Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I went with Mom to the bank where she fumbled around inside the Pearce looking for her bank card. The vertical credit card pockets I added at the last moment are ok, but not positioned well. I thought a small wallet where she could stash her bank cards would be helpful.
I quickly found and started a little wallet. I couldn’t find my Little Wallet pattern. I didn’t want to buy a new one so I found a freebie, the Fold & Stitch Wallet by Caroline Fairbanks.
The nephew is at college. He took a year off and has gone down to SoCal. I sent him the September pillowcase and got a nice text back saying that he was getting settled. Of course I haven’t heard anything else, but I assume he is doing well. I’ll get an update sometime.
It turns out this is the last pillowcase. He has gotten more than any of the other nephews. I hope they are getting used.
WOW! The Pearce is done. What a journey!
My Mom has been using it for a few days and she loves it. I am so relieved. I won’t tell her about the trials and tribulations.
It is a good thing I didn’t add that mesh pocket I discussed in the progress post! This was a challenging bag to put together. The final seam, as mentioned, was more than a bear.
I like the features that Sara added, such as the vertical pocket in the back.
I was able to use a leftover piece of zipper that I had laying around, thus the odd red zipper. Hopefully, it will add a visual cue to where my mom puts stuff. She uses that pocket for her glasses as it is too small for her phone.
I am running out of the Paint Tube fabric, so I had to find some other fabric that would coordinate. The dots are leftovers from a dress I had made for Politcal Wifery. It worked pretty well, I think. No complaints anyway.
The bag has two pockets. I added vertical credit card slots to both. I am glad I did and I would do it again. She uses the large pocket for her phone as well as various cards.
The small pocket is accessible, too. I think she uses this for her insurance card, driver’s license, etc.
I am pleased that she likes it. I feel like I should make another one, but am reluctant to take on that bear of a curve again.
This is the second of the blocks for the Country Revival/The Sad Quilt. I was able to lay it out much easier than the first block.
I added some solids I had in my pile of Tula fabrics and I think they look really good.
I am really in love with how this looks. I can’t wait to see how it looks sewn together.
I have started block 3, but I have only 4 pieces on the design wall, so not really much to show.
I finished the Multi-Pocket Organizer over the weekend. It is already off to its new home. I am kind of sad, because I would have liked to look at it a little longer, but birthdays are on a certain day and I wanted my friend to have it on or before the day.
I am super pleased with how this project came out, the directions and everything.
I think it was a great a great project to work on when I needed a break from the Pearce. The pattern is very straightforward and easy to follow. The skills required are somewhere between beginner and intermediate. I had never added an elastic pocket, so that was fun for me. The hardest part was the interior zipper pocket and they aren’t hard, really, just fiddly. If you have done one they are relatively straightforward. If you haven’t done one, then the directions in the pattern are great!
I don’t use fusible fleece** much for bags, but it works really well in this pattern. I didn’t quilt the pieces, which should come as no surprise, but quilted fabric would work in this pattern.
I might try foam one time if I make one in the future.
I am not sure I chose well when I picked that floral as it doesn’t go well with the neon pink stripe. Still I like both fabrics. For the next one, I might choose a solid for the fabric under the pocket and use the pocket fabric for the back as well. The pocket covers up so much of the exterior, as is often the case with a front pocket, that I like to use a fabulous fabric for the front pocket.
Half of my handbag is a mess! You know: lipgloss and a mask and two granola bars, a pad of paper, etc, etc. It needs an organizer. Before I sent off this bag, I tried it out in my handbag. It’s a bit of a squeeze and might not work when full, but maybe worth a try. I can always use it in my Kit Supply Tote, if it doesn’t end up working in my handbag. Perhaps I should see if I still have some of that Butterfly fabric. It might make a good pouch regardless of where I use it.
I really like this pattern and will probably make one for myself. It might be a good addition to Mom’s Sewing Date Traveler, which worked REALLY well in the hospital. I am definitely not done with this pattern yet.
**N.B.: Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
I had the Flower motif from the Country Revival pattern** on my design wall for a long time without sewing it together. It wasn’t quite right and looking at it was the only way to figure out how to improve it. I knew I couldn’t use white in the place I had put it originally-leaf area around the outside. I wanted to use white as a background and the white as shown would be lost and change the shape of the flower motif completely. I also didn’t know what to do.
I often find that if I just do something, then I can get started improving a piece.
The first thing I did was decide the white ‘petals’ needed to be replaced with green and become leaves. It was a good start.
