The Lulu Pouch

My other projects (WIP/UFO's) seem to be moving at a snails pace.  I've had flags/pendants for more bunting for almost a week now, but for what ever reason I haven't got around to the binding to string/sew the pendants together.  Ugh!

I've also started some fabric nesting bowls, and for streamline reasons I've made about 6 small bowls, but now need the other 5 larger sizes.  Small, same sized bowls can't nest.  Double Ugh!

So since I feel like I'm going nowhere, fast, I decided to work on a pattern I purchase last week from Ali Foster.  It's called the Lulu Pouch. 

As I go to grab some vintage sheets I decide I need a brake from them and go for actual (new) fabric.  I decide on some Melody Miller Retro clocks fabric I won about two months ago, at a local fabric shop, The Stitch Lab. 

I've been wanting to cut into this fabric, but haven't know what to do with it...yet. The Lulu Pouch pattern is sooo super cute and very easy, and looks great with my fabric choice.  I love the over sized coin purse feel it has.  It'll be a great little pouch/purse for some cash, keys and phone. 

This was so quick and easy to make I think I'll make a whole bunch more just for that sense of accomplishment since my other projects are going soooo slow. 

Whatcha think?

Read more »

More vintage sheet coin purses

Who's gonna get tired of these vintage sheet creations?

Sorry I don't think I'm close to being tired of them yet.  I'm still obsessing over them and visiting the thrift stores, like every third day if not every other day in search of them.

Someone, please I need help.  Haha just kidding I might bite your arm off if you try to intervene....so stay back.  :-)

So as you may know I was previously having issues with small zippers on some previous small vintage sheet coin purses I've made, but I got it down now.  These are iddy bitty, and fantastic in their vintage sheet glory (now in my Etsy shop).  But I'm not gonna take all the credit.  I found and printed out this super cute little coin purse pattern  from ithinksew.  And it's free!!!  So what are you waiting for go get it.  I'll wait.

...
...
...

Did you get it?  Don't you love it?  I also loved and bought this cute clutch pattern (to be made down the line), and does this clutch look familiar?  Yes, this is where I also got the cute clutch pattern from my previous post, Clutch and Crate.  

Grab and go clutch from ithinksew.com

I have about a dozen more 4" zippers so I'll be making more coin purses until they are all used up...so be patient with me.  However, I'm on another mission so I may deter from coin purses.  I want to know how to make these fantastic fabric bowls that Sosorosey creates.  They are fan-tab-ulous!!!  I think I got down how to cut the sheets up for "yarn", but I'm having the hardest time seeing my chains.  Granted I've slightly attempted this, but I still can't see the chains ... so how am I suppose to count my chains/stitches.  Ugh!

Read more »

I'm behind.

OMG!  I have no idea what I've done the last week.  No big accomplishments...not even a whole bunch of small ones.  Sewing wise I've been almost non-productive.  I've managed to complete a few of my folded coin purses and have posted them up on Esty.  I don't know why I haven't completed more.  Ugh!  Oh well!  I'll slowly get more listed in the next week or so.

So what am I behind on?  I have no earthly idea. I just feel like I haven't done nearly enough.  Not enough sewing. My first quilt has been at a standstill. Sigh... 

I have had some luck in vintage sheet finds (below are just a few, but they are all listed in my Etsy shop).  I'm sooooo happy with my findings, if only I could find the time to make more items out of them.  I so want to make more aprons.  I'm even eying one for a skirt, for myself.  It would be soo cute for Easter.

I've also had some luck with other vintage finds.  Check out all these new vintage knitting needles.  I've wanted to learn how to knit since all I know is crochet right now, but now I don't have the excuse of not having the needles to learn.  I'm not keeping them all,  I'll be posting some (the duplicates) in my Etsy shop.  And check out the super cute vintage books and creamer.  Love them!  Also this math game, Quizmo.  It looks unused and seems to be similar to bingo, but math style.  Awesome!

Now it's time to start sewing something....ugh or maybe dream about sewing something.  I'm tired.

Read more »

Small Random Projects Equal a Productive Weekend.

Just a reminder.  Don't forget I'm having a giveaway to celebrate National Craft Month.  Go here to enter.

Wow!  Why do weekends go by soooo fast?  I wish I had more time to do what I want to do.  At first it seemed like I didn't get much accomplished, but you know what little projects are still projects.  Looking at my weekend as a whole it looks like I had a pretty productive weekend.

Saturday morning started out with excitement, but ended up somewhat disappointing.  I saw a posting for a neighborhood garage sale; in a very nice neighborhood.  There were 40+ garage sales posted.  40+!  I proceeded to drag my mom, sister, and three kids out to the neighborhood.  These were high end houses so I figured the garage sales would be awesome, but they were a complete buzz kill.  They were very whimpy and junky.  I know I know... one's man's trash is another mans treasure, and I guess that's what some of these garage sales were ... they were bring their trash out for bulk pick up and if they sold anything then they scored and if they didn't then to the curb it goes.  Oh well.

