I’m back.

Those are dangerous words.  Perhaps I should have said, “I think I’m back.”  The last several months have been a wild ride, and have included the illness and death of a parent, packing up a house, moving over 600 miles further north, applying for graduate school, getting settled again, and some freelance web design work.  (This site is due for a huge redesign as well, but that’s probably several weeks down the road.)  So, while I hope to be posting much more frequently now, I won’t make any scheduling promises that I can’t keep.

I would like to write some more tutorials, but my sewing machine still hasn’t seen the light of day since the move.  Soon, though.  Meanwhile, I have some links to share with you.

First, a reader pointed out to me that The Buttercup Bag Pattern from Made by Rae is now available with a commercial license.  Your purchase will include the bag pattern in two sizes.  Thank you, Mayya, for letting me know about this!

i have to say always has great tutorials!  Here’s one for a laundry sack that is really too pretty for dirty laundry.

Elizabeth has a free pattern and instructions for the Diana Hobo over on her blog. I think this will be my next bag project.

And the fabric scraps pictured at the top of this post?  I’ll be making a patchwork pillow cover out of those.  Soon.  I hope.

There are quite a few bag tutorials on the internet these days, but I have to say that the Buttercup Bag from Made by Rae is one of the best (and cutest!) I’ve ever come across.  I saw photos and references to this tutorial on several blogs, and just couldn’t resist it.  Rae provides a beautifully done pattern and instructions for download, and this bag is not only easy, but requires very little fabric as well.  If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then you know that I usually change things up a bit when I use other crafters’ patterns.  My only changes here were strap length and construction, the use of a button loop on one bag instead of a magnetic snap, and the addition of heavyweight interfacing on my bag linings.

On both bags, I made the straps with a 5″-wide strip of fabric folded in half lengthwise, then in half again (with raw edges on the inside), and topstitched both edges.  I attached the ends of the straps between the lining and the outside, instead of sewing them to the outside of the bag.  One bag has a shoulder strap, and the other strap is shorter.  I will probably omit the strap on the next one I make.

If you carry a lot of stuff in your bag, this one probably won’t work for you, but it’s so much fun to make, you might want to make a few for gifts.

I usually greet the New Year with enthusiasm. No resolutions, just excitement over a fresh span of time stretching out in front of me, waiting for new projects and ideas.  But so far, I’ve had a bit of a motivation problem in 2009, with little energy to execute the ideas that I do have.  The solution, I know, is to start with something simple that stands half a chance of being completed instead of being put away after only a few stitches, never to see the light of day again.

This Classic Tote from Sew, Mama, Sew! was exactly what I needed. It’s a simple, unlined shopping tote that’s sturdy enough to hold up to some rough treatment at the supermarket.  My favorite feature is the use of French seams, which not only hide the raw edges of the fabric, but add some strength to the bag as well.  I made two of these in one short evening, with minor changes to the instructions.  I left off the pocket and made the bag slightly smaller because I wanted to cut both totes from a very limited amount of fabric.  I also made the handles shorter, because I’m short and more often than not, my shopping bags end up dragging the ground.

Now that I’m back in the creative saddle, I’ll be working on an easy bag with an exterior pocket, which I hope to show you in a couple of days.

I think this bag is going to be my favorite.  I love that you can open it almost flat to easily find your stuff.  I won’t be using it as a handbag because it might be too easy for small items to fall out, but it’s called a picnic bag, and it will be perfect for carrying snacks to the beach.  Since on occasion it will likely be holding a significant amount of weight, I will be doing something to reinforce the handles, and I may use another method to attach the handles on the next one I make.

You can find a pattern and instructions for the picnic bag, along with some other great tutorials, at sewtakeahike.

I found this fabric basket tutorial (courtesy of vlijtig) a couple of weeks ago and have been saving it for when I needed a simple but effective project. Tonight I carved out some time and completed one of these in less than an hour.  That time included doing some calculations to convert metric to inches, plus taking a phone call from my mother.  You can probably complete yours in about 30 minutes if you have all your materials ready to go ahead of time, and if you don’t forget to do things like attaching the interfacing before you sew up the lining.  Not that I ever do stuff like that (actually, yes, all the time). I’m blaming that on my heavily medicated condition at the moment, which is a result of refusing to seek medical attention when I knew I was too sick to get well on my own.

The tutorial measurements are metric, so I converted them to inches (sort of) before cutting my fabrics.  Since it’s hard to measure decimals on the typical U.S. ruler, I adjusted the measurements a little bit.  I cut my pieces as follows:

Fabric A: 8-3/4″ x 2-1/2″ (2 pieces)
Fabric B: 8-3/4″ x 7-7/8″
Fabric C: 8-3/4″ x 11-7/8″
Interfacing: 8-3/4″ x 11-7/8″

Instead of ribbon I made tabs out of fabric, finished to 1″ wide.

And here’s a photo of what I’m really using this basket for – to organize the pharmaceutical chaos on my desk.  You didn’t really think I have baskets of pretty thread sitting around on my sewing table, did you?

