Starting Off on the Wrong Foot - Happy New Year?

Lots of sewing bloggers have done a recap of all the great things they made this year just to make me feel inadequate. So continuing in this downer mode I am going to tell you what a failure my latest project was. The weather outside today is a very cold hard rain which adds to my gloomy mood and the only brightness on this day is the glow off my computer screen. My sewing machine is banished to the opposite  unlit corner of the room.

I started of with this great vision of how I would make another wool handbag as lovely as this one.

EVERYTHING about this bag went well and I sold it immediately at a craft show after getting numerous "favorites" in my Etsy shop.

I loved working with wool for these two bags as well. 

I ordered some wool plaid online from MOOD and my first problem was that it was a much larger plaid than I thought ( my fault). It also smelled like WOOL!,  of course. So I spent time running it on air in the dryer with a dryer sheet. Then tried Febreze and then I just washed it and air dried it. Finally it was acceptably less sheep-like.

 Here are some steps in the building of the bag.  This shows an inside view no one ever gets to see.

 Here is a mistake I had to rip out.

                           Cramming all these thick layers under the presser foot was a drag.

 Then comes the birthing of the bag where you have to pull the whole thing back through the hole in the lining.

And that is when you see that what you had envisioned as a really classy classic bag is actually NOT!

After flipping it I had to do the top-stitching around the upper edge. Due to the thickness of the straps with piping the machine just went nuts and went into spasms leaving about a half inch unstitched and a few thread "bird nests" which I couldn't bring myself to photograph.

I had used a gray faux leather on my loved bag and it worked very well. The black vinyl (faux) not so much.  I made piping which looks great but a larger expanse is yucky.

                                                                               

It's the "Saggy Baggy" Bag.  The very stiff interfacing I used around the sides should have been used on the front and back to prevent the fold over tab with the enormous button from dragging it down. There is actually a magnetic snap under it. Too bad that I wasted it.

I do like the piping across the outer pocket and 

on the tab. Oh, I already said that. 

Well, I liked it so much that I decided I had to have more. Around the seams would have been nice but the thicknesses entailed would be too much.  I never

thought about it though when I added it to the strap which I made the same width as the bag side.      

                                                                                                                          

What a beast this was to turn back right sides out. If I had made it narrow towards the center it would reasonably sit on a shoulder and not flare out as seen below.

Even this photo turned out bad. Where did those weird dots come from??
  

AND the plaid is not straight at this seam.

And speaking of photos, they are all wrong because the color is so off. I tried all kinds of settings which I really don't get.  Smart capture usually works fine for me in natural light.  Not one of these shows that this fabric is not a bright white and black houndstooth plaid with colored flecks BUT a dull beige - y white and black houndstooth plaid with colored flecks!!!
 I changed lighting, locations, settings and the white is still way too bright.

Oh well, I don't need great photos since this disaster is not going to appear in my Etsy shop.

I will probably cut it up and rework the elements into something else much smaller.

Some sewing bloggers call this a WADDER.

Any suggestions?

Mixing it up with the Public + My Etsy Reader

Staying at home as a retiree and sewing up stuff all day and trying to support the habit with an Etsy shop makes for a lot of alone time.  Hubby is constantly being asked for his opinion on all sorts of things that he is no expert on but he is also retired and nearby.

So yesterday was one of my few outings into the real, non-cyber world at a crafts fair.  Christmas-by-the-Lake was held at my old alma mater, Avon Lake High School.  It was a scholarship fund-raiser sponsored by the PTA so I felt good about supporting them and the most fun was meeting up with old friends and neighbors.

The front of ALHS as I knew it - pic from the web

For me, it was a good, even fantastic,  show since the one I did in October was a money LOSER!  I was pretty busy most of the day and if hubby hadn't come to assist I would not have survived the set-up and take-down on my own.  We even stayed overnight at a nearby hotel to avoid the long drive in the AM when the weather might have been iffy.  Disclaimer: The expense did not cut into my profits since I used my Hilton Honors points for a free night. I also got out of having to cook dinner for two nights straight :)  Cooking is definitely not my thing.