We proceeded to a church rummage sale where I scored this oh so vintage-y dark green FTD 1978 compote dish.  Isn't it awesome!!!  It will soon be listed in my Etsy shop.

1978 FTD compote dish.  (Look further down to see the vintage Westmoreland creamer.)

Later Saturday I managed to accomplish a few small sewing projects.  One I had be procrastinating on for over a week.  My soon to be brother-in-law wanted a t-shirt shorted and gave it to me with trust that I could get it done.  OMG!  This is something I have been wanted to try.  I have a long t-shirt for my daughter that also needs shortening, but I've been scared to try.  I Googled about a dozen different tutorials on how to hem a t-shirt, and then I dove in and tried.  LOOK!  I actually looks good.  Granted the serged side isn't as pretty as the outside, but it's the outside that counts right?  Whew!  I'm so excited...now I can do my daughter's t-shirt.

Hemmed t-shirt using a serger and twin needle on sewing machine.  Remember to feed the dogs.

My son has been wanting his own eye mask (he's been wearing mine. The one shown in my title banner.).  He even picked out his own fabric about two weeks ago.  He really loves looking at fabric.  He also chose a green fabric so that I can make him a frog.  Uh!  I haven't made any frogs...so I don't know why that got into his head.  Ugh!  Now I need to look for a frog tutorial.

University of Texas.  Go Longhorns!  (I am soo not a sports person)

Next my mom and sister decided they wanted a whole bunch of the foldy coin purses.  They both wanted them as gifts.  My sister wanted one, and my mom wanted three for her sister-in-laws, my aunts, that she'll be going on vacation with next month.  So I spent the evening watching a movie ironing on the interfacing and cutting them out.

Completed foldy coin purse.  Got more to work on.

Sunday I finished another Buttercup bag out of reclaimed sheets, and it is fabulous.  The butterflies, fruit, and flowers are great, and the colors are gorgeous.  It is now listed in my Etsy shop.  (see the left banner)

Purse interior.

I got out and about to a few thrift shops and managed a few good scores.  Got this super cute Vintage Westmoreland Quilted creamer.  It means business too, it is sooo solid.  Currently listed in my Etsy shop.  I also scored a 37 piece Noritake Progression China set, but I'm have the hardest time identifying it (can you help?  Here is the pattern but they don't have a pattern name.  There's not a pattern name or number on the pieces.  Hmmm.  I'll keep on looking.  And what is a thrift shop trip without finding vintage sheets.  Lucky I found one.  Whew!  Think I was gonna start going through withdrawal if I didn't find any vintage sheets this weekend.  

Check out the pictures in my Etsy shop.  The pattern is very detailed and fabulous.

Oh!  And I attempted to make a light box...in hopes to get better pictures at night.  It still needs a bit of tweaking.  Maybe a better light.   

Well that's my weekend in a nutshell.  How was yours?  

Read more »

The New Life of a Vintage Sheet, and Good-Bye Zipper Issues...Maybe

So I think I figured out my small zipper issue... maybe.

I decided to make some coin purses a bit larger than the ones I had previously made and used larger zippers.  This seemed to work, but I think they worked only because I realized I was sewing the coin purse wrong at the point where the zipper was.  I was folding the zipper in the wrong direction, therefore making the coin purse kinda pucker since the zipper was sewn in place.... in the wrong direction.  Does that make sense?

That was one of those times where you have to stop what you are doing....move away... and do something else.  Otherwise you get caught up in your mistake and momentarily become insane by continuing to repeat your same mistake over and over again hoping to have it magically work out.  I tell my daughter all the time when she gets frustrated when working on a craft or even homework "Step away, take a deep breath and do something else for a bit"...now I just have to remember to take my own advise.  Let's see how the small zippers work out next time I attempt the smaller coin purses.

On a non-zipper note I've made some purses out of the vintage sheets that I have been obsessively acquiring, and OMG they are sooo freaken cute (If I do say so myself).  I love the purse pattern as well.  It's a pattern from Made by Rae called the Buttercup Bag.

Back in December I had made a purse out of this pattern, just before I started blogging, which ended up in my sisters hands, and I loved it.  It was black with a cute oriental parasol fabric for the lining.  In my near future I see myself making another one for myself; since I seem to be a solid colored purse type of gal for my everyday use.

Purse exterior.

So back to these vintage sheet buttercup purses.  This pattern just seems to fit perfectly with these floral patterns.  I've been ready for spring...and some rain... hello rain are you out there?  Looks like we are gonna have a sad wild flower season from the lack of rain, but at least I can get my flower fix while whipping out these so spring-y purses out of these once loved and reclaimed to love vintage sheets.

Here the purses are flipped inside out so you can see the great interior fabric.  Inside has pockets.  The large purse has one pocket split in two.  Perfect size for your phone.

The small purse, I think, is a great size.  The exterior pattern is designed to be cut out of one fat quarter, which I love especially when working with new patterns.  It hurts my heart to use up a large amount of fabric on something that might not work out as expected.  Plus the small purse is a great size for an evening out; for your keys, wallet and other small necessities.  The large pattern will work best for my daily use since I like carrying around soo many non-essential items.

