craftshare 2010 at sew can do ~ felt pocket party bags

Today I am a guest poster over at Sew Can Do as part of CraftShare 2010. My post is about using felt to make pockets on party bags, please hop over and read it here..

mini beach bag ~ fun in the sun crafty ribbons

I made this mini beach bag for the Crafty Ribbons Fun in the Sun challenge. I used turquoise and white gingham for the main part of the bag and a multi-colour pastel plaid cotton for the front pocket – it is trimmed with one of the Fun in the Sun ribbons which has beachy things on it. I used blue deckchair stripe grosgrain ribbon for handles, which I bought from their fabulous site craftyribbons.com – my new favourite source for ribbons.



This bag is gusseted (I have been wanting to try out a gusseted bag) and lined with the gingham. It is interfaced for strength and stability. I used the same method of double-folding and double-stitching the top hem and handles as for the party bags I make – this makes them really strong and durable.







Here is the selection of Fun in the Sun ribbons I received for the challenge:



I used some shells from my beach treasures for props!

Now I'm off to finish my other projects for the challenge..

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Alice pinny apron un-tutorial

I’m slightly nervous about calling this a ‘tutorial’ so it’s an ‘un-tutorial’ instead! It’s how I made an Alice style pinny or apron for my daughter Cyan. She has this blue dress – it is her Alice dress, has been for a while, whenever she wants to be Alice this is the dress she wears. But she was always lamenting her lack of pinny. So I said I’d make her one. I just kinda made it up as I went along.

For this project I used almost 1m of basic white cotton fabric and about .5m of wide broderie anglais trim.

This can be broken down into 3 main stages. I took quite a few photos (maybe too many?!) so I've linked small images here, you can click them through to flickr to see them bigger.

1. bib and skirt
First I measured on the dress the sizes I wanted for the bib and skirt parts, then added 4" to the width of each and 3" to the depth of each. I cut the pieces so the selvedge edge is on the bottom of the bib and the top of the skirt. Then I made 1" doubled hems on the sides, top of bib and skirt bottom, pressed then pinned ready to sew. I sewed all the way around the outer 3 hems on each piece, right close to the edge; then sewed all the way around the inner line of the hem. This 1" doubled hem really gives the effect I wanted (see John Tenniel’s original illustrations for Alice in Wonderland).





2. pocket and belt
Making the little pocket was the hardest part! It should really have two pockets but I decided to just have one because a) I don’t think I could make two the same; and b) Cyan and the pinny are quite dinky and two pockets would have swamped it, probably, anyway – see a). So I made the pocket somehow, trimmed the top with broderie anglais (a bit posh for an Alice pinny really but it just looks so cute!) and sewed it onto the skirt. Next I cut a 4" strip of the longest width of my white fabric for the belt, this was folded and pressed inwards so it ended up 1" wide and quadruple thickness.



I then unfolded the belt and sewed the bottom of the bib to the back of the belt, with the open edge of the belt to the bottom – ready for the skirt to be inserted (some lateral thinking required here!).



Before I pinned the skirt into the belt I pinned some tucks in the skirt top. Then I sewed up the belt, starting right at one end, all the way around, sewing in the skirt in the middle, and then all the way to the other end.




Almost done!

3. shoulder straps
With the pinny pinned onto the dress I worked out how long and wide (about 1.75") I wanted the shoulder straps, cut them 4x wider, folded and pressed inwards same as for the belt. Then I worked out how long I needed the broderie anglais trim for the little cap sleevey bits. Cut, pin tucks, pin into straps – checking position on dress/pinny. Sew up straps, sewing in the broderie trim.




Next I carefully sewed the front strap ends to the top of the bib, hand sewing the ends on the back for neatness. I zig-zag stitched the ends first – no serger here!
Then I pinned the straps to the back of the belt, and then – for the first time – I had Cyan try it on so I could adjust where the straps join for a perfect fit!
Sew straps along top edge of belt, trim excess strap length, zig-zag stitch ends, sew straps along bottom edge of belt, done!




Wait to see what I made for Oliver to be the Mad Hatter! I'm on a real creative high here!

Edit: see the photos here ..

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dinosaur bunting flags

This is a dinosaur pennant banner / bunting I made as a thank you for my very first Etsy order. It is personalised with the birthday boy’s name and coordinates with the party bags I made for his dinosaur party. I actually decided to make it because I had some off-cuts of fabric left over from making the party bags, just right to make bunting.

I have never made bunting before, and I am so pleased with how it turned out. I need to make more with Oliver’s name on for his bedroom, and then of course more with girly prints and Cyan’s name for her room...

I decided not to seam the flag edges for two reasons – well three really I suppose – 1. I wanted to make the most of the off-cuts I had. 2. I thought that seams might make the edges too bulky. 3. easier to make without seams! Not sure if it actually is easier, but I like how it looks anyway.

I used green cotton and Bondaweb iron-on adhesive for the letters, dinosaur prints with green gingham backing for the flags (also fixed with Bondaweb). I top-stitched the letters and flags with brown thread to match the fabulous green and brown saddle-stitch grosgrain ribbon which the flags hang from.




Dinosaur party goods are available in my Etsy shop, maybe even bunting too – one day soon!

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