still loving what I have done.

One girlfriend put in an order for an all black nappy bag for her niece, with maybe a giraffe or monkey, and the other one found me some black denim that she thought would work a treat for it.

However, I wasn't too keen on the denim, as the niece had specifically asked for black and I have a feeling that the denim will fade, so I bought a meter of some sort of sun blocked black curtain fabric from Spotlight. I have used this before and it holds it's shape and colour well.

I really would have loved black canvas but, alas, it is not sold in my part of the world, if anywhere.

Anyway, I cut out the black straps, then thought I might as well use the denim for another bag and cut out staps for it too as they are the fiddliest bits in this pattern.

I've been toying around with the subtlety of lining the underneath of the strap with a paterned fabric and this is what I came up with. Scraps of leftover Ikea fabric cunningly sown together

Not entirely subtle but I think it definitely has possibilities.

But those possibilities will have to wait while I put in a new floor and line the walls of the garage, depression era style for my new boarder!!
I honestly can't see any paint in this job but loads of vinegar, the odd spot of rapid set (never touched concreting before. EeeK!) and tons of hammering.

Last weeks creative space is finished

Started this one ages ago but the humidity and the listness that summer brings has finally been overcome and with a "whoopee" it was finally finally finished yesterday.

I showed a mutual friend of the new owner of it and she said it was a 'professioal job'. But I know that is just because I used the sort of material (3 pass blockout from the curtain shop!!) that will hold it's shape.

Speaking of shape, I shaped the single handle, making it wider at the bases, so that it would keep the bag more squarish than wedge shaped.

The inside is overloaded with pockets just for the fun of it.

The middle one has the all the family's nicknames on it because I had already pieced the light piece in before it occured to my slow brain that it stuck out like a sore thumb.

My creative space

I mentioned in a previous post that I do not have a camera at the moment so these photos are ones I prepared earlier. That does not mean, however, that I have advanced any from this stage.

This bag front, incorporating some of Gina's machine sketching, is for a Mummy who asked for a bag like the ones I make for her kids. Just a bit posher that's all!

On the sew again

I'm trying to do something productive even though the humidity here is really tiring me. I just don't want to do anything or say anything but when I looked at my stats the other day I felt really guilty. Thankyou to all my loyal readers.

I also felt rather guilty about not getting this bag made for the young man who needed it. Actually, it was more his mother who needed it as he already has one of mine from a year ago. The last one though was made with light coloured fabric and that is not a good idea for a six or seven year old. Needs too much washing to be decent! Another lesson learnt along this fun road.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, this is what he will get. The exterior is made from three vintage serviettes and the lining is left over from a quilt I made a few years ago. And finally the boys get interior pockets as well. I think that should make them feel as special as their sisters.

More boy things