Blossom Purse

Look what I made!!!!!!!!!!!! (A few months ago but still I made it!)

Not only was it my first ever advanced sewing project but it’s my favorite sewing project I’ve done to date. I am absolutely in LOVE with this purse!!!!

Check out the inside. A zippered pocket in the back and an open pocket in the front; all with a snap closure. Eeeekkk!!!

It’s an Amy Butler pattern, a FREE Amy Butler pattern. We all know how much I want to be her when I grow up. Go here if you want the free pattern for yourself or if you want to print it out and get one of your sewing friends to make it for you. http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2010/09/free-amy-butler-pattern-blossom-handbagshoulder-bag/

Be  forewarned, this project, whew, did it take a lot of time. It took 4 hours just to cut out all the fabric and have it pressed and in order.  It’s a butt kicker for sure.

It’s so worth it though.

Happy Sewing!
~Jess

I have been sewing! I promise!

A few months ago I found the greatest sewing fabric every! (Without all the sewing lines, I did those)

What better to make than a sewing machine cover for Contessa with sewing machine fabric right?  I measure from bottom front of my machine to over the top of it to the bottom back of my machine and added an inch. I measured from side to side as well and added an inch for my measurements.  I quilted it with batting between the fabric and did the V stitch all over until I was satisfied with how it looked.

Then I used binding around all of the rough edges and called it done. 

Doesn’t she look so cozy under her new cover? This was one of my most favorite projects to do. I’m not sure why…maybe it’s because I made something for Contessa, my favorite machine ever!

I also quilted my first ever baby blanket. I’ve made other baby blankets before where I just slapped fabric together and edge the two together. Now though I actually quilted the baby blanket like I did Contessa’s cover above and then used blanket binding. I’m really really happy with how it turned out.

I think Murphy likes it too.

Now….who to give it to? If it stays in the house Evan Grace is sure to claim it as her own!

~Jess

 

Bento Box/Bag

I have been sewing some lately, though not taking any step by step pictures. Here’s one of my latest projects. I didn’t come up with the pattern though, I found it online and decided to give it a whirl.

Here’s the front of it, all tied up and ready to go.

The sides are suppose to be floppy so that when you open it up to get your lunch out you’re not all hemmed in. (Dorky sewing joke I know but ha!)

Bet you want to see the inside of this now. I’m definitely going to change how I do the dividers if I make this again. The pattern only required you stich the dividers together at the top without any attachment to the bottom and I think it’s just a little too flimsy.

One good thing to point out about the dividers sewn this way…if you have something bigger to pack for lunch that doesn’t fit nicely into one of the slots you can fold the slots up and slide the food underneath, maybe that’s why they aren’t suppose to attach to the bottom???? Let’s go with that.

Here’s everything open.

Or you can leave the handles together and just open the cover to get to all your yummies.

I’ve taken this box to lunch to work with me a few times and every time I do someone comments on how neat/cute/ great it is. When they ask where I got it and I reply that I made it they can’t hide their surprise.  I’m proud of this little lunch box and it wasn’t near as complicated as the pattern directions made it out to be. If you’d like me to put up a tutorial on how to make one of these bento boxes for yourself leave me a comment below.  That would be a good excuse to make another one wouldn’t it.

Recover.

I recovered my couch cushions two weeks ago. It was an easy project, almost like making pillow cases, but on a bigger scale with long zippers. Trying to get a picture of just the new couch cushions by themselves proved harder than actually making the covers. Why you might ask? Daisy!!!

I swear she's posing for this picture. It's her innocent look..."Who me?"

Me: "Daisy come here. Off the couch. Off! OFF!"She actually listens. I pick up the camera, get everything just so so in the frame and get ready to snap the picture....then BAMM! She's back and posing again!

So I move from in front of the couch to the side to maybe sneak a picture. No such luck.

Finally!! I think I got it, a good picture of the new covers with no dog in site. Only when I uploaded this picture to my computer did I see Daisy's TAIL IN THE CORNER !!!! Regardless, you get the idea and overall look of the covers. I love it. Maybe one day I'll attempt an actual slipcover. The thought of jumping into that trap scares me!!!!

Best Purse Ever!!

I bought this purse a year ago at some small store in the mall. I adore it! I switch back and forth between this purse and whatever ‘new’ purse I’ve sewn up. It never fails though, no matter how happy I am with a new purse, or one I’ve sewn I always go back to this one.

I love that it goes over the head and one shoulder. I love that it sits on my hip and is out of the way. I love that I can easily reach into it for my cell phone, wallet or a pen without having to take it off my arm and have it in front of me. Really, it’s kinda weird how much I love this bag!
But it was starting to come apart at the top of the strap and I know I could have fixed it, but I wanted to see if I could make a purse just like it but in a fabric that was more ‘me’.
So I, sadly, one night, took out my seam ripper and started taking apart the best purse in the world. I did it carefully so I could piece it back together if my attempts didn’t pan out.
I’m happy to report that after countless hours and many, many stupid oversights I’ve mastered how to make this purse and even come up with a pattern to share with all of you.

