Holiday pressies

When we were little our summer holidays involved either an eight-hour train journey to Scotland to visit our grandparents, or we travelled the two-day car-trip down into France to go camping.  To keep us entertained...and more importantly quiet...my mum used to give us a little bag of things to keep us occupied.  It was because of this that I got into modelling with Fimo clay actually which I still love to do now and it even makes me some money :)

Well we are off on holiday in three weeks (our first holiday in two years, not that I am ridculously excited or anything) so I have collected together a few items for Lillia to keep her entertained on the journey and whilst we are there (we are holidaying in the UK so lets face it it will rain).  So of course I HAD to make a bag for all the goodies to go into...

The fabric was given to me and has been awaiting the right project until now.  I was going to make my usual double handled carry bag, but then I thought a shoulder bag with a velcro closing flap would be quite cool so...voila!

And inside there are goodies waiting to be played with, plus some edible goodies too...

I am very much looking forward to using the pom-pom maker...it may just cure my fear of pom-poms :)

I'll give this to Lillia on the morning we go on holiday, she will be very excited, I can't wait :)

And while we're talking about goodies I have a little goody of my own...

I have been hearing so much about the new UK craft mag Mollie Makes that I signed up for the 3 issues for a fiver offer to see what it's like. I haven't read it yet (I'm saving it, you know how it is) but I shall let you know what it's like. It came with a little free craft project so I am already impressed...

Just one more week of school then the fun can begin!

:)

R.I.P My Favourite Jeans

It was inevitable.  My most favourite jeans ever have finally given up the ghost.  The denim had worn so thin it had become impossible to continue to sew the holes that kept appearing.

*sigh*

There was no way they were to be consigned to the bin, that would have been far too environmentally unsound and those jeans and me have been through far too much together to part company forever. No. The only option was to find a new purpose for them.  Thank goodness for Very Purple Person and her Reversible Bag pattern...

My favourite jeans ever and I are now enjoying a whole new lease of life together!

The contrast fabric is a wonderfully sturdy organic and fairtrade cotton from this fabulous UK company.  I added my little wooden tags too...

My new bag is my new favourite and, rather like my old most favourite jeans (ever), we are having lots of adventures together :)

Sewing again

Well, Day One of the 3-week Easter break went very well. My mum took the 5-year-old off for the day and baby Phoebe decided on a nice long three hour sleep instead of her usual half hour power nap.  So I used the opportunity to crack on with a little sewing project.  It's been a while since I have sewed properly. My sewing lately revolves around stitching in name tags, performing surgery on soft toys etc.  Today though I made my return to the sewing machine at last...

My mum asked if I would make her a bag to give to her friend for her 70th birthday and this is what I came up with.  The bottom is remnant suit fabric, the floral fabric is an old Laura Ashley sample, and the lining is organic cotton.

What I like about these bags is that they are mostly one offs.  As I make them mainly from cuts of fabric, rather then anything I have a massive supply of, I rarely make any two the same. 

I enjoyed sewing again, though it reminded me how time consuming it is.  So much equipment required in comparison to crochet!  So, until we have a bigger house with a room where I can leave my sewing machine out and my WIPs laying around, sewing will have to be an ocassional treat. 

Now do excuse me, I have to go and stitch name tags into some school summer dresses...  :)

Why I believe in handmade

(I just posted this in my other home and thought my readers here would enjoy a little crafty eye candy too!)

I love to make my own handmade things, and I love to buy things handmade by others.  In fact I feel rather strongly about it. 

Why buy a generic gift set from the high street when you could spend less, or the same, and get something totally original whilst supporting small producers?

Halloween Spiders by Diomo Glass on Folksy

I am sure those that read my blogs need no convincing, I am more than likely preaching to the choir.


