Done

Not with MY Christmas shopping, but done with an order for Christmas. It's for an 8 year-old girl in Colorado from her Godmother here in town. I hope she likes it! It's my second attempt at doing a zippered closure. Seemes to work out alright though. Here's a peek:

Compliments don't pay the bills!

Today was the big day of the Oktoberfest craft show. I got tons of compliments on the purses, however I only sold a few. The first to go was the garden clutch with the bee button, next was the Gator tote (like I said, I knew that one would sell) and the third was the nesting doll purse. Don't freak out, the nesting doll purse was marked as sold but someone else wanted me to make another one. So I technically still have the nesting doll purse in my posession until I deliver it to it's original intended owner.
The most looked at and complimented purse was the little mod black and white one. Everyone loves it but no one buys it. Weird. I even had one lady tell me that if the one I have sells, to make another one for her. Umm, okay, why wouldn't she just buy the one I was already selling? I think she was just trying to be nice? (Remember, I go to church with a lot of these people).

Anyhow, while I did sell some, I am overall in the red. Good thing I have a job waiting for me next year I guess!

Here's a picture of my little table:

Super cute!

Okay, probably last (unless I finish a FSU tote) but certainly not least, and already spoken for is one of my favorites! The nesting doll purse! I used a snap on the open inner cell phone pocket, and it has a zippered pocket too. I was going to do pleating on this purse like the blue/red one but it would have taken away from the dolls. So I left it smooth. I like how the antiqued magnetic snap and rings look with this fabric. Oh, and if the fabric looks familiar, it's because it's the same as the twirly skirt for baby girl but in a different color. I love this material but it is very hard to find, not to mention expensive now that it's RARE, but worth every penny in my opinion! So here it is:

Don't mind any strings you see, I was so excited about this purse that I took pictures before trimming the strings from sewing, opps! They will be cut after I post this though!

Get your Gator arms ready

Okay, first and foremost I am a USF Bulls fan. I can't help it since many moons ago they decided I had paid them enough money and walked on their campus enough times to give me a piece of paper (which is in a closet somewhere) saying I could go work for the rest of my days. And they have a good football team. But if I wasn't a USF fan I'd probably have to be a UF fan because I know way too many people who got their piece of paper from them and, well, I like these people and don't want them to throw me to the gators their school so loves.

Anyhow, that said I like this basic curvy tote I made for some lucky UF fan(this is the one thing I KNOW will sell). The flower pin really makes all the difference though. Fabric yo-yos can jazz anything up! The tote has no pockets or zippers, because 1) It's crunch time for me to get things done and 2) It's not meant to be an everyday purse. It's a GAMEDAY purse. I wouldn't want some woman putting something in a pocket and lose her mind thinking she lost it all week until she pulls the purse out for the next game, or worse yet, all off-season! So it's a WYSIWYG purse, nothing is getting lost in it!

Well, I'm off to watch the debate and get some sleep. Doggie gets his teeth cleaned tomorrow and has to be there between 7-7:30! Good thing I have coffee in the house!

Here's the pics. Oh, and the flash distorted the colors, the mirror shot (I'm wearing my new shirt for debate day!) is most accurate for colors.

A favorite place to shop

I thought I'd put up a link to one of my favorite fabric shops, Heritage Quilt & Needlework. I love it because they have BEAUTIFUL fabrics and the people that work there are very friendly and helpful. My kids like it because they give out Dum-Dum lollipops, which is great to buy me a few moments to look around!

I know some of you have asked me to make you a bag and I thought that if you have this link you can brouse online and see if any of the fabrics strike your fancy.There are so many I'm sure one will! Let me know which ones (remember to pick one for the exterior and one for interior, or if you just want to pick the exterior I can find a coordinating one for you too) and I will then go buy it and make the bag for you!

I shouldn't even be writing right now, I shoudl be sewing! I am working on a UF tote now and yesterday I did a cute USF (Go BULLS!) purse. Unfortunately I messed up some stitching on the front because I didn't measure correctly for the magnetic snap closure. BUT I will be going back and creating either a bow or flower to cover it up. I had some scrap green and made a make-shift bow and it looks alright. So in the picture the bow is not the final product! And for all you FSU fans (boo!) I'll be making a bag for that too. Here's the USF one:

Twins!

I liked this red fabric and happened to have two other fabrics in my stash (which were purchased at different times, a couple years apart actually, for two differnet projects, and turns out they are the same fabric but different colors! I didn't realize it when buying it though). Anyhow, I couldn't decide which one went better so I used both and made two. So I gave birth in a sense to non-identical twins! Would you like to meet them?

Me so happy

This little ditty was super easy and I love how it came out. There are no real bells or whistles to it though. No pockets, no zippers, nada. But it's so darn small that I didn't think it was needed. I am however debating whether to add in a magnetic snap closure or not. I'm leaning towards not because the snaps would come together and take away from the shape of the purse, but it would be securely closed. It's pretty well structured with the interfacing so it's not like the purse would sag open without the magnetic snap or anything. So I ask you all my friends, mostly women, what would you want? Shape or security? Keep in mind this isn't meant to be an everyday purse either. I left a bit of the lining open so I can decide later if I want. I just have to remember to close up the lining before selling the purse!