As much as I like a zip pouch, I quickly grow tired of the basic pouch with a zipper along the top edge. So I’ve been trying to mix it up a little bit, yet still keep it simple.  When I saw this tutorial over at Javajem Knits, I knew this would be my next zip pouch.  Jody’s tutorial is for a larger pouch than I needed, so I modified the size and cut my fabrics as follows:

Front portion above the zipper – 1-1/2″ x 5″ (1 each of outer fabric, lining, and interfacing)
Front portion below the zipper – 2-3/4″ x 5″ (1 each of outer fabric, lining, and interfacing)
Back – 4-1/4″ x 5″ (again, 1 each of outer fabric, lining, and interfacing)

The finished size of my pouch is approximately 3-3/4″ x 5″.  Credit cards fit into it nicely.

For my strap, I cut a 10-1/2″ x 2″ strip, and ran it through my 1″ tape maker to fold it before pressing into a 1/2″-wide strip and topstitching the edges. 

I made my first pouch slightly narrower, forgetting that the head of the zipper would take up a little space and make the opening smaller.  It’s a tight squeeze for a credit card, so I cut the pieces for my remaining pouches 5″ wide.  And somehow, I didn’t notice that I cut my strap too long, so it ended up way too long to stay easily on my wrist.  To shorten it, I simply tied a knot in the end, and I really like the way it looks.  The side tab on my test pouch didn’t help me much with opening and closing the zipper, so I left it off all the others.  But if I make this in a larger size, I’ll probably include the tab.

Go ahead and try a few of these!  They’re easy and require very little fabric, and make nice little purse organizers or a way to carry some cash and a credit card without hauling around a larger bag.

Like I said, these are so easy!  I made 15 wristlet key fobs in less than 2 hours, and I was taking my time.  For the tutorial, go here.

Tonight I made some small wristlet zip pouches, just big enough to hold credit cards and a driver’s license. They were a special request from my mama, who doesn’t like to carry a large purse while doing her grocery shopping. In the next day or so I’ll try to post photos and a link to the tutorial I used.

As promised, here are instructions for some of the ribbon flowers I was working on a few days ago.  If you have all your supplies ready to go, and your glue gun plugged in, you can make one of these in less than 10 minutes, and probably in no more than 5 minutes.  They really are that easy.

I like to use these little flower stamens, which are available in the cake decorating aisle of your local craft store.  But in a pinch, you can easily substitute a narrow ribbon in their place, and that’s what I’ll show you in this tutorial.

For the small flower I used a 10″ length of 1″-wide wired ribbon.  For the large flower, I used an 18″ length of 1-1/2″ wired ribbon and an 18″ length of 1/4″-wide grosgrain ribbon.  If you’d like a fuller flower, just cut a longer piece of ribbon.

First, remove the wire from one edge of your ribbon.

Next, turn under one raw end of the ribbon and tack it in place by hand with tiny stitches.

Then, with your needle and thread, sew a loose running stitch along the edge from which you removed the wire.  This is your gathering thread.

Pull the gathering thread to gather your ribbon, and tack the end in place with a small stitch to secure the gathers.  At this time, if your ribbon seems to fray easily, you might want to turn this end under and stitch it like you did the first end.  At this point you’ll have a nice little curly piece of ribbon.

Adjust the ribbon until it looks the way you want it.

Now you’ll make a flower center with the grosgrain ribbon.  Fan-fold the ribbon into 1/2″ folds. 

Tie a thread around one end of your fan to secure the folds.

Place the fan through the center of the flower.

Use hot glue or the craft glue of your choice to secure the fan to the back of the flower.  At this time you can also put a little extra glue into the folds of the fan to make sure they don’t come undone. If you’re using stamens instead, glue them on as well.  You could also use large beads here if you’d like.

Now you can attach your flowers to a piece of crinoline to create an arrangement, or you can sew or glue them to your project.  If the ends of your ribbon appear to be fraying too much, clean them up with a bit of FrayCheck or clear-drying glue.

Years ago I taught wearable art classes, and I’ve always had class samples hanging in my closet, most of them rarely worn.  I did wear this red quilted jacket a lot, and it was starting to show some wear, so I felt it was time to give it new life.  This little bag was the solution.  With this particular construction technique, you sew the lining and the outside of the bag all at the same time, so that they are permanently attached to each other along the side seams.  This way, your lining will rest more smoothly inside the bag, and you don’t have to worry about the lining not fitting quite right, as is often the case.

My finished bag measures approximately 6-1/2″ wide by 8-1/2″ tall, with a 3-1/2″ flap.  For this size you will need a 7″ x 21″ piece each of outer fabric and lining.  I also used a 2″ x 4″ piece for my button loop, and salvaged part of the jacket’s front band for the strap.  I won’t be showing you how to make a strap from scratch this time around, so you’ll need to take that into account when gathering your fabrics.  My lining fabric was a piece left over from another project, and the rest of the bag is made from pieces of my jacket.  I also used some thrift-store buttons.

