PINKTULIP

Hope Dress

2012-01-27T10:02:00.014+02:00

I don't believe I have the tension quite right yet on my new serger, but at least the thread does not snap off anymore. What a beautiful and neat finish it gives clothing. Why have I never used one before? Here is my completed version of the Hope Dress.

It does not look like the Hope Dress at all! This is a shorter version that started out as a top, but now looks more like a cardigan/jacket to me. Here it is without a belt...

And here it is with a belt...I realize that I will have to wear this top with slim-fit pants or skirt to avoid looking big. I also spent some time shortening the hems of a few new pairs of linen pants last night.

Then I made this lovely and simple knit top. I used a top I bought as a template for making my own pattern. It has a seam in the middle of the front and all seams are serged instead of being sewn. It has these cute little cap sleaves. Really nice top, very quick to make and looks stunning.

And then, when I was serging the neckline, my hand slipped and I pulled the fabric and the serger took a huge bite out of the neckline! Can you see it on the pic above? Look at the scew neckline to the left. I was so MAD at myself! It happened with the one sleeve too, but I could fix that easily. The neckline, nor so easy to fix. I tried to cut the right side to match, but it looks funny now. Tonight I will serge it again and make the neckline more round to even it out. I obviously still need to get more driving experience on the serger....

Serge ahead!

2012-01-24T08:28:00.008+02:00

I am delighted to report that I have solved my serger problems. Last night I ripped out a serger book I bought a while ago and also googled my problem and continued to thread, and re-thread and I fiddled and...finally it worked! I don't care why. So, I finally did some sewing! And this is what I started making...

I LOVE it! I used some of the new knit fabric I bought at Tasha's Habby Shoppe at the Mosselbay Mall on holiday. Tasha has the most amazing fabric shop, so pay her a visit if you are in the area. This fabric is stunning. I used the Hope Wrap Dress pattern you can find FREE here http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns/hope-wrap-dress.

The creator claims the dress pattern is a size 34, which is my size, but it soon became clear that this is a very small size 34! I think she used fabric that has quite a lot of stretch in it. Fortunately I cut mine a bit bigger as I could see the waist was very tiny. It was however still small, so I came up with the idea of making the neck trimming wider.

Not the greatest picture, but you can still see my stunning serging in the neckline. I picked green and pink from the colours on the fabric and made a wider neckline band. I did not even finish off the green fabric, just sewed it on the pink closer to the edge. I am really pleased with the result so far.

I still need to sew on the sleeves, finish the hem and the sash. Very nice indeed!

Here is a pic of some of the fabric I bought from Tasha's Habby Shoppe. The black fabric with the white daisies is my next project! I hope to finish my top tonight and will share pics soon!

Sew frustrating...

2012-01-23T08:30:00.010+02:00

In November last year I purchased a new Janome overlocker. I forget the model now... Last night was the first time I actually had some time to use it.

Why did I buy a new overlocker when I have one? Well, I am unable to find a manual for the dinosaur I currently own and I am too embarrased to visit the lovely lady at the Singer shop (for the 5th time) to help me re-thread the damn thing! So when the Janome's were on special, I bought one. The new model would be so easy to thread since it has all these color-coded guides and a MANUAL, not so? WRONG.

I spent over 2 hours last night threading and re-threading and finally gave up. Firstly, I discovered that maybe I need new glasses. Or maybe the modern machines are made with smaller components? I also discovered that only Mrs Incredible with her elastic body would be able to get into some of these threading points. I am no Mrs Incredible of course. I lost count on how many times I re-threaded, but the manual says it is either threaded incorrectly (duh) or the tension is wrong (duh again). Well, with 4 tension dials, I am at a loss. I changed tension a million times and each time another thread breaks. I will try again later today when my patience returns....

On a more creative note, I sat on Friday night and finished this cute crochet bag for a new sewing friend! This is the Sack Bag pattern on Crochet Me, originaly crocheted from a Sack dress torn up and used as "yarn". I double the pattern to make a bit bigger bag though. Just need to do lining.

I am so pleased with my revamped sewing room! When we came back from our lovely seaside holiday, I decided to do some spring cleaning around the house. My sewing room took several days! My DH helped me to sort out a storing system for my fabrics, see pic above. He cut me these large "cards" that I roll the fabric around and store it in these neat plastic holders. I am petrified of moths eating my lovely fabrics! Nor more fear with plastic containers as well as lots of cedar wood blocks all over and doom at the ready.

Can you see some of my awesome new fabrics in the middle shelve? These are some of the fabrics I found at a small shop in Mosselbay, while we were on holiday. I will share more detailed pics of these fabrics soon. I also hope to get my overlocker to work soon....

To a crafty 2012!

2012-01-05T21:27:00.002+02:00

I hope you all had a peaceful Christmas and wish you a crafty 2012! My first goal for 2012 is to make more time for my crafts this year. That includes blogging about it!

A New Year means new things so my plan is to revamp things around here a bit and then to blog more regularly - even if I don't make anything...I certainly am adding to the stash regularly, so I will have something to share!

We spent a few days in the southern Drakensberg area in KwaZulu Natal, near a pretty town called Nottingham Road. The weather did not support much else than trout or bass fishing though. We were home to spent Xmas with the family and then left again on Boxing Day for Mosselbay. We spent a glorious 10 days there with friends. My DH and youngest son did some scary stuff like bungy jumping off the Bloukrans Bridge (that is a 216m drop!) and scuba diving (in a cage of some sort) with great white sharks! I decided to join the shark diving expedition at the last moment, but it was fully booked. Bummer.

I spent lots of time doing girly things like getting my hair done, having tea with the girls at a charming tea garden, and lots of shopping of course. Then one day, my friend dropped me off at this crappy shopping mall and I made the biggest fabric find EVER at a small little shop inside! I will share some pictures in my next post, if I survive the spring cleaning faze at my house!

I cannot wait to share what I found in Mosselbay. Let me go find my camera...

Stretch Knit Jacket

2011-09-26T10:40:00.012+02:00

Today I want to share my STRETCH KNIT JACKET with you. After several days of searching on the Internet to find a pattern, I finally looked through all my Burdastyle magazines. I found several that I really liked, but then decided to make a pattern from a store-bought jacket I already own and adore. In fact, I own two of these jackets.

This is my favorite. It has a huge blue owl stitched onto the back. The stitching is done in a unique way, making the seams look unfinished and using contrasting colour thread.

This is the second jacket, in a dark creme colour with black flower pattern. This one has a large flower stitched on the back. Both jackets are from a local designer OLKAPOLKA and can be bought at Big Blue or YDE.

I layed the jacket on my sewing table and copied the panel pieces to make my own pattern. Using stretch knit fabric I just ordered from Hobby Lobby in the US, this is my first attempt:

I added white stretch knit fabric for lining. I just love the white contrast detail on the sleeves! The button holes were a REAL challenge! Even after adding some iron-on support, it was still a challenge. I did most of the buttonholes by hand in the end.

I love the almost "unfinished" look of the sewing detail. The original jacket is sewn by putting the lining and outer jacket parts wrong sides together, leaving the seams looking unfinished. Very cool effect! I am planning several more of this jacket with a few small changes such as more firm support in the front panels and collar.

The last month I...

2011-08-23T08:33:00.016+02:00

I am really embarrassed that another month went past and I did not blog. So, I will give a quick update on what I did the last month. I was in London for a quick visit the last week of July. Sadly, there was no time for any shopping, but I am going back in November and will make sure I shop then!

Oh, and Arthur Bales had a SALE the week I was away in London. Bah!

This is what I bought when I got back. Some lovely lilac and pink fine corduroy for bags and a small piece of Valori Wells' "Nest - Ol' Paisley" corduroy fabric. I have this earmarked for a jacket, but need to go get some more fabric first. I also bought some gorgeous Indie yarn by Sirdar.

After I bought this Sirdar Indie pattern book at Arthur Bales, I had to get some of this gorgeous yarn too! Look at some of the awesome patterns in this booklet below.

This cardigan is knitted in Indie # 157 Crazy Horse. Although I am not planning to knot this cardigan, I am planning to make something else in the booklet with this stunning yarn.

This beautiful shade is called Indie # 155 Prairie. The combination of brown, green and blue is simply stunning!

I have been rather lazy in my sewing room...lots of inspiration, but no real will to do anything. In my next post I will share some of the inspiration I am talking about....

Gorgeous Crochet Shrugs!

2011-07-21T14:06:00.006+02:00

This post is a few days later than promised, but worth waiting for I can promise you! I was browsing on Ravelry a few weeks ago and happened upon the 9 -to-5 Shrug pattern. Wow! I love quick, simple, easy projects and this one fits the bill. Imagine making a little jersey in just a few hours, all in one piece - no seperate pattern pieces...

This is my first attempt at this cute and easy little Shrug, although it is based on another tutorial, whilst I was waiting for the 9-to-5 Shrug pattern to be published in Crochet World magazine.

And this is my first 9-to-5 Shrug. Gorgeous isn't it? I have no less than another 6 planned, of which 3 are already in progress. Yes, all at the same time. I get bored easily, so each day I can pick which one I want to continue with. I know, progress is slow, but I will get there!

This pattern is in the August 2011 issue of Crochet World magazine, which can be purchased in an e-book format from their website.

Right now, I am looking for the perfect tutorial to sew a Drape Cardigan. I think I have finally found it today. Will share soon!

Crafty Alert!

2011-07-15T15:07:00.001+02:00

After a tough couple of months, I am finally back in Blogland! I missed blogging, visiting other blogs, and you, all my crafty blog friends. I will share my latest creations as soon as I can take pictures and upload! Come visit soon and please send me a link to your blog so I can visit with you. Have a crafty weekend!

Off-the-shoulder tops

2011-05-02T20:40:00.017+02:00

I am still here. Still sewing, creating, just not blogging. A new bug bit me. Actually a few. I was sick for 5 weeks can you believe! Flu and then a very nasty stomach virus. I am finally better now. The other bug is Facebook. After many years I finally joined the social networking craze and found a whole lot of old schoolfriends. Really awesome!

Anyway, I missed my blog. And my sewing friends! So I took some pics and decided not to bore you with the almost 20 (!) peasant style tops I made since my last blogpost. I will instead share the other sewing craze I have been busy with. It was literally a crazy quest. I saw a picture of an awesome top on a romance novel cover. And I wanted to make one. Here is the cover pic.

Isn't this a gorgeous top? I searched the Internet for a pattern. No luck. I did find one very good tutorial here http://girlispoison.blogspot.com/.../tutorial-off-shoulder-crop-top-w-sewing.html. This lady had a really awesome picture tutorial and a free pattern! Go check it out.

Sadly, this pattern did not work for me. I had some issues with my underarms bunching up, no matter which parts I sewed first. If any of you do try this lady's pattern and get it right, please drop me a line and tell me where I went wrong. So I started looking at my own patterns and started modifying them. This is my first attempt...

What I did was to take standard bodice and sleeve pattern pieces from other patterns I have.

All I did then was to fold down the top parts of the two pattern pieces, as shown in the picture above. I also shortened the sleeve length. The armholes must fit perfectly.

I forgot to mention that I used a back bodice pattern piece. Here are the cut out pieces, ready to sew. I added a band for the top that will fit your shoulders. I sewed the sides of the bodice pieces together and also the sleeves. Then I fitted the sleeve pieces inside the bodice piece, right sides together, and sewed that together.

This is what it looks like all sewn together. All that needs to be done now is sewing the neckband on - not a strong point of mine - and the hems. Pretty simple, hey?

Here it is on! Getting closer to my quest for the perfect off-the-shoulder top. Close enough that I tried another one...

This one a bit longer to wear with skinny jeans or leggings. Pretty nice. But I was still not happy. I then had a brainwave. I often see sewists use store-bought tops they like as a basis for a pattern to make more of a top that fits well. So I went hunting in my closet...

And found this top. Love it! Fits very well and almost exactly what I am looking for. It will need some modifications, but it's close.

So here is the pattern I drafted from the top. The sleeve was drawn using the same principle as used in the peasant top tutorial I mentioned a while back. You draft the sleeve using the armhole part of the bodice as a basis so you have a perfect fit. Can you see the similarities between the sleeve pattern piece and the bodice piece? The armhole and neck part is exactly the same.

And here is the grand finale! The top I wanted from the start. In my favorite fabric too. I still need to work on making the neckband on my next top a bit tighter, but I am very pleased with the result. Hope it inspires you to make your own off-the-shoulder top too!

I have a few more cut out and ready for sewing on my cutting table. Thank you for all the lovely comments about my peasant tops post in February! Here is the link for the peasant top I used as a basis for my pattern: http://www.thingsofcloth.com/.../Adult-size_Peasant_Blouse_Tutorial.pdf This pattern's bodice is not shaped. I modified mine a lot, so play around until you get the result you want. Happy sewing!

More peasant tops...

2011-02-21T11:58:00.005+02:00

If you visit my blog often, you will know that once I find a good clothing pattern, I make hundreds of the same item...At the moment, I am all hung up on the peasant-style tops, using two patterns I made myself using a pattern from the Bernina magazine as a basis for one, and a store-bought top for the other.

Last week, before a severe sinus infection hit me, I made a plain black top and this top. The above top is made from a lovely mint green jersey knit with black polka dots. This pattern has several pieces, sleeves, top front, top back and then lower front and lower back. It is based on a store bought top that I love wearing.

I finally started feeling human again last night and decided to draft my own cap sleeve top pattern. This is after I searched through my own (one million!) patterns and then went online and bought more patterns from http://www.sewingpatterns.com. Needless to say, the patterns I bought were not what I was looking for! But they are very nice...

Once again, I used bits and pieces of other patterns and the rest I did by hand. Think this will work. As soon as I have time, I plan to try this pattern out.

Hope you all have a great week!

Been busy!

2011-02-13T22:27:00.010+02:00

Busy shopping on the internet! I placed 4 seperate orders online for stretch knit fabric in the last month. This after I returned from the US with lots of nice fabric..tsk tsk. Bad. Anyway, the first parcel arrived on Saturday from an Etsy shop called Cotton Blossom farm.

I ordered 4 yards of this lovely fabric from the new knit range by Patty Young for Michael Miller. It is stunning! The whole weekend I have been thinking what I want to make with it. This made me go through my patterns and then search the Internet for new inspiration.

Are you familiar with the Interweave Stitch magazine? Just love it! Rather expensive at $15, but worth it. It only launched in 2009 and is published 4 times a year, but has great ideas and free patterns in. The new Winter/Spring 2010 issue is out now and on it's way to me! Did you also know that Interweave publish some of the patterns in this magazine FREE on their website? If you go here http://www.quiltingdaily.com/blogs/stitchissues/archive/2010/12/16/stitch-winter-spring-2011.aspx you will see what is in this latest issue and you can access the 62 free projects and full size patterns.

