Baby's first owl

A one-year-old I know was having a birthday party today. I had been toying with various present ideas for weeks, but suddenly it was an hour to the party and I hadn't started anything. Sweet Tea and I whipped up this serious little guy in about 50 minutes. If you want to make something similar, here are the steps:

1. Draw the body shape on a piece of fabric. Make it a little fatter than you want the final toy, to give room for seam allowance.
2. Cut two body shapes out.
3. Cut the eyes, nose, brow, etc. out of different fabrics.
4. Sew the smaller parts to the larger parts. I went in this order: pupils to eyes, brow to face, nose to face, eyes over nose and brows. Use a close zig-zag stitch to hide the raw edges.
5. Make little triangular pillows for feet, loosely stuffed with poly-fiber-fill. You don't have to close the ends of the pillows because they'll be sewn into the body.
   
6. Sew zig-zag stitches over the foot pillows to make 'toes'
7. Put the feet over the front of the toy, upside down. You want the pointy, unfinished end of the pillow sticking out past the bottom edge of the toy.
8. Put the back of the body over the front. The part of the feet you want to have showing at the end will be inside, in between the front and back of the body.
   
9. Sew almost all the way around the outside of the toy, sewing over the feet. Leave yourself about 3 inches unsewn so you can turn the whole thing right side out.
10. Turn him right side out and fill with stuffing.
11. Sew the hole in his side closed.

Voila! Cute owl.

More Watches

I just spent a ridiculous number of hours staring a tiny objects, pausing, inserting them into watch cases, staring, pausing, and taking them back out again. Here is one of the fruits of my labors:



I was very excited to discover that the 10 centime coin I found polished up nicely. Apparently they are partially silver. The moon snail is one of several tiny specimens that Sweet Tea and I found on the beach at Kismet on Fire Island.

I'll be selling these on Etsy. Look for more medal inspired pendants there shortly.

Wristwatch Shadowbox Jewelry

About 10 years ago I bought two antiquey women's wristwatches from an estate sale. Somehow I thought that I, with no knowledge of clocks or any particular skill at mechanical engineering, could make them work again. Obviously, this did not happen. What happened instead was that I moved the broken watches from box to box each time I reorganized my jewerly making supplies. Suddenly last month I had a brainwave -- I realized that what I like about the watches is their cases, which are ornate gold plate. Without the works inside, watches make neat little shadow boxes. You can put whatever you want inside and hang them from ribbons or chain.

Conceptually, this is fairly simple and doesn't really need step by step directions. Instead, here are some tips to make it easier:

1. Opening the case can be pretty difficult, particularly with newer watches. Usually one place on the back has a divot where watch repairers presumably insert some specially made tool to open the watch. The divot will be on one of the areas that faces the band. Since I don't have whatever this tool is, I've used x-acto knifes (prepare to brake your blade), eyeglass screwdrivers, and a flat hard piece of brass that used to be attached to a key. None of these are ideal. Try not to stab yourself in the hand.

2. A certain style of woman's watch attaches to the band at only one point on either side. These are the best candidates for hanging from a chain.

3. Newer watches or men's watches usually have pins that attach the band. Take off the band but don't lose the pins. Put them back and use them to help attach a ribbon or chain to the watch.

4. Beads are tempting to use as filling for your newly created shadow box. Pearls look nice because they catch light and reflect it back in multiple directions, making them easier to see. Here are some other ideas:

• tiny quartz crystals
• "micro beads" which are extremely small glass spheres that don't have holes in them. Apparently micro beads are used for decorative craft projects where you mix them into paint or glue. You can buy them here
• Undrilled semiprecious spheres. You can get these here
• Bits of the watch works (i.e. tiny gears, springs, etc.)
• Acrylic spheres. Mine came from T&T Plasticland, which is basically just an awesome place you should check out.
• seeds

My first two watch necklaces were very Victorian looking. I made one for me and one for Sweet Tea:



Now I'm working on one made from an old Timex that used to belong to my dad. This seemed not so great hanging from a chain, so I used grograin ribbon instead. I'm not sure what style this is - punk preppy?



