I got to bag it up

This one was a challenge. This one stumped me.  This is one I am very happy to finish! 

About a year ago, DJ Tripp asked for a custom messenger bag. 

Ok, I thought. 

"It would be special messenger bag that can hold records" he said. 

O…K….. I thought. 

"It would be able to hold 45s in a pocket too" he said.

Of course….. I thought.

"It would be sturdy enough to hold a laptop" he said.

Naturally...

"The cover would be houndstooth, than it would have an alternating fabric on the side and adjustable straps" he said.

…..

"You better draw me a picture" I replied.

I haven't made anything without a pattern at this point. I thought about making a custom pattern and sewing up a prototype. I didn't get as far as I wanted. I searched the internet for similar bags, to no avail. I even considered paying someone on Etsy to make the bag.

Then one day, fabric, a strap, buttons, strap attachments and a strange messenger bag pattern appeared at my sewing area.  

"It's gonna be like this, but without the patchwork, and big enough to hold records and no back pocket."

The supplies sat there for a while. 

I didn't know how I was going to adjust an existing pattern that much. I didn't know where to begin with drafting my own. In the end, I got a new pattern that I felt comfortable with and just adjusted it an inch around to ensure that records would fit inside. One day I will be confident in my skills to draft patterns. I have been reading about it and there are some great resources out there. However, I also think just getting more sewing under my belt will teach me some techniques to add. 

Here's the pattern I used:

The nice things about Amy Butler patterns: they are on paper-not tissue and the instructions are relatively easy to follow…  Lesson learned on this project: buy more fabric than you will think you will need (or make sure the person buying fabric does) and/or make sure you finish it in a timely manner. I ended up buying more brown canvas to finish the bag and by the time I went to Hart's the particular brown was discontinued. 

Since I've been told these are too long, I will just finish off with some pictures. 

General schematics, the bag ended up slightly different in the end.

Voila!

It's sturdy! It includes a front pocket, an inside hanging pocket with zipper, and another inside utility/pen pocket, a front flap with inside zipping pocket and adjustable straps.

I think he likes it!

Gratuitous record collection shot.

Now, it is time for a bag hiatus. On to clothes!

Christmas project

It's been a while since I've posted. Unfortunately, I haven't sewn as much this last year as I would have liked. I am currently working on a project which will hopefully be done soon. Stay tuned for that one...

I took a little hiatus from my main project to whip up some Christmas gifts for my coworkers. I usually don't give out many holiday presents. I don't like to do things that will add stress and luckily at work gifts are given on a on a want-to-give basis.  However, my coworkers are more than that; they are my friends and my family. I wanted to do something this year, and also get out an easy project to boost my sewing confidence. I found this great blog Jedi Craft Girl which had a zipper pouch tutorial that had pictures and clear directions. I also like how polished these zipper pouches look, with the zipper top having nice fabric edges and lined inside.

This project was fun, once I got the hang of it. First I went to Hart's Fabric and picked up some very fun fat quarter packs the staff had put together. I of course bought more than I needed, knowing that mistakes would happen and not knowing what part of the print I might want to use. I bought one pack with cat prints (my coworkers LOVE cats) and two packs of some fun dia de los muertos and skull prints. Zippers and fleece interfacing completed my purchase. (I was happy to have a $50 gift certificate to help!!)

I became a one woman assembly line: pressing all the fabric, cutting all the fabric, then attaching the interfacing pieces. Once all the prep work was done I stayed up a couple of nights and sewed and sewed. Once I got the hang of it, I could make them without the instructions quite easily.

Each project I do, I learn something, usually by something I did wrong or different from what the pattern called for (usually this means I assume things in the instructions or don't pay attention at all). In this one I learned that usually a step that seems trivial will end up being for an important reason that I find out later when it goes wrong. Case in point: the step that talks about cutting off the end tab of the zipper seemed unimportant as the ends of the zipper were hidden in the tab fabric at the top of the pouch. On my third pouch I realized that not cutting out that small piece of metal would come into play when I was sewing up the edges. That tiny piece of a metal tab and the sewing machine needle were not friends…many error messages later on the machine and I realized I had to pay a little more attention to instructions!

(one woman sweat shop)

I ended up making one tester bag and seven more bags for my coworkers. On Christmas Eve, I decided I needed a couple more gifts and easily sewed up two more for members of my family.

I did change one thing from the pattern. The last step calls for top stitching the opening in the lining that you use to push the bag right side out. The first sewing project I did was a bag for my mom and in that project I learned how to do a ladder stitch to sneakily close that opening. It just added a little more polish to the end result. Plus I find the ladder stitch to be kind of fun!

I think they liked the bags!

Clutch project

To continue on my descriptions of sewing projects and self learning processes, here is my latest: a simple yet classy clutch.  I follow a few sewing blogs, a couple are referenced in my last blog, and one of them was looking for pattern testers.  I signed up to try some of the easier projects.  I was happy to help test a pattern, because I find most patterns to be very confusing if you haven't sewn for very long.

The first project was for a cute little clutch by Sew It Love It website.  I was sent the pattern, and told to make the item, review it, give any recommendations and send in pictures.  Since I was wanting something homemade and fun to give to a friend for a birthday, I decided I could do both with this project.

I had some cute scraps of fabric, but sadly they weren't quite enough to use for this project.  Not wanting to compromise the size since I was pattern-testing, I went to Hart's Fabrics (oh darn!).  I was happy to find some other fun skull/dia de los muertos fabrics to use, since that was what I was aiming for when I had this friend in mind.  This time of the year there are some really great fabrics!  This pattern also called for some wide ribbon to tie the clutch together, another thing I love to purchase at Hart's.  I also found some other fun scrap pieces to use in the future and the lining I found is from the bargain scrap bin.

