Mother's Day Special

In Australia, Mother's Day is the second Sunday in May. We wanted to get this offer out to you in time for you to make something special for your mother. If you're in another country and it's not nearly Mother's Day, we won't hold that against you if you want to take advantage of the offer.

We're offering a FREE FRAME with every one of the following kits - that means you get TWO frames with every kit and that means savings of up to $12.40.

The Barrel Purse is a cute little purse that you can hold in the palm of your hand.... but is surprisingly roomy. You will receive a FREE 90mm frame with every Barrel Purse Kit purchase.

The simple square purse frame kits are a great place to start if you've never made a framed purse before.... and with two frames to play with, you've nothing to lose if one of them is a "learning" experience.

The 75mm, 90mm, 150mm and 200mm purses are all included in this offer - an extra frame thrown in for nix.


A handmade case for glasses or sunglasses is a great gift.... and each Spec Case Kit will include a free 75mm frame. You can make one for yourself as well!

The 200mm Chunky purse makes a great clutch purse or a roomy make-up purse. With your spare 200mm Chunky frame you can make one for each purpose!!

The Poppet is a very cute little wristlet or make-up purse, and is the perfect "next step" for anyone who has already tried the basic square framed purse styles. It fits the 150mm frame and you'll get an extra one free with every kit.

And the Puff purse is super-sweet. You'll receive a free 100mm curved antique brass frame with every kit.

If you were thinking of trying something new, making a gift or sharing the sewing love with your mother....or WHATEVER the reason.... you have just over a week to take us up on the offer.

We'll be closed over the Easter break this weekend (Friday until Monday) so we're giving you a few extra days to get in on the deal. We'll be closing the offer next Thursday (8th April) at 5pm.

If you already have enough kits but are looking for some cheap frames*, we're discontinuing the Black Nickel Square purse frames. They're on sale at 30% off until cleared.

*The black nickel frames look lovely, but there may be minor flaws on the plating (although most of them are fine). They make excellent OFM ("only for me") practise purses.

Winners and Grinners...

The grinner would be ME. The Spec case is printed and will be packed by tomorrow. Woo Hoo! Yes - you can order it today and we can post it out tomorrow! It's the full kit and kaboodle - all the interfacing, support materials and the frame that you'll need to make one purse, as well as a paper pattern and an instruction booklet wich will mean that you can make LOADS more in time for Christmas! You only need to supply the fabric scraps and the glue to finish the purse, and once you learn the process, they're very quick to sew up.

The pattern makes a lovely purse to protect sunglasses or spectacles in your handbag. It has stiff (but not rigid) structure to protect against minor bumps and major scratches, and can expand to accommodate even larger size sunglasses (although the really ENORMOUS blowfly glasses will fit better in the next size up... when I make that pattern). The purse is 17cm long by 8.5 cm across the base. The side panels can expand to over 10cms horizontally and to 6cms vertically.

Edited to add a big thank you to Nikki, Cam, Ann Marie and Carolyn for being fab pattern testers. (You can see Nikki's and Cam's spec cases here and here).

Ordering code: PFKSPE75 Price $36.50. Email, fax or phone through your order.


Now... the WINNERS! Thanks to my beautiful assistant Mr Random Number Generator...

The Spec Case Kit giveaway was won by Ambette.

The monthly spend-over $50 draw prize was won by Nedra Purnell in QLD. I'll be sending you a 75mm purse kit with some fabric.

The prize for the month of August will be a bag pattern of your choice. (This doesn't include purse kits). All you have to do is spend over $50 and you're automatically in the draw.

Making a spectacle of myself...?

Or making a spectacle CASE for myself..? What the hell - I'll make a few of them.

I'm editing instructions on the directions of a few pattern testers, and we should be ready to hit "print" as soon as they're proof-read again. So.... that giveaway draw is looming! Are you in it?

I'm still refining new techniques on this purse (read: making more instructions to write). I'm also playing with earlier patterns and using a few newly-learned tricks to make them better. A great leap forward, indeed.

