Sewing Bag Set

I finally got out my embroidered patches and put them to good use. I have wanted bags to transport my craft projects in. This is what I dreamed up. Again, no pattern here. I just have used the awesome embroidered patches as my basis for inspiration. I wanted a little bag for all the the embroidery thread and then a bigger bag for the pieces that I am working on. So when it is time for a ride in the car everything will be together.

In the small bag I added a piece of red ribbon and added a pin cushion and tie for my ginhger snippers.

Yes, that is me, giggling at my hubby's face when he takes photos. The front of the big bag has a huge pocket for carrying rulers and large hoops.

My Bag

After quilting the Kaffe zig-zags, I pulled out my stash of vinyl that I purchased from a scrap bin at an upholstery shop. This huge piece of mulberry soft backed vinyl  was a whopping $3.00.  I knew it was destined for a bag, rather " My Bag". I want to make more projects for me. This bag I had no pattern for, of course. I basically did what I normally do, I used an existing bag I own as a pattern and alter it for what I really want. I decided to use the quilted Kaffe piece as a "flap" for the top of the bag.  I wanted the vinyl  to be on the bottom since I knew it would hold up best.

I have decided year 2014 is dedicated to perfecting zipper installations. I have not used many zippers in my sewing, mostly because I make quilts. I am trying to branch out in my sewing. I bought about 10 zippers to try with different projects. I always start my zippers by closing the ends up with tabs, as seen below.

Then, I flank the zipper and press and top stitch, as seen below in my lining pieces. I chose light grey lining, so that it would be easier to see way into the bottom of the bag. I ended up machine sewing the bottom and sides of the lining and then hand sewing it in the bag, by tacking in the bottom corners and stitching into the zipper edge along the top.  I debated over this approach to the liner, but ultimately I loved that it looked great!

Most of the time took in this project was determining what I wanted to ultimately get out of it. I spent a lot of time with the lining making sure that I would get the pockets I need for the things I carry. I want to use this bag everyday. I think the vinyl looks nice and sturdy while the Kaffe fabric panel helps make it trendy and adds the detail a signature bag really needs. My beast of a Bernina powered through this project with ease. I really love that it handled the topstitching with such precision. 

Boxing out the bottom corners helps the bag stand up and gives it a better bottom to hold my goodies.

Here this the almost finished bag, sans strap. I made zipper extend a few inches down the side to maximize access to the deep bag. I live in a town that banned plastic shopping bags and taxes paper ones. So I often find myself with out a good bag at the store and shoving groceries into my purse. This bag is perfect, because I can lift up the flap and fill it full. 

The strap was a difficult task. There was blood spilled, cuss words flying and backups brought in. All in all, it was a team effort. Basically, I made the vinyl tube too small and it kept sticking to itself and kind of stalled in the middle, as we tried to turn it. Yes, I say we, it took 3 of us. Lesson learned. Honestly, I learn something every time I set out to make something with out a pattern, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Love Love

I have been wanting to make a decorative pillow for my mom to go with the quilt I made for her Big Birthday. 

I knew I wanted it to be " LOVE LOVE"

This is what my Mama and Sister say to each other,  now my husband says it and I am pretty sure a few friends have picked up on it. Because in my family it's not just Love, it's Love Love.

I started by looking for a certain size for a pillow insert. I went for 14 x14. I cut out the muslin 15 x15 , so that I can quilt the piece.

I folded the piece of muslin in half so I knew how big one word needed to be. 

I used scrap pieces left over from her Kaffe fabric quilt. I started with the dark colors, by laying them out on the half of muslin.

I tried to keep my strips 2-3 inches wide considering 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Then I cut and filled in with the light colored fabric.

I am a very messy cutter. I also have lots of Kaffe fabric and intend to make quite a few more quilts from the scraps. I try to keep the lights and darks sorted nicely, or not so nicely.

Here are some border pieces. I found that taking a few were not only helpful for my blog but, also to get it back together after sewing and pressing.

I ended up cutting my "E" strips too thin and it came out rather tiny. I actually had to remake the "E".

Here is one finished " LOVE".

The final Block, LOVE, LOVE.

I cut the batting 14 1/2 and sandwiched it with the muslin and sewed all sides down with 1/4 seam allowance.
I am planning on doing some simple quilting to get the letters to pop a bit more.
I hope my Mama will LOVE, LOVE it.

