large(er) version of my buttercup bag

Remember when I made my first Buttercup Bag and I mentioned that I was going to make another one, but the enlarged version?  Well, I did... and now I'm finally getting around to sharing it with you :)

I made a few changes with this second bag that I think were definitely helpful, and made it turn out even cuter :)

First, I had recently come across this tutorial for making your own custom piping and thought it was really cool looking.  I had also been browsing through Flickr photos of the Buttercup Bag and got a bit of inspiration from other people's alterations.  Mainly, to use the piping on the bag and instead of having a single strap - to make two separate handles.

So I set out to make my own custom piping to match the lining fabric that I was using.  I didn't have enough fabric to cut my strips of fabric on the bias, but that was really not necessary for this project.  I could see where it would be necessary if we were putting the piping around lots of curved edges, but this was a pretty straight line, so it wasn't necessary.

I simply stitched the piping to the upper outer part of the bag before attaching that piece to the lower outer piece. It's really nice that if you don't get quite close enough to the edge of the piping then you can always re-stitch it to get closer.

Do you notice anything else a bit different about the photo above?

Instead of stitching the pleats in the lower outer pieces, I got a little lazy and just did a gather instead.  Honestly, I almost like the look of it better... plus it was much quicker than having to measure, press, pin and stitch all of those pleats.

For the handles, I simply measured out how long I wanted them to be, then cut strips of fabric (two of the outer fabric, two of the lining) of that width and length plus my seam allowances.  I pressed the edges of each piece and then did a top stitch all the way around to have the two pieces of fabric attached.  Oh yeah, I also used some heavyweight fusible interfacing on the outer fabric to give it a little more strength.

Once the handles were assembled, I just marked where they should be, pinned and then stitched them as I was stitching the outer and the lining together.  Simply make sure that your handles are on the right side of the outer fabric, but sandwiched between the outer and the lining (before it is turned right side out)... sorry, I forgot to get a photo of that part (I know it's a bit confusing, but maybe you get what I'm trying to say).

And here is the final product...

the outside

and the inside

Not too shabby huh?

*oh yeah, I kinda ad-libbed the pocket too - the size that the pattern called for was a little too small for what I needed.

Another difference between this finished bag and the first one I did (following the pattern exactly) was that I did not put in a magnetic closure... actually, I didn't add a closure at all.  I honestly didn't think it was necessary, especially with the double handles.

I've been carrying this bag around ever since I finished it, and I just love it!  It's still a little on the small side for me (I'm more of a big purse kinda girl), but it holds my essentials and is comfortable to carry.

I'll probably try to make another one sometime this year, but try enlarging the pattern even more.  I'd also like to try adding in a zipper closure maybe.

Autism Awareness Bow Tie

I got a message from a friend of mine last week asking for some help with a project.  Annie teaches Autistic children, and has been making some flower pins for her fellow teachers using the Autism puzzle print fabric.

There was one issue though, the school's Principal is a man... and well, she didn't think that he'd be very willing to wear a flower pin.  He does wear bow ties though!

This is where I come in... Annie asked if I could help her make a bow tie for her Principal.  That sounded like fun, and pretty easy so I told her I was in.

So, before she came over I wanted to be prepared and have the pattern and supplies ready.  It's kind of hard to find a free bow tie pattern.  The first one I found didn't really work too well when I tried to print it, so I looked some more and found a post on Greg's Blog.  The instructions show how he used a bow tie that he already had to trace a pattern.  After a few requests, he drew up the pattern to share with the rest of us.  You can find his pattern in the comments on his post.

Anyway, here it is... don't laugh at the photo (this was the best we could do with tying the bow tie - it definitely takes practice)

Cute huh? It will look even better on her Principal (who does wear bow ties, so we figure he actually knows how to tie them correctly).

Have you ever made a bow tie?  Do you know anyone who would wear one?  This was definitely a super simple project and was quite quick to finish.  I could totally see making up a whole stash of these in an afternoon.

Next, I'd love to try to make some already tied ones with an elastic adjustable piece for younger boys.  They'd make great gifts for friends to use for holidays or other special occasions.

---

My Buttercup Bag

One of my goals this year was to make myself a purse.  At least one, and make sure it's wonderful!

I came across the cute little Buttercup Bag pattern on the Made by Rae blog recently.  I was excited to see that the basic pattern was offered free, but then a little sad when I found out that it was no longer free.  The download wouldn't work and after a little research it seemed that it just wasn't offered anymore.  I liked the idea of being able to try it out "risk free" and planned on purchasing the pattern if all went well, so that I could make some to sell in my shop.   Oh well, so much for that plan.

I was ready to give up and find another pattern to try but my mind kept going back to the Buttercup bag... the comments people had left made it sound like the pattern and instructions were easy to follow, so I gave in and spent the $$ to buy the pattern.  I mean, I was planning on buying it anyway... so what's the loss here?

