Category Archives: sewing

Silly new cozy.

Posted on May 9, 2011 by SewTara| 4 Comments

I don’t even remember how but I stumbled up on LittleRedAfro’s Etsy shop one day and saw this really funny little painting she had done.

I contacted her and asked her if she minded me putting it on a cozy. She said go ahead and just let the world know it was her idea. So behold my cozy based on her little painting.

 

I think it’s pretty funny, but I’ve got a dorky sense of humour. I’m making one for her as a thank you for letting me have some fun with her design. If you want one you can get one here.

→ 4 Comments

Posted in cozy, embroidery, fun finds, sewing

Tagged , , ,

Budgeting with the zippered pouch system.

Posted on May 7, 2011 by SewTara| 14 Comments

My hubby and I have been using Mint.com for our household budgeting, we keeping track of the money online.  But somehow we’re messing it up so we’re going to keep the cash at home.  Instead of boring paper envelopes I’ve decided to steal this idea and make some zippered pouches. I’ve made a lined & zippered pouch before but couldn’t seem to find the link again, so I just used a few I found after Googling for instructions/a tutorial.

I gathered up all my various scrap swap scraps and pieces together some fun colour combinations.

I just pieced them together stripe by stripe.

Then cut them down to the right size.

I cut some plain cotton for the strip of fabric to stamp the lettering on the front.

I used Staz-On I had at home and some $1.50 alphabet stamps I picked up in those impluse buy bins at Michael’s.

We left all our bill money in the bank so we can still pay those online and we have cash in our ‘envelopes’.

→ 14 Comments

Posted in DIY, scraps, sewing, tutorial-ish

Tagged , ,

So I’m making a bag . . .

Posted on May 5, 2011 by SewTara| 7 Comments

I’ll let you get over the shock . . . .

I had it all cut out and almost ready to go when I found this cute little tree print at the bottom of my fabric crush drawer and now I’m rethinking my choices. The main fabric is this cute Little Red Riding Hood print.

Then for the side pockets I’ve got this brown polka dot fabric lined up. For the big pocket I’ve got the red polka dots ready to go.

But then I stumbled upon this fun brown fabric with little apple trees on it. The colours fit with the bag perfectly but I’m wondering if it would be overkill. Thoughts?

Here’s what the bag looks like assembled, front view and back view. It’s from Quilt a Bag, my new favourite purse making store.

The lovely Pheobe at the store was worried about selling me the pattern since English is not her first language and she’s not sure the instructions are well written. I offered to be brave and give it a try. So far I’ve just cut out all the pieces but over the weekend I hope to get down to some actual sewing. Wish me luck!

→ 7 Comments

Posted in sewing, uncategorized

I made a purse!

Posted on April 25, 2011 by SewTara| 7 Comments

I know, you’re shocked right?

When I went to the Creativ Festival I hit upon 2 super exciting booths in the last aisle (apparently where I should have gone first). The combined powers of those booths have spawned this amazing purse. Oh and me staying up until 1:30 possessed with finishing it. That’s misleading, it’s a really quick bag to make, I just wandered down to my craft space really late.

Both of these booths were so crowded I had to fight my way to get to the things I wanted. At the Kallista Quilts booth I was amazed to see some Echino fabric. I have never seen any in person so it was great to get to pick from some pre-cut pieces and buy some right off the bolt. Kallista Quilts are also on Etsy if you care to see their selection. They have great quality Japanese linens.

A few booths away I found Quilt A Bag. These ladies also carry some lovely Japanese fabrics, some of the more cutesy stuff I like. They also carry all sorts of fun things to make bags and purses and totes and change purses . . . all of which are my weakness. I’ve got a little rule in place to curb my addiction, I’m not allowed to buy myself another bag/tote/purse/etc but I sure am allowed to have a new one if I work my butt of making it!!

I bought a kit for the vest bag but then went ahead and made it using a $5 piece of the Echino I got, it was just enough, a random fat quarter and I used the piece they included in the kit to line the bottom. I also got fancy and added an interior pocket and a magnetic snap.

I was really intrigued by the webbing used for straps. It was super easy to make the bag, there’s no turning because the webbing hides all the raw edges. Just fold it over and sew it on!

I’m so happy with how it turned out. Now to tackle the key ring coin purse.

→ 7 Comments

Posted in sewing

Tagged , , , ,

Purse clutch formy things are pretty awesome, who knew?!

