Online Classes are GO!

If you've ever wanted to come to one of my classes, but lived too far away or never quite got around to it, here's your chance.  Over the next few months, bag-making classes with me will be popping up on Creativebug.  The first one launched this week - The Hobo bag.   

 

I'm taking a break from teaching workshops until some time next year, so if you want to learn from me, this is where you'll find all my best tips and tricks and some new designs.

 

Right now, you can sign up for a 14 day free trial of Creativebug Premium membership (which is only US$4.95 per month if you choose to continue it) to do this and/or lots of other inspiring classes with instructors like me, Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Kathy Doughty, Kaffe Fascett, Joel Dewberry, Leisl Gibson, Gretchen Hirsch, ... the list goes on.  (I am in VERY fine company, indeed!).

 

 

This Hobo is made in microfibre suede, but you could make it in denim or duckcloth or any medium-weight fabric. It has a pop of (Kaffe Fascett) colour on the inside of the flap and on the lining, and it has a fancy-schmantzy twist lock closure.

 

 

 Along with all my sewing tips, the Hobo class includes techniques for working with tricky fabrics like microsuede, using interfacing and hardware, making a neat adjustable strap and inserting a fully-lined exposed zipper pocket.

 

 

An added bonus is that you also get to feel very superior about how young and smooth and well-cared-for your hands look, when you see lots of close-ups of these old weather-beaten work tools of mine... (and no, that is not my young and smooth hand in the photo above), or else you can know that if you have "Old Crafter's" and/or gardener's hands, you are not alone.

 

You can watch a little video of me talking about this class, and have a look around the Creativebug site while you're there.  I'm sure you'll be as impressed as I am with it.  There are classes in everything creative - cooking, paper-crafts, drawing, knitting, crochet and all disciplines of sewing, just to name a few. There are lots of free classes that you can try there, too. 

 

And remember to stay tuned to Creativebug (also on Facebook and Twitter) and You Sew Girl for notification of my classes as they appear.  

Launched and now on tour... with giveaways!

 What a lovely night we had last night... launching The Better Bag Maker. 

 

 

Fabulous local Craft Book retailers CAN DO BOOKS were there with copies of the book, especially flown-in for the launch.

 

 

My 80-something Dad even made the trip in from out of town, along with several sisters and cousins and a niece. I felt a bit special. 

There were superstars of the textile world chewing the fat...



And crafty blogging chicks enjoying a catch-up in the non-virtual world.

All in all, I think that everyone enjoyed a good chat, a glass or two of something (or in my case, three attempts at a glass of something, but actually only about a sip out of each before they were lost somewhere). 

I had lots of 30-second conversations and scribbled jibberish inside book covers.  By the end of the evening, I could barely string a sentence together.... but had a lovely time.  And today, a little 15-minute powernap turned into 3 hours of deep, deep sleep.  I think I was a tad exhausted.

 

So, now that it's out there, THE BETTER BAG MAKER is having a little tour.  You'll be able to read reviews or profiles or interviews about me and the book (and I'll be guest-posting for Sew Mama Sew), and at each stop on the blog tour, there are opportunities to win a copy of the book.  (The book will be digital copy, except in the USA, where hard copy is able to be posted to the winners).

 

If you pop over to Blogless Anna's blog right now, you'll see how she fared with her first attempts at making bags (and she deserves a medal for working from an enormous pile of unedited manuscript notes and separate digital files of images).  If you leave a comment on Anna's blog post, you'll be in the running to win a copy of the book. 

 

From there, you can follow the trail -

 2nd June – Creativebug

9th June – The Littlist Thistle
23rd May - Sew Mama Sew
23rd June – Curly Pops
30th June – Lola Nova
8th July – Ink & Spindle
15th July – Kicki G Just Nu (in Swedish.. but you can translate it online)

 

 

 

Continuing my show-and-tell of the bags that I made while I was developing the designs.... above is the first (button-less) sample of the Galapagos Boho.  I have been intending to put a button on it for over a year now, because I think I'd quite like to use this one.  

 

 

Above, is the back detail of the Seoul handbag.  It was the only one where I changed NOTHING from the first to the last sample.  It worked exactly as I wanted it to, first pop. 

 

This Avignon Traveller is the one that is in the book - with a stunning hand screen-printed panel by Ink and Spindle.  I have the original version of this as my overnight travel bag, but I keep forgetting to photograph it.

 

 

This is the original Lahti Flight Bag, in a Heather Bailey print that I'd had in the stash for years. 

 

 

The second version of the same bag is the one that I use for a carry-on luggage when I fly.  You can see it in action here at the boarding gate in Portland, Oregon (this time last year).... along with a bunch of other bags, a purse and a kid, all made by me. 

 

Good luck with the giveaways, and happy bag-making!

..and then this book arrived....

There have been many different things going on here lately, all of which I've failed to adequately photograph or document for blogging purposes.  Amidst it all, I took this photo (below) the day the advance copy of my new book arrived, for Facebooking purposes. (I'm afraid the ease of speedy updates means that I spend more time there, these days). 

 

If you follow me on Facebook, you've probably already seen these sneaky-peeks into the bag designs that are in THE BETTER BAG-MAKER, but here are a few more words to accompany the images. 

 

 

The book is all about sewing bags with finesse, no matter if you're a beginner or a confident, experienced sewing whizz. 

 

The first part of the book is filled with information, tips and techniques that apply across the board with bag-making - interfacings, reducing bulk, neat topstitching and methods of constructing basic straps, pockets and bases. I also show you how to change the proportions of the one basic pattern to make bags of different shape, size and purpose.