New Main entrance which is really at the back - low res pic from ALHS page

I was so busy talking, walking and selling I completely forgot to take pictures to put on this post. My selling space did look pretty spiffy and was quite generous. There was extra space around the allotted 10' x 10' so my hanging racks for bags and aprons could angle outward and made lots of room for shoppers to see and finger the wares.

Since I have nothing else to  dress up the post with, here are some items I sold.

               This wool purse was snapped up right away. 

I had just completed it days before.  My favorite part of this is the ruffle made from the selvage.  

The fabric is a herringbone that has been hand dyed by RubyMountainDyeworks. I was trying to match another purple solid to make this style:

                                       However, it was too red. I wanted it for the side pockets.

This gray bag also went to the show with me and was admired often and sold for my full asking price even when the buyer tried to get me to come down.  This little baby got more "favorites" in the shortest time on my Etsy shop than anything I have ever made. Now I am really determined to get just the right coordinating fabrics to go with that nice thick coat weight royal purple.  I have enough for at least two bags, so in the mean time, perhaps solid purple with a stitching detail?

                                                                Aprons went pretty well, too.

 This one had matching potholders that have a sort of bra-like look in this photo.

At right is the apron I wear at shows.  The two giant pockets hold my cash and other necessities.  This was my first show where my phone was one of those necessities.

Etsy has made available a credit card reader, the Etsy Reader , that works like Square and some other similar things but this one connects directly to your Etsy shop so that items are removed from your online shop as you sell them directly.  You can even use it for sales that are not Etsy items and it worked smoothly and efficiently and helped me make more sales. It emails you a record of each sale, adds up your totals, helps you make change and will email a receipt to your customer. Thanks, Etsy!

Oh, and those little cuties I put in my previous teaser post are still with me. I sold ONE but they were all handled fondly by lots of hands.  They will see another show day. Too small and fiddly to list and ship on Etsy.

Winter Woolies

Winter is really settling in and the temperatures sinking faster than a pattern weight in a tub of bath water (I was trying for a sewing reference hers, but there isn't much liquid associated with sewing).
Although, we have been spared the lake effect snowfall that piled up just a half hour drive north of us.

SO, I decided it was time to stop sewing on brightly colored ruffly skirts and summer weight bags and totes and get into something more seasonal.  Back in August I had made a custom order from my little stash of wool.

The order came about because I had challenged Peter of Male Pattern Boldness that I would give him something else to perk up his apartment if he went ahead and made those drapes he was hesitant about. Well, he made them and they were great and then I had to come through with the pillows I promised him.  You can see them HERE. No, the pillows were not wool. BUT, when his partner, Michael,  saw them he went to my Etsy shop and liked the zippered bags and asked for one made in more masculine fabrics and colors. I came up with this.

The photos stink because I just wanted a quick record of what i had made rather than a spending time setting up a better shot for Etsy. I had only sent Michael this and a promise.

                                                      Thankfully he really likes it.

That little project only ate up a small portion of the expensive half-yard of gray wool so I returned to it and came up with this nice wintery bag.

The little side pockets are from some felted wool I got from RubyMountainDyeWorks on Etsy.
Most of their wool is very small pieces but yummy. Above the pockets is some of the same faux leather I used on Michael's bag.

I split the piece to have a simple gray cotton on the lower concealed part because I didn't have enough and it also made it way easier to sew through the layers. You can see where my pattern came from. This is the second one I have made.

              Cutting this felted wool is so great. It fives a great smooth edge and doesn't fray.

              But, it molds beautifully.  The tailor's ham came out for one of its rare appearances

Here is a bad photo of the lining.  I love the look of this shiny dot cotton which I have used in other projects.  There is an inside pocket, a dangly clip on a ribbon for keys or you can attach this:

The solid overlaps the houndstooth and it is simply simply stitched down with two rows of topstitching.  The lining is the same shiny dot fabric.











When I ordered the houndstooth wool, I also bought a  pack of blue in six shades and that got put together this week, too.

Here are the two sides of the
little bag made of small leftovers.

You can see these in my Etsy shop at CherylThimbleFingers



                                           This may be the basis for the next little project.

          Are you sewing for winter or are you like the fashion industry and working seasons ahead?