Okay, on to the good stuff. I got this fabric from the famous Alyson Clair (Thanks again!) and was thinking of using it in a garment, but when I saw it next to the blue velvety fabric I used for my son's puppy dog, the idea for this purse came about instead. I love using the velvety stuff for a lining!It makes it so much more elegant! And the bamboo handles just seemed to fit since the fabric is Asian. Well, here it is:

Cheese Gromit!

That's all I could think of while working with these grommits. These are the screw in kind from JoAnn's, not the kind that needs a special tool. What a pain in the rear these were though! My stress level was on maximum while putting them on. Why? Because I had already created the body of the purse and I had to cut through it and if I made the hole too big I pretty much would have ruined the purse and would have had to eat the cost. And I was installing it through layers, so I had to hope that in the end all the holes would line up. Luckily everything worked out alright. I started with a small hole and kept trimming it. Hence the pain in the behind.

This purse has a lot of hardware, but that's what I'm seeing a lot of lately in leather purses. So I thought why not fabric purses too? If my camera could get a true color picture you'd see how well the antiqued hardware goes with the gold color in the fabric. It really pretty and quite roomy.

I have to pick up my pace! I did NOTHING with the purses this weekend. Instead I went to the beach. Hubby did a triathalon on the beach (I'm so proud of him!) and the kids and I met up with him and the in-laws afterwards for some beach fun and a nice lunch (Thanks again Mom & Dad!). Oktoberfest is a week and a half away, time to stop futzing around with new techniques like Grommits (Cheese Gromit! See, I can't help but think of it!). I've got to get some basic bags and totes done to sell. Although I REALLY want to try my hand at an applique on a bag. It will have to wait though!

Here's the latest:

Front (it's hanging, it just looks like it's on the couch, but it's not):




Back:



Outer pocket:



Inside:



Inside Zipper:



Being carried (so hard to take a picture in the mirror!):

Finally done with this one.

Gosh, this seemed to take forever! But it's done! It is HUGE, the biggest I've ever done. Whew! Now I know why the designers charge the big bucks! And if it looks similar to a certain designers trademark bag, well it's not. Mine isn't quilted and, mine uses nicer interfacing, and smaller stitch length (for better strength). Also with my bag you can't see where the outer zippered pocket is from the inside. BUT, besides that they are very similar.

Here it is:

Open pocket:


Close up of button:


Zippered pocket:


Inside zippered pocket:


Inside open pockets:


Key clip:

Bigger and better

I made another drawstring bag with the black fabric. This time I increased the dimensions by an inch each way and added a removable cardboard bottom. I can't decide which bag to keep though. I *should* keep the pink and cinnamon one because it doesn't have the removable base and a buyer would probably like that feature, but the black one looks so elegant! I wish I could keep both! I think I'll keep the pink one and after the craft show if I've made enough profit I'll make myself a black bag too. Here it is:

Front:


Side:


Inside (which I need to iron, to sew down the bottom for insert I had it all scrunched up and it got a tad wrinkly):


On sholder:


Over shoulder:

Another clutch

I just finished this one today. It's not my favorite but I wanted to try it. I made it with leftover fabric I had in my stash, so it really didn't cost anything much.

Here it is:

Mod Squad

Here's #3. I wanted to do a small mod bag. I like how it came out, but it was the hardest to make so far because of how tight the space was with the handles. I think I prefer making the bigger bags because there is more room to sew. I am a bit of a claustrophobic sewer I guess! I also bought more material yesterday. I'll post pics when I can of that. Anyhow, here's today's work:

Working woman

I think I mentioned before that I will be selling bags at my church's Oktoberfest celebration. Well, I've started working and so far I've got 2 done, and I have a couple more special orders too! Who knew so many people would like these? It's funny though because after I make each one I think, "Ooh, I really like this one, I hope it doesn't sell so I can keep it!" I have to stop thinking like that or I'll have 20 purses but no $$! They are like little creations though, and it will be hard to part with them knowing they will be going to strangers! Anyhow, here's the 2 so far:

The purse/clutch. This one I added a removable chain so it can be a purse or a clutch. I liked the traditional flower garden but wanted to give it a modern touch so added the geometric prints as accent and lining. I also love the little bee button too!:





Next is the larger "carry-on-carry-all" bag. I made it a size that will accomodate some magazines, or a book or two. It's perfect for a carry on bag for a flight. It has two open inner pockets to hold things you may want to grab easily, and a larger 5x7 zippered pocket to hold thigs you don't want to fall out like money or credit cards and make-up items. I'll be making a matching make-up bag/wristlet and credit card wallet that can fit inside too.