I liked the addition of the green, but decided I needed more and different greens. In this photo there are two different Tilda fabrics. One reason is that I used some of the green on the tips of the flowers for a pillowcase for my friend. I didn’t have much left, but I wanted to include some so it would kind of match the pillowcase. I had just enough to make four leaves.
I wasn’t 100% happy with the look and feel. I really wanted an emerald green solid. I didn’t have that so I tried some dots. They were close to an emerald green and looks like a great addition to the overall look.
I still felt like there was nowhere for the eye to rest, so I moved some of the tall, skinny pieces with the slightly curved tops around. Better, but not perfect.
I added in some of the Dovetail by Ghazal Razavi background I bought at Bay Quilts with Julie a few weeks ago. It is a bright white, which I like and the many colors go well. I know it is hard to see in the photo. You can enlarge the photo to see it better.
I can’t get away from symmetry, so I cut more pieces and changed the fabrics around so there was more symmetry, e.g. the piece looked more symmetrical.
I know the changes are slight and hard to see. I changed the corner fabrics and moved some of the other greens around.
My eye was honing in on the pink dots. I wasn’t liking them, but I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t want to add more of the pink solid as I thought it would overwhelm the piece in general. For the moment, this is the final version of block 1. I may make some more changes, but I decided to work on a second block and give myself a rest from the pink.
I love that pink and blue Tilda fabric and it is now much less prominent. I’ll have to use it in another block.
**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this website.
Because I don’t have enough to do I decided to make a bag for my friend Jen who had a birthday last week. I made her an Enigma Pouch last year. She is a fantastic person for whom to make bags, because she uses them.
I started it the other day when I was having a Sew Day with Tim and it went very quickly. The fabric is pink, which matches the color scheme of her Enigma, but I didn’t have anymore of the fabric I used, so I had to select new fabrics.
I had to stop working on the Pearce (it needed a timeout). Fortunately I had brought this bag along and very quickly got the exterior together.
I need to work on the center divider and the interior.
This is a Sotak Handmade pattern. I bought it in 2023. As I work on it, I think it might qualify as a purse organizer or insert. I am not sure Svetlana (at Sotak) would agree. She has another purse organizer pattern, which I have made. That pattern is very different from the handbag organizers in the post above. This pattern, the Multi-pocket Organizer, is similar to the ones I made for my Mom from the Sew Sweetness Mustang pattern.
I am starting to think I need to make myself something like this.
My youngest nephew is off to SoCal to attend college, so I’ll be sending this to his new apartment.
He is planning to do some of the basic required courses then turn his sights to a teaching major.
We’ll see how that goes. I expect he’ll do well.
I made some good and positive progress on the Pearce Sling. Cyndi and I got together for a Sew Day at her house. It was really nice to hang out with her and I was able to focus and get quite a bit done on this piece.
Cutting it out the other day didn’t exhaust me. The pattern doesn’t have a ton of pieces, which is nice.
It takes quite a few steps to get to this point, but I didn’t feel annoyed about it. I felt like I was making good progress. Part of it was probably that I had someone with whom to consult and chat to.
I could have made more progress, but I decided to put a credit card pocket in the lining and I didn’t have a pattern piece with me. I switched to working on the Sleeping Bag Pouch, which was fun, too.
When I got home I pulled the credit card pattern piece out of the Sweetbay Crossbody project file and used it. It is a more vertical credit card pocket, so I might need to add another one, so Mom has enough for all of her cards. I was expecting the pocket to be horizontal. I am not as familiar with making these types of pockets, so I got what I got.
I will say that I LOVE the zipper end technique that Sara showed in Bag Lab at the beginning of the month. I know it is ridiculous, but I am so excited about how my zipper end looks.
I am also excited about nailing down that skill. I had a little trouble with it on the Dogwood pouches I made, but after watching the Bag Lab tutorial, I understood the concept much better and was able to do it relatively easily. One key was to use thin pins to hold everything in place until you sew. I am not a big fan of thin pins, but they are key in this technique.
After doing all these steps, my Sling is well on its way.
Clearly I found my Sewjo again, because once again I am starting projects right and left. The latest is the Pearce Sling. I started it for my mom.
A few months ago, I made her a Day Trip Wallet. I made it so she wouldn’t carry a 40 lb. purse around after her surgery. She uses it all the time, but when she came over she had the Day Trip looped over her shoulder (cross body) and her hands full of stuff. Not great for someone with balance issues.
The Pearce sprang to mind. I bought it with the recent 4 pack release of patterns from Sew Sweetness. This isn’t one of the patterns I thought I would make from the 4 pack, but I am kind of glad I am making it. It is slightly larger than the Day Trip, so I thought it might work for my Mom to keep her more hands-free.
