Speaking of publishing....

With all that thinking and talking about book ideas, I forgot to mention that my project is in this month's Australian Homespun Magazine "A Trip To Remember" (project of the month) series.

 It actually would have looked a lot better in the photo, had the strap been ironed after it traveled by (wayward, late, stress-inducing...) courier service to Sydney, but I guess it has a right to wear its battle-scars with pride. 

The strap actually sits in a lovely curve, like this....

I based the styling on memories of my mother's 'beauty case' from the 1960's.  It could indeed be used to carry toiletries instead of craft supplies but it was designed as a crafting-on-the-go bag. 

It has lots of pockets inside the lid and around the sides to carry tools, threads etc, and a roomy middle bit to carry the work-in-progress.  It can open right up and sit on your lap in the car (only if you're the passenger!) or on a train and you can stitch or knit or crochet away to your little heart's content.

After the courier was tracked down and the parcel containing the bag was picked up (by the magazine editor ...from a courier depot miles away.... late one rainy Friday evening...), we hoped for smooth sailing with getting the project to print, but it appears that there was another hiccup.

The wrong file was accidentally sent to print and one of the pattern pieces is labeled wrongly.  There is an errata message to go in next month's mag that says something like this...

There are two patterns marked as the Lid Side Panel. The label on the larger of the two patterns (printed on top of the Grand Adventure ‘Shorts Back’ pattern) should have been labelled ‘Lid centre panel’ and the markings at the top and bottom of this pattern should say Handle placement.

A new template can be found here.

This little carry-case is a really satisfying sew.  My pattern testers all felt very chuffed with themselves when they made their own versions.... and come to think of it, so did I.   Everything just comes together nicely and it looks all cute and perky and retro.  Lovely.

The fabric is all Amy Butler's LARK range.

EDITED TO ADD: If you can't get your hands on a glossy paper version of the mag, you can buy a digital copy of this magazine ($3.50AUD) here.  Or you can subscribe to the digital magazine for a year.

Zipping along....

...on the sewing machine, at least.  In real life, it's all butter-menthols and early nights (and a few hot whiskeys).

 While I'm not quite running on all eight cylinders, I'm using my limited energy to sew up samples, using the zipper samples I've made for ZIPPERS FOR BAGS workshops.  Next task is to cut and make up a new batch of zipper samples for classes.
I'm adding zips to bags where zips were not originally in the pattern, just to show you what's possible when you know a few zippy tricks.  The pocket configuration in this Laptop Bag is nothing like the original design, but could serve a different range of pockety needs.  (Yes - I just made up another word.)

I used Amy Butler's "Lark" for this bag, interfaced with a combination of Vilene S320 and H640 fusible wadding.  I find that for large areas of fabric, the low melting-point adhesive on Vilene S320's makes it a breeze to apply.  The addition of H640 wadding gives the bag a springy, self-supporting structure that is easy to manipulate around the sewing machine.  You can see that I've waxed lyrical about this before..

I've used the same combination of interfacings on my project for Australian Homespun's project of the month, which should be out very soon ( I thought it was the May edition...?EDITED TO ADD - it's the JUNE edition).  Again, the fabric is Amy Butler's "Lark" range.

You can see how smooth the surface of the fabric is, and how self-supporting this bag is.  That'd be the interfacing combo....

Right now, I'm sipping hot lemon, honey and ginger at home, but I'm planning more zippered bag variations as we speak.

Oh, and since my August Zipper Workshop has booked out, I've schedued another date for a class in my studio - November 17th.  Needless to say, places book up quickly, so get in while you can!

LATE-BREAKING NEWS -
 Pattern Review have posted reviews and a giveaway of my book - HERE.  This might be a good opportunity for those of you in the USA to get your hands on it!

Hangin' with the crew in Homespun.

If you happen to have this month's Australian Homespun Magazine, you'll see what all that secret squirrel work I was doing last year was about.  It's a big "project of the month" bag-making bonanza! 

As you can see, I'm in fine company....

We were each given the challenge of making a particular piece for a luggage set, working with Amy Butler's "Lark" fabric range.  Over the course of this year, the projects will appear in Homespun and you can work through them as you please.

Since the main photo was done as a double-page spread, I thought I'd find a better version online than I could take myself.  ...Ummm.  No.  I had to take this from Amy Butler's Facebook page and it'sTINY.  Sorry.

Of course, I remembered to hone in on the parts of the picture that included my own work...

I designed a craft-project carry case (what else?), inspired by vintage hat-boxes and beauty cases.  It's a structured oval shaped case that you can sit on your lap.  It has a lid that flips right open and  pockets on the inside of the lid and around the inside wall, so you can access everything you need to craft on the go. (Or I guess you could use it as a beauty case...?).

I also developed the instructions for Amy Butler's contribution to the range.  She provided the pattern and a sample, and I wrote the how-to and made the bag.  It's a big carry-all/overnight bag (and I use one of my samples of it as a swimming bag).

If you can't get the actual magazine in your part of the world, you could subscribe to the digital version here.

Photos with Santa Claus... I mean, Amy Butler.

Poor Amy. She was probably exhausted and jet-lagged, but she was amazingly gracious and generous with her time in meeting, greeting, book-signing and photographing. She also captivated a room with her natural charm and her own inspiring story of doing what she loves, and loving what she does. I didn't plan this photo. In fact, I think I accidentally queue-jumped.... I was photographing Lara (who'd forgotten her camera but had a book for Amy to sign) and kind-of got hauled in!

Like Lara, I'm glad that Amy and I weren't standing. We really ARE the long and the short of it.

Lara and I travelled in together from the wilds of the inner-northern suburbs. It was great to catch up with Justine, Nichola, Cathy, Louise, Fi, Leanne, Sharon, Jenny, the fabulous-but-blogless Kerry... and I met a few new people too, including the lovely Jan of Sewjourn. And as always, the Living Creatively gang did a superb job of organising the event.
Lara, Kerry, Jan and I finished the evening with drinks overlooking the twinkly lights of the city. Lovely.