First, I’d like to briefly talk about how I approached salvaging parts of the jacket for use in my bag.  The size of the bag was based on what I could reasonably get from one side of my jacket front. There was also a band around the front and the neckline of the jacket, and I thought that would make a nice strap. I liked the way the buttons looked on the band, so I decided that they would stay.  I thought my seams might be too bulky if I used fabric from the jacket for my lining, so I chose to use something else from my stash that wasn’t quilted.  I cut out what I wanted and put the rest of the jacket away for other projects.

The construction technique I used for this bag is so incredibly easy! Don’t be fooled by the huge number of photos — I just wanted you to see this from a variety of angles. The directions may sound confusing the first time you read them, so be sure to follow the photos.

I used 1/4″ seams throughout, but your seam allowance is entirely up to you.  Just be sure you add a little size to your pieces if you like to sew with wider seams.

First, cut one each of your lining and outer fabric.  In my case this was 7″ wide by 21″ long (8-1/2″ depth times two, plus 3-1/2″ for the flap and 1/2″ for my seam allowances).

Sew lining and outer fabric together across one end, with right sides together.  Turn right sides out and fold with wrong sides together.  Press seam flat.

Measure the desired depth of your bag (here, about 8-1/2″), beginning at the seamed end.  Mark that point on your lining and fold the remaining lining over to cover the seamed end, as shown.  Carefully turn the bag over and repeat this step on your outer fabric.

(The gold stars are on the inside of the jacket, and are now the wrong side of my outer fabric.  Too bad they won’t show when I’m finished!)

Pin everything in place.

Stitch all the way down both long sides of the bag, through all layers.

Now you will have an open end that has raw edges (this is the flap)….

…and an open end that has folded edges (this is the bottom).

At this point I like to partially stitch the end with raw edges, because it makes it a little easier to close up the flap later on.  So, I usually do about 1″ of stitching from one corner toward the center, and the same thing from the other corner toward the center.  Be sure to leave a large enough opening for turning the bag.  You can clip the corners if you like, just be sure you don’t clip through your folds at the bottom of the bag.

Now, reach into the opening and you will find the seamed edge that you pressed flat several steps ago.  Grab that and pull it through the hole, turning the whole bag right side out.  Fiddle with it until it looks like the photo below.  Press the bag flat, and press the edges of the opening to the inside.

Now we’ll make the button loop. Press the long edges of a 4″ x 1″ piece of fabric toward the center, as shown, then fold outer edges together and press.  Topstitch along the open edge.

Fold and place into bag opening and pin in place.

Next, close up the opening and secure the button loop by topstitching along the edge of the flap.

Now, I’ll make a strap.  I didn’t want a long shoulder strap, so I cut my band to about 24″.  One end of the band was already finished, so I just needed to finish the other end.  I opened the band at that end, stitched it right sides together, clipped the corners, then turned it right side out again.  I then topstitched along the entire open edge of the strap.

To finish the bag, I handstitched both ends of the strap to the back of the bag. I wanted some buttons here, so I added them at the same time.  Finally , I added a button to the front.

Fabric flowers are always an easy way to embellish bags and accessories, and there are dozens of ways to make them.  The one pictured here isn’t unusual, but I thought I’d photograph the steps for you while making this one last night, and give you the directions that I typically use.  I also made a very easy ribbon flower, and I’ll try to show that to you this week.

Start by cutting 5 squares of fabric, all the same size.  For my flower I used 3-1/2″ squares, and the finished flower measures approximately 3-1/4″ at its widest point.  You can make these in just about any size you want, but keep in mind that if they’re really tiny or extremely large, they may be hard to handle. You can also use more squares if you want, depending on the look you’re after.  Lightweight fabrics are easiest to work with because they gather more easily and more tightly.  I used a mid-weight hand-dyed cotton, so I have some additional bulk in my gathers.

Fold one corner of a square over to meet the opposite corner, forming a triangle.  Finger-press to hold it in place.

Thread a needle with a fairly long double strand of thread. I like to use something that pretty closely matches the fabric, in case some of the stitches aren’t completely hidden by the button later on.  OK, beginning at one corner, loosely stitch along both open edges as pictured below.  Don’t stitch along the folded edge.

Note:  I’m left-handed, so all this may look backwards to you.

Pull the needle and thread to gather your triangle into a petal.

If you can’t keep the fabric gathered tightly enough, it’s OK to stitch the corners together to secure, as I did on the petal below.

With the same length of thread (don’t cut it off and start over), fold and stitch another petal the same way.  You will be making a chain of petals.

Continue in this fashion until all 5 petals are made.  Shape them together until you’re satisfied with the configuration, then stitch the corner of the last petal to the first one.  You may also need to make some extra stitches on the back to hold everything in place.  Once you have them all stitched together, you can fluff them and play with them until they look good to you.

Next, stitch a pretty button to the center front (see photo at top of post).  Make sure it’s large enough to cover the raw edges and stitching that will be visible in the center.  At this point you may want to add a piece of felt to the back if you’re adding a pin back, or you can glue or stitch the flower to whatever you’re embellishing.

Be warned, the back of your flower might not be very pretty, as evidenced below, but it’s unlikely that anyone will ever see the back anyway.