Heidi Foldover Clutch & Wristlet

Here's another bag that is on its way to Quilt Market. Before I got the batch of fabrics I showed you yesterday, Cloud9 had sent three smaller samples they had of Jess's new Holding Pattern barkcloth, so I actually made this before I made the Harriet tote. This is also a Swoon pattern, the Heidi Foldover Clutch & Wristlet. It's a free pattern, in case any of you want to give it a try!

The flap has a zipper closure and a magnetic snap to hold it down.

There is a zippered pocket on the back...

... but unfortunately, I somehow managed to mess up when following the instructions, and the pocket is sewn shut, which I didn't notice until the bag was all finished. Grrr!! (Actually, it's "haha" by now. Better to laugh at yourself than growl, right?) I thought I was following the instructions correctly, but when using patterns with diagrams - as this one was - it's harder to tell what's going on. I much prefer patterns with actual photos of the sewing process. I'm still not sure exactly where I went wrong, but I'd better figure it out, because I have another one cut out!

Next up (tomorrow?)... one more project for Quilt Market!

Harriet Expandable Tote

What do you do when you get a gorgeous pile of fabrics like this...

... shipped to your door? They are samples of Jess's newest barkcloth collection, called Holding Pattern. Cloud9 Fabrics shipped them to me to make sample items for them to take to Quilt Market in Houston the end of this week. I received them last Monday, and of course I sewed... which explains my extra-long absence from the blog.

Here is one of the items I made. Jess and I were gifted the pattern for the Harriet Expandable Tote from Alicia Miller (thanks, Alicia!) of Swoon Patterns, and this is the result.

Although I wouldn't recommend it for beginners, it was a great pattern with lots of details and easy-to-follow instructions. In my usual style, I made it a little more complicated by insisting on matching the print. See how my pieces line up? It wasn't as hard as it looks, and once I had the first side piece cut, the rest were a piece of cake, since I'd cut both main pieces identically.

Also making the bag more challenging was the use of pleather. Jess bought some wonderful yardages from Discounted Designer Fabrics (she ordered one day and I received them the next!), and the one she chose for this bag even has some real leather in it. It is thick and cushy, yet sews through easily. I made the handles first, using my favorite tutorial by Emmaline Bags, because there are no raw edges when completed.

Here are some more progress photos. The tote has zippered expandable sides.

Of course with all that pleather, I was again most appreciative of my Wonder Clips, in both sizes.

I tried something new this time. I've used foam stabilizer before, but this time I tried Pellon's fusible foam. I thought barkcloth would be a good test fabric for it, since if it didn't adhere well and got ripply, the texture of the barkcloth would hide it. I was quite pleased with how it worked out. It seemed to fuse well, and if it's come loose anywhere, I can't tell it. (I need to experiment with it on quilting cotton sometime, because I've heard conflicting reports about it.) I trimmed off all the seam allowances before fusing, so there was no problem when sewing. It makes for a nice sturdy bag.

I tried something else new, too. I'd installed a twist lock closure before but found cutting the hole just right to be challenging. I happened to come across a set of punches of various sizes and shapes on Amazon, so I bought a set. Here's the punch I used. It wasn't exactly the right shape, but the initial cut was made easily with it and then I only had to trim tiny bits away with a scissors.

In case you're wondering... no, I did not wear safety "googles". But I didn't lose an eye or anything, either.

Harriet has a zippered pocket inside, and the zipper installed successfully.

After it was all made, of course came the photo session. I had lots of "help". Jasper was the worst. He's a little too loving... and curious. But he can serve as a size reference, since he refused to take a pic of me holding the bag.

 

Harriet is a very roomy bag, especially when the expandable sides are unzipped.

This next photo was taken indoors without Jasper's help, and it shows Harriet with her sides expanded.

Just for fun, here's a close-up of that matched seam and the topstitching to the right of it.

