Boutique Bag for Charity Auction

So, the above picture is the Boutique Bag pattern that I wanted to make it for this charity auction for a fundraiser for foster kids to go to camp. I really liked this pattern and for some reason, only made it once before. Probably cause I feel in love with brocade fabric and it just wouldn't work with the casing. Anyway, here is the very first one I made . . . 

I wish I would have picked a different color for the lining, and looking back at it now, all the colors in general. But, hey, it looked good to me at the time!

Here is the one I made for the auction.

The colors are more subdued than I normally go with, which I think is a good thing. I'm not 100% sure on the bow, I keep thinking yellow would have been a better choice, but I go back and forth! I tried to keep in mind that not everyone likes weird contrasting colors like I seem to be drawn to, so maybe the bow is just fine as is (its the same as the lining). I made quite a few changes this time around too . . .

- First, I moved the location of the bow because I thought it being in the middle was obnoxious (which I also did the first time around). Just a personal perference.
- I also shortened the strap length so the purse curves right underneath your arm and added interfacing inside of the straps so they hold their shape better. That was one problem I remember having with the first one. Plus it adds stability and just looks better.
- I've also made the purse smaller in width because the original pattern is HUGE and downsizing it helps give it more of a purse feel.
- I also didn't put four pockets on the inside, just two because, again, four was just obnoxious and too much. Seriously, who needs four freaking pockets?!

Anyway, I totally love it and am sad that I must see it go, but hopefully who ever wins it will love it!

Inspiration!

 

To quote the first line, I wish some one had told me this when I first started sewing!

Clutch!

I've been wanting to whip up a clutch for months now, but never really got around to it, but recently, my step mom asked me if I would make some purses for a charity auction that would raise money for foster kids. I figured two purses would be a bit ambitious, since I take so long with them, so I settled for one purse and one clutch. I found this super easy, super cute clutch tutorial (you can find it here) and gave it a try!

I've had this fabric for years and I finally just decided to use it for a practice clutch, but it turned out awesome! I modifed the the "pattern" by doing the ruffled front on both sides and added a handle (which I made a bit too long). One thing I was super excited about was how she did the zipper with two tabs at each end that are sewn into the purse so it lays flat. Mine did not turn out that way, I think next time I will make the zipper just a tad smaller than she says to make it so I have more room to sew it all together (if you read the tutorial, you will know what I am talking about).

 Anyway, here is the lining . . .

Another problem I had was the lining not fitting very well at all. As you can see, it's a bit puffy by the zipper and it just doesn't lay right. Next time, I'm increasing the seam allowance to 5/8" which will help with the zipper problem and enough seam allowance to press open after it's all sewn together. Also, I want more rufflage (I know that isn't a word), so I'm going to increase the length by an inch or two.

Well, that is my big accomplishment! Enjoy!

It's been awhile

Well, I have really lost touch with blogging my sewn creations. I must admit, after seeing all the other sewing blogs, I felt more than inadequate. All these other ladies make such amazing, beautiful, well-made things with the coveted Amy Butler fabric that my small hometown seems to hate selling. Not only that, but the photos are perfect and look like they are done by experts! I'm not an expert. I'm a sub-par seamstress on a limited budget with a short attention span. I also get discouraged and feel like my projects are just ok.

BUT, the silver lining is Pinterest. Pinterest as sparked such amazing inspirations in me, I cant' even begin to explain. Sliced bread doesn't hold a candle to this website. So, while this particular post does not have a project or anything, I can say there are more to come! I have seen HUNDREDS of crafts I want to dabble in, but I have so much going on in other areas of my life! Time consuming projects just aren't holding my interest. I want something simple and can be finished within the span of two days and I have found tons!
 

So, I want to start this up again, but kinda redesign it. Other websites have tutorials, patterns, tips and so on and I want that too. What's another thing to add to my long list of goals?


More to come (promise)

The Easy Purse

Even after all the purses I had made and all the compliments and all the encouragement to sell, I still felt like I wasn't that good. Patterns confused me, I made thousands of mistakes during the whole process and every purse had at least 10 problems. To top it off, I was getting tired of my boxy purse designs.

Then, one weekend my Grandma, who also sews, found a pattern in a magazine that was soooo cute. AND I could read it and understand it! There were color pictures, concise directions. I was in love. Not only that, the pattern showed me a whole new way to sew a lining into the bag body.

I have taken the liberty of drawing a less than awe-inspiring picture of the way I was putting in the lining and the new way I learned.