The free patterns in the latest issue include several cute skirts, a Kimono Wrap Top and my favorite, the easy-fit babydoll dress, picture above. Nice isn't it? The sewing instructions are only available in the magazine, but if you can sew, you can make it without instructions. I also found some great free patterns on http://www.burdastyle.com.

I had a very busy weekend starting with a romantic dinner with DH on Friday night (no kids!), my first horseriding lesson on Saturday at local stables (really awesome!) and ending today with lunch at a country restaurant about an hour out of Joburg next to the Vaal river. Here my cousin and I are posing next to the river, which is flowing strongly after all the rain we had recently.

Lots of ideas, new patterns, new fabric (some still coming), and things lying on the cutting table in my sewing room. Wish I had more time! Hope you all have an awesome week!

2011 so far...

2011-02-06T16:12:00.010+02:00

(Love this sign, from Hobby Lobby.)

Hard to believe it is already February! A (very) late Happy New Year to all my blog friends! Life has been hectic the last 2 months. A lovely holiday at a Game Farm in Limpopo Province where we spent Xmas, followed by New Year at home and on 6 January 2011 off to a very cold, and snowy, Chicago.

As always, the shopping was fabulous in Chicago. I braved the snow and wind with my only-used-once-before duck down coat, gloves and the most adorable earmuffs, my friend Juanita and I did a marathon shopping expedition for 12 hours straight!

We visited old favorites such as Knitche, Hobby Lobby and Jo-Ann's. Here are some stretch knit fabrics I bought from Jo-Ann and Hobby Lobby.

I have already made a few things with these fabrics and will share pics soon. I also bought some stunning yarn. I bought so much that I had to fill a seperate bag, send some home with Fedex and stash some in a colleagues bag! I found some awesome super bulky yarn, the burnt orange felting yarn I have always wanted and some super Red Heart Super Savers at only $2,79 for over 300m!

I found this stunning cerise pink cover for my Kindle on Amazon.com.

What makes this cover awesome is the built-in light. Now I can read in bed every night!

At Barnes & Noble I found Amy's new book (and had hot chocolate at the Starbucks inside). Some stunning bag designs a la Amy inside, just waiting to be tried. More about the shopping I did in Chicago in my next blog post.

I have a few store-bought tops in my closet based on this pattern. Despite searching the Internet for weeks, I am unable to find this pattern. So I made my own. I used pieces of other patterns and improvised, tested, until I had a winner. This is the first top from my own pattern that meets my full approval. Fits like a dream.

What's on my sewing table right now? Crappy pic but this is a skirt I cut from stretch knit fabric in lime green with black polka dots. I bought it this morning from a local fabric shop. I also have several tops cut out and ready to sew.

I joined Facebook a week ago. Very addictive! Have a awesome week!

Weekend sewing

2010-12-13T08:41:00.008+02:00

The weather has been pretty gloomy here in Joburg this past weekend. Rain, rain and more rain. Perfect for reading (on my kindle) and sewing, of course. I decided to play around a bit more with sewing some shirred tops. I have been struggling to find the right tension on my sewing machine, but it seems I finally found it!

The pictures are not great because of the gloomy weather. This stretch knit fabric is a lovely bright yellow. I copied a pattern from one of my favorite store-bought tops. Really simple. I have been dying to try making a top with two different colour fabrics for a while, so here is my first attempt in yellow and black.

A close-up picture of the sleeve detail. I used a very fine zig-zag stitch, called an embroidery stitch on my machine, to finish the sleeve and neck edges. I decided to go for contrast detail and did it in yellow on the black fabric. Looks very nice. The original top had cropped sleeves that were shirred, but I made it longer and decided to rather go for a flair sleeve. I quite like it.

You might remember me making this bag a while back? All it needed was for me to sew in the lining. Shocking that I had cut and sewn the lining months ago, I just needed to sew it into the bag! Well, all done now. Love this bag!

My HTC cellphone decided to die on me just 3 months before my contract and free upgrade is due! I did not want to spend a fortune on a phone for just a few months and was delighted to find this cool Vodaphone for only R549! It has all the features I want and a camera too. Not that I ever use the camera on my cellphone...Best of all, it is simple to use and within hours I had my e-mail set-up on it, all my contacts in and my music saved on it.

I am officially on my summer holiday from today! 3 weeks of rest, I hope. So far, not much of a "summer" with all the rain, and not much "holiday" either as I have a few more deadlines to make this week. Lots of Xmas shopping to still do and of course, plenty of time for sewing and crocheting.

I'm back!

2010-12-08T21:13:00.011+02:00

I cannot believe I have been absent from blogland for 2 months! It started with a crazy schedule at work to a trip to the UK where I picked up a nasty virus it has taken me weeks to cure. I have however got some exciting stuff to share with you!

Ta-da! A brand-new, handmade cutting table! My FIL is a whiz with making stuff and I asked him to make me a table to specifications for my new sewing room. He added a second shelf below where my overlocker and some other essentials are neatly stored. I had to go buy another large self-healing cutting mat and my long steel ruler is finally being put to good use on top of this table.

Just love it and it works wonderfully for me. No more sitting on the carpet to cut out fabric.

The latest issue (#47 Summer 2010) of the quarterly Bernina Inspiration magazine was just the inspiration I needed to christen my new cutting table.

This purple top is made from jersey stretch fabric and is super-easy to make. Just 2 pattern pieces and some elastic makes for a fast sew. I did not however like the off-the-shoulder look that much, so I played around and modified the pattern a bit.

This is the end-result. Two pattern pieces, front and back, all-in-one. I modified the neck and sleeves and it fits perfectly now. Here are a few tops I have now made with this pattern.

The first one is made from a silk-jersey. Not the easiest fabric to work with, but well worth the extra effort. Love the bright colours! I wanted to try my hand at sewing the neck with elastic thread, using the shirring method, and it was a breeze.

The second is just a standard stretch jersey fabric with lots of stretch in orange and brown. I am wearing this top today for the first time and love it. Also shirred around the neck with elastic thread.

The other reason for my absence is this - my brand-new kindle. I got this for my birthday from my DH recently and have been a frequent visitor on Amazon to purchase books. This is such a fun gadget to own!

I have loads more to share, but will be back soon for that. Right now I have a cup of tea and will be visiting your blogs to say hello and see what you have been up to the last 2 months!

Decoupaged Cane table

2010-10-06T09:26:00.009+02:00

I am still busy working on little details decorating my new sewing room. Last year I bought a cane table for R50 and it has been standing in the garage since. I was keen to restore it somehow and use in my sewing room. Sadly, the table is in worse condition than I thought, so I decided to just make it a bit prettier.

The table used to have a very flimsy meshy top, but we had to remove this as it was full of holes and broken. I purchased some ply wood from the hardware, my DH cut it to size for me and I sanded it down a bit before starting to decoupage it.

I went through my scrapbooking paper stash and found this lovely leave-pattern paper in pink and brown. I bought this at Hobby Lobby several years ago and have been saving it for a special project. I wish I had more of this paper so I could match it perfectly, but I think it still looks great. All I did was use modge podge to attach the paper, sanded it a bit for shine, and it took one afternoon!

I also bought two new books. Love Lisa's book! So many awesome bags to sew. Sew Liberated has a peasant top pattern in that I am also keen to try.

I have been sewing a bit lately, although not much. I made this very simple black and white top with some white stitching on the black fabric at the waist. I used my favorite top pattern from the Bernina Inspiration magazine and just modified it a bit. I am not a frilly clothing kind of person and although I love the ruffled neck, I should have made the ruffle smaller. When I wear this top, it feels as if the ruffled neck is HUGE!

Another one of my favorite patterns. I just love this bright fabric! This is the third top I have made with this fabric. I noticed though that the colors tend to run when it gets wet. This is handwash only fabric.

We have been trying for a long time to get a nice picture of all three our dogs together. Not an easy task! As you can see, my son had to hold the two smaller dogs for this picture! Both Maxine and Buksie have recovered well from their recent operations and Jessie is growing every day. Just look at those sweet faces!

Hope you are all having a great week!

My New Sewing Room!

2010-09-16T21:21:00.012+02:00

I can finally share some pictures of my new sewing room in the making! The built-in closet and shelves were done early last week, the room cleaned and I finally started moving in last week Thursday night. I have dedicated a corner of the room to each of my crafts. Above is a picture of my "library" and "quiet corner" where I can read, crochet, knit or just sit and admire my new room. Of course, over the last few days this chair has also become Jessie's new favorite spot! Love my new carpet that is a mixture of red, pink, lilac and purple.

Apart from the built-in closet, the carpenter also added a deep shelve all around the room where all my plastic containers with yarn can be stored. This was my DH's idea and what a great idea it was! I have sorted all my yarn by type and labelled the containers. I even have a container each for WIP crochet projects as well as WIP knitting projects!

This is my new Scrapbooking Corner. Although I have not done any Scrapbooking for over 2 years, lately I have felt like it, so I have hauled out some of my supplies. The closet will be divided into craft areas as well.

This is my sewing and computer corner. I must still sort out the wires. As you can see my sewing table sports a brand-new cover.

Another picture of my high shelving for yarn storage. I bought these really nice cherise pink fabric storage holders and labelled each one after I sorted the yarn by type.

This is my sewing (handbags and other) supplies corner of the closet. All my cotton fabric, handbag, apron and other patterns and tools for sewing is in this part.

This is the crochet/knit as well as part of my sewing (clothing only) supplies corner in the closet. Here you see (most of) my stretch knit fabric and clothing patterns as well as all my knitting needles and crochet hooks, etc.

The rest of the closet is still "under construction" and I hope to get it done this weekend. There is still my scrapbooking corner and the rest of my sewing supplies to sort out.

This picture was taken from the door. It shows the large open space in the middle of the room, in front of the window. This is where my new cutting table will be! My FIL is a mean woodworker and he is busy making me a wooden cutting table to my exact specifications. It will be a plain wooden table the exact size and height to make cutting fabric easier on me. I cannot wait!

I wish I had more time to finish my room but life has been very hectic around here. I hope to share more detailed pictures soon. My wonderful DH suggested additional, narrower shelves to display all my lovely stuff and I really like the idea. Still lots to do before I can actually do anything, but soon. Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Sis Boom Meghan Peasant Blouse

2010-09-01T09:11:00.006+02:00

I found the most delightful sewing pattern for a peasant blouse recently. The Sis Boom Meghan Peasant blouse pattern by Jennifer Paganelli is available in a downloadable PDF format on this lovely website http://www.pinkchalkfabrics.com/. Although the pattern is designed for cotton fabric, I used my favorite knit jersey fabric instead.

This is my first attempt. Lovely new flowery knit fabric I recently found at a local fabric store. I selected the size S (4-6) size and cut out the pattern on the second cutting line on each pattern piece. Each pattern piece has three sizes. The only reason I did this is because the first cutting line made the top front piece look extremely small. Although I do like the top, the front bodice was too big for me. The elastic part is not quite right.

This is my second attempt. My favorites - pink and polka dots. Another knit jersey fabric I bought at Hobby Lobby in Chicago. This time I cut the pattern on the first line and the bodice fit perfectly. Sorry, no pics of me wearing it, although I have warn it twice already! I also changed the bottom part to flare a bit and made it a bit shorter than the first version.

This is a stunning pattern. Very easy to follow with some really cool sewing methods I have never encountered before. Such as the method you follow to make the elastic casings. The method makes life so much easier and avoids puckering. I did not have to make any adjustments to the pattern for using knit jersey instead of cotton, which was also amazing. I highly recommend this pattern and plan to make many more!

You might remember I mentioned that I am re-doing my sewing room? It has been a very busy time with me spending several days clearing out my sewing room (I cannot believe how much stash I have accumulated!!) and getting it ready for the make-over. This is a picture I took this morning. The room has now been freshly painted and internet and power cables neatly laid. I just need to clean the carpet and wait for the carpenter to come in the end of this week. He will be installing shelves and a closet. The exciting part is coming soon!

This is where I have stored all my stuff. Our entertainment room looks positively terrible! This picture just shows a small section, it looks a lot worse! I will have to be more selective when I start moving my stash back into my new sewing room. And buy less!

I will share progress in the new sewing room as it happens. Once again, if you know of any good links to help me decorate my new room, please share them!

Crafty Stuff

2010-08-20T09:04:00.011+02:00

I wanted to share a more recent picture of our little baby, Jessie. With lots of love (and don't forget spending quite a bit at the Vet!) she has grown tremendously the last few weeks. I remember weighing her at the Vet a month ago and we were so pleased that she had gained 200g, weighing 2kg then! Last night we weighed her on the bathroom scale and she is a whopping 8kg!I could not resist taking this picture! This is a first, Jessie sleeping on my cane chair in my sewing room. She was very affectionate last night, just wanting to cuddle up to me, so I put her on my chair for a snooze. Adorable. She looks like a rabbit at the moment when she runs - she is all long legs and ears!

This lovely surprize arrived in my post box yesterday! Thank you so much Karol-Ann! My lovely blog friend from the UK sent me a whole bunch of knitted and crocheted bag patterns from her old magazines. This top picture is my favorite. It uses the Rowan Biggy Print yarn and as you know, I am into the super-chunky yarn phase now.

I know, I know, I have enough stash to open my own shop, but I saw this lovely bag pattern on http://www.craftpassion.com/. This drawstring bag is made from paper raffia and I happened to see some at The Crazy Store yesterday at a very good price and decided to try it. I started on the bag last night, but changed the pattern. Raffia is not easy to crochet! Maybe it's the type I bought, not sure. It looks really nice though.

I first went to Fiona's Fabrics in Randburg looking for Raffia and saw this new stock. They have just put out some lovely 100% cotton (from India) fat quarters. They call it Flat Fats and there are rolls as well, normally called jelly rolls I think. You can choose between green, pink or blue and there are some odd ones, like the yellow polka dots. They sell for R20 each where all the quilt shops charge R35 a fat quarter. I see lovely FQ bags or some smaller projects like pin cushions.

Earlier this week I was on my way to see a customer when I saw this African Artist selling wire and beads animals next to the road. What caught my attention was the sheep! I immediately wanted the smaller one and then forgot to stop on my way back. Yesterday I took the same route to another customer and on my way back stopped. Isn't this cute?

These Artists are just amazing. Look at the cute hoofs and tail! Its based on a wire frame and they add seed beads. This is the smallest sheep he had and it stands about 30cm high.

Just look at the detail in the face and ears. This is the literal translation of "beady eyes"! They have even re-created the "wooly" look with the way they attached the beads.

I don't think I have mentioned yet that my sewing room is going to be completely revamped? This will be happening very soon. In fact, I am starting to clear out the room this weekend, painting will happen next week during the evenings, then the carpenter will be coming in to install a built-in closet and shelves. I have been spending a lot of time on planning my new room, including a decent cutting table. Imagine how nice this sheep will look in my new room! I will take some before, during and after pics of my room to share with you. If you know of any great sites where I can get more inspiration ideas for my new room, please drop me a note.

Hope you all have a great, crafty weekend!

