Restructure

Firstly, many thanks to the many wonderful people who left comments here or on Facebook or who sent lovely emails after my last post.  I've been quite fragile lately but you've made me feel stronger and a little bit protected from the blows of future criticism.

It has been mentioned before, that I can't leave well enough alone, once I gets me an idea..... 

So now, not only am I restructuring my business and lots of real-life stuff, but I can't seem to stop turning last year's knitting machine wraps into twisty-drapey winter woollies....

The few scarfy-shruggy rectangle-based things I made a little while ago got me thinking about other wrap-and-sew structures for knitted rectangles.  I decided to try this idea on last year's rectangles before I knitted up any new ones. 

I've been felting them a bit, too.  The blue one felted up nicely, but I think the red one might need a few spins in the dreaded front-loader to disguise all the little pulls and holes in the knit.

These two are based on a spiral wrap.   The back is lovely and snuggly-warm and the neck can be cowled and draped in a lot of different configurations.  I'm now thinking of other wraps and other shapes to wrap.....

Other restructuring activities include the revamping of a few of my smaller projects: converting them into digital downloads.  You can find them over at Pink Chalk Farics.

So far, we have the Pyramid Purse, the Lavender Handbag (which also makes a cute little pincushion) and the Fabulous 50's Bib.  These are all my go-to "quick gift" projects.

The patterns have nice spiffy-new colour photographs and re-vamped pattern pieces.

There is still a lot to do here... organising the path ahead while bringing the tail end of the good ship YOU SEW GIRL around.  You can expect to see more revampings and restructurings.... and you can definitely expect to see more knitty wrappy things.

My Creative Space

Smells like lavender....

See what else is going on in the creative blogosphere over at Kirsty's.

Lavender Luggage

Since I made a little handbag shaped lavender bag for Australian Homespun Magazine recently, I’ve been obsessed with the idea of expanding on the theme.

An opportunity to write a guest post for Whip Up led me to spending WAY too much time on this little tutorial.... and then it was too long for Whip Up. Waste-not-want-not Nikki is recycling it here.....

Make the pattern:
1. Fold a 15cm x 12.5cm piece of card in half and centre a cd over the fold line, matching the edge of the cd with the top of the card.

2. Trace around the top half of the cd to make the curve at the top of the bag.

3. Measure 7cm up from a bottom corner and draw a line from that point to the cd-tracing, creating a smooth curve.

4. Fold the card in half again and cut along the curved line to make a symmetrical pattern piece.

Cut and Prepare:
1. Use the pattern to cut 2 in main fabric.

2. Cut 2 rectangles 15cm x 7cm in a contrast fabric.

3. Cut 2 straps 3.5cm x 22cm (or longer) in either main or contrast fabric.

4. Press a 6mm (1/4 inch) turning along a long edge of each rectangle piece.

Sew the bag:

1. Make the straps: (alternatively, use ribbon)
Use an 18mm bias tape maker to fold and press the outside edges of the straps to the centre. Fold each strap in half again, matching the two folded edges together and enclosing all the raw edges in the centre. (See DETACHABLE STRAP tutorial for details on how to make the strap with a bias tape maker).

2. Topstitch the full length of each strap 2-3mm from both edges.

3. Mark the strap placement on the main bag pieces - evenly spaced from the centre and beginning about 6cm from the bottom edge.

4. Align and stitch the ends of the straps into place on the right side of fabric.

5. Using basting spray or fusible webbing to hold the fabrics together, lay the rectangle contrast piece over the main bag piece (covering the raw ends of the straps with the folded edge of fabric).

6. Topstitch along the folded edge to attach the contrast to the main piece.

Alternatively, stitch the contrast piece first and overlay longer straps from the bottom edge (topstitch them in place to the top edge of the contrast piece).

7. Place the two main bag pieces right sides together and stitch across the straight edge at the bottom with a 1cm seam allowance, leaving a gap of 3-4cm (about 1 ½ inches) in the centre of the seam.

8. Press the seam allowances open and then fold the pieces back to right-sides-facing.

9. Stitch around the curved outer edge to join the two bag pieces together. Trim the curved seam allowances to about 3-4mm (1/4 inch) with pinking shears.

10. Pinch the corners at the base of the bag to align the side and base seams. Stitch a “boxed corner” seam 1-1.5cm (about half an inch) from the corner point.

11. Turn the bag to the right side and fill it with lavender flowers. A funnel made from rolled cardboard (Eg. the pattern!) makes this task easier.

12. When the bag is full of lavender, plug the hole with a little bit of hobby-fill or other woolly stuffing. This will stop the lavender from escaping as you finish the bag.

13. Cut a little rectangle of template plastic or cardboard to fit into the base of the bag. Slot it inside the base seam, tucking the short ends into the boxed corners..

14. Slip stitch (ladder stitch) to close the gap in the base seam and admire your new luggage!

Homespun Project

This month's Australian Homespun magazine includes a little "weekend project" by yours truly.

It's a scrap-busting idea I had one afternoon last year - hanging lavender handbags. I was so pleased with how they turned out, it was very difficult to keep the secret for so long.

They only take tiny scraps of fabric and a bit of braid or ric-rac. They're filled with lavender flowers to make your wardrobe smell sweet.

If you'd like to make these - or other lavender-filled goodies - we have some lavender flowers for sale in the (website) shop. 100g packets (as seen in the photo above) are $8.80. This is enough lavender to make about 4 little handbags.