Category Archives: sewing

Crafty British imports part 1

Posted on December 20, 2010 by SewTara| 3 Comments

A little while ago I stumbled upon some really fun looking craft books I wanted to order.  For some crazy reason I couldn’t find them here but I did stumble across them on Amazon UK.  Lucky me my in-laws live just outside of London right now and so I ordered and had them pile them into their ‘returning home for a Christmas visit’ luggage!

This first one is absolutely PACKED with information.  I’ve only flipped through it once so far, and the kids were around so it wasn’t exactly a ‘deep’ reading but I love it!  It’s called The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam of U-Handbag and has a forward by Amy Butler.  I have to admit, despite my newfound love of creating bags, I had no idea about her site.  It is also fabulous just like her book! Sadly it seems the book won’t be available this side of the pond for another month or two so hope you can wait (or have a British connection).

I *must* make this one, it’s like a grown up messenger/laptop/purse/bag/awesome thingie.  I need it.  The instructions are fantastic in this book and it really explains in detail how to use all sorts of fun hardware that really enhance the appearence and functionality of the bags.  Some of the things I don’t even know the names for, so I guess the book will help greatly!

Here’s another glimpse inside.  The fabric choices are fantastic too!  I think I might have to make another tea and go curl up with this book again.

Lisa also has a section of free tips on her site if you’re in need of some info or if you’d like to preview her informative and entertaining writing before you rush off to try and get your hands on a copy of this gem!

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Well duh!

Posted on December 17, 2010 by SewTara| 1 Comment

Ok so how lame is it that I’m a teacher, and a crafty one at that and I’m only realising now I should have made my son’s teacher a gift!?  Again a sign of how busy I have been these last few weeks.  So while I don’t have a gift to send in with Wesley today I’m totally planning on making this lovely teacher one of these before the school year ends!

It’s super cute, functional, personalized and handmade!! How can she not like it!  From a crafty sewer perspective my son can help with writing her name and choosing the buttons and fabric and I get to use up some of the fun scraps I have lying around.  It’s all win win. Thanks for sharing Make It Perfect!

Probably the reason I hadn’t picked her up a gift yet is because I know how tricky it is as a teacher at Christmas/end of year when you get gifts.  It’s sort of a weird time especially depending on the school you’re at.  Not every student will get you a gift and the ones who do might want to see you open the gifts but you don’t want to make a big deal about it if some students don’t have the means to buy gifts.  It can be awkward.  I’m also a terrible lair and have a horrible poker face and Christmas teacher gifts tend to be of the mug/snow globe/ornament nature, which while totally thoughtful there’s sort of only so many you can have.   So pencil case it is!  Perhaps I’ll even use my 2 weeks off to craft one and send it in for January, random gifts are cool too.

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Posted in fun finds, gifts, kid fun, repurposing, sewing

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ipad cover full of cute usefulness

Posted on December 15, 2010 by SewTara| 2 Comments

I’m not sure why, but I keep taking my ipad to work.  I don’t have time to even look at it while I’m there, and we can’t use the wifi so it’s basically just a fun toy to look at.  I suppose we’re still in that early honeymoon lovey dovey stage of our relationship.

I was just tossing it in my ‘teacher bag’ and figured I needed to protect it a little bit more, especially from the freezing cold!  So I whipped this up last night.

Making this was really easy, I just laid out fabric and cut it a tad larger than the ipad and went from there.  The hardest part was deciding what print to use!! I went with this one because it’s a super fun design and also it’s a canvas so it’s a little bit thicker than just plain cotton.  I might add some red rick rack trim alone the top, haven’t decided yet.

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Product redesign, just in time for the rest of my holiday orders.

Posted on December 2, 2010 by SewTara| 1 Comment

I’ve been toying with the idea of changing my cup cozies for a while.  They fit nicely on almost all disposable cups but I thought it was a bit of an oxymoron that they go on disposable cups at all.  I use mine on a not-a-paper-cup porcelin travel mug but I had to make one a tad bigger so it would fit around it.  Also with my design they can’t go on handled travel mugs.  Sooooo I spent some time ironing out the whole button closure thing, with an elastic rather than a button hole to allow for some flexibility in the different sizes of cups out there.  Here’s my scrap busting prototype.