Here is the old way:
Now, if you know nothing about sewing, this might give you a better picture of what I'm talking about. You see, in sewing you always put right sides together to sew and have the "raw" edges to face the "wrong side" or the part no one sees. So, here I have drawn what the purse looks like when you are sewing in the lining. I would place the lining inside the bag, right sides together, and sew the top around and leaving a 3-4" opening to turn the bag right side out.

 The problem with this method is that the opening likes to move around when you are trying to edge stitch it shut. Edge stitching is a tricky business and you want to make it as smooth as you can because it is decorative and makes the purse look finished. Sometimes this way is the only way to put the lining in, but it is the hardest way, in my opinion.


Here is the NEW way:
This way is easier because you sew the lining to the bag first, then sew the two big pieces to each other and leave an opening at the bottom of the lining. It really made a difference in the purse and this pattern was the least time consuming one I have ever made.

 The new way to turn the bag right side out wasn't the only new thing about the purse. The design was so cool looking and the pockets were on the outside! And, like a good little seamstress, I did a practice one first and I whipped it up in about 4 hours.

Here is the practice one. I really didn't think was all the pretty but it went together relativlywell considering I used nothing but the scraps I had attained from my mom and grandma.

Not only do you get to see the bag, but you also get a glimpse into my old room. Don't you feel lucky?

Anyway, you can really tell how different this purse is from all the others. There are two straps the go down the purse, which gives you a sturdy strap and several pockets on the outside divided up by the straps. All three prints seem to work together and my Stepmom liked it so much, she wanted one made just like it.




That marked the first time I'd ever been asked to make a purse specifically for someone else.

 I tweaked the lining so it had some of the strap material on the top part. That was actually because I ran out of pink fabric and had to improvise. Usually, improvising is where the most creative stuff comes about.








I another purse and ended up giving it to lady I worked with who had been helping and rooting for me since The Great Disaster. A lot of people asked to have this one, but I gave it away then posted it on myspace ( Facebook was barely catching on). I miss this purse and after seeing it, I think I might have to make another. It's one of the rare purses where I picked out fabric that really worked together that didn't come from my scraps.

 Now, I haven't written too much about the mistakes I made with the last two because those didn't have any that really stood out. But this one, I will call Harder Than It Should Have Been.

First, I didn't buy enough fabric for the straps. I had to go back to the fabric store only to find they did not have the orginal, so I settle for something similar. Obviously, I was not going to use two different fabric prints on the outside, so I used one of the prints for the backing to the straps. This one change added probably another hour and a half to my overall time. When sewing straps, I like to fold them up to about 2" and sew four lines to give them a finished look. However I have to do this four times.

Then, I also wanted to lining to be like The First Custom Made Purse lining with the two contrasting fabrics. Well, I did this but I didn't need to. I had plenty of fabric and not doing it would of saved me another hour or so. All in all, this project took me three days whereas the two before took me a matter of hours. After that much sewing, your brain is fried and sewing is the last thing you want to do.

Even though the lining looks awesome, it was a bitch to do.

 Lessons I learned:
1) When making a pattern twice the size shown, buy more fabric than you think you will need
2) Don't choose fabric that makes the pattern harder than it has to be
3) Straps are the least favorite thing about a purse

I made another pattern like this for a friend who needed a bag for her bible study books. I used this pattern because it makes for a super durable purse. The fabric she picked was the hardest I'd had to deal with at that point and it seemed like every time I went to work on it, 10 things went wrong right away. The fabric would move no matter how much I pinned it, the lining fabric also moved and frayed like crazy. I actually may or may not of throw the thing across the room after poking myself with a pin. It took me 3 months to finish that purse just because I didn't want to touch it. I hated it when it was finished. I thought my friend was going to be really disappointed. However, she loved it and to this day, that purse is still going strong. She washes it and gets tons of compliments and people never believe it's homemade.

That is the last I have made of that exact pattern, I do modify it later on though. The next series of purses are inspired by a patchy purse I bought on sale. None of them turn out how I imagined they would...

Jackpot - Updated

Okay, I'm going to mix it up. Instead of going through more history, I'm going to do a blog about my current sewing happenings. Please contain your excitement.

So, a guy I used to date not too long ago texted me asking if I wanted a bunch of fabric and other sewing related items that he found packed away that was his Grandmas. I was caught of guard hearing from him as things did not end ideally between us, but how could I refuse fabric? And more importantly, I was flattered that he thought of me when he found that stuff, although he also didn't want to just throw it all away. But still. That was pretty cool of him.

Any who, I was thinking I was going to get a box or a bag and some other stuff maybe. Well, I got two big black trash bags and several boxes. My car was filled with all the stuff he gave me. This picture shows part of my messy room, but at least you can see all the stuff I was given!