On another blog Artsy-Crafty Babe she has talked about how she's used Mulsin in leu of interfacing to keep the softness of  the vintage sheets, but to still give the purse some stability/thickness, and she is sooo right.  I would have hated to use interfacing to stiffen up the flowy goodness of these vintage sheets.  Not only do they look good, but they feel good too... nice and squishy.

Both purses will be posted in my Esty shop this week.  Leave a comment if your interested and I'll set up a special reserved listing for you.  I'm thinking $12 for the small one and $21 for the larger one, plus S/H (well $18 for this particular one since there is a small imperfection in the stitch at the top of the purse where I bumped into the button...oops.  So the stitch is straight then curves over the button....then straight again.  Note to self.... place button 1/4 inch lower next time.)

Read more »

Small zipper issues

Ugh!  I don't know what's wrong with me.  For the life of me I can't seem to sew the zippers correctly for a small coin purse.  AHHHH!!  I've made several and they all seem off. 

Since I dove in and cut into my first set of vintage sheets (late last week for the apron giveaway) I've been attempting to make some coin purses from the same set of sheets.  For the price I figure it's good practice fabric, and there is just so much of it. 

You can't see it here, but the green one has a gap where I failed to cover the zipper opening, and the top right one doesn't zip close all the way.  :-(

Ok back to my issue.  I think my issue is that the zippers are 4" zippers.  I've gone through about a dozen tutorials, which are all similar one way or another and the finished product looks clean and finished (in the tutorials), but my end results are ..... uh wonky? Plus the tutorials use zippers that are much longer then cut them down. Maybe that's my solution.... use much longer zippers.

See the top left one...the zipper is bowing.  The blue one you can see that the fabric is puckered at the corner.

I didn't have any issues with a 9" zipper.  Look at the cute little purse I made out of half a place mat.  The zipper was easy to install and the whole project was super quick.  So why can't the small coin purse be the same?

Place mat purse.  There is the whole place mat, the other half is cut up and ready to make another one, and my finished purse.

You can see the reverse side of the mat inside of the purse. 

This place mat purse was inspired by another purse I have that I love to use on the weekends.  Especially if we are going to festivals or open air markets.  Big enough for my phone, cash, keys, the occasional small purchase or water bottle.  When out with my kids I prefer a purse that I can wear that crosses over my chest.  This way I have both hands free, and not have to worry about putting my purse down and forgetting it somewhere. 

My inspiration purse.
(I had a hard time getting the camera to focus on all these pics...I'm just having issues all around.)

Wow! Talk about easily distracted...I'm wanting to complain about my 4" zipper issues and then get off track.  I'm not sure what is going on with these coin purses.  Maybe I need to revert to bias tape.  I made my sister a cute coin purse for Christmas that used bias tape around the edge.  It's just that I tend to fight with bias tape as well.  My bias tape maker has been used 3 times since I purchased it in January, and each and every time I've used it I fail to some extent.  What happens here is that the bias tape doesn't fold correctly at the seams where the strips are joined.

Maybe coin purses are not meant to be my thing.  We'll see...eventually.  Who will win?  Me or the coin purses?

Read more »

Foldy coin purse

So there was this coin purse I saw online the other day, mentioned in a blog on Sew, Mama, Sew! It was  made  from a Japanese craft kit.  The second I saw this coin purse I yelled in my head "This is what I've been looking for!!".  Seriously I have spent a lot of time looking for a foldy little coin purse like this, but have not found anything even close to it.  I was about to ask the blogger to mail me a kit (I'd pay her of course), but I didn't want to wait.  Of course I started looking online, again, to see if I could find a pattern similar, but got quickly frustrated.  

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6977557660925180178#editor/target=post;postID=2524976459707244670;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=243;src=postname

What to do now?  I'm make it!  I'll wing it.  So I start folding paper into little boxes.  The top overlaps the the bottom.  The two sides need to match the front.  The first paper box was much too big (unless I was making a coin purse for Plinko chips).  The second paper purse...eh still a bit too big.  The third one just right, and still big enough to even hold my credit card... perfect!

OK it's perfect but I need to add a seam allowance; a 1/4" should do.  So I proceed in drawing the pattern 1/4" bigger.  Time to cut out two pieces of fabric.  In the blog she did mention a thicker fabric; so I used heavy interfacing for one side (both sides might be a good idea next time).  I sew right sides together with a opening left so that I can turn right side out, press with an iron and sew the opening close. 

Hmmm? Now I have a two sided plus sign.  What am I to do next?  Ok lets just line up the edges together to form the box like I did with the paper and do a really close seam on all edges.  Yea!  It's a box!!

I, as of yet, don't have the little button fastener plier tool thingy. So I'm gonna have to go with another type of button with a loop to hold my purse closed.

Wow!!  This was much easier then I expected.  I'm soo happy that I saw Karen's blog on Sew, Mama, Sew!  Thank you!

Read more »