Posted on April 20, 2011 by SewTara| 4 Comments

Ok I’ve had one of these at home for a while now and I’m happy to say not only have I figured out how to use them but I really, really like it! Now I’m on the hunt for more, which is proving to be more difficult than I thought. I’ve been to 4 stores already, sewing and fabric stores, and no luck. Might have to resort to online.

Anyhow here’s what I made, it’s officially my new change purse and super duper lovely.

Now I might have to change my change purse everytime I switch my purse/tote/bag . . . *sigh* I’ve created a monster.

→ 4 Comments

Posted in sewing

Tagged , ,

Happy Tuesday

Posted on April 19, 2011 by SewTara| 5 Comments

Hello if you’re popping over from My Girl Thursday! If you aren’t, head on over there’s a big giveaway right now.

I’m ridiculously excited about something I made on the weekend. Which is kinda funny since it’s made from garbage. I’ve had this idea for months and finally got around to making myself one.

Back at the beginning of my blog I took apart my hubby’s beloved travelling backback. He was throwing it out and I figured those buckles and straps would come in handy some day. Turns out I was right. I used the clasp, a D ring and the other little thingie that makes the strap adjustable. I was on a role Sunday making this and realised I didn’t have any new straping so I decided to use what I had from that backpack. Note: Don’t use 10 year old backpack straps on new creations.

It holds a ton, and can handle weight, that I knew already from my beach bag. There’s my ipad, purse organizer, coin purse (all made by me), wallet and a few other things.

I hung the bag on the hook overnight full of all my things for work, including my camera to take pics. Then as I walked out the door wearing it the strap broke. So I quickly resewed it. It broke again. It was so brittle it was just snapping. I tried to tie it in a knot just to make due and get to work and it just snapped each time. So last night I replaced the strap with new materials after a stop at the sewing store on the way home.

→ 5 Comments

Posted in repurposing, sewing

Tagged , , , , ,

120 juice pouches = 4 totes

Posted on April 18, 2011 by SewTara| Leave a comment

I had the great chance to be home alone for a while during the day last week. So I brought my ‘juice pouch sewing machine’ up to the bright sunny kitchen, listened to some music and got some gifts and orders all done.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in repurposing, sewing

Tagged , ,

Hippity Hoppity

Posted on April 17, 2011 by SewTara| 3 Comments

Here’s a peek at the bunnies I made for my little bunnies.

They’re really easy to make so there’s still time to make one for the somebunny special in your life.

You can get the pattern here.

→ 3 Comments

Posted in gifts, kid fun, sewing

Tagged , , ,

Vintage haul

Posted on April 16, 2011 by SewTara| 7 Comments

I found some really fun stuff thrifting last week.

There’s that pillow case I turned into a lovely headband, and actually 2 other projects that remain to be revealed.  That patchwork stuff is a big chuck of fabric.  I couldn’t resist picking up the Star Wars sheet.  My hubby still has his childhood Return of the Jedi comforter that he uses every night.  When I make our bed I hid it under our nice duvet.  Someday, when we have more rooms I think I’ll make a guest bed with Star Wars bedding.

I found this lovely gem and couldn’t resist.  It’s too bad I already made library bags for the boys when I took Home Ec because this would be perfect.  Maybe I’ll rename their library totes something else and wip up some with this anyway.  You can never have enough totes right?  Is it wrong to push my addiction on to my children?

 

→ 7 Comments

Posted in fun finds, kid fun, sewing, vintage

Tagged , , ,

Fabric swap goodies sent and received.

Posted on April 13, 2011 by SewTara| 6 Comments

I had this entire post written last night and just had to add one more image. When I woke up my browser had crashed and despite hitting ‘save draft’ there wasn’t one. Grrrr.

On a good note I get to relive all the goodies I was sent! My first package come from Ali in England. Pardon this first picture but I took it at night, which is a good thing because the delicious chocolate treats didn’t make it till Mr Sun reappeared.

She makes these awesome little crocheted snowflakes and I shamelessly asked her if she could send me one.

There were such fun things in my package. Scrap swapping is addictive. It’s like small scale fabric collecting/hoarding but for free!! The best of so many worlds.

I know wiener dogs have a fancy pants long technical name but can’t the world just hold vote and agree that ‘wiener dog’ is much more awesome than Dachshund?

Here’s a peek of what I sent her. You can see all of it on her lovely blog post.

Along with some handmade fun.

And because there was an extra person I had 2 partners and sent the lovely Victoria some fun things. She wasn’t able to participate after all and tried to back out but I said I’d send her some stuff anyway. I think I can spare some fabric.

→ 6 Comments

Posted in scraps, sewing