I wasn't able to look over all of it right away, but I did go through a box of patterns circa 1940s. There was mostly baby clothing patterns but there was a few clothing items. One was a baby shirt that had a Roosevelt election pin on it! Naturally, I had to tell him because I'm sure he did not know it was in there. Obviously, he wanted it back.

 Well, today I went through the rest of it and it took a good hour to hour and a half! Soooooo much stuff. Much of it was small scraps that I couldn't use, but there was still tons of great vintage fabric that is just amazing. This woman had great taste in fabric!

This is just a small portion of all that was in there. But all of it is equally amazing! Also, I can't even tell you how much rick-rack I got. Even after that huge rant about it in the last blog, maybe it can grow on me?

Another thing I found was a box filled with the beginnings of a quilt. I'm told that this quilt is called "Flower Garden" and they were a really big deal back in the 1950s (give or take a decade). They are usually hand stitched because that is the better way to go about the quilt but I've read ways to do it on a machine. It's pretty impressive though, considering there are about 40 hand stitched blocks! I guess my Great Grandma made one too and it was her "pride and joy" as my Grandma tells me.

I tried to get as close as I could to get an idea of the prints. I will admit that my cat's tail is in the bottom of the picture, sorry.
But anyway, I really want to finish this quilt. It is hopelessly vintage and I just love it. It's going to be a challenge though! But, if the guy who generously gave me this stuff wants it, I would do so but it will break my heart!

 There are quite a few "blocks(?)" here but not enough to make a full quilt. But, she did have a huge scrap box with the pattern, the cut pattern pieces and the material she was using. I think I can finish it. What is odd though, is that every single block has a bright peach center except one has a green center. I'll have to think of a way to work with that. Maybe make a few with a different color to balance it out.

I will say that I am not going to hand stitch it. I just do not have the patience. Too many modern conveniences I have grown accustomed to just can't compete. I've tried cutting some pieces with scissors only and it did not go well. And even thinking about all the extra steps for hand stitching brings up all the possible things that will probably go wrong.

There is so much more: flat sheets, foam pillows, ironing board covers, LOTS of lace, other patterns, tracing paper, yarn, thread and other notions. Old sewing magazines and a book. So many different fabrics it's insane. She even used newspaper to make copies of her patterns. That is pretty ingenious to use newspaper in my opinion. She also used cardboard, paper bags and tissue paper. It's possible many women did this, but it's new to me!

Well, that is my huge jackpot. I'm pretty excited and my head is swimming with possibilities!

The other problem...is my fabric closet. It's bursting through the doors as of now and there is a huge pile of fabric I got at the thrift store that I haven't even managed to fit in. Needless to say, I'm going have to do a lot of organizing and throwing away. Am I the only sewer who hates to throw away scraps? After looking at all the scraps his Grandma left behind, I can say with confidence that I am not.

It's hard to keep blogging about old projects when I have so many going on right now that are so much better than those made in that first year or so. Also, after seeing all these other sewing blogs with ladies sewing stuff with fabric so cute I couldn't hope to compete, even now. Yet another reason why I don't sell my stuff...*sigh*.

The next several purses

After those two purses, I felt a tad defeated. The purses I had sewn were nowhere near what I had envisioned. When I looked at the purses, all I saw were the mistakes. It is only now, with perspective, that I can appreciate the purses I started out with.

For awhile, I took a break from sewing (like a week or two at most). But, it wasn't too long before I started to conceptualize how to modify the patterns I had made. I kept envisioning fabrics and designs and had big dreams. Everyone was so encouraging and reassured me that I was an artist and artists never like their work. I'm quoting others, of course. The labeling me as an artist is something I'm not quite comfortable with even now.

Now, it's hard for me to remember exactly the order I made these next purses. It's kind of like trying to guess the order humans evolved in. I can only guess, but I am 75% sure that these are the order they went in.

All of these were inspired by another pattern or purse I had. I was running blind as a novice sewer trying to make her own designs.  Guessing measurements and execution were not as easy, which I should of learned by then. None the less, I learned a lot from each one. I've also decided to give each one a festive title in case I have to refer to them in later posts.
That's just how I roll.

The Pillowcase Purse

The purse on the left is one I bought from Target and at first I didn't like how everything in it bunched together. I had to dig to find anything in it, but for whatever reason, I'm still in love with it.
So, I figured once again "how hard could this be?". Well, not that hard really, but I made so many stupid mistakes. This particular design is a marriage of The Horrendous Pattern Purse and the purse on the left. There are two pieces sewn together at the top and the body is sewn on second, just like my good friend Horrendous Purse. Again, hard to tell but the next ones will show it.

I did get a lot of compliments on it and even inspired one guy from my work to make his own!