I also asked at the fabric store for something I could add to the middle to help insulate better and provide more layers between finger and hot cups.  I was introduced to a batting that has a thermal coating on one side which will help keep fingers cool and beverages warm!

Still folds down nice and flat for easy bag/purse/tote/pocket storage when not in use and easily slides onto many different cups now!  So off to complete these last few orders.

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Another craft book? Ok!

Posted on December 1, 2010 by SewTara| 1 Comment

Thanks to cashing in on some airmiles I was able to wander to the book store and browse for a book to spend my gift card on. But, let’s face it, I already knew I was going to head right for this one. Do I need another project? Not really. Another bag? Nope. Another craft book? Sure!

I’ve already used up all my lovely Cabin & Cub book plates, but coincidentally today my custom stamp from here and it’s soooo cool!!  I had it made with the Love You Like a Sister font that I’m totally crushing on.  I donated $5 to the wonderful creator of it, she’s saving to adopt a child and really appreciated the money.  I figured since I’m using it all over the place it’s a good thing I did that way back when.

I’ll edit this tomorrow and add a photo of the stamped inside page but I’m too lazy right now to fetch the camera, take the pics, copy off the card . .  blah blah blah.

It’s so fun to use!!!!

I’ve been stamping EVERYTHING!!

Just kidding!

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I made some pouches . . .

Posted on November 23, 2010 by SewTara| 1 Comment

just a few.

It’s getting closer to my craft sale on Saturday and so I’m continuing my campaign of avoiding the work I *have* to do and choosing to do other things (still productive things but just messing with the priorities).  With the help of my friend Tabatha, who managed to figure out how to make these cute little pouches with the hole on the inside, the slip stitching doesn’t show as much!  Turns out I’m not very good at that step, despite Keyka Lou’s wonderful tips on how to do it. Instead I went on a mission to try and hide it on the inside.

I’ve also got some orders to fill from the weekend. Usually I like to create everything all weekend and ship on Monday but I was feeling a little under the weather over the weekend and the orders were steady so I’ve got a little ‘to do’ pile now!

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Cozy break for a keychain pouch!

Posted on November 17, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

Made this last night as a way of productively procrastinating. I have to make even more cozies than I thought now that I have to replace the load I took to Cup of Tea. I’ve also got some orders in the last few days to fill. I needed a creative break.

So I turned to my favourite pattern maker and whipped something up.

I added the button, which I’m not too sure about. I wasn’t entirely sold on the velcro idea but I guess there’s a reason Keyka Lou is the pattern maker and I just sew stuff!

I’m such a creature of habit, doesn’t it look familiar?

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Etsy shop update!

Posted on November 9, 2010 by SewTara| 4 Comments

My screen was ready at about 7pm on Saturday night and I managed to print and make most of my new designs by Sunday night!  I was so excited to finally be able to create them.  So here’s a sneak at some of my new listings, minus the one in the middle that’s for something special and the gleeky one that’s for a friend.

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Posted in embroidery, sewing

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My productive weekend, filled with cup cozies and such.

Posted on November 8, 2010 by SewTara| Leave a comment

Some how this weekend I manged to find time to create just over 20 cup cozies, 4 crayon cozies and a few tea/sweetener holders (minus the snaps)!!

I also watched 4 or 5 movies on Netflix while doing all this creating. So that said, there’s a shop update in the works while I watch TV.

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Make a Memory, the secret project revealed.

Posted on November 1, 2010 by SewTara| 4 Comments

Ok, I can spill the beans now, the cat is out of the bag . . . insert other silly saying here. Mollie of Wild Olive and I have been busily working on a project together. I had this great idea to make a cloth memory game, something that would last a while and be special because it was handmade. I sat down to sketch out some ideas when it occurred to me that she could make drawings waaaay cuter and better than I ever could, so I sent her an email and asked if she’d like to be part of a collaboration. I was thrilled when she said yes.

As I’ve said before, I’m not familiar with a graphics program, nor do I understand the magic behind making PDF patterns (both on my To Do list I might add) so I figured teaming up would solve those problems. I had the idea and did the sewing, instructions and photos and Mollie added her fantastic designs and technical know how. The PDF is for sale in my Etsy shop, as well as Mollie’s where you can check out her other fun embroidery patterns.

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Posted in embroidery, kid fun, sewing, tutorial-ish

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