Hair flowers by Calexendra on Etsy

This is all rather indulgent really, a blog-post equivilent of a cuppa and slice of cake :) 

The spiders are my most recent purchase - for my Halloween decorations - they are simply too cute for words, I am tempted to keep them out all year round.  The flower hair clips are from one of my most favourite Etsy sellers who happens to also be a fellow Kentish girl! I wear one or two of her flowers every day, it makes it look like I have made an actual effort with my appearance rather than just scraping my hair back in a hurry :) 

I have a very talented best friend who is a fiend with beads and a wire cutter.  She made the above necklace for her shop and I nicked it before it could get listed.  I wear many of her items every day and I always get comments.  It's great to say, "This?  Oh, it's handmade...I got it from Folksy..." in reply to the where did you get it question. 

Blue and Pink Rose Clock by Elibee Gifts on Folksy

The creativity that is out there in the UK, lurking on Folksy and Etsy, is amazing.

The Green Collection Button Ring by Maisie Wilson on Folksy

And so many people don't even know about such sites!  Folksy especially seems to be rather unknown.

Key to Your Heart Earrings by Lonely Hearts on Folksy

The whole process of buying directly from sellers on Etsy and Folksy is wonderful.  When your item arrives it is often wrapped so beautifully you feel you are getting a gift sent by a friend.

Sterling Silver Textured Surface necklace by Esme Dodsworth Design on Folksy

And the best part is that you are getting something totally original as something handmade will never be totally uniform, will never look as though it fell off the production line.

Vintage Image Christmas Decorations by Silent Theatre on Folksy

So you can always be safe in the knowledge that you carry a little bit of originality with you wherever you go.  Like the brooch on my shopping bag which gets used every single day...

Flower brooch by June at Noon on Etsy

So with Christmas season starting more or less now (yay!) don't forget to buy handmade - your friends and family will be delighted and you will get a reputation for being a great gift-giver!  You know it makes sense.

Bow bag with a zip

I keep a notebook by my bedside.  I use it to write down all the things that suddenly occur to me right when I am about to go to sleep - call british gas, buy water filters, book horseriding for Lillia, and other exciting things.  I also use it to scribble ideas of things I want to make - bags and toys, polyclay characters etc - the kind of ideas that only ever seem to pop into my head late at night.

One such design was a bag with a big bow on the front.  I wanted to try something more challenging than my usual plain dual fabric design.  I also wanted to try putting a pocket on the front.  So I drew up a rather amateur pattern, grabbed some old fabric that I didn't mind wasting should it all go wrong, and got to work...

I have to say I am pretty darned pleased with the finished result!  I managed to keep my seams relatively straight (and where there are wonky bits you can't see them)  I took my time over each element, made sure it was neat and well made, I unpicked several times in order to make sure I got it right.  It was a real learning experience.

But perhaps most exciting for a geek like me is that I successfully added a zip!  I've never managed to do this on a bag before, I didn't even know where to start, but then I came across Made by Jane's Recessed Zipper Bag tutorial and decided to take the plunge.

Woo hoo!  My first zippered bag!  And it looks really good too!  I made the bands that attach to the zip to form the recessed part quite a bit thinner than Jane's, as I didn't want it too recessed.  Also instead of adding a matching band to the outside I just made the outer fabric slightly longer than the lining.

I even added a lined pocket to the inside...

So there you have it!  My first ever zippered bag, I am one chuffed little sewing person :)  Maybe zips aren't that evil after all?

When things get used

I do like it when something I make for somebody else is all new looking and pretty.  Like the bag I made for my mum-in-law's birthday last year...

But I like it even better to see it one year on, propped against the fridge, next to the ironing board, being used...

There's something very satisfying about that :)

Evil zips - the battle continues

Hubby recently had a meetng up north and so stayed with my sister and her boyfriend near Birmingham for the night.  On hearing he was coming to stay my sister immediately requested that I send up a boxy pouch for her.  This gave me one evening to make one, complete it and pack it into hubby's overnight bag.  I considered saying no momentarily, then I remembered she gave me her car and figured I'd better crack on...

She was pleased, which is always a relief when I give somebody something I have made.  I'm not sure what she'll use it for, make-up perhaps, or knowing my sister chicken feed! 