No loss at all! The pattern ended up being pretty simple to follow and I honestly could have finished the entire bag in one evening (about 4-ish hours) if I hadn't kept having issues and sewing my handle inside the lining (totally my fault).  Well, OK... I did pick out my fabrics and cut the pieces the evening before and then assemble them the next evening.  So maybe total it would have taken 5 hours.

Anyway, here is how my first bag turned out... what do you think?

The outer fabric is a thick linen type fabric.  I'm not sure exactly what it is... it's one I found in my stash from years ago - but that's kind of what it's like.  It was a little hard to sew in some of the thicker areas (like on the handles), but if you go slow enough then it wasn't too bad.

The lining fabric was a fat quarter that I had lying around that went really nicely with the solid brown linen.  Oh, did I mention that this entire bag could be completed with less than 2 fat quarters?  One for the lining and one for the outer... awesome huh?

The only thing I don't like about this bag is that the magnetic closure seems a bit heavy for the bag itself.  I probably could have found a smaller one that would work better.  I'll definitely remember this for future bags!  A velcro or zipper closure would have worked too...  I'd really like to figure out how to add a zipper closure because that would be ideal... for me at least.

I've got another bag cut out and ready to assemble.  This time I'm making the larger version - because I really like bigger bags - the small version is wonderful if you like small bags, but I couldn't carry everything I need in it for everyday use.

Do you like my fabric choices?

I've got a gray corduroy (from JoAnns) and some pink/gray patterned fabric (from Hobby Lobby).  I think I'll put some more interfacing in the next bag too - just to make it a little more sturdy.  I've also found some smaller/lighter weight magnetic closure pieces... so hopefully that will work out better too.

I'll be sure to share once I've got this one finished :)

Have you tried this pattern?  Any tips you'd like to share?  Please leave them in the comments :)

---

Headbands!

So I mentioned before that I had signed up for a headband swap over at Take Heart...

I got paired up with the lovely, Kendra from Country Living on the Farm.  She sent me two beautiful headbands... one a little dressy and one a bit more casual.  I had a hard time getting photos of myself (still trying to master the self portrait thing), so please bear with these...

Cute huh?  Thank you Kendra!!

Oh, and of course me trying on headbands with the kids running around at my feet prompted them to want headbands on too...

Experiments with patchwork...

I got this book (I Love Patchwork: 21 Irresistible Zakka Projects to Sew) for Christmas and decided that I was going to start off with the little patchwork bag project.

Photo from book

Cute huh?  I had run across this post and The Crafter's Apprentice and that gave me a little extra push to go ahead and have this be my first project (there were quite a few really cute ones that I was trying to decide between).

Anyway... here is how mine turned out...

Not bad, huh? Well... it was a struggle.

This is my first ever patchwork project... so my blocks don't line up exactly. I partially blame this on the fabric (it wasn't the easiest to work with). Oh well. It takes practice.

One thing that I have found invaluable for piecing pieces of fabric together (quilting, anything patchwork, anything with a 1/4 seam) is my new 1/4" quilting foot. Wow this thing was so helpful!

There are a few things about the book though...

I noticed that the illustration in the book where it shows you how to lay out your squares is backwards. It shows a solid linen square where the patterned fabric is supposed to be. I started laying out my squares according to the book and got confused when I didn't have the right number.

They obviously got it right when they made theirs for the book (it's correct in their finished photo) so It's just lazy for them to not have it right in the illustration.

This is how it should be

Anyway, so I got started piecing and ironing and had all the pieces assembled. Now to attach everything together. This is where the zipper comes in.

well, I started reading the entire rest of the instructions to figure out how everything goes together. I did not like how they had written the instructions to attach the lining though. I really didn't want to hand stitch the entire lining to the bag (and have to be careful enough to not let my stitches go all the way through. Too much hassle!

So, I made a few adjustments - this caused me to make some changes on how the zipper was inserted.

I started by laying my outer piece right side up and the zipper face down on it and stitching it with my zipper foot. This has the same effect as the instructions in the book (which said to press the edge down 1/4" and then stitch with the outer piece on top of the zipper - which would cause the stitch to show on the outside) but mine does not show the stitches on the outside.

(oh yeah, sorry for the difference in quality of the photos here... I just grabbed whichever camera was closest to me)

See?

I did follow instructions for the next steps - but they were a bit confusing. Here is how I did it...

Here you have to reinforce the zipper ends, I slid the tube of fabric around my machine and stitched back and forth a few times at the ends of the zipper. Be careful and go slow - you could easily break your needle if you hit the wrong part of the zipper.

And you get this...

Now you will stitch up the sides. I kept the zipper closed while I was stitching the first side to make sure that it was lined up correctly.