Bernina Accessories

My striped green place mat was just not working with my new cover so I whipped up this awesome mini-quilt mat for my Bernina machine.

I as I dreamed up this mat I determined I wanted to make it small and just fit the foot print of the machine base. I don't need extra fabric in my way when I sew. I also decided that I need to make it slip proof. After spending a few minutes seeking the best option from the fabric closet. I noticed a bag of moving packaging junk. This drawer liner stuff in the top of the bag was perfect. Disclaimer: This is not the prettiest thing I have ever made. The bottom wont hardly ever be seen and I need this machine to budge. I have to push hard to get fabric to move through a machine sometimes, and no one wants a Bernina to hit the floor. 

I used a Quilt-as-You-Go method. The Missouri Quilt Company has a nice youtube tutorial. I have no experience with this simple quilting technique and wanted to start small. I cut the backing attached the non-slip drawer liner and batting the same size as backing then sewed strips on. The first strip is tacked to the left edge face up. Then the next is face down lining up the edges. I smoothed the backing and hand pressed the previous strip over. I also varied the sizes of the strips. I do recommend pinning and ironing if you are making anything larger.  This method would make great table runners or placemats.

Of course, that black and white safety pin fabric was too busy so it got chopped up and delegated to the binding.

It turned out lovely. I think I am getting a hang of this binding thing.

Oh and I whipped up a pin cushion that has steel wool inside and hair band and button closure. I might end up remaking it. For now I love the collection.

Sewing Machine Cover

I made this awesome cover today for by beautiful new-to-me Bernina. She was missing her original case when I purchased her. I don't feel the need to have a hard case since I don't plan to be moving this door stop often.
Lucky I bought this perfect fabric a few years ago in North Carolina. "Sew Happy" Monaluna for Robert Kaufman was created for my Bernina! I had always wanted to make accessories for my sewing machine. It just took me the inspiration to create. So I set off to make a machine cover.

I wanted it to cover the attached table, since I always have it on the machine. So the cover need to be an odd shape. I measured the machine twice and wrote down my measurements on a small sketch of the cover. It ended up being three rectangles on the front top and back while the two ends are large trapezoids. 

I even put this awesome pocket on the end. I used a high-loft batting and quilted it to create stiffer plannels so it would stand up on its own.

I put a simple loop on the top along with a wide trim.  I simply wanted to get all the fabrics in there but found the black and white super distracting.  I need to cut it up smaller and decided to brake it up with a trim.  The stripe down the middle of the front and back plannels came about because the white fabric was not wide enough by only 2 inches.  Therefore I threw in the red button strip. I find that working with 3 complementary fabrics are easier to design with than 2 or 4. I am so happy with this awesome item. 

I liked making this cover because I created the pattern and I was able to use many different stitches on the machine and I practiced the free hand quilting. I quilted the black Saftey pin pocket with a simple straight stitch but for the other pannels I used the darning foot and did some tight curly cues around the buttons on the red fabric. For the white fabric with the sewing machines I whent a bit bigger with my loops and curves. I used and awesome zigzag for finishing off the bottom edge. 

The machine did great piecing together the pannels. My old machine would have binded up in the corners. The Bernina never faultered. I am in love. 

Sewing Loves

This is the tree right down the street from my house. There are a lot of beautiful trees in town right now. I love this one in particular. The blue sky against the orange leaves. Very nice indeed. As long as the Oregon rain is holding off, I am enjoying this fall weather.

I am planning ahead for the rainy season and purchased a beautiful vintage Bernina 930 record. I have dreamed of owning a Bernina mechanical machine and this is about as expensive as I can go in the Bernina world. Its amazing to think, a 1984 is consider vintage and it is still worth a nice chunk of change. She was serviced regularly and had one owner.

I found this beauty on craig's list this weekend and jumped on it. The purchase included 12 feet, the manual, original bobbin case, a walking foot, table extension and so many other goodies. The machine was 6 blocks away, the whole time!  The slightly dissapointing items missing from the sale were the case and knee lever, which I may have this welder guy I know make for me. It would cost over $200.00 to replace these missing items through a dealer, so I think that will have to wait a bit. This is a very expensive machine for me but, I think it is a true investment.  I feel if I keep it in great running condition it will hold it's value, if not continue to rise.

Stay tuned to see what projects I come up with. I have quite a few planned. I love the way the machine sounds, much like a ticking clock. I still cant believe it is mine. She is so strong and lovely.