'Template Plastic' Bag Base Tutorial

As promised, I'll be posting up a heap of tutorials this month, trying to cut down the bandwidth/downloads from my website. I can't promise one EVERY DAY, but I'll definitely try to keep them flowing throughout August.

This one is a SUPER EASY way to add a sturdy TEMPLATE PLASTIC base to any two-piece bag with a boxed corner. It'll work an any of my BEGINNERS patterns, as well as the Hobo, Sling, City Bag, Evening Bag, Dress Bag, Beach bag and any pattern that uses a similar base structure. Template plastic is cheap and cheerful, simple to use and creates a resilient, washable base for fabric bags (...and yes, we sell it!!)

HOW TO....

1. Measure the base seams of your bag. Measure the long seam running through the centre of the base, and the two short “boxed corner” seams. Subtract 6mm off each of these measurements.

2. Cut a piece of template plastic as long and as wide as the final measurement, above. Round off the corners of the rectangle to take away the sharp points.

3. Cut a piece of calico about 3cm (or two seam allowances) longer than the template plastic, and wide enough to wrap around the width of the plastic and have a seam allowance down the full length.
4. a)Fold the calico in half, lengthwise, and seam down the long raw edges.

b) Clip the corners of the seam allowances5. Press the seam open and slide the template plastic inside, with the seam running down the centre of the plastic. 6. With the bag inside-out, place the plastic in the calico flat across the base seam of the bag. Line up the seam allowances of the boxed corner seams with the ends of the calico tube. You may choose to pin them together.

7. Sew the ends of the calico tube to the seam allowances of the bag, and VOILA! BAG BASE!!

You'll see how Sharon has used this tutorial on my Make-Up Purse kit over here...

A MONTH OF TUTORIALS!!!

Hmmm..... bandwidth. Even though my lovely web hosts kindly upped my allowance for this month (to THREE TIMES my original plan) I'm already getting warning messages that it's nearing bandwidth capacity for the month. Luckily there's only one day left and we start again with a shiny fresh clean slate, so there's little danger that I will be pulled off the web again - at least until next month.

And now Optus are on my back about blowing out my bandwidth allowance at home!!! (It's all this blogging business, you know...?). I've had to upgrade my internet plan. Ah well, better than the huge "you've blown out your bandwidth" bills I've had for the last few months.

..SO.....

I've started clearing tutorials off my website, as they're the biggest bandwidth gobblers. Watch this space, because August is going to be my MONTH OF TUTORIALS!!!

I've started with a brand NEW one for using the new Eyelet Pliers we now have in stock. (Since I started it last night it's appeared below the other post I did last night ...which is below the ON MY DESK one I did tonight - the one with the fab GIVEAWAY!!).

I'm also linking OUT to Living Creatively for and Whip Up for tutorials for my bibs.....

laptop computer sleeve.......

.....and pyramid purse.

So are Blogger going to cut me off now...?

On My Desk.. work table again, really.

All the action was on the trestle tables again, today. Cutting and folding lots of interfacing, wadding, calico, Fast2Fuse etc for the NEW kits!!! Yes, folks... it's about to be unleashed!! Just waiting for some final tweaking instructions from our testers, and we're away!!!

...AND WE'RE DOING ANOTHER GIVE-AWAY!!!
If you'd like to WIN one of these babies HOT OFF THE PRESS, just leave a little comment here and we'll do the draw next week, as soon as the kits go up onto the website. Probably sometime around Wednesday to Friday....

More On My Desk Players can be found over at Kirsty's....

This is.... a dragon.

Drawn by my little artist yesterday. It has claws and scales down its back to its tail. I'm thinking of using it for an embroidery, greeting card design... something. I think it's awfully cute (although there may be a bit of bias involved in my judgement...?).

I'm a bit late with the THIS IS thing this week... mostly due to lack of imagination. I was going to post a tutorial tonight, but I've realised I'm going to have to photograph it again tomorrow to make it JUST RIGHT.

Eyelet Tutorial

It appears that our new Eyelet Pliers don't come with instructions, so here's a quick tutorial to show you JUST HOW EASY it is to set eyelets with them. 1. Mark the spot where you want to place the eyelet.

2. Punch or cut a small hole in the centre of the marking.

TIP 1: The easiest thing for the job is a SADDLER'S PUNCH, pictured above (we'll have them on the website within the next day or two. BTW- they're handy for making PURSE FEET holes, too!). Or you can try any other punching/cutting tool that you know will make a less-than-6mm hole in your fabric.

Tip 2: It's better to err on the side of the hole being too small, rather than too big. You don't want a wobbly eyelet that's going to fall out within a week or two!!! A 4mm hole will do the trick for a 6mm holed eyelet.