Reversible Bag

2010-08-16T08:52:00.008+02:00

It has been very quiet here because I have been very lazy the last two weeks. I am in my sewing room a lot, planning to start projects or finish some of the WIP's lying around, but no action as yet. I did make two bags last weekend.

This is the Reversible Bag from a very crafty lady's blog. Visit http://verypurpleperson.com/ to get the free pattern to make this cute bag and see this lady's fantastic sewing projects at the same time. I hate sloppy bags, so I ironed on some interfacing to the outer fabric. This was a mistake. Not only did it make the bag more bulky for sewing the curves, it is a bit stiff as well. I already used some home dec type fabric that is rather thick for the outer fabric, so it did not need interfacing.

This is another view of the bag showing the darts in the bottom. This fabric was a cut-off piece I got for a very good price at Jo-Ann's in Chicago last year. The photo does not do this fabric any justice. The pink flowers are gorgeous. A quick and easy bag to make. I plan to make another bag like this, but without interfacing.

Then I also tried my hand at making a leather bag. I have always wanted to try this. I was great fun to design my own bag and make it. I drafted the basic pattern and then cut it into three parts, including seem allowances. After attaching the three parts, I did topstitching on both sides of the seams. Love the way it came out. I do hate the handles though. I saw a bag where the handles were sewn on and tried it, but it does not look good. Maybe the handles are also too small for this bag? Looks that way to me. I am planning to remove them and make other handles. Maybe handles attached with O-rings.

I adore the inside of the bag. I used a fat quarter that I bought at Hobby Lobby earlier this year with the cutest pink flowers and birds on it. I also tried my hand at sewing in a divider with a zip. Yeah! Love how it came out.

I did however forget to add lining! When do I discover this? Of course it was after the whole bag was sewn. I am so not re-doing it.

I have also cut out another bag I plan to make, but not sure when! Hope my sewing mojo comes back soon! Hope you all have a great week.

Weekend buys and new stash (again!)

2010-08-04T09:49:00.009+02:00

I had a great time shopping at the International Fashion Sale on Saturday with my sister and niece. We are all shopaholics in this family! The show was a bit smaller than previous years and there were less REAL bargains, but it still offered some great stuff. This is what I came home with, a few "investment" pieces for my wardrobe.

Of course, I had to buy some handbags. A lovely grey structured bag in a fake snakeskin pattern and a fab peacock blue leather drawstring bag. This blue bag has so many pockets inside as well as a zipped divider, which I think I need to try adding to my next fabric bag. Of course I had to buy TWO pairs of boots in the same color! Don't ask me why. This light grey top is a soft mohair organic jersey from Japan and wears wonderfully. So well, that I went back on Sunday to buy two more! At R100 (about $14) each, it really was a bargain.

This also arrived in the post on Saturday! As you know, I am on a mission to get my hands on some bulky yarn right now. Sirdar's Big Softie yarn is fabulous! As the name suggest, very soft to the touch and very thick. I have been drooling over it the whole weekend and now I am not keen to use it. I ordered three colors - Blancmange, Foam and Cupcake. I got these from this shop http://www.woolnstuff.co.uk/ on sale at GBP1,70 each! Great service too!

I ordered these book two weeks ago from http://www.kalahari.net/, a local online shop similar to Amazon.com, after I saw some of Leigh Radford's fabulous books and patterns on her website. Her felted bags and scarf patterns are awesome. You can see pictures of projects in her books on her website here http://www.leighradford.com/.

I love this bag from Alterknits Felt! On the other side this bag has a striped section and another section with big dots. It has lots of extra pockets and interesting design detail. You know my love of anything with polka dots! I am so going to make this bag!

And look at this interesting bag. It has a long zipper that covers a large part of the handle. Great designs! Hope you are all having a great week.

Our old lady, Maxine, went in for her big operation yesterday at the Vet. She was so high on drugs when we fetched her late afternoon and could hardly walk. We had to carry her around and she is no lightweight. Can you believe the Vet called her "fat"! My dog is not fat, ok, maybe a little...We set her up on the couch on the patio last night with lots of blankies and nice food and water, but apart from forcing her to swallow her pills, she was not interested in moving around or eating. I was delighted to see her moving around this morning and eating a bit. We forced some more pills down her throat and I hope to see her strong again soon! I will post a pic of her soon, when she looks more healthy.

Fabulous new stash!

2010-07-29T21:03:00.006+02:00

I think you all know that this week is my LYS , Arthur Bales's, big July sale. Big surprize, I have been there twice this week already! I was a bit stumped when I said to one of the ladies working there that I won't be back again this week and she replied that she is sure I will! Ok, not really so shocking...Anyway, before we move on to my exciting new yarn (and fabric) loot, first some exciting post this week from my lovely, talented friend in Staphorst, The Netherlands.

Inside this lovely fabric parcel wrapped with gorgeous ribbon was a selection of fabulous original Staphorst cotton fabric. In lovely shades of purple, lilac and blue. I love the fabric, Gina! I have been keeping it close, staring and touching and I fear I won't use it for a while...but since lilac and purple is my current colours, I might just make that fabric bag I have been dying to make. A lovely postcard of Staphorst and an adorable keyring with Dutch wooden shoes. This is so going onto my car keys soon! Love the homemade strawberry too. Thanks so much Gina! Visit Gina here http://gingini.web-log.nl/gingini to see her lovely creations.

On to the new loot. Here are some of my new yarn, and yes, I did buy one piece of fabric. You can see my piece of lovely pink and wine red corduroy fabric in the photo below. It was rather expensive fabric, imported from Japan. I have been drooling over this for a while...I am going through my patterns looking for the right dress. I want to make a country type dress with a flair sewn on the sleeves and hem and since I do not have such a pattern, I will modify one I have.

This time I decided I am going to stock up on the more expensive yarns I hesitate to spend on, instead of stocking up on the cheaper acrylic yarns. So, first on my list was super bulky wool. Of course, Rowan Big Wool was a given. Not sure of the name of this colour, the package and label does not say, but I think it is called "Smitten Kitten". I have a bag pattern from the Rowan Big Easy booklet in mind for this. On the left is Sirdar Denim Ultra Mega Chunky, a mix of cotton and wool and really nice for a natural coloured bag or scarf.

The ultimate spoil for me was this - Rowan Pure Cashmere DK. Horrendously expensive, it arrived very recently and was on about a 20% discount, so I jumped on the last three in this lovely pink. I am thinking a summer scarf or wrap. What do you think?

I also stocked up on the last of the discontinued Elle Merino Solids felting wool (not pictured). My stash is looking good except for the yellow and black which I cannot find anywhere. So, here is the last of my new stash. I could not resist the lovely blue Elle Toy Time acrylic yarn. Not sure what to make yet, so will go in the stash for later. The Vinnis Colours organic cotton is to add to my growing stash to make a lovely colourful bag I have in mind and maybe also some washcloths and tray cloths.

Then I thought I will share what I am busy with right now. I have been working on both these projects during the evenings this week when I have a chance. This is a neckwarmer in moss stitch from a pattern called "Envy" on Ravelry. I already have the buttons picked out, but knitting is so sloooow.

Compared to crochet, that is, which is why I started another project this week. I just love these colours together! This is a wavy type pattern and i am using local yarns from Elle to make a unique bag. In fact, so unique, I do not even know myself yet what the end result will be! I saw a picture of a stunning bag online and sort of started making something similar, but as always, I digressed...

This Saturday I am shopping at the International Fashion Sale at the Coca-Cola Dome near my house. It's now hosted twice a year and an opportunity to buy expensive branded clothing, shoes, bags and perfume at up to 70% off. What woman can resist that?! My best friend, sister and niece will be joining me in a day of shopping and fun! Hope you are all having a fabulous week!

Weekend Sewing - Knit Tops

2010-07-26T08:53:00.011+02:00

The arrival of a long-awaited top pattern put me in the mood to sew some knit tops again. That's what I ended up doing the entire weekend! I am so pleased with the results though that I do not mind not touching other WIP's. For several months now I have been disgruntled because I love the cross-over style type top, but after sewing several patterns, were very disappointed with the results. (These are the ones I sew but do not post on my blog!) Recently I found a website of a UK designer and bought several pdf patterns from her website. At last, a pattern that FITS! Go to http://www.lauramarshdesigns.co.uk/ to see her marvelous patterns.

I am so delighted with the results! A perfect fit. I even played around with my own additions to the pattern and made the sleeves different.

I followed a great tutorial to make your own flounce sleeves here http://off-the-cuff-style.blogspot.com/2010/01/draft-fast-and-easy-flounce.html. I made a longer flounce in black and then a shorter one on top in the same fabric as the top. I made the sleeve length to just below my elbow as I hate flouncy sleeves at my wrists. It always gets in the way when I work on my computer or around the house. It came out perfect! This black and white stretch knit fabric is the last bit left from my visit to Hobby Lobby in Chicago this year.

You all know me already. If I find a great pattern, I make many! So I did. Here is another plain version of this pattern - Wrap Style Top - in bright pink and green. Looks more like pajamas, but never mind. This fabric is also from Hobby Lobby.

And another one in the same style, but once again I played around a bit with the sleeves. I added white ruffles to the sleeves. Again, I made the sleeves shorter so the ruffle does not irritate me.

A close-up of the simple ruffle sleeves. I did not even bother to hem the ends of the sleeves as I just knew it might change the shape. This white fabric is very stretchy, so it might not look so good. Fortunately you can do this with knit fabric. I like the look!

I also made this lilac top. Love the style of this pattern! It has a V shape in the back and front. Finally I have a lilac top to wear. This is one of the patterns I bought from http://www.sewingpatterns.com. Will update this blog entry with pattern details soon.

I cut out a few more tops and a few corduroy skirts, but ran out of time. Today sees the first day of the big annual Arthur Bales July Sale! I am real excited as there are always amazing bargains on both yarn and fabric and I am off to Linden in the next 30 minutes! I will share my new loot later this week. Hope you all have a great Monday!

Positively Crochet - Patchwork Purse

2010-07-21T11:08:00.010+02:00

I am an undying fan of Mary Jane Hall now! She says she is busy with another book and frankly, I cannot wait to see how she can improve on Positively Crochet and Crochet That Fits! I could not wait to share my Patchwork Purse. I finished the bag this past weekend, but still had to attach the lining, tassles and a few other odds and ends. So here it is!

Don't look too closely! My handsewing sucks! I used three of my favorite colors that reminds me of my visit to Mexico a few years ago. I incorporated all the colors into my handle and the tassles, but otherwise stayed very closely to the original pattern. A first for me! The little squares crochet up real fast. The most time is spent on assembling and finishes.

I used my favorite (discontinued - bah!) Elle Wool Boutique Merino Solids felting yarn. I am not planning to felt the bag, but this yarn is so nice to work with and the colors are simply awesome. I used plain black lining that is strengthened with stiff interfacing and also sewed lining to the long handle to avoid stretching. I can pack quite a bit into my bags every day, so it needs to be strong and big enough to hold all my stuff. Overall, once again, a fun easy bag to make!

On another note, all three our dogs have paid a visit to the VET in the last two weeks! This is our cheeky little man, Buksie. He was in on Monday to, hmm, have his manhood removed, poor thing. I cannot see any change in his aggressive attitude though!

And here is Jessie, our new baby. She is doing so well now and has grown three times her size when we got her a few weeks ago. She is such a lovely dog. Playful, sweet and yes, naughty too. She still pinches yarn! Here she is on her "bed" next to the heater.

Our old girl, Maxine, had her turn at the VET yesterday and was diagnozed with breast cancer. Fortunately it's in the early stages, so she will be operated the first week in August to remove the growths. I will post pics of her next week. She is such a lovable lady and caused great comotion at the VET. She loves people, especially kids and puppies, but she hates cats and the VET has two resident cats! The VET was extremely busy but the waiting room cleared very fast!

My next project? I am keen to make a very large, bulky crochet bag with my (very expensive) Rowan Little Big Wool yarn. I found a perfect pattern on Ravelry and hope to start on it tonight. Hope you are all having a good week!

Crochet That Fits - Completed Sweater Bag

2010-07-19T09:00:00.007+02:00

I finished the Sweater Bag from my new book, Crochet That Fits. I crocheted this bag with Elle Toy Story yarn, a local brand, using two strands at the same time throughout the pattern, in Magenta. Not sure why the colors never show up right in my pics. Maybe I need to take pictures in daylight. Another super-easy and fun bag to make! I made this bag on our weekend away in ONE evening!

Because I crochet so lose, lining is essential for my bags. This bag presented a problem to line as the top opening was very narrow. After trying several ideas, I had a brainwave. I turned the bag inside out, attached the lining by hand just below the narrower top and turned it back right side out again. Worked like a charm!

This is a nice, roomy bag. It came out quite big, but I love it! The handles are made from my new leather fabric called "a touch of leather". I am not sure how fabric can have a touch of leather and not be leather, but this is great fabric. Soft to the touch, easy to handle and almost like real leather. It sews so much easier too. I attached O-rings to the handles and handsewed it onto the inside of the bag.

Despite all my plans to do some sewing this weekend, I never did. Instead I started on a new crochet bag from another new book, Positively Crochet, from Mary Jane Hall again. This is the Patchwork Purse and I selected three colors I think look awesome together - brown, orange and turqoise blue. I am almost finished with the bag and will share soon.

Hope you all had a great weekend and a fabulous week ahead.

Crochet That Fits - Lining my felted Houndstooth-check purse

2010-07-15T11:50:00.008+02:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, this is a fantastic book with extremely easy, classy items to crochet inside. There are hats, scarves, belts, dresses, skirts, tops and my favorite, handbags, inside. I have made two bags from this book and last night worked like a crazy woman to finish the first - The Houndstooth-check felted bag.

Lining a felted bag is a bit easier than lining a plain crocheted or knitted bag. Mainly because the non-felted bag still has a lot of stretch in it, so you have to be careful to ensure the lining is big enough. I normally cut my fabric way bigger than the actual bag as you can see in this photo. I then start sewing the side only until I am happy with the fit. Then I sew the bottom and make a flat botton last. I leave a long extra piece at the top, which I fold over (on the inside) and then sew to the bag. With felted bags, sewing with the machine works well, but with plain crocheted or knitted bags, I find that machine sewing stretches the bag out of proportion and takes the elasticity away, so I handsew. Not my favorite, but it looks better.

Now I have finished sewing the fabric lining, complete with 4 pockets that I require to keep my necessities neat and handy in my purse. You will see above that I have already folded the long top piece of fabric back, but have not sewn the lining on yet. If you are putting a magnetic snap in the lining, this is the time to do it.

This picture gives you a better view of the lovely look of this crochet pattern. It is the best, and easiest, houndstooth pattern I have ever seen. Next comes the handles and magnetic snap. As you know, I make my own leather handles and I found these dark grey handles in my stash, all made up already. I have opted to attach the handles to the lining instead of sewing it onto the outside of the bag as per the pattern.