I haven’t made a backpack before, but I think I can do it. Perhaps this will set me up to tackle the Pandora Charisma.
There have been a few bumps in the road to finishing this project. Due to the thick interfacing described in the previous post, this is taking additional time. I thought I would finish over the weekend, but am still working on this.
The lining is done and ready to be put together with the exterior.
I really should, as a rule, make bag linings smaller than exteriors. This designer didn’t note that in her directions and I didn’t do it. I’ll need to think about a measurement that would be good to use when cutting a smaller lining. For example, should I cut the pieces one half inch smaller or an inch smaller or what?
I added a leash to the inside. This isn’t part of the pattern, but they are easy enough to add. I may make a small Open Wide pouch with a lobster clip for added storage. The leash will also be useful for keys.
Putting everything together is proving to be a challenge. Despite my practice at anchoring linings to exteriors with Lynette, I can’t figure out how to do this one.
If I make this again, I will consult with Lynette about that. Neither of us could make the meeting and I need this done before the 26th.
Is this a bag, do you think? On my computer, the folder is under ‘My Projects –> Bags”, but I wonder if it is a bag. I probably should call that folder ‘Small Projects’ instead of bags, but ‘Bags’ comes first in the alphabet, so doesn’t require as much scrolling.
I promised MaryC a pencil roll after she saw the one I brought to the organizer swap. I finally got started on it.
Yes, I am using the same fat quarter pack I used for the first one. I am using different fabrics for the pockets and flaps. In a way I am also trying to see how many projects I make with that fat quarter pack. I want to use a good portion of the FQ pack for each project, not just one piece. Obviously, I am using other fabrics, but I am still getting a lot out of the 3.25 yards.
I finished the eighth EPP ball and will send it off to the owner next week.
I had hoped that this would get me back to La Pass, but so far it hasn’t.
The Beanie Baby pellets kind of gathered on one side, so it doesn’t roll very well. I have been trying to move them, but they are proving stubborn. I have to rethink how I fill these in future. I like the Beanie Baby pellets to provide some weight, but be evenly distributed. I am not sure what happened this time.
I do like these little balls and can make them very quickly for friends’ babies.
I found the Sewing Date Traveler pattern a few months ago. It is a free pattern on the Robert Kaufman site. It was designed by Cynthia Frenette. I looked her up on IG, but didn’t see any other bag patterns. I wasn’t sure whether I would make it or not, but saved the pattern anyway.
Recently, I found out that my mom has to have another surgery. After looking at various examples on IG, I decided to make this to corral all the little things (phone, glasses, book, etc) that lay around a hospital room. She had a nice big ICU room before, but we hope she doesn’t get sent there and I don’t know how big the normal rooms are.
The bag doesn’t have a closure, so it will be used more as an organizer than security. I keep thinking of it as a tray. The picture on the RK site is a little confusing until you read the directions (which I actually did for once). I thought this bag was more like the Sew Together Bag. I thought the green pocket on the inside back was another zipper pocket. In truth, that is a slip pocket on the back lining. The construction is a bit like the Sew Together Bag. If you have made one of those, you should be able to make this without much trouble.
Famous last words. LOL. The construction, for me, hasn’t been the problem. It is very straightforward, if different from the other bag designers whose patterns I normally use. The problem is the interfacing. Since this will be used for who knows how much stuff, I wanted it to stand up to some heavy use. I thought foam might be ok, but wanted something stiffer if I could find it. The pattern calls for Pellon 65. It is described as “… Extra Heavyweight is a sew-in interfacing for extra firm body and stiffening. It is great for printing, visor brims, backpacks, and drapery headers.” I have a chart for interfacing equivalents, but I couldn’t find an equivalent for Pellon 65 on any of them. The description told me a little about how stiff it was and I thought I wanted it stiffer. I used Pellon Peltex 71F, which I knew was thicker than how Pellon 65 was described. It is thick! I don’t use it that often, but once I started, I couldn’t backtrack.
At the moment, the exterior, which has the Peltex attached, is flat on my ironing board, but the lining is assembled. I thought the bag would be larger, but I think it is a good size. Also, it isn’t exactly small.
I thought I would get the whole thing finished over the weekend, but, as you can see, that didn’t happen.
It is good to have a small hand project to work on in the evenings. It is keeping me from playing too many games on my phone, which I think was making my hand hurt. I have a few more seams before I can pull out the paper and stuff it.