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Hurrah!

The Amy Butler weekender bag

Here are the "proper" pictures of my bag (which still aren't very good - this weather is just terrible for photos).

It was pretty straightforward to follow, but the bulky layers did make it tricky to cope with. Definitely not a bag for the first-timer. The cutting was a pain (my least favourite bit of any pattern) I do sometimes wonder if LaButler has someone to do all her cutting out for her, because she always seems to have LOADS in her patterns. I made a couple of adjustments to the instructions because I like to be rebellious.



Firstly, I substituted the timtex. I find it to be very difficult to work with and, personally, I like my bags to have a bit of flexibility in them. If I'm making a basket style bag I'll interface the be-jesus out of it, but I wanted a slightly less rigid style for this one. I used some leatherette fabric that I bought last year thinking it was a bargain, that turned out to be quite cheapy looking. Although it's a good, thick vinyl type fabric, it didn't stitch nicely. I used that instead of the timtex and I'm pleased with the result. The only thing is that it was a bit slippery even when pinned, so it took a bit of patience.



When sewing the zip in place, I used the glue stick method. Use any ordinary craft glue stick, and put a line along each side of the zip. Then, iron it onto the fabric. Instead of pinning, this keeps the zip in exactly the right place without the bulk.


I also added a fabric flower to make it a bit different. I used a strip of fabric 4" by about 40" and ironed it in half, wrong sides together. Then I used long stitches (double thread) along the length of the raw edge, then pulled it into a gather. I then wrapped the gathered piece up into a flower shape and secured with a few stitches. I covered a button in lining fabric and sewed in the centre to make it all nice and neat. Then I just glued it in place.



When I make the next one (I already have an order) I'll put some bag feet on the bottom. I was going to do it with this one but I was so tired finishing it off I was scared of getting them in the wrong place and completely ruining the whole bag. The other thing I might do is make some zip pockets in the lining, for extra storage (and also so people go "wow, aren't you clever!"). See, I'm already talking about the next one!

Weekender

I sewed my little fingers to the bone getting my weekend bag finished for the, er, weekend (funnily enough). Here it is, stuffed to the gills with my things for a couple of nights away (actually, it was plenty big enough for pjs and stuff).

Hand sewing the lining was a major PINA and I have several pin pricks in my hands from catching them on the long pins, but I am so pleased with the finished bag. I added a little pretty flower, because I like to rebel when following patterns.

I need to take some better pictures for the Amy Butler contest. This is the first time I have entered and the standard is always very high indeed.

Needle cushion tutorial

Now that I have started knitting, I have realised that - apart from needles, yarn and pattern - the knitter always carries around darning or tapestry needles for weaving in end threads and sewing pieces together. I have lots of mini pin cushions, but I decided that what I actually needed was a flat cushion for needles, which I can slot into the zip pocket of my knitting bag.

So I made myself one.



It has a cushion side to slip needles into, and a ribbon for holding safety pins. It is small enough to pop into your bag or needle case.

Here is the tutorial for it. As usual, unless I say otherwise, this is my own work. Please feel free to make your own or pass this link on, but please don't sell them on or distribute the tutorial without my permission. It's rude.

This is very easy to do and shouldn't take long, but there are lots of steps so it's a bit picture heavy. You'll also get gluey fingers if you're not careful.

You need:

• 2 pieces of 6cm x 9cm cardboard (I used the back of an A4 refill pad, it needs to be quite thick - thicker than a cereal box, if that makes sense) *** or see update at the bottom of this page.
• 2 scraps of fabric, 10cm x 13 cm (try to place your pattern centrally, I just used scraps so mine isn't as nicely placed as I would have liked)
• 1 piece of wadding - I used a double thickness of 2oz wadding because that was what I had. Make it slightly smaller than your card about 5cm x 8cm.
• Small piece of ribbon
• Some glue, brush, scissors etc

Cut your card and fabric pieces to size.

Spread glue on both card pieces. I used PVA high tack, which I blobbed in the middle and used a brush to spread out. This ensures that you get even coverage and stops your glue squidging all over the place. If using the kind of glue (like I did) that would seep through fabric, leave it to dry until tacky - about 30secs to a minute.

With wrong side of fabric facing you, place (centrally) one piece of card, glue side down, on to one of your fabric pieces. Make a sandwich with the other piece, wadding in the middle and the card (glue side down) on top. You now have 1 card piece with fabric stuck to it, and 1 with wadding stuck to it and fabric over the wadding.

Mitre the corners. Leave a couple of mm from the corner edge - you'll see why in a minute. When mitring the wadding piece, squash the wadding down so that you can clearly see where to cut and do not cut too close to the corner. You can always trim a little more off if you need to.