The lining and handles are all nicely sewn in now. I decided to make a firm bottom for the bag and quickly cut a piece of my plastic I use for this. I sewed a fabric cover for it and inserted it lose in the bag. I decided to put the magnetic snap in the flap as the pattern did, but had to search for an extra piece of felted yarn I could handsew the snap to. This is just extra re-inforcement because the felted yarn will eventually get damaged with frequent use.

I will upload this project to Ravelry today as well and will list the yarn details there if you are interested.

All done! I am already using my bag today! Love, love, love it! Can you believe that I often, like today with a new bag, chose what I will wear that day according to the bag I want to use? Is that crazy? Maybe you girls won't think so, but my non-crafty friends think I am!

Tonight I hope to finish the lining of the black and orange crocheted bag I showed you recently as well as make the leather handles and lining for the other project I made from this book, the Sweater Bag. Have a great day!

Crochet That Fits - projects and review

2010-07-13T09:29:00.014+02:00

Not a very productive weekend, but I do have an excuse! (Apart from the FIFA soccer finals) I spent last Saturday in Pretoria with my sister, her kids, my cousin and my kids, a belated celebration of her birthday, on 4th of July. It was a fab day with lots of laughs and great food.

Then a cold front moved in this week and it is freezing! (I know, I know, not freezing like the snow in the Northern Hemisphere at all! But we are used to sunny, mild conditions here!) I have been looking for earmuffs for several years now and last week found a pair locally! Since my second annual visit to Chicago, I have developed problems with my ears in windy weather, so these are fantastic. I have been wearing them inside and outside for three days now!

I found the most fantastic book - Crochet That Fits by Mary Jane Hall. At first glance, I would never buy this book as it appears to be garment patterns. But inside are the most gorgeous patterns for scarves, gloves, bags, and yes, garments too. They all have one thing in common - extremely easy! I have already made TWO bags from this book! The first is the above pattern, the Houndstooth-check felted purse. Such a very simple pattern, yet stunning.

This was my first attempt at felting in my new washing machine. The first try was unsuccessful because I could not figure the machine settings out, but the second was right on the dot! And how lovely does this machine felt! The machine has a gentle spinning cycle and no more badly creased felted bags for me!

I will share more about the actual pattern and yarn I used when I post the finished, lined bag soon. I just love the lilac and grey together.

The second bag I made is the Sweater bag. I made the bag in magenta. Looks so classy. Another super easy pattern with a stunning result. I just need to add lining and handles to both bags and they are done!

I admit I am so bad at taking on bigger projects (like sweaters and coats), so I might just look at the gorgeous clothing patterns in this book, like the cap-sleeve top above. Another extremely easy pattern.

And isn't this sweater gorgeous? There are many more stunning, extremely easy patterns in this book. Worth buying!

I am also still busy with my T-shirt yarn bag. I ran out of yarn for a second time and need to cut more fabric before I can finish it. Last night I started on a yellow drawstring felted bag, this one knitted with circular needles using some of my precious stash from the USA. I am also very keen to make some fabric bags. Gina's reversible bag is on top of my list! See hers here http://gingini.web-log.nl/gingini/2010/07/11-juli.html. Then of course, I have a pile of stretch knit tops I want to make. Let's see what time permits. Hope you all have a great week!

Meet Jessie!

2010-07-08T09:26:00.006+02:00

I have been very distracted lately. Many reasons for this - I can admit to reading a lot, following the Soccer World Cup games and being very busy at work, but here is another reason for my distraction. Meet our new baby (the closest I will come now to a new baby!) Jessie. Not the greatest picture, but I must have taken 20 pics before I got her to sit still long enough AND look at the camera!

Jessie is a pitt-bull terrier, our 5th one, and no, they are not aggressive dogs unless you treat them badly. When we got her a few weeks ago, she was really ill. She was tiny and did not pick up any weight, despite eating well. The Vet gave her lots of injections and medicine and in 4 days she grew double the size! Now she runs around the house chewing on everything and steals my balls of yarn! I see a long line down the hallway and find the yarn in the lounge, "hidden" under the couch.

This is my latest craze. Fabric yarn. I saw the most awesome tutorials on Ravelry and just had to try it myself. I have almost completed a bag with the orange and brown and will share when it is done. I did not have the heart to cut up any of my T-shirts so I used some of my clothing fabric. There is an awesome tutorial here: http://www.craftpassion.com/2009/05/recycle-tutorial-making-of-t-shirt-yarn.html. You use stretch knit fabric and I used a very large crochet hook, size 10mm or 12mm. it gives you a very thick, very strong bag. I am already planning my next bag!

I also made a lovely scarf last week in preparation for our short 3-day break into the country. I used Rowan Biggy Print yarn in 100% wool, using a size 20mm needles. A quick project and great fun.

I also crocheted 3 new bags during our few days away. The long cartrip was ideal to crochet. I will share these soon too. I just need to get going on finishes like lining and handles.

Hope you are all having a great week!

Knit jersey tops

2010-06-28T10:50:00.012+02:00

My apologies for being absent for so long again! I have no excuse except that things have been so hectic at work and home the last few weeks. Not that it has slowed down a lot, but I missed my blog friends, so here I am! Creativity has also suffered greatly the last month. I seem to have plenty of WIP's, even more than before! And I keep starting new projects and not finishing them. Urgh. I think this is a sure sign that I am not feeling very creative at all.

I did finish this gorgeous orange and black bag above. Love, love, love it! Just wish I can now sew the lining so I can use it! I just adore this bag. It was a pain to change colours the whole time and I tried several methods, but ended up with the old fashioned method of cutting the yarn and starting with a new color. This left me with hours of finishing work, but well worth it. The little belt and buckle is so cute. I plan to make leather handles but I am debating a new way of using them. I will share the finished bag once I get to it!

I did make a few knit jersey tops in the last few weeks and am already wearing them. This top I made with lovely black and white knit fabric I bought at Hobby Lobby this year in Chicago. This is from a new pattern I bought online.

This top I made from a very easy pattern and it only has two pattern parts. Quick to make!

This is my first attempt at sewing ruffles to my tops. Real easy and such fun to make. I really like the end result. Apologies for the shiny photo!

I have had this fabric for quite a while and cannot understand why I have not used it before. It is a lovely quality knit fabric. I just love the colors! This is another top from my favorite Bernina Inspiration magazine pattern.

I am experimenting with combining colors in my tops and this is the first one I made. Love the bright orange and black together. Not sure if this is what I really wanted, but I have worn it a few times already.

Apart from these, I have a zillion new projects such as bags, scarfes, hats, tops, etc. that are halfway. Too embarrasing to share all of them! I hope to have some completed projects to share as soon as I can get myself inspired to finish something. Hope you all have a great week!

Parcel in the Post

2010-06-03T08:49:00.004+02:00

My apologies for being absent so long. This flu is really nasty and took hold of me for two weeks straight! Things are hectic at work so no chance of even taking a day or so off, so I suppose that's why it took so long to shake it. I was cheered up no end when I received a parcel from my friend http://sewkalico.blogspot.com/ on the farm a few days ago!

Inside, the most delicious goodies! Some stunning wool yarn, a sewing magazine, a gorgeous crochet pattern for a bag, hat and scarf and two bag handles! I had to laugh when I saw the empty easter egg wrapper inside! Thank you so much Karol-Ann for all the lovely goodies! I cannot wait to use the yarn and handles.

I will be doing the rounds to see what all of my favorite blog friends have been up to the last two weeks and to say hello. In the next few days I will share the few projects I have been busy with lately. Not much, but I hope productivity will improve!

Zero productivity!

2010-05-13T10:59:00.002+02:00

Productivity in my craft room has been zero the last ten days....

Unfortunately I picked up a horrible sinus-related flu two weekends ago and even if I wanted to, I could not even try to make anything. Between using tissues to wipe my nose every 2 seconds and then my runny eyes every 3 seconds, I did not have enough hands to sew or crochet! I am feeling a lot better this week and I am slowly getting back to creativity and productivity. I hope to share some new projects with you soon! Hope you are all having a great week so far.

More crocheted bags!

2010-04-30T08:16:00.011+02:00

Ok, I know I said I will be spending some time sewing, but there was a pile of finished crocheted bags lying there waiting for lining...and then I got the most awesome new crocheted bag patterns...This is my latest creation. Just finished it last night, including lining. As always, I started making a bag from a pattern and then changed the bag completely halfway through! I saw a picture of a crocheted bag in black with white crocheted circles sewn on in a French pattern book and started making it two nights ago.

Then I saw another bag where the entire bag was put together with crocheted circles. I used some O-rings to give the circles some strength and crocheted them together, then to the bottom part of the bag. Then I started to crochet the top part of the bag above the circles. Very easy and oh, so pretty! Took a few minutes to decide on colors, but I like the combination of colors I ended up with. The handles are my pride and joy! It is really difficult to find bag handles locally and if you do, they are almost always bamboo handles. I bought some cheap wooden bead necklaces a while back and had this idea to make my own handles with wire bought at the hardware store. Armed with some solid advice from my DH, I went off to the hardware last week and bought 2mm wire. I showed DH a picture of the handles I want and he twisted the wires while I added the beads. The orange bead handles were originally intended for another bag, mentioned in a recent post, but looked too good on this bag to not use it! Finally I used plain black cotton lining to show off the colored circles. Love the result!

This is a very plain bag because I wanted to show off this magnificent color. It is called Grape and the yarn is Elle Toy Story. A very thin, and inexpensive yarn. I used double strands for this bag in single stitch to make it firm. The little charms are from one of my Japanese Craft Books and really easy to make, stuffed with cotton wool.

Not easy to see the nice lining fabric, but it is a soft green with little purple flowers on. I have had this fabric for years.

My pink and grey spike bag all done.

Soft pink polka dot fabric for the lining and I love the end result!

I found this cool "old-fashioned" sewing tin at Chamdor over the weekend. It now holds all my "eye candy". That is little fabric flowers, cute buttons and other sweet little embellishment ideas for my bags.

This bag is a quick project I completed in one afternoon over the weekend. The lining still needs to be sewn.

My completed Gardening at Night bag from Debbie Stoller of Stitch Nation fame. Mine is of course very different from the pattern, but I am beginning to like it a lot. The hexagons were fun to make. I lined this bag with plain black cotton fabric and pockets inside.

I have not started a new crocheted bag yet. I plan to sew my winter coat this weekend and maybe work some more on my crocheted orange coat as well. Who knows what else I might feel like making this weekend? I prefer to "go with the flow"...Hope you all have a great weekend!

Crochet Bags

2010-04-22T08:50:00.007+02:00

The crochet bag "factory" is certainly still open here with production going full steam ahead! I finished my Multi-colored spike bag and started a new crochet bag last night! (We will forget about the 10 or 20 WIP's all over the room for now!)

Just need to cut out the lining, iron on the interfacing and sew it. Love how this bag came out. I changed my mind about the handles at the last moment and I am really pleased how this looks. A nice, sturdy bag with lots of room allowing for lots of pockets in the lining.

On Monday I popped into Arthur Bales, my favorite fabric and yarn store, to replace my crochet hook. I snapped it in half whilst crocheting the Multi-colored Spike bag above! They sell these sets of 3 plastic crochet hooks in 4mm, 5mm and 6mm sizes in one pack. Just love these hooks. I left with enough cotton yarn to make a pink top and the fleece fabric above. They were busy unpacking a new shipment as I walked past...Bad...All these gorgeous colors and soft, warm fabric for Winter, which has officially arrived in South Africa this past weekend.

My Burda Style magazine just arrived in the shops a few days ago and this flared coat caught my eye immediately. When I saw the cerise pink houndstooth fleece fabric, I knew I must make this coat! The matching plain pink fleece was in my stash from last Winter and a perfect match too! I see BIG buttons and a large collar. Now I just need to put my crochet bags down a bit so I can trace and cut the pattern from the magazine and start sewing!

Here is a sneek peek at the bag I am working on now. Started last night...

Completed WIP's!

2010-04-20T08:41:00.013+02:00

I had a lazy weekend, starting a (another) new crochet bag, reading, preparing lining for all the finished bags...Sunday late afternoon I realized the weekend is almost over and I have not even made a dent in all the WIP's. A frenzy of sewing activities and by 1am (yes, I know, that's crazy!) I had accomplished a lot.

I started this crochet bag last week and finished the handles and lining on Sunday night. I had different plans for finishing this bag, but changed my mind at the last moment.

I used one of my favorite Amy Butler fabrics to line this bag. I attached the lining at the top with hadsewing, not my favorite way of doing things. I suck at handsewing, but I find that PATIENCE makes it better. Not a virtue of mine...The black heart brooch is from a top I bought years ago.

This little felted bag I must have made about 6 months ago. The lining was cut and ready about 2 months ago. Terrible, isn't it? Anyway, this bag was my first attempt at using Cascade 220 yarn and I was horrified at how much this yarn shrunk in the machine! It was so small I could not even fit my purse inside. The idea to make it bigger using fabric was born and Sunday night I finally sewed the bag. I am quite pleased that I managed to save this little bag!

This is a enlarged version of the Gelato Bag from Fibertrends. It is a mixture of wool and mohair. My what a lot of fluff this own gives off! Found this gorgeous large pink flower button at Arthur Bales last Saturday.

Now I have lined felted bags before, but never an odd shape like this. What a struggle the rounded edges at the top were! Can you see the creases in the corners from all my efforts? Well worth it though. Love the bag and wearing it today!

This bag I crocheted about two weeks ago, just a random bag with no pattern. Love the final effect. It just needed lining and handles sewn.

Handsewing the lining in this bag posed a problem. The lining is a light lime green and the bag black. I cannot use black thread because it will look so ugly on the inside. Green thread showed on the outside. So I decided to machine-sew the lining using green thread on the top and black at the bottom. Work well except I stretched the bag a bit and the lining ended up scew. Urgh! The bag is back in the queue and one day I will undo the lining and re-do it.

My hexagon bag all sewn together. LOTS of handsewing here! Took a whole evening with the black wool! Must admit, most of that time was spent trying to figure out the shape. I am not so pleased with the final result. I don't like tall bags, but I do like the overall look of it. The handles are not sewn on, neither is the black lining done yet. I am still deciding...

The bag I am busy with right now. I saw a picture of a bag with this pattern on a designer's website and worked out the pattern from the picture. Hopefully it will be finished this week. Love the grey and pink and the effect of the spike stitch. From far away it looks like little blocks.

Autumn arrived over the past weekend. There is a decided chill in the air and I had to look for my light jerseys this weekend. I am not a fan of winter, but at least ours is very short and the sun still shines every day. Hope you all have a great week!

Crafty Update

2010-04-16T10:05:00.004+02:00

I know I have been very quiet lately, and that's not because nothing is happening in my craft room, it's because I have so many WIP's and nothing finished to share! I currently have a zillion bags in my craft room with handbags I started crocheting or knitting, tops I have cut out that needs sewing and a pile of finished crocheted bags that just needs the lining sewn.