I enjoyed making this bag, even though I was feeling some (well, a lot of) pressure to get it done on time (I shipped it to Cloud9 yesterday). It was a lot of work, as I counted 47 pieces by the time I had it all cut out, and the pleather made it feel like I was wrangling a lot, but it was all worth it in the end. I think I'd make another, although I'd be inclined to use fabric trim instead of pleather, just to make it a little easier.

BUT... that's not all I made from that beautiful fabric! There are two more projects, so come back soon (hopefully tomorrow) to see the next one!

Gerbera Mini Crossbody Bag #2

Well, where were we? Or maybe the question should be, "Where have I been?" I've been here, sewing (among other things). If you recall from my last post, Jess and I had made plans for three bags. I've now made two of them. Here's what went into the second one, including a change of plans for the strap fabric, which became the somewhat wrinkled stuff on the bottom/right of the pile. I happened to think that a strap out of the light-colored barkcloth would show the dirt awfully fast, so I suggested substituting this. It had actually been part of a pair of drapes at one time. Upcycling is good, yes?

I adjusted my pattern pieces according to what I'd learned the first time around, and everything fit together the way it was intended to. I also used a technique [learned from Erin Erickson(Gilbey)'s patterns] for getting the corners at the ends of the zipper to turn out nicer, and that helped a lot. So everything went much better this time. I was so pleased with how my zippers turned out, in fact, that I had to stop and take photos of them. Ha.

Sooo... here's my second Gerbera Mini Crossbody Bag (from the free pattern found here).

See those nice corners? Yay!

This time I also used the band pleather for the zipper tabs, the D-ring tabs...

... and for the gusset, for a fun change. Incidentally, for this bag I made the gusset in a single long piece instead of the seamed gusset that the pattern called for. Seaming is best for directional prints, but I didn't need that for either the outside or the lining this time, and an unseamed gusset is stronger.

The lining and inside zippered pocket are from the brownish fabric in the top photo.

I'm still liking my little labels... and most of the time I remember to put them in, although sometimes not until it's almost too late. (They glue well, too. Ha.)

I tried something new this time. Awhile back I'd heard about Chicago Screws, and I bought some. They are like rivets only they screw together. Because this strap fabric was so thick, my other rivets seemed too small, and it would've been very difficult to get two lined up straight together. So I went with these, and I'm glad I did. You punch a hole, the same as for other rivets, and then you screw the two pieces together instead of pounding. My only concern is that they might unscrew over time, so I have some Loctite on the way. These are a nice alternative, but I think I like regular rivets better just because you don't have the visible screw slot on one side. No biggie, though, I guess.

(Just FYI, if you consider purchasing the Chicago Screws I linked to above, be aware that even though the description says 1/4", they actually measure slightly more than 3/8".)

The fabric was so thick that I had to make the strap non-adjustable because it wouldn't fit through a slider, plus I couldn't even fold it under decently at the ends, so I didn't tuck the end under and instead just zigzagged the raw edges twice, and I like how that turned out.

Here are the two bags, from Jess's In Theory and Time Warp barkcloth collections for Cloud9 Fabrics.

For details on the needed pattern adjustments, see my first here.

I took the photos in the living room because there was so much good natural light coming in the windows today. Josie and Annabelle were delighted to watch and very eager to help, but by the time I got done, this is what the scene looked like. Poor things - I guess I worked them too hard.

Gerbera Mini Crossbody Bag

When Jess was home, we really didn't get a chance to do any sewing projects, but we did do some planning (of stuff for ME to do - ha). Here are some fabric combos we came up with, all containing some of her barkcloth. We settled on a free pattern from Blue Calla Designs, the Gerbera Mini Crossbody Bag, which can be found here.

I finished one bag this week. For using only three pattern pieces, there was a lot of cutting to do. The strap and tabs were all cut by measurements, and then there was a lot of interfacing and fusible fleece. I counted around 32 pieces by the time I got all done!