The pattern was pretty darn easy to follow, I only got tricked up a couple of times when I assumed something instead of reading the instructions carefully.  I have already discovered this is something I need to work on.  Carefully read the pattern all the way through to see why you do certain steps and then read each step carefully again so that I do things the right way.  At least while I am trying to learn this whole sewing thing! 

All in all, this project did not produce any headaches, let me use up some leftover interfacings I had, and also gave me a chance to sew a little with a satin fabric for the first time.

On to the visuals!

The front, check out that bow and the awesome print fabric!

The back. The downside to using a directional print was that it did show up upside down in the back.

 An awesome thing that happened, was that my print magically lined up when the clutch was closed! I could not have planned this better!

The inside. Note that the ribbon and lining match! There's also a nifty pocket inside.   Apparently I did not pay enough attention to this step, the pocket is supposed to go across the length of the inside.  However, it's still a pocket, and those are always important!

On to the Birthday Gift Basket! Side note: I love making gift baskets.  The bad part is I end up spending way more on them than a single present, but the good side is that I can make them totally personal based on who they are for.  I love to get creative and have some sort of theme.

This one had: The cute clutch, Nutella and biscuits (that's cookie to you, dahling), two little bottles of Jameson whiskey, a skull flask, a scorpion sucker (in honor of The Drive movie we had just seen together) and Lady Gaga's perfume!

Basically a basket of goodies I would adore!

First dress!

So, I finally finished my first garment! I have now made 2 bags and a clutch and yet no clothes until this dress!

My good friend agreed to be my "guinea pig" and around the same time our local fabric store was having a sew-along challenge.

The pattern said it was Intermediate, but after reading some pattern reviews I saw that many people felt it was explained well enough for a beginner.  I figured since it was a sew-along there would be some tips and such.  While there wasn't much of that, I knew I could go down and get advice from real people at the store and since there was a deadline I figured it would light a fire for me to get it done.

My friend picked out this super cute fabric combo:

On first glance in the store, I thought the print was much like a print you would see on a bandana and then saw that they were skulls.  What a great find! She paired this with the deep blue and we agreed to do a red piping around the waistband and top of the bust.

I dove into the project by trying out a muslin version of the bust area.  That fit her just great so I went ahead with the "real" fabric.  It's so scary for me when I cut out the pieces.  It feels like such a commitment!

If you haven't tried a Colette pattern...they are great.  I haven't followed that many patterns yet, but so far they are way more vague than this Colette pattern was.  The instructions come in a little booklet with pretty good diagrams.  The pattern itself was still on the flimsy paper, but of course you can copy that over to better paper.

The piping was something I had never done before, but had already seen tutorials on how to make so making the piping was easy, but attaching it all together with the different fabrics proved to be quite a challenge! Lots of swearing ensued from this step and I almost threw in the towel a couple of times. Another challenge was after I finished the top pieces and was going to sew up the sides, I took it to have my friend try on. Her torso is short and the back piece ended up being way to big! Luckily I got advice right then and there from a mutual friend. (Thank you Kimmy!)

I could not have made this dress without some great Tutorials! Here are some I really benefitted from:

To learn piping

To learn the invisible hem

To put in the invisible zipper

The pattern mentioned understitching and had some info on their blogsite.  Really there are some great tips and tricks on the Colette website, even if you are an intermediate sewer.

Some great advice I got from other sewers was first of all from the staff at Hart's "Go slow, take your time" and from my aunt "I have never made anything that I didn't have to take at least one seam out".  I won't tell you how many seams I re-did, but let's say it was more than one....

The things I had never done before making this dress but now have tried!
Facing*
Piping- making it and sewing it in
Darts
Pleats
Pockets on a dress
Invisibile hem
Sleeves
Invisible zipper

*I didn't even know what this was! Facings are sewn to the edge of the garment and turned under to create a professional finish. They are most often used on necklines, sleeveless garments and waistbands.

At one point I realized I wouldn't make the deadline for the Sew-along. The prize wasn't huge, but it was 3 Colette patterns, which are not cheap!  With the cute fabric and gorgeous model I figured we had a good chance, even with my inexperience!  Once I realized I would not make it in time to win, I really was ok with it; I realized that I undertook a huge challenge for my first garment.  At that point I just wanted something my friend would be proud to wear, since she was taking a chance on me. 

I realized that after a couple of hours of sewing my quality would go downhill, so first of all I took a break from the dress and made my sister a cute tote for her trip.  Once I did get back into it, I made limits on how long I could sew at once.  No more 4-5 hour blocks. It seems like a lot of time, but if you have a passion, those hours fly by and all of a sudden it's midnight and you really should be going to bed...

Anyway, the moment of truth! I finally decided I couldn't do any more work on the dress or I would go crazy tying to make it perfect.  I was very nervous since the back had been altered, this would make everything else "off".  I worried this made it not fit her, since it is kind of a hard dress to put on anyway.  I'm super excited to be done and that it looks so cute!

I gave it to her and then waited in antici...............pation  to see if it would fit.  She said she would wear it to work which gave me a little anxiety! Finally she texted me that it did fit and I felt so happy and relieved to hear I had done OK!

Without further ado, my friend and wifey Amber:

Told you I had a gorgeous model!  I'm so excited to try this dress again, especially after I've seen how people have modified it in different ways.