Does that stop me from starting more new projects? No way! Soon my room will be dominated by WIP's. I have to do something fast. This is one of those new projects I started in the last week. I just love this bag! My first try at hexagons. Great fun and my bag is finished, just needs lining and handles now. Of course, I did not make it like the pattern. I changed the shape completely and I'm not sure if I am happy with the result. I'll share next week.

This is my progress on the orange designer crochet coat I showed in the previous post. I started on it last Sunday and am halfway with the back panel. I am just smitten with this pattern and can already picture wearing my gorgeous coat! It will however take me weeks to finish this project. I normally only take on small, quick projects and this is the biggest yet. To avoid boredom, I only work on it a few hours a week.

I hope to finish some of the WIP's this weekend. Wish me luck!

New tops and WIP's

2010-04-09T09:59:00.007+02:00

There has been tremedous activity in my Craft room the last week! I wanted to share a few things I have completed and some WIP's. First, I have decided to enter the Spring Top competition hosted by Rae (madebyrae) this year. This top will be my first entry. Just love the colors. I will share more detail on this top soon as part of my entry.

Another top in lilac and black, based on the same pattern. Lilac and purple are my favorite colors at the moment. Does it show?

Yes it does! Another lilac top I made this past weekend.

I also cut out another 5 tops this past weekend, ready to be sewn if I feel the urge one night during the week. Last night I whipped up two tops from this pile. No pics at this stage as they are in the wash.

Another project waiting! I found this fabulous crochet coat pattern on Ravelry. It is by designer Vickie Howell and is not as complicated as it looks - I hope! I bought my yarn and hope to start soon. I can just see myself in this fabulous coat! I think the orange looks great, so decided on orange as well.

This Rowan 100% cotton was on sale at Arthur Bales recently. Only two balls left in this awesome pink. I took it thinking I will use it for crochet flowers, but then I bought a lovely bead book and found a simple granny square bag pattern inside. I will have more than enough yarn for this bag. Bummer working with such a thin crochet hook and even thinner yarn! Each granny square takes forever to finish! I need to crochet 29 of these granny squares and I have only managed to complete 8 so far.

My completed lilac bag with crochet flowers sewn on. I plan to make a few more in different colours and slight variations. Another crafty weekend ahead! Hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Crocheted Bag

2010-03-30T08:22:00.006+02:00

It is very seldom that I suffer from jetlag, but this last trip did catch me a bit. Actually, quite a bit. It is only this past weekend that I started feeling human again and I immediately took advantage of this fact! I have done a little "straightening up" in my Craft Room, changed my storage and pattern filing system, etc. This is an on-going project. Whilst browsing the stores for new storage ideas, I found this gorgeous pair of shoes. Now I am not a "shoe fanatic" like my friend, and purple has never been my color (until recently), but this is a work of art!

On to craftiness! It took me two nights to make this beauty. It is losely based on a pattern I found on the Internet, based on a designer bag that Angelina Jolie was seen wearing on her fashionable shoulder. The handles are my own that I made from faux leather and I still need to add the lining, but I am already using it today.

I used two strings of Elle Wool Boutique (my favorite felting yarn) to make this sturdy bag. My poor hands and arm is aware of this project! The pattern requires many more bobbles, but after the first round of the pattern stitch, I decided to make less. The yarn was far too thick and difficult to work with to do too many of those. But I love the result! And it is a perfect match with one of my tops I recently made, see purple top below.

I forgot to share the rest of the 5 tops I made before my trip. Here are 3 of them. All made from the same pattern in the Bernina Inspiration magazine. Love this style. It is close-fitting but not tight and suitable for both summer and winter with three quarter sleeves.

I am almost done with a lilac crochet bag I am really excited about. The bag is finished, I just need to add the bamboo handles and crochet flower embellishments. I also have lilac fabric I want to make a matching top with. Yesterday I was back on www.sewingpatterns.com looking for new patterns for tops and I found a lovely pattern. Some skirts, tops and more bags are in the pipeline! Hope you all have a great week and I am looking forward to 4 days off work this coming Easter Weekend!

Chicago Yarn Shops

2010-03-17T08:18:00.008+02:00

As promised, today I want to share the fantastic experience of visiting two local yarn shops in Chicago last week. I did some research before I left on my trip and found a great list on the Windy City Knitting Guild's website, part of the American Knitting Guild. First up was http://www.haveeweanywool.com/ in Elmhurst.

I wish I took pictures because this shop was crammed with amazing stuff! I have never seen so many patterns and magazines in one place. This shop stocks hundreds of back issues of many crochet and knit magazines and have a special back room with patterns. The ladies love making handbags, many of them felted. There were several completed examples hanging around the shop and they were eager to share recently completed projects and WIP's. They stock a great selection of Brown Sheep yarn. I drooled over the most beautiful cashmere yarn I have ever seen, but bravely stuck to my shopping list. Love the little brown paper bag she put my purchases in!

Next up was the greatest experience of all. Juanita took me to Knitche in Downers Grove. Wow! This is a yarn candy store of note. Here is the link with a photo of the shop - http://www.knitche.com/. Love, love, love the personalized bag my shopping was put in! They have a stunning coffee shop and the shop was buzzing, even at 7pm. Friendly, helpful staff and the biggest collection of Cascade Yarns I have ever seen!

I have never seen this fabulous yarn before. This is Cascade 200 bulky (Magnum), which is a 100% Peruvian Highland wool with 123 yards on one skein. It comes in the most gorgeous colors and I purchased this lime green and the lovely bright pink in the background. Not a lot on each skein but I am planning some more of those small crocheted bags I recently made, or maybe a crocheted hat for winter.

My mission was to purchase some dark grey and chocholate brown yarn, and this is what I found. On the left a lovely dark grey yarn by Brown Sheep Company called Lanaloft. This color is called Smoke and one skein has 160 yards of 100% worsted weight wool. On the right is a lovely chocholate brown yarn by Berroco called Peruvia.

There was also a small selection of suede bag handles and I selected this black pair. So soft to the touch. I cannot wait to use these handles on a bag. The shop also boasted a lovely selection of accessories such as knitting needles, buttons, books and magazines, etc. The displays are unbelievable, colorful and inviting you to buy lots. Well worth a visit and first on my list for a future trip!

Been shopping in the USA!

2010-03-16T08:23:00.008+02:00

It took me two days to finish packing to return from the USA. I was so scared some of my precious stash would be lost in transit. I had a few minutes of pure panic standing next to the carousel waiting for my large pink suitcase to appear, and finally, it did! I had a great time shopping for stash in Chicago and I am so thankful to my dear friend Juanita for patiently taking me out on two nights to shop at Jo-ann's, Michael's and two local yarn shops. So, I will be sharing my new stash over a few blog posts coming up.

The first shop I always visit when arriving is Hobby Lobby. Above is a picture of some of the yummy cotton fabric I found this year. I cannot wait to start making some bags! The top three prints are all from Brother Sister Design company. The bottom pink and brown print is my favorite and was just $2 a yard! Not sure of the designer of this one.

I also bought these fabulous jersey knit fabrics. Lots of tops coming soon.

A selection of fat quarters I found unable to resist. I can see some stunning bags already!

I was very disappointed with the yarn selection at Hobby Lobby though. Most of the yarn they stock is acrylic and novelty yarns. I only purchased the two skeins above. The brown is from Lion's Wool and is called Fishermen's Wool, a whopping 465 yards on one skein! The pink is from Red Heart, a 100% acrylic but I loved the colour.

The magazine section at Hobby Lobby was very disappointing this year. I only purchased the Crochet Today magazine there. The other two magazines I found at Barnes & Noble.

This is all I purchased at Michael's, a lovely pink needle case for my knitting needles. My friend Juanita had these amazing discount coupons for Jo-ann's and Michael's and I saved so much money using them! I think she got them from the newspaper. Thanks Juanita!

In my next post I will share my experience of visiting a Jo-ann's superstore for the first time as well as visiting two amazing local yarn shops!

Jersey Knit Tops

2010-03-04T08:09:00.010+02:00

I promised to take pictures and share the 5 jersey knit tops I made last weekend. I did sort out my camera batteries, but last night I had to put my new tops in the wash to prepare for my trip to Chicago. I am leaving today! And I am not nearly ready yet. I did manager to take pics of two of the tops though. Above is the first one, made from a lovely silk jersey fabric. It slides across your skin, really nice fabric. Crappy picture, but the pattern is a bright yellow and black on a white background.

This is the pattern I used. I did modify the pattern though. I cut the neckline higher and added plain three quarter sleeves instead of the ruffled sleeve. The first top I made, I did make with the ruffled insert in the neckline. Very nice.

The pattern can be found in this issue of the Bernina Inspiration magazine, Spring 2008. This is by far the easiest pattern I have ever used. Just three pattern pieces, excluding the neckline band, and you are done. I made another 4 (yes 4!) of these tops last night. (Whilst I was supposed to be packing my suitcase, I was sewing!) I have now made 8 tops from this pattern. You know me, if I like a pattern, I make a lot of it!

I did make two of these tops too. I forget now the name of the pattern, but I purchased this pattern online from http://www.sewingpatterns.com/. This one is a plain white top and very comfortable. The back has a high V shape too. I just love the look of using my new twin needles! The tops look store-bought with this finishing.

I also decided to quickly line the crocheted cap I recently made with fleece. This makes the cap so nice and warm, perfect for windy Chicago weather.

Lastly, I quickly lined this crocheted bag I recently made with bright yellow fabric from one of my favorite designer, Me and My Sister Studio.

Here it is, all finished. Done in quite a hurry, so not the greatest job! I love this little bag and hoped to still quickly crochet a purple bag in this style to take with me on the trip, but time ran out.

And that is my last post until I get back from my trip. Hope you all have a great weekend. I am looking forward tio shopping at Jo-ann and Hobby Lobby this weekend!

Simple Party Clutch Bag

2010-03-01T08:33:00.004+02:00

I had a super-productive sewing weekend! I started knitting a super-easy Mobius-type shawl from a pattern I found on the Jo-anne store website. I am making it in a cerise pink yarn and hope to finish it before I leave for Chicago this week. I also managed to finish sewing my own Simple Party Clutch bag which I showed a sneek peek of in my last post.

I made a few changes to the pattern for mine. One of the changes is that I did not use the very thick interfacing, so my bag is a bit more flexible, but still quite firm. I'll have to get used to the extra work to open the flap to get to my daily essentials. I prefer an open bag with just a magnetic snap, but this is such a cute bag, I will make the effort. I bought this black and white fabric at Hobby-X last year but forgot to look at the designer. I'll update this post later.

I used a purple polka-dot for the lining. I think the purple is stunning with the black and white fabric. Lots of pockets inside for all my essentials to be within easy reach and the handle long enough to wear the bag over my shoulder. I am not fond of clutch type handles. I need my hands free when I shop and do things.

I also made 5 tops this weekend. Yes, FIVE tops! I am so pleased with all of them. Sadly my camera is giving me hassles so after these two photos it refused to co-operate. I think it might be the cheap batteries I bought last week! So I will be off to buy my regular expensive batteries today so I can share pics of my tops with you.

My yellow scarf is also not finished yet. I am so hoping I can finish it in time for my trip but time is getting short now as I leave on Thursday and still have a million things to do. Hope you all have a great week!

Fancy Fabric Bag

2010-02-24T11:59:00.011+02:00

Did I mention that I am highly inspired and productive at the moment? Obvious isn't it, when I am sewing during weeknights! This is the bag I designed myself. No brain surgery, just a plain bag with a different shape. Love, love, love it!

This lovely fabric is one of only three precious pieces of Japanese fabric I own. This own is by Kokka. I have this in grey and pink as well. I needed a larger bag to show off these stunning, big flowers. I was also keen to use some of my homemade fake leather bag handles. The blue polka dot fabric is from Arthur Bales. I have this fabric in various colours.

A close-up of my fake leather bag handles. Not the best finishing on them, but they work for me. And they are so cheap to make! Have you seen the prices of bag handles? Anyway, each pair that I make gets better, I think. I am still working on proper finishes for my bag handles.

A view from the top. You can see some of my many inside pockets. I love lots of pockets for the stuff I need to get to quickly. At least this time I did not forget the magnetic snap closure. I was planning to use piping, but decided against it. The fabric is so stunning, I think it does not need any further embellishments.

This is a side view to show the heavier interfacing that I used for the outer bag off. I used two layers of interfacing for the outer bag, one standard iron-on interfacing and then I added a heavier iron-on interfacing on top of that. The heavy one creases badly, but it makes the bags so nice and firm. Overall a big, roomy bag that fits all my daily essentials and more!

Apologies - another creased bag! I normally cannot wait to take photos.

This is a sneek peek at my Simple Party bag, ready to sew. It is all cut out and interfacing ironed on. Once this part is done, it literally takes me about an hour to finish a bag. A lovely, quick project for a weeknight!

I also came up with a new design for my next bag. It's in my head and once I have selected the right fabric, I will make it. Wonder how many bags can fit into my closet?

Apart from working and sewing yesterday, I also played action photographer. This is my son flying past on his BMX. My heart nearly stopped afterwards. He's removed the brakes from his bike and just after this jump he races towards a glass sliding door, using his expensive name-brand shoes to brake.... Boys!

Fabric Handbags

2010-02-22T08:38:00.007+02:00

I am delighted to tell you that I am back in business! Lots of inspirations and productiveness this past weekend. Remember the Simple Party Bag I mentioned in a recent post? After making up the pattern, I realized that I will never use this bag. It is far too small. I don't use small bags. I have too much stuff that i simply NEED with me all the time! So, I modified the pattern and although there were a few hiccups, I am pleased with my much larger version.

I made this bag for my sister. She loves blue and pink. I used some of my favorite pink polka dot fabric for the lining and also made some inside pockets. I added two pleats to the front to make it interesting. It was quite a task to turn the bag out through a small hole with all the extra interfacing. The bag is quite thick to give it structure.

Excuse the creases, I still need to press it after sewing it. This blue fabric is from last year's shopping spree at Hobby Lobby in Chicago. Can't remember the designer now. Very bright and happy though. Hope she likes it. I have already cut out one for myself in black with purple lining and a bit of purple piping.

I also made this simple little tote bag for my sister. Can you believe I forgot to add the magnetic snap! I realized almost at the end and quickly added a covered button and loop closure. Love the piping. The color matched the blue fabric perfectly. Lots of pockets inside just how I like it. Perfect little shopping bag for my sister.

I also finally received my parcel from http://www.halcyonyarn.com. This order was my third attempt to get my hands on the Pink Lady Bag and Mega & Phat Pink Lady Bag patterns! Two previous orders from other yarn stores were unsuccessful. I cannot wait to try this little bag. I also ordered two skeins of Lamb's Pride yarn in a delicious brown. This yarn is 85% wool and 15% Mohair. Delightful. I want more!