Spread glue around the edges and leave to dry for a few seconds before pressing down the two long sides. Pull the fabric tight as you do this to keep it nice and neat. Ensure the sides are well stuck.

Now, take a tiny amount of glue on your brush (or use a cotton bud or similar) and brush a tiny amount of glue into each of the inner corners. I mean a tiny amount, literally enough to stick that bit of the corner to itself.

Using the end if your brush (or tip of a pencil) gently push the fabric inwards, towards the corner, covering the very corner of the cardboard. This gives you a nice tidy mitre. Do this one card at a time, so that the glue doesn't dry while you are working.

Now fold the two short sides over and stick in place as before.

Take a length of ribbon about 10cm long and wrap, horizontally, around the front of the cushiony piece, about 3-4 cm up. Stick it down at the back.

Apply a good dollop of glue to both back-sides (lol) and spread all around. Make sure to give a good even spread, and be careful not to slop glue on your fabric, because you'll ruin your work if you do. Go as far up to the edges as you can without getting any glue on the sides. Leave for a minute until tacky, and press wrong sides together.

Et Voila!

It has also just occured to me that this would probably hold a small pair of snips as well. But I haven't tried it. You might have to substitute the ribbon for elastic, which isn't so pretty.

**Update. This does indeed hold a small pair of scissors (well, mine anyway). You could also store your stitch holders on the ribbon bit, that would keep all your small bits together. Gosh, I think I'm onto something here! **

***Another update! I was just swatching up some yarn when I realised that they always quote a swatch of 10cm or 4" - and I thought "hey, why not make the needle holder 10cms long instead of 9 that way, you have a handy swatch measure and you don't need a ruler" So, MKII needle holder will be 10cms long, I think ***

Make-up bag pictures

I was so pleased with my hex frame bag, that I've made another for make-up. I have a lot of make-up. I just adjusted the original pattern to fit the smaller frame. One thing that I sould have mentioned last time is that I don't like having lots of bulky layers when making a channel for frames and such, so I only put the heavy sew-in lining up to the hinges, so that the casing is easier to get in place and sew.

If you haven't had a go at making a bag yet, you could do worse than having a go at one of Lisa's brilliant tutorials.

Anyway, Here are the pictures. Both main fabric and lining are by Moda from U-handbag.

Goody Goodies!

It's a pain when your post only arrives at 3pm because by then it's already going dark so you know your pictures won't come out great. But I really wanted to show you the goodies Mr Postie brought me today.

First up, these gorgeous bamboo knitting needles from ebay.



They came wrapped in this cuter-than-cute bag, which I just love even more for the mistake in it.





I've got singles, doubles and circular in just about every size. Yes, I realise it's probably a bit of an overkill but I like to be prepared :)


Speaking of which, next on the list of goodies is One Skein Wonders.



This has loads of easy, quick patterns to use up all the old odds and sods of yarn. I figured that seeing as I'm new to knitting I will get to practise lots of different stiches and techniques. Also, I have zero patience so the small projects should suit. And I can always unravel the whole thing if it goes pear-shaped And I'm sure I'll make lots of cute things that I can show you.

Next, this box of yummy ribbony erm.. ribbons!



Last, but by no means least, these scrummy bag fixin's (no, that doesn't look right but I assure you it is correct!) from the perennially lovely Lisa at U-Handbag.



Well, not really from Lisa, I had to pay for them. She's not that lovely. Anyway, I was so pleased with my knitting bag that I'm making another one for my make-up from this gorgeous Moda fabric, with a matching zippy case for brushes and the like. I also bought a small extra hex frame to make another one that I haven't decided on yet.

I'll work on that tomorrow and post a pic. I think I'm also going to make a knitting needle roll to match the knitting bag, but I don't have any fabric left. Sigh, I guess I'll have to go looking at gorgeous, gorgeous Amy fabric and do lots of shopping again. Does anybody know of the best way to store the circular needles? Will a pouch do or will they get all tangled?

Told you I would be busy!

Well, the wind has died down (a bit) but it's still rotten weather.

So today has been the perfect day to hone my poker skills on Facebook and make this bag for my knitting.



This fabric is by Amy Butler. I've loved it for ages but was never sure what I wanted to make with it.





The lining is the new Moda Secret Squirrel fabric, bought at U-handbag. Can you see the squirrels?



Right, just needs some knitting to go in it!

** Just one thing, this bag (as most) has a very long handle and it's a major pain trying to sew in a straight line. My top tip is that as you stop mid-way to feed your strap, make sure your needle is in the "down" position. My machine has an option for this but if yours doesn't just wind on a little. This also works for sewing in zips - start with the zip half open and when you get to the pull part (I know all the technical terms) leave your needle down in the fabric before you lift the presser foot to do the zip back up and out of the way. No more lines of sewing that look like a dog's hind leg!