Soon after I started sewing, I discovered a problem. The pieces didn't fit together correctly. This piece was off by 1/4" at each end! Not good when the seam allowances are only 3/8". It wasn't obvious before sewing that it wasn't going to fit because it was sewn on a curve. Fortunately, I was able to just trim off the excess and go on.

Checking out the pattern pieces, I discovered that there were a number of discrepancies. The outer pieces (one option was a solid panel, the other was pieced) were not the same size, and only the pieced panel fit with the top band.

Then there was the lining piece. It wasn't the same size as either piece, and besides that, it turned out to be 1/4" too tall, which meant the lining ended up being 1/2" too wide. It simply was too big for the bag.

I wasn't pleased with how the corners turned out, but that was mostly my own fault. I should've used the lining fabric instead of the barkcloth on the zipper tabs, because it was thinner, and since some of the lining peeked out, it would've been less obvious. I should've also used dark thread for the ends there - I didn't realize the stitches would show like this.

This pattern used a technique I'd heard of but never tried before, and that was turning the bag through the inside zippered pocket at the end. It was kind of a necessity, otherwise there would have had to be a turning hole in the gusset, and that wouldn't have looked as nice. This method worked okay, but it did make it much harder (impossible?) to look inside and see if things were looking okay (like my corner mismatch up above).

Also, next time I'll use Erin (Erickson) Gilbey's method for making nicer corners. ;)

I get so frustrated when patterns are 'off'. Don't they get tested before they're released? Do the testers not notice errors or gloss over them, afraid to criticize? Do they report problems but the author does nothing about them? I don't know, but I've sure found a lot of not-up-to-par patterns recently. I think the authors may be in too much of a hurry.

Still, this bag ended up pretty cute. Here's kind of a crummy pic I took quickly to send to Jess to show her the cute plumpness of the bag. It has pleats on each side, which give it the extra fullness.

Despite all, it's not a bad bag!

As I mentioned, it has a zippered pocket inside.

Even though it's small, it should hold plenty of stuff!

Jess also wanted pics of the bag with me wearing it, for a size reference, so I might as well include them here, too, so you'll get a better idea of the size of the bag.

And we think it's cute, so knowing what I know now, I'm going to make another one. I already have my pattern pieces adjusted and am ready to cut. Hopefully this one will go more smoothly and turn out much nicer than the first one!

On a side note, I bought myself a new sewing aid a few weeks ago. It's an LED light with a flexible neck and a magnetic base (which I was surprised did not stick to my 'heavy metal' sewing machine, but my solution for that is a story for another time). It's very useful, especially for sewing on dark stuff at night in my basement sewing room.

I got it from Amazon. There is also strip LED lighting available, but I decided to get this because I thought the flexibility might be better... plus it was cheaper. :)

On another side note, I finally took a pic of bra #3, so hopefully I'll get a post written about that before too long. Just don't hold your breath, okay? I don't want anybody turning blue waiting! ;)

Crafting with Courtney - Guest Post

I have a guest poster this time. It's Miss Courtney herself! She's going to tell you about the other project she made with Auntie Jess last week. Take it away, Courtney!

Hi everyone, it's Courtney ( as you know )!

Two years ago I went to see Auntie Jess and of course you can't forget Uncle Alex. :) We had an idea for a project. First we made a little house. P.S I will talk about the name later in case if you are wondering.

We had fun decorating this cute little house!

Here is the inside, with three beds, a dresser, a window with a curtain, pics on the walls and you just can't lock the keys in your house. LOL!

We made these cute PomPom Puppies that live in the house and sleep in the beds.

Here's a better look at them. Their names are Frankie, Angel, and Princess.

When Auntie Jess was here last week we made another PomPom Puppy..... except this is a PomPom Kitty! We designed it to look like my kitty Zoey. In these pics I am cutting the yarn.

Now Zoey's head is getting a yarn cut. P.S Auntie Jess is doing the butt. LOL! :)

Here are pics of the finished PomPom Kitty (Zoey).

Thank You for reading my blog post! Make sure to leave a comment! Have a great day! BYE!