A hole in one

I finally found a moment to play with the new grommets, and made a little how-to for you!

This little bag was left over from other how-to shots I was doing for le book. It was interfaced with Vilene S320 on the outside and medium-heavy interfacing on the inside, which I thought was pretty perfect for cutting holes in.

NOTE: If you need to cut into your fabric to insert hardware or fittings of any kind, I'd recommend that you use only sturdy, stable fabric or else fuse interfacing to your fabric.

1. Place a grommet on top of the fabric and trace the inner circle (I used a fabric marker pen).

2. Cut away the centre of the circle (through all layers of fabric). Check to see if the hole will fit snugly over the centre of the grommet. Carefully trim a few millimetres (about 1/16 inch) outside the circle if necessary to make it fit the grommet.


3. Spread a little bit of craft glue around the shank at the centre of the grommet. This is to hold the fabric still while you snap the grommets into place. Don't squirt too much glue in.

4. Push the grommet through the hole and press the raw edge of fabric into the glue.

5. Snap the other side of the grommet into place with your hands (no tools!). Lovely!

For plastic, these things look remarkably swish - and they're a lot lighter than real metal. Considering the set-up cost for the real McCoy grommets - or the cost and inconvenience of finding a stud setting service -they're not as expensive as they may appear ($4.40each).

I think they'd be a pretty cute addition to a Beach Bag, Mod or Carry-All, in place of belt loops, and I'm sure there are lots of other applications for them .... and they're as much fun as self-cover buttons.

Interfacing secrets revealed!

As anyone who uses lots of interfacings knows, the only way to fully understand interfacings is to try them out on different fabrics and for different purposes. Eventually, you'll start to understand what the likely outcome will be.

We have a few sample packs left over from the Stitches and Craft Show. Each pack contains a random assortment of interfacings and support materials - all labelled so that you know what they are. Most pieces are large enough to test on a bag base or small purse.

If you're feeling a bit lost when it comes to choosing the appropriate support for your bag and purse projects, this could be for you. For $7.50 you can take a great leap forward in your ability to make the right choice.

Packs are limited, and limited to one per customer, and they are available HERE!

Special Clearance

We have a finite quantity of these lovely 50mm "antique brass" o-rings in stock, so we're running them out at 20% off the usual price. See them HERE.

They're made with sturdy 4mm wire and are versatile rings for all sizes of bag. Get in quick before they're gone!

A welcome surprise!

The business of bag hardware supplies is a tricky business, indeed. Sometimes you can search for a product for years and be told that it can't be done ...and then one day, when you least expect it (read: when you've ordered something completely different) it arrives, and is LOVELY. That day was yesterday.

We now have 38mm square edged rings in antique brass, and they're in the shop. (The light was terribly for photos today so we have to make do with this pic til the sun shines again).

We're wondering what happened to our order for 32mm antique brass flat rings, but we're really not too cross that it was botched.

Special Deliveries

One delivery today stopped me in my tracks and made me make a Fedora in Anna Maria Horner fabric.

Very exciting to see Vilene S320 again - come all the way from Germany especially to see me. I'm still as besotted with it as I was was time it was in town. It is the BEST hat interfacing I've ever used (and I've made a LOT of hats!). For this Fedora I used two layers of S320 on each piece of the hat. Even after being scrunched to bits while I was sewing, it pressed back into perfect shape and holds its form. It's in the shop HERE!

Also SUPER-CUTE little zipper pulls arrived!! The motifs are a very tactile rubbery material. The attachment rings connect directly to the existing zipper tab to make zippers easier for little hands to manage on kid's clothes. They also make a simple coin purse look special (and make it easier to open and close) and would be sweet on handbags (or kid's backpacks) as well. Practical and cute - gotta love that.

They're $3.65 each... AND THEY'RE NOW IN THE SHOP!

We also have a small quantity of Birch Bias Maker sets - sizes 12mm, 18mm and 25mm for . They're not Clover (although these days they're trying hard to look like them... notice the colour scheme...?) but it's a set of 3 for $17.95. A cheap and cheerful alternative - NOW IN THE SHOP.

And we have a small quantity of 19cm round bamboo handles - a really nice quality handle - running out at $6.50 a pair. They're being discontinued so they're a finite resource.

PS. Ok, I admit the Fedora is only blog-finished. That hatband is just sitting there, pretending to be sewn on. I thought I'd get away with it but it's looking a bit loose and free there.

Rulers are here!

We had a supply problem with our patternmaking rulers... just in time for the two "Patternmaking for Bags" courses... so once again I teased workshop participants with my snazzy equipment and couldn't offer any for sale.

WE NOW HAVE RULERS!!!

....SO... what's so snazzy about these rulers? If you're making patterns, these have lots of helpful bits on them. For starters, they're 60cm x 36cm - really useful when you have to draft long straight lines.