You can see more of these at my shop on Etsy.

Mary Poppins's Handbag

I made this handbag about a year ago, and since then people have been asking me about it all the time. It’s pretty easy to make, although a little time consuming, and is that magical combination of hip and comfy. It has a lot more room in it than it looks like it should (for example I can fit a bottle of wine in the bottom). I’ve always been planning to make myself another one in a different fabric, so I finally did that for the purposes of this blog.

The pattern I’ve posted here is pretty impressionistic, I.e. Not to scale and not very detailed. That’s because it doesn’t really matter if you get the size or proportions exactly right. Just use my pattern as a guide and make your own pattern pieces for whatever size bag you think you want. I’ve actually made the same bag in beach bag size, and it worked wonderfully like that too. Just remember that the body of the bag is going to end up seeming a lot smaller when the bag is done, so don’t skimp on the size of that.



The idea is that you have different patterns of fabric on the inside, the outside and the pockets. For both of my purse size versions of this bag, the linings for the yoke and the body are different patterns, which I think looks cool. Plus, this is a great way to make something out of bits of fabric that are really too small for anything else.

Also - let me stress the importance of having a helper for this project:





You will need:

2 heavy weight fabrics (canvas or upholstery material)
2 to 4 medium to light weight fabrics
1 button
About 50 inches of 1/2 inch webbing
4 O rings (these can be from curtain hangers)

How to do it:

1. First cut out the pieces. You want the yoke outside and the bag outside to be of heavier fabric. Ideally, the yoke outside should be the heaviest of all. If it isn’t you can use a little interfacing to make it stiffer. For the first bag I made, I used upholstery fabric for the yoke, canvas for the body, and quilting cotton for the pocket and lining pieces.

2. Next sew together the outside yoke pieces at the side edges, right sides together. This is the first mistake I made on the purse I made for this blog post. Instead of doing that, I lined each half of the yoke separately and then had to figure out how to put the two sides together later. Either way will work, but sewing the outsides together first is less of a pain.

3. Sew together the yoke lining pieces together at the side edges, right sides together. Now sew the yoke outside to the yoke lining, right sides together, along the top edge (the edge that has the curves and shapes for the handles). Clip curves and trim corners.







4. Turn the yoke right side out. Press under the raw edges of the lining and outside along the bottom edge. Topstitch along the top edge of the yolk.

5. Now deal with the pocket. The pocket goes into the lining. So, first put one pocket rectangle, centered horizontally, near the top of one of the lining pieces. Pin it down and sew a long narrow rectangle. (This step is similar to step three of the Boulevardier bag) Cut a two ended Y into the rectangle and then turn the pocket fabric through the hole you just made. Press.



6. Now make your button hole, horizontally centered near the top of the pocket. (Button tutorial here http://www.purlbee.com/buttonhole-tutorial/).



7. Now, pin the other side of the pocket to the pocket piece you pushed through the hole, right sides together, and sew all the way around.



8. Now sew your button onto the back fabric of the pocket.

9. Next sew your two bag body outsides together along the curving edge, right sides together. Do the same with the bag body linings. Clip a few places along the curve. Turn the outside right side out and then slip the lining into the outside.

10. Sew very long basting stitches all the way around the top edge on each side. Use these stitches to gather the fabric. Gather it so that it becomes the same circumference as the bottom of the yoke.



11. Insert the top edge of the bag body into the space between the lining and the outside of the yoke and pin.





12. Sew all the way around, as close to the edge of the yoke as possible. The body is done!

13. Now you need to attach the rings that the handles will go through. I actually used curtain hanging rings for these, because I had them around the house. You can also go to a notions store and get various sizes and finishes of ring. To attach them, just run the top of each sticky-uppy part of the yoke through a ring and sew it to itself.