3. Push an eyelet through from the right side of fabric.

4. Place a washer over the back of the back of the fabric (where the cylindrical end of the eyelet is poking through). Make sure that the RAISED curve of the washer is facing up, and press it down over the fabric so that you can clearly see the end of the eyelet poking through the washer.

5. Line up the pliers with the flat side of the pliers on the FRONT of the eyelet (on the right side of fabric) and the side with the LUMP in the middle goes to the BACK (washer) side, as shown in the pic below. I know this LOOKS wrong, but it's not. Double-check that the eyelet and washer are still aligned and..... 6. SQUEEZE! Check that the centre of the eyelet has rolled sufficiently over the the washer to make the eyelet secure.

TIP 3: Eyelets prefer a bit of thickness in the fabric. The thinner your fabric the more the eyelet will crack as it rolls over the washer. The more it rolls and cracks the rougher the back of the eyelet will be. This isn't necessarily a problem - just something to be aware of if the back of eyelets are placed where they could rub on skin or delicate fabric.

Left: This is the back of the eyelet on a strap with interfacing in it

Right: This is the back of an eyelet in a thin fabric strap (same fabric but no interfacing)

And this is the FRONT of the eyelet.... swish, huh?

I don't know about you, but I LOVE a bit of metal on a bag....

What do you get....

When you let 6 people choose a purse kit each... Give them a bit of instruction and inspiration... And snacks, tea and coffee...
Answer: SIX FABULOUS NEW PURSES!!!
All in a day's work! I love the purse frame workshop . It's always a fun day, and so satisfying to see lots of lovely finished purses at the end of it. Well done to all who attended!!


...And I was feeling much better today, thanks anyone who asked. The cold has eased off quite a bit, and I'm always on a bit of a high when I'm in the classroom, so didn't feel the back pain. There was too much fun and craftiness about the place to bother with feeling pain or sickness!! Tomorrow I'll be taking it easy, regardless.
xxn


PS. We had to schedule another purse frame class next weekend to take in the waiting list people from this class. We're now on to our next waiting list, but haven't scheduled a date. If you want to do this workshop before the end of the year, it's probably not a bad idea to send us an email and let us know your contact details. We'll keep you posted with available dates. Oh - same goes for "A Sharper Edge" classes. They tend to book out before we advertise them.

Back on the Air!

Oh, those lovely folks, the web hosties... whipped me back onto the WWW, and it's as if I'd never been gone!!

Now I can access it, I'll be tweaking the website to put up some exciting new products (and whittling down the amount of downloads available from the site... sorry). I'll get started just as soon as I finish this post ...and the hot Irish whiskey I'm drinking. (I have a cold and it's the cure. Really. Go to Ireland and ask anyone what you should take for a cold!).

Watch this blog as more HOT TIPS FOR BAG-MAKING tutorials are transferred over here!!!

Not a lot of crafting done today. Not a lot of work done either. I was sick, and feeling very sorry for myself. My back still hurts and I have a rotten cold AND.... my poor wee girl had her first accident involving BLOOD (lots of it). She'll probably have a triangular corner-of-a-sewing-table sized scar on her forehead for life. Apart from that, she's ok. I'm still a little traumatised. She'd never seen blood before, and I'm not sure if I've ever seen QUITE SO MUCH blood before - especially coming out of MY BABY!!!

We were in a wholesale sewing supplies showroom, and luckily we were BOTH looked after by a team of experienced mothers who knew how to calm, apply pressure to wounds and make cups of tea for crying, shaking mothers of injured children. All's well that ends with a banana smoothie at Northland (shopping centre).... we survived.

By the time we got to the studio today it was afternoon, and all I wanted to do was curl up in a corner somewhere and sleep. Instead I did a bit of prep for my purse frame class tomorrow and a little bit of sewing. Thanks goodness Leah is still fighting fit, and kept the wheels of industry turning for us today.

Nothing to show for the sewing I did today, so instead I'll show you ANOTHER Day Bag - finished in dribs and drabs over the last month or so... 'tis the way it goes.

More "happy" floral print... with silver grommet detail (done during a Sharper Edge Class when I was looking for something to demonstrate grommet-setting....!!). There's medium-heavy interfacing and medium wadding in the bag to give it stand-up structure, and the internal base stiffening is Fast2Fuse. The O-rings are Medium-Light.And OF COURSE I put a ZIPPER PULL on it!!!

Zipper Pull Tutorial

Now, did I mention something about being excited by zipper pulls...?

If anyone tries to look at them on my website tonight, they'll see a BIG FAT ZERO.... quite literally. My web hosts have pulled me off the air (again) for blowing out my bandwith allowance (the amount of viewing/downloads people can do). Seems that my tips and tutorials are SOOOOO popular that even doubling my allowance (and therefore cost!!) isn't helping to keep bandwidth under control.