If you line up the first red line on the ruler with the stitch line on your pattern, you can rule a neat 6mm/quarter inch seam allowance (a quarter inch is 6.35mm.... so it's close enough in most cases).

The next line down gives you a 12mm seam allowance (my preferred seam allowance for most things).


And the line beneath that gives you a 15mm seam allowance.


The curve on the other side is perfect for drafting hip curves, waistlines, inner leg and .... various bag shapes.

And it also has the seam allowance depths on it.


NOTE: To add seam allowances on convex curves:
Match the chosen seam depth line with a point on the curve of your pattern and rule a short line. Move the ruler to follow the pattern curve with the seam depth marking, and keep ruling lots of short lines until they form a curved seam allowance. (Do you need a tutorial in this ...or am I making sense here?).

If you're looking to invest in some proper patternmaking equipment, you can buy your ruler here .

IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS.....
It seems that to a lot of junk mail filters (including my own!) our emails are looking an awful lot like SPAM!! Please check your junk mail folders and UNJUNK anything from us. Add us to your "safe" list if you can.... We really are NOT SPAM.

Buttoned up

This Hobo bag has been one of those projects that has been made in fits and starts over the last month or two (it has a sister - cut at the same time but still in construction). The fabric is a Martha Negley and the o-rings are 52mm Square Edge rings (a personal favourite of mine).

Mostly I was waiting for more self-cover button kits to arrive so I could finish the Kanzashi flowers on the front.

The crafty kid is still a bit obsessed with making buttons, but we've had to limit her access to them because we're now selling them in the shop.

There's no sewing involved with these kits - the two-part setting tool wraps the fabric around and the back of the button snaps into place. There are 8 buttons per pack and we have them in 12mm and 23mm - both at the same price ($5.05).

Now I'm going to be very busy sewing all the wee girl's buttons onto hair-ties for her. She now has a hair tie to match every outfit I've ever made for her, and we're fast moving on to having a hair-tie to match every bag I've ever made......

Hooked

Teeny tiny hooks...

We've been having supply issues with our usual small swivel hooks, so I got these in as a temporary stop-gap.
I think I love them. They make the sweetest little detachable straps.

The hooks are available in packs of 4 for $3.95, 10 for $9.40 or 20 for $17.35.
I'm not sure if I got the colour balance the way I wanted it on this Chunky purse, but I'm going to keep working on it. I need to find a colour to bring the two prints together. Thinking yo-yos or buttons... hmmmm. I'll get back to you on that.


I have plans to lock myself in my sewing cave tomorrow. I need to restore a bit of balance on the computer-to-sewing machine front. Restore a bit of faith in my ability to create. Have some time to let my brain free-wheel... recharge.

I also have a bit of (..ahem...) fabric to use.

Catching up

Making to-do lists and tackling things that were ignored for the last few weeks... all in a sort of half-daze of post-show blahhhh.

Since the new shopping cart was supposed to be up ages ago, we've a whole lot of new products to photograph and upload, new links between prducts, page re-directs and general tidying. Lots of it.

Things like Peltex - double-sided and single-sided fusible stiff interfacing. After my initial misgivings, I've grown to really love this product - not only as a cheaper alternative to Fast2Fuse in bag bases (it works perfectly well) but I've worked out the trick to making it curve smoothly as a base support behind other interfacings on my new Barrel, Poppet and Spec Case kits.

We've also had these swivel hooks in antique brass for a while and I only managed to photograph them this week. Loving antique at the moment.... and they're the same price as the silver ones.

So we also have antique brass magnetic snaps. A slightly swishier version of the snap than the silver ones we usually stock. Prices are here.

And we now have everyday size 80/12 sewing machine needles in stock. It's easy to add them to an order and SOOO handy to have a spare pack (especially when you're sewing after hours and break your last needle ...does that sound like the voice of experience..?). These are universal point, so can sew knits and woven fabrics and size 12 is a good medium weight that will handle lots of projects.

Now the weekend is here and I'm also going to be catching up on neglected housework, family and friends.... and possibly a bit more (QUITE a bit more) website tweaking....

Something old. Something new.

I started a pattern for these 150mm (6") curved sew-on purse frames when the wee girl was five months old. Ahh...great ambitions that were never realised...(when the little treasure started crawling at five and a half months!).

We discontinued the frames a while ago but still have half a dozen in black and five in antique brass, so I've put them on the virtual discount table....

They're lovely frames with loops for a chain. If you can manage the patternmaking side of things you can buy them for the AMAZINGLY LOW PRICE of $8.00 for the black and $11 for the antique brass. (They were more like $13 and $16 before).

We were also sent the wrong pens when we ordered our air and water soluble pens a while back, and couldn't be bothered with the pallaver of sending them back. They're on the discount table, too. They're Japanese-made Chako pens. Now $4.

Neither of these are listed on the website, so if you'd like to place an order you can email or phone Ann Marie and mention "the one's on the blog" - she'll now what you're talking about.