Not such good fun at the fair!

Part I - Bum Fair

Well, the craft fair this weekend was a bit of a bust! I won't bang on about it but anyway, here's my stall:



And here's the woman next to me having a little snooze - so you get an idea how busy it was!



The worst bit was that after being advised that there was a Chrsitening due at 4pm, most of us decided to stick it out despite lack of custom - only to be told to sling our hooks at 3.30!! Anyway, I won't dwell but let's just say I won't be attending that particular fair again and if you meant to go but didn't get round to it, you didn't miss much!

Part II - Dogs in jumpers

Poor Paddy has really been feeling the cold weather and is spending most of his time in front of the aga, by the radiators or in bed. So I decided to get him a coat. Having looked at them last weekend I decided he didn't really need some designer pooch type coat. Luckily, someone in Ant's office bought him a charity shop jumper for Christmas (as a joke, I hope) so I managed to reconstuct it into a Paddy jumper.



How I made it:

I put it over Paddy's head to measure how wide it needed to be, then used a stretch zig-zag stitch down both sides (effectively sewing up the arm holes and making a long tube).

I then put it back over his head and carefully snipped his arm holes (on the front) and around the front under his rib cage. You need to get this bit right because you mustn't restrict their movement at all and he should be comfortable and able to go to the toilet without wee-ing on himself.

I then went back to the machine and neatened that all up.

The last bit made the front a bit baggy so I stitched a curved section down the centre front to fit around his chest, lengthways.

Believe me, this dog will NOT do anything he doesn't want to do and I'm sure if he didn't like his jumper he would have ripped it off by now. He seems more than happy with it, and is now nice and snug - even if he does look like he belongs to Timmy Mallett.

Now I have to look out for more to cut up - now that I have the basic shape.

Do you put clothes on your animals?

Fancy pins tutorial **spoiler present alert**

**** SPOILER : IF YOU ARE EXPECTING A CHRISTMAS PRESENT FROM ME YOU MIGHT SEE IT HERE ****



These are great for little gifts for your crafty friends. They are quick, cheap and easy to make and look ace stuck in a pin cushion.

You will need some stamps and some ink (or a suitable pen if you're a good drawer like I'm not) and a heat gun as well as some shrink plastic. All these items are available in craft stores and those of us who have gone through the card making/ scrapbooking phase will have these bits lying about. Probably.

Right, first of all choose a design with good clean lines and a solid outline (so that you can cut around it). You also need to bear in mind that the plastic shrinks (hence the name, shrink plastic, hey) by about 3 times so don't use a teeny weeny stamp or a massive one. I've used Hero Arts 18th Century fans, which are about 1 inch-ish. Stamp your image onto your shrink plastic. The ink stays wet so be very careful not to touch the design.



Carefully cut out leaving a small tab in place so that you can hold the stamped plastic.



Stick a plain pin through a suitable part of the plastic, again being very careful not to smudge the design (or stab yourself, Marie).



Then cut off the tab bit. (You can see in this pic how the ink is sitting on the surface, don't worry about this at this stage).



Next, use a heat gun to shrink the plastic. Hold the design by the pin and be VERY CAREFUL as the gun will be HOT! As the plastic melts it will shrivel and twist, but don't worry it will be flat when it finishes shrinking. You can shape it by carefully presing the sides in place while it is plyable (again, it's hot so be careful).




To make the pin cushion I followed this tutorial. I just cut a strip of fabric about 8cm by "enough to go around my wrist plus about half as much again". I folded it half right sides together and sewed and then turned the right way around and inserted a length of thick elastic (long enough to go around my hand when fully stretched) and tacked in place at each end. I folded one raw edge in on itself and put the other one inside it and double stitched together, twice. Then I used glue to stick my pin cushion on.

The boring bit: I designed this tutorial myself so please don't copy it unless you give me credit and link back to this blog. Thanks :)

Marmadaisy in the press

This picture is in our local paper - I even got a bigger picture than the local AM.

Marmadaisy Basket bag tutorial

I just realised my last post should have been called "door stop me now" like the Queen song. Ah well.



I have been asked for a basket bag tutorial. Unfortunately, I can't be bothered don't have time to make any more of these bags at the moment, but I have written a pattern and some instructions. You don't get any pics but if you can follow a sewing pattern you should be alright (and it's really easy). Please don't reproduce this pattern, it came out of my brain with much struggling and kicking and screaming. Feel free to use it or link to it. You can use it for making bags to sell but please credit me as the designer if you post anywhere. Thanks.