Hmmm... seems like a few tutorials have to go, and it looks like the blog will have to be "home of the tutorial" from now on.

Here's the first one -

How to Attach A Zipper Pull.



1. Take a bag with a normal zip.


2. Use the cutting blades on pliers to cut off the top of the existing zipper pull. Gently ease out the remaining piece that's caught under the loop in the zipper head.




3. Take the new zipper pull and SQUEEZE the hook side of the loop (as hard as you can with your thumb) until it unhooks.



4. Open up the loop and hook it through the zipper head. (Perhaps you might consider a having a manicure first if you plan to photograph yourself doing this...).

6. Snap the hook closed again, and marvel at the miraculous transformation of your bag.


Re: the website being off the air - I've sent the hosties a big "HEEEELP!" email, so it will hopefully be sorted by the morning.

On My Desk.. or work table, really.

My computer desk looks the same as it did yesterday. My cutting table looks like it did last week. (Too much time spent at the computer lately).

Today all the action was on one of the OTHER tables in my studio.... Some NEW PRODUCTS arrived! These will be on the website very soon.

See? I even started taking photos of them... These are fab new zipper pulls. (More on these later....).

There was even a litle bit of sewing machine action today. I finished off this bag. It's been a work in progress since my "Sharper Edge" class a week and a half ago....

I've doing dribs and drabs between toddler amusing, cleaning and feeding . Today was "Daddy Day" so I was able to focus until I'd finished it. YAY! One less WIP!!!

This is the Day Bag, made with a flap (lengthened from the pattern), a hard base with purse feet, a zippered gusset, an adjustable strap (with fab new o-rings that make me all gushy and excited...) and a key ring clip.

The flap is given a bit of weight using three heavy grommets (you can get these and the setting tools at Lefflers).
Oh... and we mustn't forget the new ZIPPER PULL!!! (I've put them on everything. I'm probably a bit too excited about them, too).

There's more On My Desk at Kirsty's blog....

My Tuesday....

What a day....! Well, actually most of it was rather uneventful. I saw a lot of this computer and did toddler-related stuff.

I'm INCREDIBLY CLOSE TO FINISHING the instructions for this....

Somewhere in the middle of the day, I had to go out in the car.... and someone drove into the back of me!!! (For those of you who missed my drama in the summer, this is the SECOND time our poor little car has been rear-ended in about six months..... I wasn't driving it last time, by the way). HOW TEDIOUS... and now my back hurts.

Back to craftiness.... I haven't been able to get near the sewing machine since last Wednesday, so nothing much to show... except the Small Tote bag I finished off last Wednesday. Just a simple little one with flat o-rings in the straps. It has light fusible wadding and medium-light interfacing to give it a bit of gentle structure.

It matches the hat (...yes, yes - hat patterns will be out ASAP!! I'm working towards my hat-making workshops in September. Oh - that's not far off, is it?). Colours are a bit washed out here for some reason. The fabric is much prettier in real life. You can also see the hat I made in that print in the background.

In the late afternoon my little Petal drew a picture. She proudly announced "THAT'S ME!" (the two bits at the top are her pigtails, she tells me).

We photocopied the original, laminated it, punched holes in it and got to work with some wool and a plastic needle..... VOILA! A self-portrait "embroidery". She was very proud. I was beaming. I took photos and took the embroidery home to show her Daddy. He was proud, too.

So the day ended beautifully.

This is what makes me happy...

After my last couple of posts, you're probably wishing I'd STOP banging on about what makes me happy.... but here's another one! (I'm sure other mothers will be putting in cute photos of their kids for this post... but I guess you've seen enough of mine for a while).

When I think about what makes me feel the MOST at ease and happy, it's this. Just me an my sewing machine - sometimes serenely lost in my own thoughts, sometimes excitedly watching something unexpectedly good coming together - but all the time feeling completely in my comfort zone.

I've spent a large portion of my life in this headspace, and for 15 years it's been with this machine (I even took it with me when I lived in Ireland for five years!). For the last couple of years I've barely had any time to enjoy uninterrupted, creative time there, and right now I REALLY CRAVE it.

Is that really sad...? Should I have included more warm and fuzzy family stuff...?

"This is" is hosted by Angela. Jacinta came up with this week's heart-warming theme. I'm sure there will be lots of wonderful responses.... and then there's my "I just want to be alone" one!!! Oops.

Photos from yesterday

Things that make me go AWWWWWW......
Detail of modifications made to my sewing machine by a two-year old.

More whiteboard art...

Forgot to bring the images home for yesterday's post.... thought it was better late than never.

Six things that made me happy today

Juddie tagged me for this, so here they are, in no particular order.

Although this one is first...

