You've just gotta go with the flow Sew with the 'Jo

I don't know what it is at the moment, but the sewjo is on fire!

Maybe it's the fact that there's this strange space in time where I'm free to just do whatever I want. No doctors / no hospitals / no pulmonary rehab / no work / no plans / no appointments.

It's just so damn refreshing and I'm loving it!

The first thing I started on was a custom order for one of my infusion nurses. I wanted it to be really nice because she has the magic hands when it comes to cannulating. First time every time (unlike everyone else)!

She wanted something similar to my Go Granny Tote, but it needed to be wider, with a zipper opening, red fabric, and an adjustable strap.

I only had half a metre of this fabric and I had to use every single centimetre (hence the strap teamed with some webbing).

She also wanted a zip pouch, similar to the SuperPops pouch that I use for my drawing pens, but longer and wider.

The instructions for this lined pouch are in Nikki's You Sew Girl book.

That's the first two projects for the year... lots more to come!

Oh... and Happy New Year

Running a little behind

I seem to be so far behind on blogging little bits and pieces lately.

I like to make sure that I blog everything as it's a great record of everything I've made over the years, and it shows a bit of an evolution of my sewing skills as they've improved.

This little zip pouch was a special request from my eldest nephew for his birthday. It has a belt loop that runs along at the back, so it can be removed if necessary.

Luckily, I had one lonely satchel clasp left in the stash!

Now, when I modelled this on Frances for the photoshoot, I assumed that it was to be worn around the waist..... but when I gave it to him, he put it over his shoulder, because apparently, that's the way the teens wear them these days?

I'm sooooo old!

My Creative Space

I'm heading off to begin a Photoshop Course today and I'm super excited.... so excited in fact that I decided at 5.30PM yesterday that I must have a new pencilcase (somewhat like the first day of school).

I searched through the stash and found this little sample swatch of my SuperPops fabric from way back when.

It just so happened to be the perfect width to make a little front facing zipper pouch to fit all of my favourite fineliner pens.

 Wish me luck!


More Creative Spaces

A backwards step

Now that the whole Christmas/New Year shebang is over for another year, I can take a step backwards with some handmade christmas pressies.

I had these little square panels printed aaaaaages ago and they've been sitting in the stash just waiting for a project.

All printed from from my original hand drawn illustrations......  as you can tell from the wonkiness of Pacman.

I just overlocked the edges and made them into simple unlined zippers pouches. One for each of my older nephews (to hold their iTunes vouchers), and the Owl for Little Miss (in her favourite colour).

The funniest thing about the Pacman pouch, was watching the boys on Christmas Eve and waiting to see how long it took for them to work out what it was. First guess was Space Invaders......

Oh Galaga, Pacman, Donkey Kong and Frogger. How I miss thee.

Jigsaws and Monkeys

I've had these super cute vintage jigsaw panels in the stash for the longest time, but I've finally put them to good use.

They're now sweet little zippered pouches.

There are 3 designs to choose from and each one features a recycled chunky zip

Ready and waiting in the shop!

Tutorial - An easy way to create fabric letters for applique

A friends little boy has a birthday coming up very soon, and he needs a new pencilcase.

I really wanted to personalise it with his name, but I also wanted to use my favourite font, so I came up with this super simple solution.

Download the PDF Tutorial 

You will need the following:

A sheet of A4 sized Freezer Paper
Inkjet printer
A piece of fabric large enough for your printed letters
A piece of fusible webbing the same size as your fabric (I use applifix)
Sharp scissors
Iron

Step 1:

Create your chosen letters using Microsoft Word (or any other such program). Place the sheet of A4 freezer paper in your inkjet printer, taking care to ensure that the print will end up on the paper side (not the waxy coated side).

Print the letters onto the freezer paper.

Step 2:

Cut your piece of freezer paper down to an appropriate size.
Cut your chosen fabric so that it's a bit larger than your freezer paper.
Cut your piece of fusible webbing the same size as your fabric.

Step 3:

Place your fusible webbing onto the back of your fabric (making sure the fluffy gluey side is touching the back of the fabric), and iron into place.

Leave the backing paper intact.

Step 4:

Place the freezer paper on top of the fabric and iron into place (waxy coated side faces the fabric).
I used a rajah cloth on top to protect my iron from the ink.

There will now be a paper layer on both sides of the fabric.

Step 5:

Using a very sharp pair of scissors, cut the letters out.

Step 6:

Peel the backing paper from the fusible webbing and place your letters onto the piece of fabric which will be appliqued, and iron into place.

It's best to use a rajah cloth or scrap of fabric to protect your iron from the ink.

Follow the correct manufacturers instructions for the brand of fusible webbing that you're using.

Step 7:

Once cooled, carefully peel off the freezer paper.

Step 8:

Now you can choose to do whatever you wish - machine stitch, hand stitch, straight, blanket, zig-zag.... whatever takes your fancy!

 
I used the Zippered Pouch project from Nikki's book, You Sew Girl to create this fully lined pencilcase using my Dragster Dominoes Fabric and the appliqued fabric letters.