Start with your fabric folded, right sides together. (If you’re iffy about cutting into your fabric go ahead and grab some pattern paper or newspaper and draw it out there first, no one will ever know!)
Now, starting at the bottom of the fold measure up 47’’. Make a mark with a fabric pencil or even a stick pin. Measure over towards that mark 1 1/2’’.
Move back down to the bottom of your fabric. Again, starting at the fold, measure over (towards the right side) 7 1/2’’. Make another mark.
Now measure up from that mark 14’’ and 7 1/2’’ across. This becomes the actually purse part of the purse!
Go back up to the top, where you made a mark 1 1/2’’  over from the fold. Starting at this mark, measure DOWN 23’’ and make another mark. This becomes your over-the-should strap.
Now to the tricky curve part. You want to start your curve on the last mark you made for the strap and you want it to end at the last mark you made at the top of the actually bag part of the purse. Make sense? Look at the picture, the red arrows are for clarification. It’s much harder writing out how to make a pattern than I ever thought! Curve in as much or as little as you like as long as your starting and stopping points start and end where they are suppose to.
Now you’re ready to cut your fabric.
With the pattern above you’ll need to cut:
2 pieces of outer fabric
2 pieces of inner fabric.
I wanted more strength in my straps then what my original purse had so I cut out two strips of interfacing that measure 1’’ by 20’’. It’s optional.

Pay no attention to my inner fabric. Turns out I didn’t buy enough of the pretty blue fabric to make the straps so I went with a piece together look for the inside.  On to assembly. It’s much easier than reading my cutting out instructions above.  Really!
Start by applying the interfacing to the middle part of the outer fabric straps.
Next: Turn in ALL the edges (except for the 14’’ short sides of the bag part, leave those alone) of both pieces of outer fabric and inner fabric about 1/4’’ and press with a hot iron.

With right sides together, place the outer fabric on top of the inner fabric and pin in place. Sew the 14’’ short sides of the bag together. Turn right side out. Do the same to the lining fabric you want for the inside of the purse.

You should have the outer fabric facing up, right side up. If you look inside the bag you should see the right side of the inner fabric. Now you have two seams and normally you would leave these seams to the sides of the purse. But with this Best Purse Ever you’re going to move the seams to the middle of the bag, like so. (For the outer fabric and lining fabric too. Slip the lining fabric inside the outer fabric, wrong sides together.


Still with me? Good. Halfway there.
Remember all that ironing we did for all the outer edges? Place wrong sides together of the outer fabric and the inner fabric. Pin in place carefully then sew together, CAREFULLY! Do NOT sew the two tops of the straps though, leave it open OR the very bottom of the bag.

This is a picture of the inside of the bag up towards the strap on one side. Now for the bottom hem of the bag. Fold the outer fabric up out of the way for a second. Working with the lining fabric fold both edges a little over the right side of the fabric. It’s hard to see in this picture, but you can see the white edge on the bottom right of the picture where I folded this up. Press in place.   
Now move the outer fabric back down in place and fold this under, with the lining fabric caught in e of the folds of the outer fabric. See how the blue/white fabric is tucked inside the fold of the top outer fabric?

Pin the folded fabric sandwich in place and sew a seam across to hold in place. You might want to sew over this twice since the bulk of your purse contents will be held inside by this seam.
Now for the top of the straps that we left open. Fold the rough edges inside each strap, then lay one strap over the other strap just enough to sew a seam down over the overlap.

Now using your outer fabric, cut a rectangle about 4’’ by 1 1/2’’. Turn in all the edges, press and sew in place.


Fold this rectangle around the top seam you just sewed into the strap.

Now sew in place, you can sew this into the strap it’s self or just sew the rectangle closed, either way. I didn’t want it sewn into place because I didn’t want a stitch line to be seen on the top of the strap. But it’s your choice.

Now go out and enjoy the Best Purse Ever and send me a link or post a comment if you make one yourself so I can see how great it turned out.


~Jess
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Jean Curtains.

Click HERE to enter my Blogoversary Giveaway.

With 3 kids I accumulate a lot of jeans, well clothes in general, that everyone has out grown. Some of Mackenzie’s I donate, the others that are too worn out I’ve been saving.


Mackenzie has needed curtains since we moved into our new place last April. I’m a slacker, I admit and put her curtains on a forgotten list somewhere. Now that I have enough jeans, and jean shorts I couldn’t put it off any longer.

I started cutting, and cutting and cutting. One pair of jeans after another pair of jeans. Cutting right in front of the seams, all the way up the legs, through the crotch and through the waistband.
Then I laid everything out until I was happy with the length and colors of everything.

Then I realized what I had laid out wasn’t going to be long enough. What did I think I was making? An area rug? So I laid everything out again and started sewing.

After clearing the process with Mackenzie, we decided to go with the distressed look. So I didn’t place right sides of the jeans together when I sewed. I overlapped the edges where I wanted the seam to be and sewed straight.

As you can see there is no rhyme or reason as to where I placed the jeans. I just went with what looked good to me and with Mackenzie's approval.

I needed some way to hang the curtains so I cut off a bunch of the leg hems from the extra jean legs I didn’t sew into the curtain.

After sewing 4 hems onto each curtain into loops, I was ready to hang and show off my work to Mackenzie.

I think I might weight the bottom corners of the each panel, they keep wanting to fold under and towards the middle. Mackenzie is tickled pink so what more could I ask for?
~Jess