1. My wee gal's infectious, uncontrolled cackle as I tickled her.

2. Above-mentioned girl's BEST BEHAVIOUR in Spotlight to date (yes... I was there AGAIN today!!). No pulling things off shelves or breaking anything (she's 2 and a half). She was making a concerted effort as there was the promise of a nori roll if she was "good in Spotlight"*. It was adorable watching her fighting the urge to get stuck into the thread stand at the front counter. She resisted admirably.

(*Note: Bribery and corruption are big in our family... not sure what the child-rearing books have to say about it but it's extremely effective!!!).

3. Finishing the purse I've been struggling with for the last few days. A black permanent marker pen solved the problem of not being able to find the right colour beads (after I spent another $40 in Spotlight this morning on more wrong alternatives and other "bargains").

4. Back to the little one again.... We bought plastic needles at Spotlight, for her to try threading wool through felt with holes in it (did anyone mention indoctrination...?). SHE LOVED IT!! Kept her busy for ages. The real joy came when I found her sitting at a sewing machine, with a plastic needle jammed in front of the real needle (eye of the needle facing DOWN, as it ought to be). She was pushing a piece of purple fabric into the needle and making an ERRRRRRRRRRRRR noise. "I'm making a purple t-shirt for Daddy!" she said, matter-of-factly. I'm still smiling.

5. Team-work. Leah stayed back today after she finished in the office and we worked on the layout of the instructions for the new frame purse. I was sewing, she was working at the computer and the camera battery was charged (yay!!). The immediacy of having it all come together was immensely satisfying. Yay, Leah!

6. Coming home to find dinner cooking and a bottle of wine in the fridge.

I'd have liked this post to have been full of lots of visions of nature's beauty, quiet moments and special times with friends and family... but it was just another day at work in Brunswick (I don't think I even had time to look at the sky). Still, lots of reasons to be cheerful!

I'm tagging Meri' and Jenny . Let us know what made you happy today.

On My Desk

Today felt like a bit of a write-off. It was one of those days when I started a lot of things, but didn't achieve anything that I wanted to get done. It's left me feeling a bit deflated.

I spent yesterday botching the embroidery on this purse (placement issues.. adding bits to balance the design... "ooh it's too much".... chopping bits off... patching bits on.... it went on and on like that for most of the day).

Today I started on a strap idea for it that I didn't have the materials to finish, so went to Spotlight to buy the bits I needed. I ended up spending ages in there, NOT finding what I was looking for... and leaving with this little lot.

The seed beads were $1 a tube (and very useful for curved frame purses!!!). Fabric was $2 per metre - and will be great bag lining one day. The large beads were purchased just in case they worked instead of the beads that Spotlight DIDN'T have (they didn't work, and are now in my little gal's bead stash).

Then the battery on my camera went flat, so I couldn't finish the purse I was making SO THAT I COULD TAKE PHOTOS for the instructions. The instructions reached a standstill, too.

I had to get SOMETHING finished for the day, so finished off one of the "Here's one I prepared earlier" half-made bags from my demos at the Stitches and Craft Show in MARCH! I have a class at Kimono House on Saturday, so I'll take it there to make me feel like it was a worthwhile effort.

Perhaps I should have called it a day at lunchtime and gone swimming instead...?

On My Desk is hosted by Kirsty.

This is What Gives Me Goosebumps

I haven't worked out how to embed video in my blog yet... but here's a link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38uvjuPcDAU .

It's the final few scenes of the film Gallipoli. I've seen the movie about four times throughout my life, and each time it chills me. This is a fictionalised account of the Gallipoli landing in WW1, but I cry for the loss of beautiful young lives wasted in bungled or futile military campaigns throughout time. I cry for families losing loved ones, children growing up without parents or parents outliving their children (a parent's worst nightmare).

See...? It gets me every time.

Thanks to three buttons for "this is" and flightless boyds for this week's theme.

There seems to be a THEME emerging...

Or perhaps I just bought too much of THIS FABRIC...?!!

I'm a bit fond of this print - from the Utopia range by Free Spirit. I went a bit silly last Christmas when Z and S Fabrics were having a big clearance sale....went into stash-building overdrive!! I seem to have liked this print enough to buy it in THREE colourways. So, in the spirit of the Von Trapp Family, I'm USING that fabric... on EVERYTHING!!!

I even "borrowed" the motif to use as an applique design (to reflect the design on the lining).

This Small Tote is made as a satchel in cotton drill, with binding around the edges of the feature print. Inside it has lining in the same print (!!) in a beige and plum colourway.




The Laptop Bag is made in red duckcloth with pvc covering the print. Inside it is a laptop sleeve made in (you guessed it) the same print.


There are no photographs yet, but I've also made a hat, using the blue colourway for the outside and the beige for the lining.

So... what's inside the new red bag?

...SPOTS!!