Phone (03) 9940 1533 or email sales@nicolemdesign.com.au .

And now for something new.... shiny, shiny 50mm triglides and 40mm antique brass triglides. We had each of the styles in opposite sizes.. if you know what I mean? - and now we have the whole range. Yippee!

And there's a revamped shopping-carty website on the way. I'm still taking photos, rejigging text.... and even Leah has been linking and tinkering while she's on holidays!! It's a big job, but we're inching closer to completion.

In the meantime, I've updated the current website with all the lovely new oblong rings and triglides.

You may also notice that the new super-improved Baguette pattern is finished and available. The lovely Ms CurlyPops tested it for me and she tells me that despite her usual lack of confidence with advanced patterns, she found this one was easy to follow. I checked out the bag and was impressed.... so impressed that I gave her the overhauled Day Bag instructions to test!! Stay tuned for news on that front...

Meet my latest love... I mean PRODUCT.

I still love my paper-folder, but I ALSO love inkjet printable fabric - so much so that I'm now stocking it. It's $21.95 per pack of 5 (size A4) sheets and it's LOTS of fun!

You may remember the memory chest I made for my mother. It was done by printing out family photos on inkjet fabric.

For my next project, I photographed some of my 3-year-old's paintings....

...inserted the images into text boxes in a Word document, then played around with resizing them.

Then it was simply a matter of printing the document from the computer as if it were on paper - the fabric has a peel-away backing that keeps it stiff and smooth on its trip through the printer. That's ALL there is to it!! REALLY!

I appliquéd the LION drawing and made a denim pencil case (large style - to hold a ruler, calculator and notebook if necessary).

I made a little needle book.
And I'm VERY HAPPY with this brooch I made. My wee girl is also very proud to see me wear it. (Not sure what this creature is - its name keeps changing, but it always "has a sun on its tummy").

HOW did I make the brooch? I didn't think to prepare a turorial until it was all finished, so here's a brief run-down on the process.

1. I fused the some dense felted wool fabric to Fast2Fuse and satin-stitched around the edges with a dense machine zig-zag stitch. (You could use any old felt or fabric, and you could even hand satin-stitch if you're so inclined).

2.I fused the printed fabric to light interfacing and wadding and zig-zagged it onto the felted wool - using basting spray to hold it together while I stitched.

3. The back was made from felt fused to Vilene S520 (I cut the S520 about 5mm short of the outsde edges of the felt). The brooch finding was theaded through slits in the felt (and is therefore supported by the layer of S520).

4. Another squirt of basting spray and the back was held in place for the final machine zig-zag around the (pre-satin-stitched) edge. I did this from the underside (so that the brooch finding was facing upwards).

5. I pinned it on and wore it for the rest of the day!!

Does this sound like fun to you...?

If you'd like to order some inkjet fabric you can email or call Leah in the office. We already have it in stock and are yet to get it onto the website. It will be there ASAP.

***

Alternatively, if you spend over $50 with us this month you could WIN some! Every purchase over $50 goes into the barrel for a draw at the end of the month. June is INKJET FABRIC month.

***

The May prize of the make-up purse was won by Fiona in Southport, QLD. It's winging its way to her as we speak.

So... what's under YOUR Rajah Cloth??

I've spoken of Rajah Cloths before....

Today I used one to press the RIGHT SIDE of a PVC strap (with the iron on a wool setting). It worked a treat! I was so impressed I took a photo. Tomorrow I'm going to try it on a COTTON setting....

Edited to add - Cotton and linen settings didn't melt the vinyl when the rajah cloth was put to the test today. Magic, I tell you....

Rajah cloths are a chemically treated cloth that somehow MAGICALLY take the sting out of a hot iron while still allowing the heat to do its work. Don't ask me how - just get one. You'll be amazed.

(Yes - we sell them. See details here).

My new convertible!

I've been thinking about this one for a long time. Probably since the time I made these clutch purses...

Yesterday I saw my chance and I grabbed it. The studio computer was at the computer doctor (very timely, on my one child-free day in a week when I have half a ton of patternmaking and instructions to do... couldn't work on anything at all). So all I could do was SEW.... what a shame, huh?

This is my Baguette pattern - made as a clutch.
The main fabric is from the Al Fresco range by Marcus Fabrics, and I think the other is a Baum Wyndham "Rhapsody" print (but don't quote me on that!).

So.... where's that convertible I was talking about...?

It becomes a handbag with a clip-on chain! I used small swivel hooks and silver nickel purse chain. Easy-peasy.

But that is not all... Oh no, that is not all I can do, said the cat! (Ok, I read too many Dr Suess books!).

It can also be a wristlet with a clip-on strap.

How...? I'm going to write a tutorial for this and a few other tricks I photographed while making this bag.

Stay tuned.... (I also have to write some instructions and do a spot of patternmaking...).