I also started on the lovely crocheted Japanese bag, the Ribbon Accent Bag, I mentioned in my previous post. In fact, I started on two at the same time! I must admit this was not the quick project I expected. My first attempt was with a lovely pink variagated yarn that did not show off the interesting pattern of this bag. My second attempt looks a lot better in plain cherise pink. It will however take a lot longer than I expected to finish.

I am also busy planning two other fabric bags. The one is based on a bag pattern I recently bought in a lovely casual style, the other I am busy designing in my head. I cannot find a pattern to compliment the lovely Japanese fabric I have had in my stash for a while now. The pattern has large flowers on it, so I need to make a larger bag to show it off. I am also planning to use a set of my handmade fake leather bag handles with this bag and some more piping. This bag must be special, so need to give it some more thought.

Hope you also had a great crafty weekend!

Japanese crochet bag pattern - HELP!

2010-02-19T08:07:00.006+02:00

I finally figured out why I have not made much lately. I need INSPIRATION. Something that will make me say: "That is fabulous! I want to MAKE that!" I found it. This is a crochet bag pattern available FREE on my favorite Japanese yarn website, Pierrot. I was browsing in Ravelry yesterday and came upon this beauty, as well as a few other fabulous bags.

I have already selected my yarn, some lovely pink variagted wool I bought at the recent Arthur Bales Sale, but when I studied the pattern, I got stuck. I need urgent HELP, please. I have made many items from Japanese patterns and I can pretty much read all the symbols, but this pattern has a new symbol in it. Here is a picture of it:

This helpful explanation is at the bottom of the pattern. Not helpful if you do not understand Japanese! Can anyone read Japanese? Or help me with this symbol? This stitch is familiar except for the little hook at the end. Sadly, I cannot start on the pattern until I figure this one out as most of the stitches in the pattern is this one! If you can help, please leave a comment on my blog. I have searched the Internet and cannot find this symbol anywhere. Hope you all have a great weekend!

UPDATED:

Thanks Gina for all your helpful links. I found it! Can you believe this symbol is a dc but the little hook at the end shows left or right, indicating if you should work the stitch in the front- or back loop! I will be making this bag on the weekend!

New stash

2010-02-18T10:10:00.003+02:00

On the last day of the Arthur Bales Sale, I found this. Not on sale, sadly, but still at a great price. This is the most fabulous quality knit jersey fabric in black and purple polka dots. (The brown in the middle is from another shop at three times the price!) I purchased 2,5m of each as I am not sure what I want to make yet. (Of course, I have been a regular visitor on http://www.sewingpatterns.com recently too!)

I started knitting a scarf the other night. Love this thick yarn. I am using the huge knitting needles that came free with a copy of Let's Knit magazine from the UK. It's one HUGE skein. Since I am off to Chicago in just two weeks' time, I need a few warm things.

I have also been busy searching for nice new fabric handbag patterns and ended up buying a few patterns too. I just cannot decide on which one to make first! Hope you are all having a great week so far!

Sewing Magazine inspiration

2010-02-04T08:50:00.013+02:00

I received copies of some of my favorite sewing magazines this week. Nothing like some fresh, new sewing ideas! On the left is the new copy of the quarterly Bernina magazine. An inexpensive magazine that has full-size patterns for a variety of projects from clothing to household items and quite often, handbags. This issue has some lovely winter dresses inside. The one on the cover is my favorite.

Here is another dress inside the magazine. Often patterns featured in this magazine has machine embroidery detail which is not really my taste.

On the right of the first pic is the January 2010 copy of my absolute favorite Burda WOF magazine. I have been waiting excitedly for this issue as there are some stunning winter-white dresses in. Just look at this shirt-dress above. I must find some nice white fabric now.

This dress is first on my list! Isn't this beautiful? It is made with viscose, except the sleeves and insert on the bust is from jersey knit. Of course, I am planning to make the whole dress from jersey knit. I just need to find a thicker, good quality fabric.

My other favorite sewing magazine is the UK published Sew Hip. I have bought every copy since it launched in November 2008 and now subscribe to it. The magazine has a great mix of projects in, from quilts, pillows and clothing to bags, toys and features on new products, books and fabric. This month there is a full-size pattern in for this fabulous dress on the cover.

And this fabulous bag, among many other lovely projects.

I also spent some time selecting fabric for a new bag I want to make. I found this fabulous free bag pattern last night. I don't normally like small handbags, but I love bags made from fat quarters! This bag, the Simple Party Clutch, found here http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=4419 is just so fabulous for a night out or lunch with a girlfriend. It is made with only two fat quarters! The designer is Elizabeth from http://www.ohfransson.com/. I have made some of her designs before and love her patterns. I plan to make a few of these cute bags for family and friends and then maybe I will enlarge the pattern and make a bigger handbag for myself.

Here is a picture of the Simple Party Clutch, from the Sewmamasew website. (Hope they don't mind.) Isn't it cute? The bag has several layers of iron-on interfacing to give it structure. I hope to make at least one this weekend and will share pics next week. Hope you all have a great, crafty weekend!

Fabric Handbags

2010-02-01T09:19:00.010+02:00

I am delighted that I finally got around to making fabric handbags this weekend! Never mind that I spent the entire Friday night deciding on fabric and bag designs. I could not find what I was looking for amongst my patterns so I browsed on Flickr for a while and saw some great designs. This bag is based on a ladybug shaped bag I saw but I made many changes.

I added quilting wadding to make the bag soft and thick and used thinner iron-on interfacing than I normally do. I found a roll of the interfacing in my closet and decided to try it. I was very impressed with the results. I normally use the iron-on quilt wadding for my bags or a thicker iron-on interfacing that seems to make a lot of creases. This one is just perfect for bags. I also added an overlay of the lining fabric with piping and a little pocket. I was too lazy to cut the bag front piece so I just stitched it over the bag front. This caused all sorts of problems sewing over the piping! Reminders of the Amy Butler Weekender Bag came to mind... not good memories!

I also wanted to make a bigger bag and looked through my previous patterns I made. I selected this lovely Amy Butler fabric that looks best in bigger patterns. Whilst looking through my patterns, I discovered this pattern I drafted a while back. I made it to fit this metal purse frame I bought long ago. Perfect for this bag I had in mind.

I decided to add a large front pocket to the bag with piping. I must have had the Amy Butler Weekender Bag on my mind! At least this bag was without the heavy interfacing and bulk. My poor machine has just been serviced...

I decided to add a structured base and purse feet. This is the first time I used purse feet. Looks nice, I think! And not difficult at all, especially with the new plastic mesh I used for the bag base. I think it is used for gardening (vegetable gardens) and is sold by the meter on rolls at the hardware store. It was inexpensive and cuts easily. Works well.

I haven't inserted a purse frame for quite a while, and never a big one like this before, so it took me a while, and lots of patience and swearing! It was also a battle to select lining fabric. Amy Butler's fabric tends to only match with... Amy Butler fabric. So I selected an old piece of fabric lying around. Not a great match, but it works.

A crappy pic, but here is the final bag. Lots of pockets inside just how I like it. I also wanted to sew clothing from my new patterns I recently bought, but never got around to it yesterday. I had grocery shopping to do and plenty of laundry. I hope to share more bags and clothing later this week. Hope you all have a great week!

*Updated: Just in case you are interested in the inexpensive plastic mesh I used for the bag base, here are some pics of it.

Here it is rolled up. It is 1m wide and you buy it in metres at the Hardware store. The plastic is very flexible, yet firm, and can easily be cut. I cut it with normal scissors, no problem.

Here is a close-up of the plastic mesh. Looks like wire, but is plastic and very flexible. The hardware store salesman told me it's normally used in vegetable gardens. Not sure I have seen it in any garden before, but it is in the same section as the chicken wire and shade netting. Hope this helps you to find a local alternative. I am unable to find the stuff crafters in the US use for bag bases, so had to find an alternative. This works!

Burda WOF - Charm tunic 113

2010-01-28T07:46:00.009+02:00

I finally took some pics of the lovely jersey knit tops I made a few weeks ago. The pattern is called Charm Tunic # 113 in the June 2009 issue of Burda WOF magazine. I just love this magazine. It is such good value for money and I seldom find that there is nothing in the magazine I do not like. This specific issue has several lovely jersey top patterns in.

This is a pretty crappy pic of the Charm Tunic top I made. It was rather hot here in Joburg a few weeks ago, so I decided to make this top to keep cool. It is a strapless jersey tunic with a tight bust, front darts, covered with two wrap-over pieces of fabric in the front and one in the back and finished off with an elastic casing at the top.

I made three of these tops, each one different. You know me, I cannot stick to any pattern! This pink and black tunic is my favorite, and third attempt. I decided to leave the cross-over pieces out, added wide straps to hide the bra-strap, and added an extra piece of fabric to the neck edge for the elastic casing. I found the bust piece to be a little on the short side.

This was my second attempt at this pattern using some of my stunning silk knit fabric. With this top I just left the cross-over pieces out and also added the extra piece of fabric for the elastic casing. These tops are so easy to wear and cool!

This was my first attempt at this pattern. (Another crap pic. Sorry.) The top is actually made from a bright yellow jersey knit fabric and I stuck to the original pattern, with the cross-over pieces in. Not easy to see on the pic though. A really nice pattern and as always with Burda, the fit is perfect! My favorite patterns. I think I might make a few more of this one sometime. As you know, if I like a pattern, I make a few!

And as promised, here is a pic of the felted little green bag with the interesting handle. As you can see, the bag is very small and the beautiful big green beads did not survive the hot water in the washing machine. The small polka-dot beads are fine. Not sure why the difference, I am not a bead expert. Must be the painting method. I still need to put in a magnetic snap closure. I really like this bag, I'm just miffed because it shrunk so much!

Circular Knitting Needle Storage

2010-01-25T08:56:00.012+02:00

My collection of circular knitting needles is growing. All the time. Storing them neatly has become such a problem lately that I was forced to start thinking of a better way to store them. I do not like any of the products on the market, so started looking at ideas other crafters came up with.

The idea I liked most was using smaller ring-binder type pouches such as in the photo above. I started looking at CD pouches, but could not find what I was looking for. CD pouches have slots for CD's and I wanted the ring-binder type. So Friday I paid my one and only local Thrift Store a visit. And I found THREE pouches just perfect for it!

I also found tins that I wanted for my straight needles.

The shorter, round tin will be suitably "embellished" to show off pretty knitting needles on my desk and the long tin for all the other straight knitting needles. I am delighted to say that all these items cost me less than $10! And can you believe the pouches are all leather?!

Most crafters used zip-lock type of plastic bags to store their circular knitting needles and just added stickers with the needle size and length on top. This is very neat and a great storage idea. However, I wanted to SEW my storage bags, not buy them. So I planned, plotted and measured and cut out fabric. Basically, it is just a long, doubled rectangle of fabric sewn up, and folded over for the pocket. I ironed on a very thin, lightweight fusible interfacing on one side only to give it some strength but not make it bulky.

This is the first sewn "pocket". I am so pleased with how it came out. Next step was to make the holes and set the eyelets.

I used my old faithful Crop-A-Dile from my scrapbooking days to make the holes and set the eyelets. My favorite and most useful tool!

Here's a close-up of my finished pockets with the eyelets all set.

The first pouch almost completed with 5 pockets for now, but still need to make quite a few more. I still need to work on an idea to label each pocket with the size and length of each needle. This must be an idea that allows me to add to my collection all the time, so I need to be able to change the label often. I do not want the pouches to be too bulky, so will only make up to 8 pockets per pouch. I still have some small changes to make to the pockets to make them perfect, but overall I love my new Circular Knitting Needle storage pouch.

I am so in the mood to sew a few handbags again! I went through all my patterns the weekend and selected a few bags I have not made before. I even selected fabric for one of them. Now I just need to find the time! Hope you all have a great week!

Felted bags

2010-01-22T08:43:00.006+02:00

A few weeks ago I made a few bags. This pattern caught my eye a while back but I was not keen to cut up any of my dresses to make it! This is the Sack Dress Sack. You can find the FREE crochet pattern over at CrochetMe at http://crochetme.com/sack-dress-sack. Very easy to make and quite cute. I used two skeins (two threads of yarn held together and worked at the same time) of Elle Gold yarn, a local yarn that is really lovely, in a bright peacock blue colour. I made the bag slightly bigger than the pattern calls for as I really hate small bags.

This is my first attempt from my new book "Knit-'n- Felt Bags". I really love this book! I did change the pattern a lot though. I felted the bag and now I wish I didn't. It did not come out as I hoped, but I can still use it.

This is the Gelato Bag to be found here in a kit form. http://www.fibertrends.com/product/56794/GB-K/_/Felt_Gelato_Bag_Kits_-_SPECIAL_PRICE. The bag is really small, so I made it a lot bigger. Also I did not have the 40cm (16") circular needles needed to start the bottom of the bag. A fruitless search locally for several weeks, made me order a full set of 40cm circular needles from a shop in the UK. Sadly, this parcel was posted several weeks BEFORE Christmas, and has STILL not arrived!

You use felting wool yarn held together with Mohair. This Mohair is really bad. Lovely but so bad. It fluffs and little pieces drift up your nose, in your mouth, all over. Then I am not even talking about what it does when felted in your washing machine! Fortunately I read up on this before I attempted felting it and decided to put the bag in a thicker pillowcase when felting it. The fluff that came from that bag was unbelievable! And it still got through the pillowcase onto the towel, jeans and other stuff I added to the wash. The pre-felted bag was HUGE.

I am quite pleased at the end result though. It shrunk less than the wool yarn normally does. All the yarn I used was local. The Mohair affects the felting process quite a lot. You can still see stitch definition, which I am not so fond of, but it's still nice. And fluffy. A lot of fluff! I still need to finish it off with a nice button and magnetic snap before I can use it. Not with a dark outfit though. I will be covered in fluff in no time.

For the life of me, I cannot remember now which pattern I used for this bag! I will have to look it up and post again on this one. I still need to take a picture of the finished version of this bag after felting, which sadly, did not go so well. Oh, it felted beautifully, but it shrunk plenty! The bag is so small now, my purse won't even fit! I do love the handle and bead effect that I made although the beads did not withstand the heat in the washing machine so well either.

I also made some lovely jersey knit tops recently that I still need to take pics of. I will post again next week and share some of these projects. And of course, I still want to make tops from my two new patterns I purchased recenlty from Sewingpatterns.com.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Happy 2010!

2010-01-18T11:11:00.007+02:00

A bit late to say Happy New Year, but I am back from holiday and already into work, if not so much craftiness. Despite great plans, and long lists, of things I planned to make during my holiday, not much of that happened...I did make a few items of clothing that I really like and felted a few bags, but instead of trying to catch up with posting on more than a month's projects, I will rather post more recent projects.