I think my Advanced Purse Frame Class will be better than I initially planned it to be.... there are two places left on the course. Any takers...?

300th post... with thanks (and a giveaway).

Last night I was lucky enough to have been invited to a wonderful blogmeet organised by Lara. Great Thai food and warm conversation with like-minded souls and friends. I gabbled on about how wonderful blogging has been for me - the connections and friendships forged with wonderful people around the world - and very much in my own hometown (and it seems, particularly in the Northern suburbs of my home town!). I meant every word of it.

And so... on my 300th post (!!) I'd like to thank you for reading, for commenting, and for making me feel like what I do is worthwhile. I'd also like to thank you for your creativity and the inspiration you share with us all. The generosity of the craft-blogging community never ceases to astound me - and it warms my heart.

... and of course you want to know what the giveaway is.

I've mentioned secret patterns, mad deadline-bound writing, half-finished projects. This is one of them.... nearly finished. The finished Spec Case kit should be ready within two weeks.

If you'd like to win a kit hot off the press, leave a comment here with a short introduction to what your blog is about... sewing, crochet, family, food etc. Think of it as an opportunity to connect with a few more bloggers - introduce yourself to new friends at a virtual blogmeet! If you don't have a blog, you can write about the types of things you like to read about on blogs.

I'll random-number thingamy it when the kit is finished and ready for sale.

Last-minute gift idea - Sunglasses/spectacle case

My new sunglasses case has a slick hidden magnet to close it...

It looks very sweet in two-tone floral, and it works well, too - I've road-tested it in my bag for the last few days.

Here's how to make one....

1. Cut 4 x rectangles of fabric 12cm x 28cm (4 + 3/4" x 11"). Two of these will be linings and two will be the outsides of your purse. I cut contrasting fabrics for the outsides, and interfaced them with medium-light interfacing.

2. Layer the rectangles as if they're made into a purse - right sides of linings facing one another, with the 'outside' fabrics facing outwards on either side of the lining pieces.

3. Fold all layers and press a crease 12cm from the edge that you'd like to have as the 'flap' on the case. I placed the large rose print carefully when I cut the rectangles so that it would be on the flap.

4. Keeping the fabrics layered in their "finished purse" position, lift up the first layer of the flap (the large rose print in this case) to reveal the wrong side of the flap lining.

5. Draw a cross for a magnetic snap placement 3cm (about 1 and a quarter inch) from the flap edge and 6cm from the side.6. Pin a sew-in magnet into place - centred over the cross. Also push pins through all layers of the fabric on both side of the magnet.

7. Lift up the front layer of the outside fabric on the 'body' of the purse (the blue fabric pictured above) and use the pins to guide the placement of the other side of the magnet. It will snap into place. Pin it on to the fabric.

8. Sew each magnet on to it's respective piece of fabric with a square of stitching (see below).

9. Place the two lining pieces and the two outside pieces right-sides together.

10. Stitch aroound the side seams and across the base of each pair in a squared U-shape - pivoting at the bottom corners (see below). Leave the top end open (this is the short end closest to the 'flap' crease-line).

10. Trim the seam allowance away from every corner as shown below (the "3cm rule" for anyone who has done a class with me or used on of my patterns).

11. Press the seam allowances open on all sides of each piece. Fold and press a 1cm hem around the open ends of both the lining and outside purse pieces.

12. Turn one piece to the right side out and use a paintbrush or chopstick to push the other piece inside it (with the wrong sides of fabric facing each other).

13. Line up the folded edges and pin them together. Topstitch the edges together with one or two rows of stitches.

14. Give the spectacle case a final press.

You could change the proportions of this purse to make any number of other pouches, purses and bags.

Enjoy!

PS. You may have realised that the first picture is not exactly the same as the one in the rest of the tutorial. It's my crash-test dummy, and I "re-made" it to write the tutorial.