14. Ok, all that’s left to do is make the straps. You want to use fairly heavy fabric for these, because they will get the most wear and tear. Essentially, you want to make a tube of fabric, run the webbing through the tube, and then top stitch both long edges. This is annoying no matter which technique you use. The first time I did it, I made a tube, turned it right side out, and then fed a strip of webbing through it using a large safety pin in the webbing to pull it along. Another way you could try it would be to wrap the webbing in the fabric and then sew it down.

I haven’t made the straps to the new bag yet, because none of the fabric I have looks right with it, so photos of the finished new bag will be coming soon!

dressmaker's pin earrings

I've always loved fancy sewing pins. They look so satisfying in the pin cushion, just like candy sprinkles. This morning I realized they could make cute earrings. This project takes about 2 minutes and costs almost nothing.

You will need:
Small pliers
Wire cutters
2 dressmaker's pins

How to do it:
Snip the sharp ends off the pins. Leave as much length on the shaft as possible. Bend the shaft around to form the earring wire.

And you're done!

Upside down cars are awesome

So I made this bag for Sweet Tea on Sunday, getting almost all the way through before realizing that the pattern of cars on the fabric would be upside down when the bag was closed! Curses! I decided that I was just going to insist that she carry it anyway. Upside down cars are cool, right?

Sweet Tea promised she would carry it anyway. She named it the Boulevardier Bag, i.e. just large enough to carry the few things you might need when promenading on the boulevard. This bag is about 7"x8"x2" with an adjustable over the shoulder strap, a large interior pocket, a zippered exterior pocket, and a fold-over flap.

You will need:
About 1/2 yard of fabric for bag outside.
(I used Echino fabric that I got at Purl Patchwork)
About 1/2 yard of a different fabric for the lining
About 9”x10” piece of fabric for pocket facing
A 5” or 7” zipper
About 7’ of webbing
A square ring and a triglide for making an adjustable strap
A magnetic snap

How to do it:
1. Start by making the piping. You need about 140” of piping for the project. You don’t need to make a single 140” piece (this is basically impossible, considering the width of most fabric bolts). I did mine in about 45” lengths. The piping is optional, but I think it looks cool. If you want to skip the piping, just go ahead to step 2 and ignore any further directions about piping.

Cut the piping on the bias (this means at about a 45 to 60 degree angle from the direction of the woven threads). You want 5/8” seam allowance after the cord is sewn in, so the width of your strip should be a little wider than that. I used kitchen twine to fill my piping, so it only needed to be about 1 3/8 wide.



Then lay twine along the middle of the strip. Leave extra twine hanging out on both sides to make sure you don’t have too little of it. Pin the fabric around the twine.



Now sew the fabric around the twine, keeping the seam as close to the lump of twine as possible. It is much easier to do this with a zipper foot:





2. Next cut out the lining, outside and pocket facing. Here is my pattern with measurements. This pattern already includes 5/8” seam allowance for all the pieces. You can go to the flicker set and download a larger version:



3. Now insert the zipper. You want to put it running horizontally near the top of the front piece. Measure the zipper from the top of the pull to the bottom of the stop. Now draw a line on the wrong side of the front piece that is that long. Now sew around the line to make a long narrow rectangle about 1/4” deep. Cut down the center of the box, starting in the middle, and make a Y shape at either end, going into the corners:



Press the raw edges of the cut under along the lines you just sewed to make a clean looking box:



Put this box over your zipper and pin it down. Sew all the way around. Your zipper is now inserted.



4. Now attach the indented part of the magnetic snap. Center it near the bottom of the font piece of the bag.

5. Next sew the pocket facing to front piece, right side of facing to wrong side of front piece:



6. Now you get to do the piping part. Attach the bottom of the bag to the front, sandwiching a piece of piping in between. The bag pieces are always sewn right sides together. The piping goes in between with the raw edge matching the raw edge of the bag pieces.