I am really enjoying making these little pouches, though I admit my method of working with zips is still rather haphazard.  I have been making it up as I go along and when it comes to sewing in the zip using my zipper foot I am sure I am doing something wrong.  My process always involves me attempting to shift the bulky "pull" part of the zip out of the way of the zipper foot, sometimes it's really fiddly and I use my stitch-ripper to pull the zip out of the way.  Unfortunately this led to said stitch-ripper meeting a rather untimely end...

Guess that's why it's called a "stitch-ripper" and not "zip-puller" then.  Ahem.

Nevertheless I managed to produce two more little pouches this afternoon, in a desperate bid to get some creativity out of my system and to relax myself in what is turning out to be possibly one of the worst couple of months of my life so far.  Sometimes I wonder when the crap will stop happening.  In the meantime though there is always sewing to keep me sane (ish). 

Lined with one of my favourite organic cottons - from Gossypium.  When I looked recently they weren't doing this in blue anymore, which is a shame as I always thought I might get around to making some pillowcases from it some day.

This one is extra dinky!

So zips and I still have a way to go before we reach a happy union.  My next challenge is to be a zippered bag!  Oh yes, I am branching out.  I designed a big bow design with a lined front pocket, here's a sneaky peak...

More on this soon, as soon as I have finished wrestling my latest zip past that darned zipper foot, there must be an easier method than this.. :)

Shopping bags

I started to play with my blog to make it pretty and better for photographs (they always seem to look so small) and...well...to put it mildly I ballsed it up.

So now I'm grumpy and will require at least two kit-kats in order to calm down.

To distract myself from my irritation how about I share with you some of my latest creations?  I have been a busy sewing bee this weekend.  I promised my mum you see that I would make a bag for her friend, to hold a bunch of pressies and form part of the overall gift, then promptly forgot all about it.  So when mum reminded me on Saturday morning I whizzed into action.

I sewed two bags.  One in a salvaged rose print fabric and organic blue cotton...

Lined in organic light moss green cotton...

 Finished with a little tag....

The second bag is made with hemp and a stripy purple organic cotton...

I made it with longer handles than usual so it can be carried as a shoulder bag.  I was rather pleased that my mum picked the first bag, as I am keeping this one!

It's just the right size for all my bits and bobs and the odd choccie bar or two, and it's such a glorious purpley colour.  Can you see a glimpse of kitkat..I mean...baby bump above?  At nearly 19 weeks now I am hoping I might start actually looking pregnant soon!

Emlyn the Gremlin

My sister gave me her car recently.  Rather nice of her I'm sure you'll agree!  She had a very old little jade green toyota starlet coming to the end of its life, so she upgraded herself and bought a new one.  I therefore inherited the starlet as I was desperate for a car of my own since hubby nicked our family car for work.

In return she asked that I make her a handbag that was "big enough for work folders and a lunchbox and made out of dark fabric as it will spend a lot time shoved under my desk".  I think actually the true cost of the car will be handmade bespoke bags for the rest of her life...

Anyway, of course I am happy to oblige and here's what I came up with...

It is made from old woolen suit fabric and organic cotton gingham and I am really pleased with how it came out.  I took the picture in a bit of a hurry otherwise I'd have popped something else in the shot for size reference, but trust me it's big enough for work folders and a lunch box, and quite a lot else besides.

Inside the lining is the reverse of the outside and in fact the whole thing can be turned inside out and used either way round...

Mmmm, lots of lovely crisp organic cotton!

My sister lives with her long-term boyfriend though.  So if she is getting a gift in the post this week surely it would be unfair to leave him out, right?  Exactly.  Therefore I had to create Emelyn the Gremlin...

Emelyn, unlike Rosie, is a manly gremlin, grrr grrr.  He is about half Rosie's size and is made from the same suit fabric and organic cotton as the bag, it's important after all that one's gremlin matches one's girlfriend's handbag...

I love these gremlins, I sense more to come!