Sunday, February 1, 2009

Cooling down and firing up again...

It's amazing what a cool change can do. No fear of suffocating in the heat can do wonders for one's inspiration to sew. I opened windows, blasted the air around with fans and sat down to sew (with a fan directly on me). AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED.... I made another Squared Flat Bag, this time in a deco-weight rose print (...the designer's name escaped with the selvage I sent to Jodie!). It has an external pocket with a self-cover button and button loop on the front. You may remember this one from last year was made without the front pocket.

It has medium-light interfacing and light fusible wadding to give structure to the outside of the bag and medium-light interfacing on the lining to help it hold its shape (to the outside of the bag). It closes with a magnetic snap and has a zip pocket and a compartment pocket in the lining.

I also made a Hobo in a super-bright print!! I kept it really simple - straight off the pattern with no variations.
The lining includes a zip pocket and a compartment pocket that has this pleated section for a mobile phone (I hope that you can see it ....it photographs badly in this busy print!)

And the bag closes with a zipper gusset and a button loop.

All in all a fairly productive day. Hopefully with temperatures only (?!) in the mid-30's this week I'll be able to plough into the huge backlog of work that built up last week....

9 comments:

Jan said...

Lovely stuff, Nikki; isn't it great to be (relatively) cooler! In Ballarat it has been possible today for me to be outside without melting (just); last week was just awful. Stay cool!

Meg said...

God I felt for you all down there this past week. What a horrible heat wave, who cares about breaking records! The bags are drop dead gorgeous. :)

Melanie Gray Augustin said...

Gorgeous bags! I love that boho pattern, though am embarrassed to say, mine is still a work in progress, I will finish it one day!

Dot said...

Bags are beautiful!. I have the pattern for the squared bag, but haven't made one yet.

However, I have made about 8 City
Slickers, ( custom orders )and with
beautiful contrast facings, and underlining the strap with same contrast.

It is freezing here in North East USA Snow on ground, hard to imagine you being in such heat. But another 6 months and our turn will be here!

Your stitching is so beautiful! I am still trying to master that
perfect Top Stitching shown in your
photos.

Dot

Dot said...

Postscript to above I renamed your
Sling to City Slicker. Believe there
is a photo of one on Flicker.

Katy said...

Your bags are beautiful, one of the things i need to learn is what interfacing and wadding to use, you bags look so crisp and professional.

Nikki said...

Katy - Follow the links on this post and it will show you the recommended interfacings. And there is a lot of info about interfacing and wadding on the TIPS AND TUTORIALS page of my website (some linking back to the blog). You can always ask our advice when you're placing an order, too. The best way to learn, however, is to EXPERIMENT and see what happens!

Chrisy said...

Gorgeous fabrics...and great sewing...

Kirrily said...

Ohhh I love the fabric on the second bag! Its a good thing I'm wrecked and you didn't say who designed it, cause it makes it so much harder to go buy it that way!