Now I just have to wrap it up for the birthday boy!

Zips

I have a Love / Hate relationship with zips.... 10% percent of the time, it's love, and 90% of the time, it's hate!

I still keep collecting zips from the oppy, just in case I might need them one day. But then sometimes, I get the sudden urge to sew a zippered pouch - for no reason at all.

This time I decided to experiment by inserting the zip at the front instead of the top. I didn't quite get the dimensions correct for the zipper I was using, but it turned out pretty well other than that.

This one will be added to the present stash for upcoming birthdays.


*Dragster Dominoes fabric available here.

*Motorbike Zipper Pull available here.

Revealing - part three

Now it's time to reveal some of the handmade pressies for my nephews.

I was a little bit stumped for ideas this year as I've made them so many handmade things over previous years for birthdays and for christmas.

I would have loved to make them all a pair of shorts, but I just ran out of time. The two big boys received gift vouchers for the local bike shop, and nothing handmade (whoops)!

I made teeny tiny zippered pouches using my Dragster Fabric for the Bubbas (they're two and a half now so I really should stop calling them the Bubbas). They don't have wallets so they needed little coin purses to keep inside their manbags.

I made little boy sized lanyards for Moo Moo and Nico, so that they can wear their wallets around their necks like the big boys. We also discovered that the lanyards can hook onto the tow bars of Chuggington trains.... just in case anyone would like to wear a train around their neck?

The four little boys also received a supercute handmade wooden boat each that I bought at one of the local craft markets. It's the type where you blow up the balloon and attach it to the top and it makes the boat paddle along.

I wish I'd taken a photo of them playing boats in the spa at the holiday house.... oh well!

A pressie just for me...

A friend and his daughter came over to visit yesterday to help install my ceiling fans before summer really hits!

So while he was banging and crashing around up in the ceiling, we decided to have a little impromptu sewing session.

To begin with, we worked together to make a little pencilcase for her (which I didn't think to photograph).... and then I left her to it, and she went through my scraps container, and whipped up a little zippered purse just for me.

She made it all by herself. How cute!

Zip It

I've made quite a few zippered pouches now, so I think I've finally gotten over my fear of sewing them.
In fact, I think they're even at the stage where they look pretty good (if I do say so myself)!

You may be wondering why on earth these pouches are so long?

They're a custom order for a lady who travels a lot. She wanted some nice padded pouches to protect her GHD Hair Straighteners in her luggage.

Thank goodness for my supply (or should that be hoard) of op-shopped zippers. I actually had dress length zippers in the stash which were perfect matched with the fabrics that she chose.

The title of this post has just reminded me of the video that I saw on Rage Friday night....

Twenty One

I'm heading off to a 21st tonight, so I decided after dinner lastnight that I should probably make a gift.

I don't really have any idea what a 21 year old would like (which is a sure sign that I'm getting really old)!
I did a little bit of blog surfing for inspiration and came across this Noodlehead Tutorial via Whip Up.

I didn't follow the complete tutorial as I need to whip up something really quickly, but I followed the instructions for the gathered front and back (substituting twill tape for the fabric band as I needed something plain).

Once I had the front and back sections ready, I just sewed it as a normal zippered pouch, also adding a D-ring at the side, so that I could attach a little detachable hand strap.

I'm also popping a little matching gadget pouch inside...

Fingers crossed that the birthday girl likes them!

A completed project

I've finally finished the City Bag for my aunt. I'm quite impressed at just how professional it looks and I'm hoping that she will love it.


I picked up the supplies that I needed from Nikki to make an adjustable strap. I was quite excited by the adjustable strap, and of course now I want to chop all my handbag straps off and replace them...agggghhhh

I still had lots of fabric left so I quickly whipped up a few extra goodies to go with the handbag.
A zippered pouch....


A coin purse....

.... and a passport holder based on this tutorial from A Spoonful of Sugar.
I didn't have any clear PVC so I've just substituted fabric instead to make the pockets, and I used my 18mm bias tape maker to make a little button loop.

... and then finished off with a vintage button from my late Nana's stash (who is my aunts mum) so hopefully she'll really love that bit.

Now back to the 'to do' list.

On My Desk.....on a Wednesday

I'm playing along with Kirsty with 'On my desk...on a Wednesday'. I'm a little late today but before I left home thismorning, I was working on this little blankie above.

It's just a baby polar fleece blankie and I'm adding some cotton fabric to the back side to personalise it.

But then I just got home and found some lovely mail which has now landed on my desk.

I won a First Birthday Giveaway from Tracey & Bec at Crafty Bits & Bobs. The prize was a gorgeous zipper pouch and some chocolate.

The photo above shows the beautiful packaging including a lovely handmade card....

What I actually received was a gorgeous little zipper pouch jam packed full of cadbury easter eggs (my absolute favourite) and a gorgeous beaded pin. I'm going to use the zipper pouch to store things in my handbag and I think I'll attach the pin to a new handbag that I'm going to make for myself. Thankyou so much Tracey & Bec, I absolutely love my prize!!!