Sew as close to the lump of the piping as possible. You should be able to feel where it is and run the zipper foot up next to it. When you open the the seam up is should now look like this:



7. Do exactly the same thing again to attach the bottom to the back/flap piece. WARNING: this is where I made my mistake. If you are using a directional pattern, make sure that it is going the correct direction. This means the opposite direction from the way it goes on the front piece. Here is a drawing which will hopefully make this clearer:



8. Now you need to attach the sides. This part is a little trickier. First, you need to lay your piping out from the top of the front piece all the way along the edge of the bag and turning the corner of the front flap to make sure you have it in the right place when you put the sides on. Pin it in a few places. Now sew a side piece to the side of the bottom piece, sandwiching the piping as you did before, except that this time you will have lots of piping hanging out on either side. Leave 5/8” unsewn on either end of this seam:



Now you are going to need to turn the side and sew it to the back, sandwiching some of the piping that you left hanging out on that side. In order to do this cleanly, you need to clip a diagonal cut from the corner of the side piece toward the end of the seam you just made:







The cut will allow you to turn the fabric and pin it to the back without making a giant lump. Pin and sew to the back, sandwiching the piping. Do this again for the front. Now when you turn it right side out, you will have something that looks like this:



Do this again on the other side.

9. Now take all the rest of the piping that is hanging out of the end of the side seam and pin it along the top of the flap, clipping the raw edge of the piping where you need to turn corners:



Sew this piping down. (You aren’t sandwiching it yet, so don’t get worried).

10. Take a new piece of piping and pin it around the top edge of the body of the bag. Sew this piping down.

11. Now you need to construct the lining. Fold the wider part of the lining to line up with the places where it cuts in. Sew these side seams. Now, pin each bottom corner of the lining to itself to form a flat triangle. Sew along the bottom of the triangle to make a 2 1/2” seam:





So now your lining is the same shape as your bag outside.

12. The next thing to do is to stick the the bag outside, right side out, into the lining, which is still inside out:



Pin the lining to the bag around the bag opening and the edges of the flap. You should be sandwiching the piping you pinned to the outside of the outside of the bag a few steps back. Sew all the way around the raw edges, leaving an approximately 4” area at the end of the flap that you down sew shut. This hole will allow you to turn the back right side out and give you a way to put on the other side of your snap.

13. Now you need to make some clips to avoid lumpiness. First find the place where the flap comes off the body of the bag. Clip diagonally into both of those corners:



14. Next cut off the seam allowance at the corners of the flaps:



15. Ok. Now you have to turn the bag right side out, passing all of it through the hole you left at the end of the flap.

Now your bag should look basically done, except for the strap and the hole at the end of the flap.This is the point at which I realized that I had done this whole bag with the back/flap part turned the wrong way, so now the lovely pattern of cars on my bag was upside down! Too late to turn back . . . .

16. So now you need to figure out where the other half of your snap goes. Line up the flap with the bottom of the bag and mark where the indented part of the snap is. Reach into the hole in the flap and insert that half of your snap. (Different kinds of snaps insert differently, which is why I haven’t included instructions for this part. When you are at the store, ask how the snap goes in and if you need to get a special tool to do it. The ones I used did not need a special tool, but some have a thing you put against the back of the snap to hammer it closed.)

Awesome. You are almost done.

17. Close the hole in the flap by hand stitching it down.

18. You still have to put on the strap. Thread the square ring onto a short length of webbing and make that into a loop. Pin down the loop and sew it to the side of the bag.



Now sew a long piece of webbing (about 5 feet) and sew one end of it around the center post of the triglide. Next thread the other end through the square ring that its already attached to the bag. Then pass that end through the triglide (looping it back on itself). Finally, sew the end to the other side of the bag. (read a tutorial on adjustable straps here)

Voila! Your bag is complete.