I found this very easy pattern in the digital Creative Knitting magazine that I subscribe to. Saturday I went Arthur Bales in Linden and purchased this lovely yarn that has a small percentage Mohair content, ideal for this pattern. The pattern is really easy, just a rectangular tube knitted on circular needles. It calls for you to make a twist in the needles before you join the first row together in the round. Can you believe how difficult it was to twist the stitches on purpose?! After a few problems when I started knitting with circular needles, I make a point to ensure the stitches are NOT twisted and for the life of me, I could not get it twisted! Eventually I did, but don't ask me how.

I am working on a gorgeous purple dress as well as a purple top at the moment and thought I will crochet a nice hat and scarf to go with it. I really liked the creme and purple yarn together, so mixed the two. I am still deciding on the scarf pattern, so will start this soon.

As always, when paying a visit to the LYS, in this case Arthur Bales in Linden, I end up buying more than the things on my list! I have been coveting this KnitPro set for a while and on Saturday, I bought it. The set has 3 different cables and 3 different size needles and the price was good. I have been buying some of the KnitPro circular needles seperately the last few months and now almost have a full set. I hate it when I want to start a project and I do not have the correct needles. Now I do!

I also bought these, on my list for a while now. With all the clothing sewing going on the last few weeks, and more to come, I have wanted these stretch twin needles badly. They were rather expensive, but I believe worth it. I cannot wait to test them!

I also want to share my favorite new "shop" with you. The last few months I have been buying clothing patterns online from www.sewingpatterns.com. I adore this site. You can purchase downloadable patterns from many companies such as Burda (my favorite), New Look, Butterick, McCalls and many others. This is instant satisfaction! Just my kind of thing. I will be in my sewing room and decide to make a top or dress, but have no pattern. On the Internet I go, select the pattern, pay via PayPal and within 15 minutes I can download my pattern. You actually print it directly from the site, celotape the pages together and cut out your pattern. The patterns cost a lot less too. Most patterns are between $2,99 and $3,99 each, a lot less than in the shops. I just bought two new patterns yesterday again, so look out for some finished projects this week.

Hope you all have a great week and I promise to post more often now!

A New Year!

2010-01-04T11:58:00.002+02:00

Happy New Year! I am still shocked that time flies like it does and I feel like I am not getting nearly enough done in my Craft Room as I want to. My apologies for the long silence on my blog. Things were rather hectic at work and once I went on holiday it was the usual rush to buy Xmas presents, etc.

I did complete a few things the last two weeks though. I also received some lovely gift vouchers to spend on crafty stuff, so will be shopping soon! I will post some of my completed items in the next few days.

Hope you all have a craftastic 2010!

Happy Birthday!

2009-12-07T14:42:00.003+02:00

To me! A bit late in posting, but yes, last week on the 3rd of December was my birthday and I am only blogging about this because I received lots of vouchers to use for stash!

Which voucher did I use first? Of course, the book voucher! This is what I bought. A lovely book with lots of great knitted bag patterns in. I am so behind with book review that I would rather not promise one again! The rest of my vouchers I am spending slowly...to make it last longer!

Finally - a sewing weekend!

2009-11-30T08:31:00.009+02:00

My moyo was truly back this weekend! Lots of productiveness coming from my sewing room, although not that many projects were actually finished.

First up, my first attempt at a pattern from the lovely http://artsycraftybabe.typepad.com/. This is the Phoebe Bag and what a lovely pattern it is! I bought this fabric on Saturday at Arthur Bales in Linden after coveting it for a while. It is 100% cotton produced locally by The Gama and I believe it is some kind of African traditional fabric. I thought it was so funky, and pink of course!

Can you see all the African people dancing on it? The lining is a pink polka dot from the same line of fabric. The fabric is really thick, even after pre-washing so my poor sewing machine really worked. LOVE the pattern. I have never put darts in my bags before, so this was a nice new thing. I really like the shape. She has just finished designing a new bag I want to try, so hopefully that one will be available soon.

More bag goodness coming soon! I cut out a Hobo Bag that is available free on http://www.jcarolinecreative.com/. I have made some of her bags before and loved all of them. This one I cut from the blue flower fabric and used the blue polka dot on the top of the pile for lining. It is a large bag with a gusset and the large blue flower print fits perfectly.

Just in time for the last day of Build Your Wardrobe, I finally made my grey jersey dress! Just love the way it came out. I had some trouble with the neckline though. The pattern has a strip that gets worked on to the neckline but made it pucker up in the front and hang losely at the back. I had to undo and eventually I decided to go without it. I often battle with necklines on jersey clothing. Any advice will be welcome!

I also finally made this pink jersey top. This lovely fabric I bought at Hobby Lobby in Chicago earlier this year and have been saving it for I don't know what. I was loathe to cut it! Excuse the rumpled look, I actually wore it yesterday and forgot to take a picture. This neckline also gave problems but I managed to fix it. The fabric only stretches one way and is lovely and thick.

A sneek peek at what I am busy with at the moment, apart from lots of fabric bags and skirts cut out and ready to sew, that is! More about this later this week. Hope you all had a great weekend and have a lovely week ahead.

Oh, before I forget again, the pattern I used for the bright blue and red top from my previous post is New Look 6901.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-27T09:37:00.005+02:00

We do not celebrate Thanksgiving in South Africa, but Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends who do celebrate it! I think the closest we get to Thanksgiving is Family Day, the day after Xmas. Sadly, we normally are forced to spend time with family on that day as we are unable to move after over-eating on Xmas day!

I know I have not been blogging regularly lately, but things are rather crazy at work and I have been too tired to make anything the last two weeks. I tend to just lie around and read and rest on weekends. I hope that is over now as I have many projects waiting!

Like this dress I want to make. Not a great picture, but it is a plain, semi-fitted, jersey dress in a light grey. I have bought the jersey fabric, hunted down the perfect pattern, and now just have to DO it! I have fabulous grey shoes that will go perfectly with it. Then I need to make the perfect felted bag to match it.

There is a stunning light and dark grey felted bag pattern in this book that will go perfectly and I have all the yarn needed to make it. Of course, there are many other projects I am keen to do, such as more jersey tops, skirts, fabric bags and more felted bags. Let's hope my moyo remains around this weekend! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Build Your Wardrobe sewing

2009-11-18T09:19:00.006+02:00

I had another weekend of just pottering around doing this and that, but nothing creative really. On Sunday afternoon I realized the weekend is almost finished again and I NEED to make something. Now.

The question was: do I make a bag, or clothing? I decided to sew something from the pile I cut out the previous weekend. Love this jersey fabric and might still have enough left for a skirt. I now forget the pattern name. I will update this post soon with that detail.

What a lovely pattern! Recently, I made a similar cross-over dress from another pattern and at the first fitting, I was horrified! It was HUGE! This pattern is stunning. The top fits perfectly.

I bribed my son to take the picture, so it is obvious there was no interest really...I used a plain black jersey for the neck trim and normally I suck at the neck trim. It always come out too lose or puckered. This time it worked perfectly. I think you have guessed it! More of this style to come! If I find a nice pattern that fits me well, I make several!

I also received several parcels last Monday. All stuff I ordered a while back. It felt like Xmas will all three parcels arriving on the same day!

First up, two parcels with yummy new yarn, all for felting bags! I ordered some from http://www.littleknits.com/ and some from http://yarn.com/. Little knits had great prices on Cascade 220, although limited colours and also the book I have been wanting for ages! Yarn.com had a great price on the Shepherd wool in delicious colours.

This book. You might remember a few posts back this book was on my wishlist? The bags are all knitted, then felted, and all awesome. I cannot decide which one to make first. Littleknits also has Book 11 with more felted bags on sale now, so I might order that soon.

I also received the three books I ordered from http://www.kalahari.net, our local "Amazon". I'll share more on these books in my next post. Hope you all have a great Friday!

Sewing weekend...

2009-11-09T08:38:00.011+02:00

I am rather mad at myself because my progress was so slow this weekend! Why do weekends go so fast? Saturday I went out to meet my friend for tea and then, totally unplanned and not wise, decided to visit Arthur Bales, my favorite local fabric and yarn store.

I found this lovely Rowan booklet with 17 felted accessory patterns in and a copy of Designer Knitting. The Rowan book has some amazing knitted, felted bags in it!

Like this one...

And this one. But the bag on the cover of the book remains my favorite. Of course, I spent hours poring over the new books..Back to my sewing weekend then...

Did I leave the LYS empty-handed? Of course not. What a silly question. I bought this lovely light grey jersey fabric for a dress I want to make. The pink polka-dot fabric (a great weakness of mine, I cannot walk away from pink polka-dot fabric!) is for some fabric bags I want to make. I also bought 2 balls of creme coloured Peruvian wool yarn (very expensive yarn!) as I want to make a felted bag in brown and creme to go with a new skirt I want to make.

So what did I accomplish this weekend? Not much! I never even opened my sewing machine! I spent HOURS poring over patterns, doing more tracing and cutting out of patterns, and finally did some cutting of fabric. On Sunday afternoon! Above is a picture that shows my (un)productive weekend! I have cut out 2 jersey tops (on the right) and two skirts. The one consolation is that I am ready to sew at any time. Should I have time this week, I can just whip the machine open and start sewing!

I did manage to finish my sister's Pinktulip Puff Bag last night! Just because I HAD to. The parcel is ready to go off today. I ran out of the lovely denim blue yarn and had to find yarn that sort of matched to sew on the handles. I decided not to add lining to the bag as it came out lovely and thick. Hope she likes it!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Getting ready for the weekend...

2009-11-06T10:31:00.003+02:00

Last night I started getting things ready for my planned "sewing weekend". I selected fabrics, looked for suitable patterns and then traced off some of the patterns I plan to use from my Burda magazines. Tonight I will start cutting out and maybe even sew a bit. I might even finally use my serger!

The threading on my serger scares me spitless. Since I bought an older second-hand model, I do not have the user manual. Searching on the internet has not been successful either. Must get over this now.

I hope to show some nice creations on Monday. Maybe even a fabric bag or two as well. Lova's bag looks awesome...

More felted bags!

2009-11-05T08:50:00.005+02:00

No matter what I do, I cannot stop making more knitted/crocheted felted bags! This bug has truly bitten me. I am itching to sew some more clothes for the Build Your Wardrobe challenge hosted by Kate, so I am trying to get as many bags finished this week as I can. This weekend is SEWING time! I just received my copies of the latest Burda Fashion magazine and Sew magazine from the UK, and there are some fabulous stuff in. I have even sorted through my dress fabric last night and plan to sew a few skirts this weekend. First the felted bags though.

I promised my sister I will make her a Puff Bag with pink and blue yarn. Tuesday night I dumped my pink bag I am busy knitting and started on her bag. This bag goes so quickly, I love it! I finished itr last night and dumped it in the washing machine at 9pm because I just could not wait to see the result. I regretted this as I was still waiting for the machine to finish at 11pm! It was however worth every minute. It is drying at the moment and I will share pics of the completed bag when I have sewed on the handles and done the lining.

My first bag with Cascade 220 yarn I bought in the UK. What a shock it was! This yarn is a lot thinner than the local Elle Merino Solids I am used to, so I will use double yarn next time. The most shocking part was the shrinkage! I used the entire hank on one bag and the bag shrunk about 50% in height! It is so small now. It felted nicely though but did crease a bit in the spin cycle. Love the colour and will for sure make more cerise pink bags!

My friend from work, Joyce, made me this fabulous black and cerise pink bag! It is big and roomy and my favorite colours! Joyce is really amazing as she has never been formally taught how to crochet and she makes the most amazing bags, mittens, hats and blankets without any patterns! I think it is a cultural thing. African ladies are just so talented! She will soon be teaching me how to make the traditional African beaded necklaces I love so much.

Now I am determined that some clothes and fabric bags will be sewn this weekend. My fabric is ready and I have selected patterns, mostly skirts and tops for work. Watch this space!

New Stash from England

2009-10-29T09:10:00.007+02:00

This is my FIRST purchase of Manos yarn. Fabulous colours, very expensive, but so worth it! I had literally 2 hours to pop out for some shopping during my trip last week. Staying in Bracknell outside of London makes shopping limited, but I did find a lovely yarn store very close to the hotel http://thepincushion.co.uk/. The Pincushion is a lovely little store that stocks fabulous yarns and provides friendly, personal service. The question is - will I EVER be able to use this divine yarn?! So far I am touching it regularly and staring at it, no plans for using it...

I also found this yarn there - Rico Creative Poems Aran. Never heard of this yarn before. I still need to look it up. Maybe it is local. I never knew the UK produces so many different wool yarns! This is feltable, see the swatch I have already run through my washing machine in the pic?

Another FIRST. My first Cascade 220 yarn. Yummy colours and oh, so soft. I had the foresight to order some stuff via the internet before my trip and had it sent to a colleague in our London office as I knew my shopping time was limited. This I ordered from Loop. Would have loved to visit the shop, but maybe next time.

I found this lovely shop online - http://www.sheepfold.co.uk/. They have their own British wool and this is one of them, called Charcoal Donegal. A bit scratchy to the touch, but still lovely.

More Sheepfold wool yarn. This time in a light grey, 100g balls with 160m on. This shade is called Flint. Sheepfold recently launched their own book called "Felted Bags". Fabulous patterns inside and of course, I had to get a copy of that too. I will do a book review soon. I was so impressed with their fast, friendly service, even after my order was placed.

I'm back!

2009-10-28T09:22:00.006+02:00

I cannot believe it has been a whole month since I blogged! Things have been really hectic at work and a trip to London also took up a lot of time. I am back and had a very productive crafty weekend with lots to share! First up, some lovely felted bags I have made. Introducing the Pinktulip Puff Purse, my very own design!

Just LOVE this purse! It is a super-easy, super-fast, crocheted and felted bag. I am still experimenting with it as i was not happy with the size of the opening at the top, but it is just gorgeous! I have drafted a free tutorial, which I will post on Ravelry sometime soon.

My second attempt following the Puff Purse pattern did not puff at all! I made the top opening far too big and no puff. I'll just have to try again. I do love this purse as well. I used a handle technique from a pattern I purchased on Ravelry and just love it. I still need to add a magnetic snap.

I also made this bag. There is a free pattern on Ravelry for this bag, I think it is called the Square bag, not sure. You are supposed to knit 22 squares, but my Italian yarn was too thick so I adapted it to another pattern called the Tapestry Crochet bag, It took two tries in the washing machine to felt it, and I am still not 100% happy. I will however use it as is now.

I will share more details on each bag on Ravelry if you are interested. I have lots more to share, but will save it for the next few blogs. I am happy to be back and will slowly do the rounds and visit all of you! Hope your week is great!

New STASH and projects!

2009-09-29T10:59:00.008+02:00

After a whole month of working on a tight craft budget, I splurged a bit last weekend! This is my loot! Some lovely double ply yarn for specific bag projects, satin ribbon, cord for draw-string zakka bags and lovely, bright fabric for summer clothes!

