That time of year

One of my last cousins graduated this summer. (I have two more who have a ways to go) She has an amazing sense of style and I wanted to celebrate that as well as give her something personal for her dorm room or first apartment. I haven’t gotten to hear what she thought about it yet but I am hoping she loves it.

Now I want to make one for myself, I am just not sure what “inspirational” quote I want. Any ideas?

There is a process

I have a process to creating a new bag. I am sure every crafter has a process for anything they create. Today I would like to show how inspiration turns into prototypes which turns into an actual usable pattern.

So here we go:


First I find inspiration, this is normally done for me by going on to Flickr and streaming through the numerous handbag groups I am a member of. There is an infanite source of inspiration on Flickr, you just have to go out and look for it. I also like looking and seeing what people are selling on Etsy, I am bummed that you can no longer look at which items have been looked at the most, this always gave me idea at least which items where grabbing peoples attention. So I found this image on Flickr a few days ago:

Photo found here.

I loved the shape of the purse but the selling point for me was that the handle came up from the body of the purse with no seam line, something I hadnt done before but this bag gave me the drive to try.

So I went about drafting a pattern (sorry no pictures of this) I basically drafted the pattern using concepts I have learned from doing tutorials online and purse patterns that I have bought. If anyone is interested I will show you the silly way I draft my patterns, trust me it isnt very technical in ANY way.

I created two prototypes from this first pattern. I didnt take a photo of the first because it was a disaster, the bag shape was fine, it was the sewing that left me stumped, I searched online everywhere to try and find a tutorial for what I was trying to accomplish to no sucess. For some reason I was having a hard time wrapping around how I was suppose to turn out the bag. So I took out my hand dandy Japanesse craft books. I have a large collection of these thanks to trips I have taken to see Ken's family (San Diego & Hawaii) so I knew there had to be SOMETHING in there that could help me out and lucky for me there was. So prototype 2 was born (prototype #1 had been seam ripped so many times it was a lost cause to finish, poor prototype).

The bag turned out alright, but on a person it was way to skinny in the body. So I went back to the draft board (read my living room floor) and got to work drawing a new pattern. Make the body taller and a little less wide. Which led me to prototype 3 (drum roll please)


Ta-Da! It is a medium/large bag with the shape that I wanted. Plus thanks to the trials I have got a new skill done. Now I just need to crank out 20 or so of these bags in various vintage fabrics. (wish me luck!)


No post of course around here couldnt be without Leila so she volunteered to model while sharing in my joys of sucess.

And what better way to celebrate then an inpromptu picnic on the bedroom floor.

Happy Tuesday everyone, hopefully you made it to the end of this LONG post!!!

Full plate

It never fails. The minute I have a little time I start to fill it up innocently with swaps and before you know it BAM I have one too many swaps on my hands, various projects for friends and family, gifts to make, oh and a large wholesale order to get done. I am not complaining because I put myself in the situation every time and have yet to learn my lesson.

This is the starting inspiration for the great Doll Quilt Swap. This time around is a slight challenge for me, the request from my partner is for a more modern quilt. Hmph I have never done a modern quilt. No worries thank goodness for the library I got Denyse Schmidt Quilts and got ready for a fun challenge.

I have it narrowed down to two color patterns. The more I look at the one with orange the more I drawn to it. Do you have a favorite? I wanted a bright, yay it is summer feeling to the quilt. If this turns out as cool as I am hoping I may have to make another one for myself.

This swap I have until the end of the summer, but I know me and if I don’t start it now I will be sewing like a mad women the night before and it wont be my best work. Plus I need to get the book back to the library!

Flickr Love

So if you havent figured out yet I am have joined a Day in May. Basically posting everyday to get me back into a routine. I will admit there will most likely be a day a week of some flickr love. I cant help it though like most people out there I love this site and the overload of inspiration is great! So this past weekend Ken and I rearranged the bedroom which has now prompted me to want to redo the whole room as we have no color scheme or theme what so ever. Unless you count a bed in a room a theme! I know there is no way he will go for an ultra feminine room but as you can see in my latest favs light vintage shabby looks I am drawn too. If I cant make my dream bedroom at least I can look at pretty pictures.



Credits: See my flickr favorites

Guess What?

Gee... Based on my current flickr favorites can you tell what is on my mind? Bags maybe, and rounded bags to boot! Hopefully I will have some of my own to share soon enough! Till then eat up some of the crafty goodness, dont worry it is sweet but calorie free!



See my flickr account for credit (blogger was being stupid with my links sorry!)

Inspiration

I think with the weather warming up across the country and Spring is on everyones mind Spring crafting is in the air. For me color palettes are jumping up everywhere and the color combos are bright and bold something I normally don’t do! My favorite color set right now is Dark Purple, Hot Pink, Bright Orange, and Dark Brown. Not really your typical spring palette but more of a Moroccan palette I would say. I think a quilt is in order for this color palette, now my favorite part, fabric shopping/destashing!!! Do you have any favorite color combos lately that just wont leave your mind?

crochet bracelet - brown, 2. Pink and Purple, 3. Hot Pink Votives, 4. i *hearts* orange, 5. orange skein, 6. brown quilt (detail), 7. PURPLE HAZE, 8. detail, 9. Pretty in Purple Mosaic, 10. Brown ribbon jumble, 11. Miniature dolls house orange table setting, 12. Brown Dress with Pink Accents, 13. Hot Pink Baby Grand, 14. Hot Pink ribbon jumble, 15. Big Orange Owl, 16. purple bangle

Great Vintage Magazine Find

Here is my latest fluff win on eBay, I love that site though I will never sell on it again. I only sold a few clothes of mine that I doubt my body will ever be able to fit into again.

On to the great find, this will be picture heavy. I won a lot of McCall Needlework & Craft Magazines. They are in the 60's and early 70's. The pictures are hilarious and I thought I would share some of my favorites. Sorry before hand for the shoddy camera work I was rushed and had poor lighting. I will get some more pictures up eventually for your viewing pleasure.