My Perfect Travel Tote

Just in time for an impending trip to Sicily, Southern Italy and Rome I completed the just for me traveling companion. Well, hubby is going too but since he is old news (literally) I am only presenting the self-sewn creation.

As you can see, this is a 3 piece set.  After completing the tote I was so happy with the fabric I just had to use some more.  The main fabric is a heavy outdoor fabric but it doesn't have that slick surface some of it has.  The straps are a cotton webbing and the exterior pockets on each side are trimmed with black and gray grosgrain ribbon.  Without the black and gray lines this fabric was a little dizzying to look at.  The lining fabric is one I used on some of my mid-century modern pillows (see here). Its a quilting cotton in gray with silvery dots that give it a cool shimmer. I wanted a light interior so stuff wouldn't hide in the dark.

The tote begins with the inside which I wanted fitted out in a certain way.  I had another bag that went to New York with me in May but it was too small and too deep. Stuff just sifted to the bottom and the one zippered pocket was sometimes difficult to get into.

 I cut a  piece of the exterior fabric large enough to surround the zipper on all sides. A little interfacing keeps it more rigid when operating the zipper.

The pocket is one piece of fabric with one side
attached to the bottom of the inside zipper edge and the other end folded over and then sewn to the top edge.

Then you sew up the sides of the pocket folding back at the zipper to catch that little triangle pice.

                                            Here is the placketed zipper completed. The inside is the same fabric.

The other side of the lining is fitted out with a special pocket just for my ever-present iPad.

Its  pretty straight forward pocket lined with the dotty fabric but I added a flap sewn above it to prevent the slippery little iPad from sliding out if the bag gets on it's side.  A bit of Velcro would have been nice but I didn't have any on hand.

 Now I was getting ready to assemble it when I realized that the exterior was limp as a noodle so I decided to add some fusible batting and quilt it. Since I had already sewn on the pockets and webbing to each side I had to work around them.













This is a free-wheeling wavy line I like to do.  No, it is not done free-motion. I am a complete dud at that and am not up to practicing and wasting time, thread and fabric.  I can echo shapes pretty well too.

 Here I used straight lines  following around the rectangle above the pockets.

Here is the back and you can see what I did.  It did give it more heft without weight or stiffness.
I don't back this with anything because the lining will hide it and more fabric would just make the seams bulkier.

 I also added a strip of batting inside the straps because I have learned that they are easier on the shoulders if I do.  I folded the fabric around it and stitched the webbing over the opening.  I like the effect of the little edge of print showing.

 I Hate "saggy bottoms" so I add some stiffener to the boxed bottom of the bag. This is plastic canvas which can be cut with scissors.  Its cheap and does a great job. I always cut against a smooth edge to eliminate any pokey parts. You can see them on the right.

I wrap the plastic in muslin and sew it in place. Goes through the machine fine. I attach it at each boxed end and then trim off the triangle.

Here are two other things I added.  This is a loop of wide black elastic sewn into the side seam on the inside.  Whatever for you ask! It's my upholder.  I can slip my covered cup in there and it stays relatively upright and in place.  I wouldn't trust it for a full steaming hot cup of coffee, but it keeps it from drifting to the bottom.

The little organizer bag has a D-ring on the side which attaches to a clip on a ribbon that is sewn into the side seam.  Its so easy (at least for me) when traveling and juggling your belongings to misplace something so this is my security.

The little wallet, shown open here may or may not go along this time.  When traveling in Italy, pick-pockets are ever-present so I will probably have my passport, cards, and most cash in one of those ubiquitous body wallets under my clothes or better yet, under hubby's.

So here it is packed with one of my essentials for an overnight flight.  That red thing is a knitted shawl that cam wrap me up or serve as pillow or armrest or even throw over my head to escape whatever is bugging me.

Ready to go on board.  Francine is modeling the last clothing item I made for the trip.  Without the folds, this fabric makes you dizzy.  I think it looks best under a black jacket. The bottom edge is served and I tuck it up, or in to create whatever length I need.

                I will not be posting while away but will return with entries to both of my blogs after October 15. I would love to hear comments but get them in before Oct. 2nd.  I screen my comments and that may be difficult while traveling.