 

Then there is a basic bag, to walk you through the processes of making the basic shape ...and you make a rather nice shopping tote (below, in fabric by Ink&Spindle). 

 

Then, using the same pattern, I start introducing new techniques for details on bags, beginning with simple drawstrings and bag rings... (like this happy little number in Curlypops fabric, below).

 

 

Then the details get a little more detailed as the skill-level increases.  This is designed to walk you through at a pace where you can gain confidence and expand your repertoire, but it also means that confident bag-makers can jump in anywhere and have a crack at learning something new, like fancy (and very well-finished) gusseted patch pockets.....

 

These are just some of the photos I snapped before the bags were sent to the publishers.  You can see a few of the real pics from the book (and more of the bag designs) on their Flickr page here.

 

 

You can see more of my photos and some of my pattern-tester's photos on a group I've started on Flickr here.  Feel free to join the group if you are interested.  You'll be able to share your own photos of bags made from the book, if you so desire.

I hope that some of my pattern-testers are more on the blogging ball than I am, lately, because they are now allowed to share the details of what they made while sifting through unedited piles of notes and separate files of images.  The all deserve medals for working with that unwieldy format. 

 

 

 

There were 6 projects cut from the book in the first edit (it was a page-count issue), and I'd like to thank the fabulous pattern testers who put in so much effort on these ones, but don't get to show them off.  Believe me, I know how you feel.  I'm trying to work around ways of using these designs and all this work in another format.

 

 

Stay tuned over the next few months.  I'm sure there will be more sneak-peeks, reviews and giveaways in the blogosphere, and I'll keep you posted on that.

 

In the meantime, I'm teaching a lot, around the traps, and must get back to organising a few things.  If you're interested in coming to a class, keep your eye on this page, (as well as on Facebook...).

 

 

News from the classroom (at Grampians Texture... ahem.. a couple of weeks ago)

Lately, there has been much to show and tell, and my inner-blogger is always taking photos and mental notes.  My outer-blogger appears to be otherwise occupied, and things like my fabulous week at Grampians Texture nearly slipped through the net of bloggy documentation.... I'm remedying that NOW!

 



What a fabulous week it was... spent in beautiful Hall's Gap with hundreds of textiles-loving people, and 2-day and 4-day workshops in all manner of textile-related skills and projects.

 

My 4-day Pattern-Free Garment workshop was a hoot.  With 4 days, and 11 bodies of varying size, shape, age and personality, we were able to explore the concept and come up with lots of great garments and ideas.

 

These are just a few of the photos of garments that were made. It's a very image-heavy post, so I'll lighten the load on the wordy bit and let the pictures do the talking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were many more... and lots of giggles, collaboration and creativity.  It must have looked like fun, from the outside looking in.... this fella really wanted to join us!

 

My 2-day workshop was a bells-and-whistles Travel Bag, with loads of different zips and pocket construction methods.  We had a few finishes and lots of nearly-finished bags by the end of the 2 days, but absolutely no photos of the actual class.  We were too busy!

 

 

These are a few of the bags on "show and tell" display at the end of Sunday, when all the workshop participants and tutors gather to see the results of all of the different workshops.

 

 

Grampians Texture was so much more than the snippet I've shown here.  I have more photos, more stories and more thoughts to share.  I may or may not get back to doing that.... there are other very exciting things to tell.  I'll be back soon... or when I can! 

 

If you're interested in learning some zipper pocket and zipper closure methods, there's a class coming up in a few weeks in Melbourne, and there are a couple of places left in it.  You can book here.

 

If you'd like to do a 1-day Pattern-Free class, I have one coming up (and booking up!) in May - book here (quickly).

 

 

If it's Saturday, it must be Canberra...

I'm off to Canberra first thing tomorrow, to teach a couple of classes.  Amid the prepping and packing today, I remembered to finish and photograph this bag, which was started weeks (or months?) ago.

I'm getting good at this mass-bird-slaughter-with-a-single-stone thing.  This bag was made to demonstrate one of  the zippers styles we'll be doing in the class on the weekend (and in other Zippers for Bags classes).

 

It's also an example of how to manage bulky fabrics, as it's made from a felted jumper, some heavy denim, leather and polypropylene webbing straps.  I'll be focusing* on this sort of troubleshooting in the workshops at Grampians Texture in February, and it will get a mention or two in the new book. 

*Shame I couldn't manage any sort of focus in the photo above... but it's the only one I took of the felted jumper side of the bag, so there it is.

I'll be in Canberra this weekend, teaching the Zippers for Bags and a class in making Hats.  Next weekend I'm back here, teaching something else (bags?) and then I'll be back in Canberra the following weekend. 

If you want to see if there are any last-minute cancellations which might allow you to jump in, or if you want to go on the waiting list for next year's classes, contact Addicted To Fabric.  Apparently the classes book up quickly, but you never know when a last-minute vacancy might appear.

Other travellers this week are the two baby quilts I started at Sewjourn and then put together in Apollo Bay.  An unannounced visit from my US-living sister prompted a quick binding and packaging.  The quilts will be winging their way to some special little girls in the USA, any day now.

I just wish that today had been anything other than a grey, rainy one, so I could have taken a decent photo of this one before it was sent off.

There has been more scheduling and phone-calling and emailing and form-filling and route-planning and networking (...!!..)  and the US trip for me is coming together a bit more clearly.  It's now looking like I might be able to stay a few weeks with family and come back via a nephew's wedding in Hawaii.  Hooray.  It'd be a great opportunity to throw in a few teaching gigs, and there has indeed been correspondence about possible classes, but nothing has been confirmed yet. 

Tonight, I'm taking it easy, eating ice-cream and considering going to bed with a good book.  I'm calling it the weekend.

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.