Draw your pattern.
Draw a rectangle 34cms long by 28cms high. Now extend each of the bottom lines by 4cms and join those to your top line to make a trapezium.
Right, now you measure in from the bottom corner on one side 10cms in and up, and join these two marks with a free hand curve. Fold paper in half and cut out the shape (so both sides are even).
Now you have your basic bag shape and you just need to put in the darts to give your bag a nice full shape.
Measure the half-way point between the edges of the curve by folding your paper until they meet and marking with a crease. Now measure 5cms up from that mark (in towards the middle of the pattern) and make a mark. Measure 2cms either side of you crease and join these up to your mid-point mark. Now you have a dart.
I have done a sketch to show you what it should look like.



Cut pieces.
Cut 2 shell fabric, 2 lining, 2 iron on interfacing, 2 heavy sew-in interfacing. Also cut one strip of 24cms by 8cms from shell fabric and iron on interfacing for your handle tabs. Cut 2 squares of 7cms by 7cms from shell fabric and iron on interfacing for fastening backing.

Iron interfacing to shell fabric on wrong sides.

Transfer markings to all pieces.

Tabs
Fold in half lengthwise and press. Then fold side edges of the strap piece in to the middle and press again. Now fold in half lengthwise, pin, press and stitch. Cut into 4 equal lengths. Set aside.

Sewing
Put the shell and heavy sew in interfacing pieces together and pin in place. Sew the darts first by lining up the lines you have drawn and sewing along the line. Repeat for all darts and press towards the bottom.
Make a sandwich with shell fabric (right sides together) on the inside and the heavy sew-in on the outside. Sew together, taking care over the darts.

Sew the lining in the same way but leave a gap of at least 12cms in the bottom so you can pull the bag through.

Fastenings

Fold over .5cms on each edge of the fabric squares and press. Mitre the corners for neatness. Pin and stitch all around. Set aside.

Put it all together
Measure where to place your strap pieces by placing your handles centrally on the shell and marking where the straps should go. Baste strap pieces in place.
Measure where your snap fastening should go by marking the centre of the top edge of the lining and measure about 5cms down (or wherever you want your fastening). Pin and stitch your squares in place. For extra strength, iron a scrap of interfacing to the back of the lining behind where your fastening will go. Attach snap fastening.

Put shell inside lining, right sides together and stitch around the top 9ensuring your handle tabs are facing inside where you are stitching, in between the layers).

Turn right way around and slip stitch bottom hole shut.

Press all edges and attach handles.

Any problems with it, get in touch.

Door stop my way

I loved this tutorial, especially as my own doorstop attempt turned out, well, if not bad, not as good as I would have liked.



Although I do like a bit of the old patchwork, I couldn't be faffed doing it. And I've made about 25 yo-yos so I adapted the pattern to make it simpler and yo-yoier. So, I just cut 2 10" squares and interfaced them and for the strap I cut a 4 1/2" by 9" strip and folded it in like a bag handle (both sides in to the middle then in half). I also made the basic "box" shape a bit fatter. Tip: in the instructions it says use a 7" zip, but I think she means that the zippy bit should be 7" (ie use an 8" zip). I didn't, because I wanted to make mine a bit fatter. I cut an 8" zip down by 1" and then sewed a couple of fixing stitches across the teeth to secure it about 1/2" along from the end. Then I made my corners 1" not 5/8". And next time I'll be using metric! In all, it took about an hour (in fact, I finished it before my cup of tea).

I've used nice woollen mix fabric that I've had in my stash for ages and I think it works well with the coloured yo-yos. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out and I think I'll make a few to sell at my next stall. I also know a few people who will be getting one (or some variation of) for the dreaded C word (no, not that one, the other one!) This one is filled with cat litter but I know often people use dried beans. So, over to you ... any suggestions what else could be used?

Stocking Stocking Fillers (groan!)

I know lots of you crafty people probably make your own Christmas stockings, but here's mine that I am making for the Howland Christmas this year.



Each one is made from polar fleece (not cheap velvety lookey likey horrible stuff) and fun fur. I have done a couple of images, Wizzle has holly, Charlie has a tree and Paddy has paws but I can do pretty much any image and some text.



If you don't have your own embroidery machine and your hand stitching isn't great, why not get one of mine. And I can guarantee you I'll take more care over it than you'd get in some sweat shop somewhere or the Studio catalogue.

Planet of the Sock Monkeys

This is the last one I'm making now, there will be some on my stall and if they do well I might list a couple on my Etsy as well. All hand-stitched, each one is different and I think they'll make great gifts.

***Update***

You can now buy one directly from me for £10 (including delivery) - colours vary.

A couple of small bits

I'm not going to blog all my bags as it would take forever, but here are a few of my hair slide thingies. They are all made from vintage buttons and/or fabric yo-yos and I think they are quite fetching, actually. And at two quid each, a bargain!