When you flatten your bag so you can sew it, fold the zipper part in half - so that you can stitch right up near the edge, but don't stitch all the way through the zipper this time.

Now, open your zipper (at least enough to get your hand through) and then stitch up the other side the same way.

Turn it right side out to admire your work!

OK, really... you aren't done quite yet.

I followed the instructions for stitching the bottom corners of the bag - except I kind of measured wrong and took it in 1 1/2" instead of the written 1". Oh well. It was too late to change it when I noticed this. It just makes for a smaller bag on the bottom.

Now, you need to attach the lining.

I stitched up the lining as instructed and slid it over my outer piece (you'll have to turn the outside piece inside out again).

When I went to iron down the 1/4" seam allowance at the top (so that there is a clean edge) I noticed that my fabric wasn't quite tall enough to do so. I know that I measured my piece correctly... so there is another flaw in the written instructions.

This is where my trusty Heat-N-Bond tape came to the rescue!

I simply ironed on the tape where I needed the fabric to stick to...

Then took off the paper and ironed my lining down to it (being sure to turn the edges under at least a little bit).

Not bad, huh? Now, since this tape is so strong I guess I could have just left it like that. But, it really did need the top stitching - and it's always usually much better looking that way.

So I took my zipper foot and attached it to my machine again and did a top stitch around the top edge of my bag.  Going around or near the zipper ends was tricky though.

On the end where the zipper pull was (when it's unzipped) I even broke my needle and jammed up my machine for a little bit.  Not cool.

I decided that since I couldn't easily get to that one little bit of area to finish the top stitch, that it could just stay open there.  The Heat-N-Bond tape is holding the lining to the bag, so it's not technically needed at least.

I think that if there were some tabbed ends on the zipper part, like I have done before using this tutorial, then that might have helped a good bit on the zipper troubles.

So, it's done... far from perfect but it's OK.  It will either be used by me... or maybe I'll give it to the girls to play with so I'm not really concerned about it being "just right"... Lessons learned at least.  If I try this bag again I've definitely got some ideas on how to adjust it to make it better.

---

It's like Christmas all over again!

... No seriously... I came home from work today to a whole pile of boxes that came in the mail today!!

What did I get you wonder???

Well, first... our new iPhone 4's came in!

Yep, I even still have the plastic covering on... yeah, it's annoying but it's at least partially protected until my case comes in (expected later this week).

Also... my new sewing machine!

Yeah! I just had a basic Kenmore machine (not sure which model) before. It got the job done. Really, not a bad machine at all. But there were a few things that I discovered that I wanted that it just didn't do.

With a little bit of research and a personal recommendation from my friend Cyndie, I decided on the Brother CS-6000i.  It was super easy to set up.  The instructions were pretty easy to follow and I had my bobbin wound and machine threaded (with the automatic threader) fairly quickly.  I've only done a few test stitches but so far so good!

My favorite thing about this machine so far? (OK, maybe 2 things)... it's SUPER quiet, and I can actually do the automatic ruffle trick (where you tighten your tension all the way, and use your longest stitch to make it ruffle without pulling threads manually) - which I could never get to work on my old machine.  Whoo hoo!  This will probably be one of the biggest time savers for me because... well, I tend to do projects where I need to ruffle some stuff :)

What's next you wonder?  My new bedding... that's right!

Isn't it beautiful? It's the Amy Butler Bucharest Constanta Comforter, Smart Bed Skirt, and Sham Set. It's going to look so good in our room once we get it all put together, and some walls painted, and the headboard covered (more about that later...).  I just got the comforter, bed skirt, shams, and a set of the charcoal colored sheets.  I'm looking forward to making some bright colored throw pillows to add a bit of color to the room :)

See what I told ya?  It's definitely like Christmas around here - except for us big kids this time... hehe

OK, that's it for now... I'm off to go play with my new toys! 

Don't forget!  You can still register for my giveaway until midnight on Friday!

Pom Pom Necklace

I just realized that I never posted about my awesome pom pom necklace that I made.  It was a gift for my friend Desiree over at Chic Inspirations, so that's probably why I forgot to post something till now.

Isn't it super cute?  I'm still needing to get a picture of her actually wearing it (she does wear it... at least she has once to work the other day - I just didn't have my camera with me).

I saw the tutorial for this over at Little Miss Momma, and today I saw she was doing a little linky party and that is what triggered my thoughts to get this posted :)

Anyway, go ahead and check out all the other awesome necklaces and pom pom headbands that everyone has made - there are so many awesome creations out there!

No Sew (Adjustbale) Tutus!

Tutus... aren't they just the perfect item for any little girl's wardrobe? Perfect for photos, and playing dress up, even for wearing just to cheer yourself up? hehe You just have to smile when wearing one... or maybe that's just me - I can't help but smile when either of my girls is wearing their tutu :) It's just too cute!

