Reversible Bucket Bag - Done!

Here's the finished look of the reversible bucket bag.  Somehow sewing the handles was not as hard as I thought & basting it into place before final sewing prevents unwanted 'accidents'. So miss seam ripper was on a honeymoon :)

On this patchy side, I embroidered Charlie Chaplin's quote.

I like the simplicity on the denim side. I'm sure most of you would prefer the denim look.

The size of this bag is perfect for weekend shopping & I particularly like the long handles. Ample of space for your armpit to breathe :D. I usually make 50cm long handles. The inside does crumple a bit. From my little experience of sewing fabric boxes, if I sew the interior & exterior the exact same measurement, the inside will crumple. But when I reduced the interior measurement about 0.2cm, then I get clean smooth interior. So that explains the unwanted crumple. 

A special thank you to Sue from MyBotang Crafty Corner for organizing this sew a long. Sewing this bag was fun!  To all sew a long members who are in the midst of finishing this bag, keep on sewing :).

Happy sewing & crafting!

Reversible Bucket Bag - Work In Progress II

Sorry to have kept some of you waiting to see the progress of my reversible bucket bag. The patchwork kind of slowing me down a bit as I was randomly cutting and patching around the printed images. At first I hand quilted the patches but it ended up looking like too much going on. So I just machine stitch along the patches.

For the denim side, I did not add fusible interfacing as I think the fabric itself is thick enough.

I don't have fusible fleece so I use batting instead.

I reuse the old denim pocket for this bag. This is the easiest one to whip :).

For the base, both sides were interfaced. To avoid mistakes, I baste the base before stitching. 

Here's the button loop. I thought the loop's too chunky but sew it anyway. After sewing together the main bag body, well..... it is the right size for the bag :P

No fabric flower for the button. I use a 38mm self-cover button. I removed the shank and sew the safety pin to the back of the button. The image is printed on a loose weave Indian cotton. It's not really visible up close but can be adored from far distance.

After basting together the lining and exterior bag together, here comes the tricky part.....stitching the binding. As usual, I pin and baste the binding in place and then carefully sew the pieces together. Phew! Well, not that hard actually. The center top edge binding is done!

What is left to do is sewing the bag handles.

I sew together both ends of the bag handles. I think it is much easier to sew the handles to the bag in one piece. I'm stitching the handles today so I'll be posting the finished bag soon.

I sew this mini fabric scrap basket while working on this project. Little pieces of scraps lying around really bugs me. 

Happy day everyone :)

Reversible Bucket Bag - Work In Progress I

As you can see, I'm still in the midst of patching up the fabrics together. I've chosen the dots, black & white prints & some printed images for the main body of the bag. Luckily I found a medium weight denim for the exterior/ lining. So there is some repurposing involved in this project.

I'm sort of going for the silent movie star theme, so I printed two images of Charlie Chaplin and Louise Brooks on muslin using my deskjet printer. I ended up spending more time experimenting with fabric printing instead of working on the bag itself! :P

For the base and binding, I'm using a red grid line fabric. The patches might be hand quilted & I hope it won't turn out looking like a pot holder.

The handle gonna look like the above as I kept on playing with the fabric. Hope everything will be smooth sailing as I'm working with different types of materials...yikes!

I'll be posting more progress soon.

Have a nice weekend :)

Bunny Plush Doll

Here's a bunny plushie I made recently using my own pattern. Just a simple sketch based on what's in my head and my fingers would start eyeballing the cutouts for the body parts. I use muslin and cotton fabrics to make the doll. Bunny is totally hand sewn.

The bunny parts.

Head, legs & hands are sewn separately and stuffed with poly-fill. It took me some time to think on how to shape the body as I wanted to add a butt for bunny. A simple rectangle body would be much easier to  make. For this bunny I made 2 curvy cutouts for the rear end & 1 rectangle for body front. 

 

I sew the legs to the body first and filled the empty stomach with cotton candy poly-fill. I attached the head to body and sew them together. Body part opening is bigger than the neck, so I cinched the fabric closed.

Then I sew the hands to body part & sew together the buttons to tighten it. I embroidered the face with a brown thread. Somehow, I found this easier than painting the face.

Say cheeseeeeeee.......... Something's missing?

Bunny was rushed to the ER for the second time for another plastic surgery. Whiskers was added. Eyelashes permanently sewn so bunny would safe some time from applying fake eyelashes. Even though hers are not as long as Big Bird's eyelashes, bunny is content with her new look. The end.

Posing time.

Bunny's mugshot :)

You can get the mugshot background for free at Photos8.com .

Happy Rabbit New Year to all!

MyBotang Sew Along - Reversible Bucket Bag

Reversible bucket bag from Sew Mama Sew

I have decided to join MyBotang's sew along and this is my first ever sew along. I never sew this sort of pattern before so it's going to be fun learning something new with a given time line. The bag looks so adorable & I can't wait to make one myself. The pattern is from Lisa Lam's 'The Bag making Bible'. You can download the reversible bucket bag PDF pattern here.

Here's the sew along time line:

Gather fabrics and other supplies 1 - 14 Feb (2 week)
Cut out pieces 15 - 21 Feb (1 week)
Preparing the binding, button loop, self cover button and interfacing (steps 1-4 on the instruction page) 22 - 28 Feb (1 week)  
Bag exterior and lining (steps 5-8 on the instruction page) 1 - 7 March (1 week)
Binding - top edge, side top edge and handles (steps 9 - 14 on the instruction page) 8 - 14 March (1 week)

I haven't decide on the fabrics yet. Should I repurpose or use new materials? I'm thinking of mixing denim with cotton but I'm worried that the fabric would be too heavy. If I choose those, then I have to find a sturdier material for the handle. Still got 5 days to decide...hehe

Happy Sewing :)

Patchwork Sewing Basket

As the new year starts, I was doing some spring cleaning and found pairs of old jeans. Now I have a big bag full of jeans for repurposing projects :D. There is like a long list in my head wanting to do this & that with the material. But before I ended up with fabric cut outs & scraps all over the place, sewing a storage bin would be the first in my to do list. 

 

Lately I've been making more patchwork and quilt related sewing projects. It's a bit time consuming for me even when it's just patching together simple rectangles. When all is done, I can't help but jump for joy!

 

The sewing basket is 28 cm long with the same width and 25 cm tall. Jeans base makes the basket more sturdy and hard-wearing. For the patchwork, I cut rectangles measuring 8cm X 6cm each (includes 1cm seam allowance). The patches are then lined with thick batting and quilted. For the lining, I sew some pockets to organize tools and notions. Small handles was added for the ease of carrying and holding the basket. The jeans pocket was a last minute addition and I really like the look of it.

 One large pocket for magazines & templates. More pockets at the front for pencil & small items.

More pockets to organize big tools.

Top view. A contained mess :)

When flatten, it looks like a bag but the handles are not long enough for resting on the shoulder.

Happy sewing = )