If you couldn't tell by now, I love lists. So here is a list of things I learned:

1) When designing my own purse, accounting for seam allowance in all parts is very important. As a result, there is an accidental pleat in the middle of the bag that doesn't really go well. A pleat happens when you have excess material when you get the end and you have to bunch it up, resulting in an accidental pleat.
2) Never, ever line a purse with dark fabric. You will not be able to see anything in it.
3) Make sure the opening of the purse is big enough so you can easily search through it
4) Make sure to check the seam lines of the outside part. Sometimes, it looks like crap.

The Rick-Rack Purse

 Yet again, a purse I owned inspired one I designed. This is a purse I bought cool fabric for, envisioning one thing and getting another.

The purse on the left was a huge favorite from Target (so was the Pillow Case Purse inspiration) and this is where I actually started thinking about how easy this one too would be to make. So, I roughly copied the shape, did the two pieces in front and added a magnetic snap. AND RICK-RACK!

What the hell was I thinking? Once again, I was thinking "Ohhh, rick-rack, very retro". No, it looks stupid.
I also decided to use flimsy interfacing, probably because I was broke and couldn't afford the Pellon stuff that makes a purse stand up. I honestly don't remember but I do remember hating it. I still hate it. It's a really crappy design.

Lessons I learned:
1) Magnetic snaps need re-enforcement and are often have too strong of a magnetism
2) Don't use dark fabric to line a purse (you see what I mean when I say I make the same mistakes over and over?)
3) Rick-rack is like Kim Kardashian: no one knows what the hell they do and we serioulys contemplate if they have a function.

The Most Liked Purse

After all those problematic purses, I finally had a successful one. The purse on the left is The Horrendous Pattern you saw before and the one on the right was the accumulation of all I learned.

Here is the best picture for the two pieces on the top sewn together, but I also did that for the bottom. So there are four pieces on each side. You can tell because the flow of the print changes four different times.

This one turned out really great. I made it out of a pillow case too and the lining was scrap fabric I had that worked perfectly. I tried several new things, one of them being the four pieces sewn together. I also:
1) Used ribbon for the closure (inspired from the black and purple Target purse from above)
2) I made a wider strap that would stay on my shoulder better
3) I folded the lining over the edge of the purse and used it as the edging

Here are some better pics of the purse that I have on Facebook:

Now, despite my love and the huge amount of compliments I got for this purse, I still had my qualms with it:

1) Purses need pockets
2) The strap is too wide
3) The lining was too big



The Purse I Thought I Would Get More Compliments Than I Actually Did

I Love argyle. It is just the trendiest print and really gives a purse an elegant and expensive look to it. But, it is hard to find in your local anywhere. I had to compromise but I thought it was still a pretty damn nice print. I want to say this was inspired by a coach purse my sister-in-law Alexis has but I'm not sure. Just the design of the purse, obviously not the fabric.

This photo was taken right after I made it, so this is the purse in it's full glory. I still love this purse, I think it's beautiful and I knew that once I wore it out, I was going to get compliments left and right.

I was wrong. I never get one kudo or comment on this one. Nothing. It kinda broke my heart. I had the fabric perfectly straight! I mean, you can see near the edge how the triangles are perfectly cut when they meet the white bottom! But, still nothing. No one saw what I saw...

This shape is just like The Most Liked Purse, but a different design. I also added a pocket! Oh la la! I used jean material for the bottom and coated it with scotch guard, which I lost right after. But I digress..

I also contemplated a zipper for this one, but when it came down to it, I couldn't conceptualize how to put it in. I have only recently done a clutch with a zipper and it took me a few brain storming sessions to work it out. In the end, I went for the ribbon closure stand by.

 Things I learned:
1) Argle prints like this one are easy to cut straight because you can just follow the triangles
2) One strap on a purse sucks
3) The baggy lining problem had to be fixed (which I won't figure out for a while).
4) Ribbon closures are starting to be stupid


Well, there you have a bit of evolution. I gained a bit of confidence in my sewing skills but still only saw all the flaws of each one. It was at this time everyone was telling me to start selling some, but I didn't (and still don't) have the faith that anyone would buy one. There were too many problems to sell these things to innocent buyers who were looking for quality. And mine weren't quality. Plus, after I sew a purse, I want it for myself as it is made to suit my tastes.

After The Never Complimented Purse, I got tired of that pattern design but was at a loss of a new design. I realized that even though patterns were confusing, they still were all I had to go off of. I kept envisioning different fabrics and seeing what I wanted to sew but had no idea how to go about sewing it.

I soon found a new pattern that changed up my designs and wasn't a nightmare to follow.