Anyway, so I've mentioned all the snow we got here... I really wanted to dress the girls up in something cute and take them out for a fun photo shoot in the snow. I thought that a bright tutu would be the perfect accessory to their winter coats and hats. Right?

The only problem was that we only had one tutu and two kids. So, of course... I made one! I think my husband thought I was a little nutty - but he often does, so who cares?

And so is born this little tutorial for making a super simple tutu... for girls of all sizes! It can even be made so that it's adjustable - to grow with your little one... how's that for awesome?

I'll say this now... please forgive me for the awful photos. I was in a rush and just grabbed my little camera... I think you'll get the idea though.

Supplies Needed:

• elastic - a few inches longer than your little ones waist (mine was 1.4 inch width - but pretty much any width will do)
• tulle - I used 3 spools that had 15 feet of tulle each, you will need more or less depending on how big around your child is, how long you want the skirt to be, and how full you want it to be
• scissors
• a large book, bowl, cardboard piece, frame, box, etc to use to hold your elastic in place temporarily

 Start by measuring the waist of your child, then cutting your elastic about 1.5 -  2 inches longer than that measurement.  The extra length will give you room to adjust the waistband when your child grows.

Tie the ends of the elastic together a little smaller than the child's actual waist measurement.  This will make sure that the waistband fits snugly enough to not fall off, but not too tight.

Now, cut your tulle.  If you are using a spool of tulle (haha... say that 3 times fast! ;)), then roll out the pieces and cut.  The length of the strip should be twice the length that you want your actual skirt to be.  Mine was cut to approximately 22 inches.  Keep doing this until you have cut all of your strips.

I cut one spool at a time because I didn't know how many spools it would take to get my desired effect.  I recommend doing it this way to avoid cutting too much.

Now, find a book, piece of cardboard, frame, whatever you can find that you can stretch your elastic waistband around.  This will be helpful to hold everything in place when tying the tulle to the elastic.

Start by taking a strip of tulle and folding it over in half, then making a slip knot over your elastic.  You could also just knot it on there I guess, but the slip knot looks neater and is probably a little more comfortable on that little waist. You can even do multiple layers of tulle at once - this will make it more full of a skirt.

Keep doing this all the way around your elastic until it is as full as you'd like!

If the length of your skirt is too long or the lengths of your strips aren't even (and you want them to be even) then you can always just trim the bottom until its at your desired length.  There is no shame in letting it be different lengths either though... it's kind of fun that way.

Ta-Da!  Try the tutu on your child and watch as she has lots of fun playing in it and feeling beautiful!

Or head out in the snow for a fun photo shoot like I did!  Here are a few photos I took...

And this one (the tutu), I didn't make... but I couldn't leave my littlest cutie out of the photos!

Gathered Clutch

I followed this Gathered Clutch Tutorial at Noodlehead.

I've been wanting to make one (or some) of these ever since I came across the tutorial on Noodlehead a few months ago.  I could never find the time with all the other things I was trying to get done... plus I had never made anything with a zipper before and it was a little scary.  My mom used to complain about sewing zippers so I was kind of scared off from the begining.  But after looking through the tutorials, it really didn't look all that difficut.  Maybe it's different in clothing or something... who knows.

Anyway... it's my Sister-in-Law's birthday and I figured there was no better occasion to try these out.  It's hard to think of something to get someone especially when their birthday is right after Christmas, but I figured this was something different and totally unique.  I hope she loves it!  We stashed a gift card inside as well.

Here's a view of the inside.  It features a divider pocket and 2 card pockets.

Here are a few things I thought of when making this... Notes for Next Time:

As Anna says in the tutorial, the part that is going to take the longest is cutting the pieces.  So true - especially since I wasn't completely following directions and ended up wasting interfacing and outside pieces because I ironed them wrong.  Oh well - I'll just save it for the next time when I need those pieces.

The instructions called for an 8" zipper - all I had was a 7"... so I simply extended the size of the tabs to make the entire zipper piece a total of 8.5" as stated is necessary.  This worked out great, the zipper is the exact right size for this bag.

I didn't sandwich my lining/outside/zipper pieces just right when I was attaching the second one.  Therefore, the raw edges show.  It's not so bad, but it wouldn't look like such a mistake if I had messed up on both sides instead of just the one side... oops.

I think I'll make some bags with it gathered on both sides.  Also, I may use ribbon instead of the fabric band.

I really want to dress up the band a little more.  Maybe I could even take the time for some little embroidery design or something on a solid band.  *If I ever get my embroidery machine then I might even make some monogram ones :)

By altering the size of these some, they would make a really cute diaper clutch.  Great gift idea for any new Mom!

I could really go on and on - the possibilities are endless!