I also bought a another set of my favorite acrylic crochet hooks (left), another rare pair of 60cm circular knitting needles and my very first bamboo crochet hook. I have already tried the bamboo crochet hook and it hurts my fingers a bit. Maybe my hands were already sore from lots of crafting, not sure. I will try again.

And in my postbox last Friday, I received my copy of Simply Knitting and the free yarn tidy from the lovely Elizabeth from Scotland! I tried for weeks to get this back copy, with no success, then placed an advert in the latest Simply Knitting magazine. Elizabeth was so kind to send me her copy! Thanks, Elizabeth!

This weekend I made another crochet hook case for my favorite acrylic hooks. Love this cotton fabric from Arthur Bales! And how sweet is this candy stripe bias binding? I have had it for ages and this is the first time I am using it.

Fabulous new stretch fabric. The brown is for a long panelled skirt I want to make and the black & white for a dress. Both items have been on my list for ages!

Is there anything nicer than a stack of new fabric?

New WISHLIST items!

2009-09-24T21:16:00.006+02:00

This is now NUMBER ONE on my wishlist! Whilst browsing around the Internet for Japanese yarn, I found this. It is a Japanese set of double sided crochet hooks called "Hamanaka Rakuraku" and many bloggers report these crochet hooks to be fantastic to work with. Sadly they are horrendously expensive. If you can find them on e-Bay or an English speaking site, they are just over $50 a set, with shipping they would cost me almost $70. It comes in a lovely zippered case that some sites sell at an extra $15. Then, I can bank on another $20 or so custom duties as well. A bit pricey...but still number one on my list!

The second is a book from Australian designer Ella Rae. She makes her own lovely yarn and sells lots of knitting pattern books. I am in love with her felted bags! She has published two felted bag books already and I will be ordering her book next month for sure! This is one of her fabulous bags:

Isn't it fabulous? I have been practising my pom-pom making in preparation...

They look good enough to eat! I am busy making a bag with the brown and turqoise combination on the left, so might add some pom-poms!

Superbuzzy order arrived!

2009-09-24T20:26:00.010+02:00

You might remember several weeks ago that I entered Kate's "Thinkin' outside the box" challenge on her blog http://curiositys.wordpress.com/ and won a $30 gift voucher to the fabulous Superbuzzy shop. It took me absolute ages to decide what to buy with my gift voucher! Will it be fabulous Japanese fabrics? Or maybe some awesome Japanese craft books? No, some Japanese yarn would be lovely. What about those adorable bag handles? This is what I finally decided on.

I am so glad I did! Althoughthe book on the right has a few lovely crochet bag patterns in, most of the projects in both books are of a different nature. Things I have not really tried before. What is nicer than that? Here are a few projects from the book on the right. (Sorry, I forgot the English translated name for it and I cannot read Japanese!)

I adore these gorgeous charms! They will look great on my bags, both crochet and fabric.

I love these little charm balls. I could not believe how simple they are to crochet. The book also includes a little basket, scarve, shawl, crochet hook case, lovely flower accessories, brooches, hair accessories and a few more bags. Can't wait to get started on some of these projects!

The book on the left, Lacy Crochet, is part of a few Japanese craft books that have been translated into English. I have mixed feelings about this translation. Although it's great to read the instructions and understand the patterns better, it has lost it's Japanese charm completely. Ah well, you can't win them all! Here are a few projects from this book.

An adorable little coin purse with crocheted leaves charms attached to the frame. I am a sucker for metal frame purses.Isn't this basket too cute? There are many more small projects. Lots of embellishments such as flowers and more of those cute balls I mentioned above, kitchen stuff, etc. More stuff I have not made before. Wish I had more time! My sincere thanks again to Kate for the gift voucher! I love my books and will share the projects I make from it!

Weekend projects and WIP's

2009-09-21T08:30:00.012+02:00

Although I rate this past weekend as really productive, having finished several items on my LIST of things I need to sew, knit or crochet, my list is not getting shorter! Maybe I should stay away from blogging and surfing for a while...I just keep seeing more things I want to make!

The first item I ticked off my LIST this weekend. Another cute Japanese crochet bag pattern. I love this green yarn. I am ashamed to admit that I had to undo the edge and handles several times because I just kept on misreading the pattern! Despite that, I finished the bag in one night!

This is the second item. I have had this idea in my head for quite a while. It is a plain black dress with a round neck and a zip in the back. I wanted to crochet a pretty collar for the neck. I ended up spending more than an hour doing a blanket stitch around the neck and arms and then just did a single crochet into it with a lovely creme yarn.

It came out really nice. I cannot decide if I should add the full crochet collar or just leave it plain and simple like it is right now. What do you think? I still need to sew in a little hook and eye above the zipper, and I need to change the bust darts. This pattern is obviously made for someone with a much bigger bust than I have! At the moment it sits below my chest!

I thought I will also share a few of my WIP's with you. Actually, this is a new project I started on Saturday. I bought this lovely polka dot felted bag pattern on the Vogue Knitting website Friday night and decided it is perfect to match my lovely purple dress I am making, see below. This will be my first attempt at attaching a felted bag to steel purse frames. The pattern is a bit disappointing in the sense that it does not give any help in this area! Isn't this purple felting yarn just fabulous? The bright green is for the dots on the bag.

This is the Purple Dress! Ever since I saw this pattern on BurdaStyle's website, I was in love. I am making a slightly different, but it will be a smart dress with some bling. Once I have made it, I just need to get myself invited to a fancy cocktail party so I can wear it!

This is my first project from Linda's book, Crochet Adorned. I finished the crochet yoke 2 weekends ago, but sadly I made it too big, so I will have to see if I can fix it. If not, I need to make another one. Urgh!

Another new addition to my LIST. Last week I purchased the 2007 edition of a felt e-book from Interweave Press. Inside was a feature on designer Marta McCall. This lady designs the most fabulous felted bags, like the one above. The pattern for the bag above is in the e-book and I plan to make a smaller version of this bag soon.

The basket with WIP's is much bigger than this, but it will take me all day to blog about all of them. Hope you have a great week!

Japanese crochet

2009-09-18T08:17:00.009+02:00

I am in love with Japanese crochet patterns at the moment! I think everyone has seen this link to some fabulous free Japanese crochet patterns by now, but in case you have not, here it is: http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/gosyo/new/bag.htm. Use the Google translator to find even more treasures on this site!

I have been intrigued by this bag pattern since the first time I saw it! I had to try it and I loved the colours. So in between cooking and e-mails, I have been working on it every night this week.

Last night I was determined to finish it. What I love most about the Japanese patterns is the simplicity of it and the amazing shapes! Of course, mine came out a lot bigger than the one in the pattern so I spent quite a bit of time trying to correct it. I had such difficulties reading the pattern as it refused to print larger.

Ta-da! I am really pleased with the final result though! I had a hard time deciding on handles. The original pattern has thin leather handles, but it just did not look right on mine. I even considered bamboo handles, but in the end opted for crocheted handles. I like it. I love using a slip stitch method to attached bag parts rather than needle and yarn. Looks so much better and is easier to do.

As part of the Build Your Wardrobe challenge of Kate , earlier this week I also made this pink gingham peasant blouse. This fabric has lovely embroidery on it. I bought it at Hobby Lobby in Chicago this year. I am a bit miffed because my DH commented that it looks like a "picnic tablecloth"!

A close-up picture of this lovely fabric. I must make a bag as well! I also finally finished sewing the black dress I have had in my mind for ages. I plan to add a white crocheted collar to the dress, so I will post next week when I have done this. My crocheted fabric top from Crochet Adorned is also on the table for this weekend. Hope you all have a great crafty weekend!

Mid-week projects

2009-09-11T08:28:00.006+02:00

This has been a lazy crafting week. I did however manage to crochet this little bag with the pretty pink yarn I purchased last weekend. This yarn is really fabulous. It has about three different shades of pink and a little bit of green in it. I saw a picture of a lovely crochet bag and tried to copy it by using a pattern I had, changed my mind halfway through and ended up using design elements from three different patterns! I really like the little pleats at the top. Easier to do than it looks.

I inserted the O-rings at the top, planning to use a pink belt I had, but it just did not look good. I then crocheted a handle and fastened it with buttons. Really cute bag.

The August issue of Burda World of Fashion finally arrived yesterday! This issue has some lovely french designs in that I am dying to try.

I am looking forward to a crafty weekend making more clothes for the Build Your Wardrobe challenge and I want to start a crochet felted bag as well. Hope you have a good weekend!

Crochet Adorned

2009-09-08T08:43:00.008+02:00

The book I have been waiting for. It arrived on Friday morning! Wow! Just love this book! Crochet Adorned is everything I expected, and more. Check out the reviews on this book from Linda's blog here http://lindamade.wordpress.com

This is the project I could not wait to get started on! I picked out some lovely flowery fabric I purchased at Hobby Lobby in Chicago earlier this year and some blue cotton yarn but ended up using some creme fabric with brown flowers and leaves on in the end. I am almost done and will post soonest.

I also ordered this book. My first Vogue Knitting On The Go book, but not my last. Very nice knitted bag patterns inside.

Adding some new stash! I found this book (in the middle) on sale at a local bookshop. Not sure if I will ever crochet jewelry, but some of the projects look very interesting and can be adapted to accessories for my bags. My favorite knitting magazine, Simply Knitting, a magazine from the UK, Homespun from Australia containing stunning sewing projects and last, but not the least, some yummy yarn for new bags! Love this green yarn! I have already started crocheting a bag with it....

This is the reason I never finished my crochet top this weekend! On Sunday late afternoon my son fell head-first off his BMX bike and walking home all bloody....

he was attacked by the neighbour's dog! Can you believe this is a golden Springer Spaniel and they look so sweet. It seems this dog has attacked his BMX bike before but this time managed to bite his leg. We spent most of Sunday night at the hospital waiting to get a tetanus injection. I will spare you the photos of his other injuries on his arm, shoulder and head! Of course, did he wear his protective gear?!

Weekend Projects

2009-08-31T11:02:00.004+02:00

I am really excited about the Build Your Wardrobe challenge I am participating in! I made another top. Yes, it's the same pattern I used for the previous two tops, from my Burda magazine. I do own other patterns. But I like this one so much! The next top will be a different pattern, I promise!

This yellow stretch jersey fabric was on sale at a local Fabric store last week. It was the last 2 metres on the roll and marked down to R7 a meter! That's less than $1 a meter. Bargain! I decided to mix the yellow with some black around the waist and arms. Really nice, I think. A few things I learnt about yellow and this fabric - it gets dirty very quickly; shows marks very clearly; is unforgiving - it shows any figure flaws very clearly!

Yellow is not a colour I own. In fact, I found only ONE yellow item in my entire closet last week. What started my craze to make something in yellow is this bag below.

I saw the pattern for this bag, called a Seed Stitch bag, in the Interweave Store. Love at first sight! I immediately purchased the pattern but could not find chunky yellow yarn anywhere. So I made one with lovely orange and gold yarn I had. I changed the pattern (no surprize there!) and sadly it came out HUGE! So big, I am too embarrassed to post it! I am working on a plan to selvage this bag...

At the same Fabric shop I bought the above yellow jersey fabric, I found this lovely Elle Chunky wool in a bright yellow. Also for a great price! This time I stuck to the pattern. The above is the result. Love the bag! It's smaller than the bag in the pattern because they used a thicker yarn, but I love it. I even made a sturdy insert for the bottom of the bag, covered in lovely yellow fabric and re-inforced the handle so it does not stretch too much. The yellow looks lovely with jeans, doesn't it?

Build Your Wardrobe Autumn 2009

2009-08-27T08:02:00.006+02:00

I am participating in Kate's (http://curiositys.wordpress.com) "Build Your Wardrobe - Autumn 2009" and having great fun sewing some new clothing and bags for my own wardrobe. Long overdue! I have been so into crochet and knitting lately, it's actually a pleasure to sew again. One of my favorite pattern books is the Burda Fashion Magazine. I started buying it every month earlier this year and find it of great value. In each magazine there are at least 5-7 patterns I like and that makes it very cost-effective too. The price of the magazine is equivalent to two individual patterns.

This dress in the May issue has been on my mind for a while now! Isn't it fabulous? Wish I can find pink jersey fabric like this. I decided to make the top version of this dress first to ensure the sizing is correct before I attempt the dress.

Here is my first attempt. I made this one as a test using jersey fabric I've had for a while now and did not like so much anymore. Wow! I love this style! I have a cleavage without the help of a WonderBra! So I made another one...

Love this fabric. I bought it at Hobby Lobby in Chicago earlier this year and have already made another top from it that I don't like much. I used a plain black jersey fabric for the band and I think it looks great. Next I will attempt the dress. I have already picked out the fabric and will make it this weekend. Watch this space for more projects to build my wardrobe!

Crafting for a good cause

2009-08-24T08:54:00.013+02:00

This is a new one for me...I normally donate craft supplies, but have not really made stuff for charity before. This time it is personal though. My sister and BIL live in a small town and their local church has been so good to them during very difficult times the last few years. So when my BIL mentioned the church fete coming up and his desire to sell some of our (my sister and I) crafty stuff on the "handmade table", I volunteered to make stuff as my sister is busy packing to move to a smaller place. This is my small way to say thank you and at the same time, all

proceeds go to helping other people in need.

Aren't these adorable? I found this fabulous website promoting Japanese crafting and it had links to free patterns. This is from Clover Japan and although I had some reservations about following a Japanese crochet pattern, it turned out easier than I thought. This is called a Zakka drawstring pouch, I believe. I made three and made each one different on the inside. This is my favourite!

Also from Clover Japan, this cute little bag. I changed it slightly by making a crochet handle fastened with a button. (Not sewn on yet as you can see!) Must make a pink one for myself!

This is a cute little drawstring pouch I made using the same pattern as the bag above, but on a smaller scale. Very cute. I still want to add a little crochet flower to this one.

Very simple crochet pincushion. I inserted a little bag and closed it with a single crochet stitch. I made a few of these in various colours. Still need to add buttons to all of these.

Several bookmarks. I am planning to block or stiffen them and add a little flower at the top. It will be my first try at either blocking or stiffening, but armed with some good instructions from the internet, I plan to give it a try!

Last, but not least, a cute little crochet basket! I used a tutorial to crochet the basket, but added the holes for ribbon at the top. No time to make much more as the parcel must go of this week and I still have to do all the finishing touches.

I have lots of WIP's lying around my sewing room and was horrified to discover more last night! I plan to spend some time during the evenings this week to finish quite a few of these before any new ideas pop in my head! Hope you have a great week!

Felted: Crochet Bags

2009-08-14T08:27:00.004+02:00

This was quite an exciting exercise as I was keen to see how this yarn would felt. I expected it to be different and was pleased with the result. This yarn is an Elle Aran Knit, a local yarn, that is 50% wool and 50% courtelle. I cannot find out what "courtelle" consists of, but it reacts better to felting than nylon or acrylic does. If you compare the above picture, taken after felting, with the picture in the previous post, before felting, you will see that all it did was become "fuzzy". The bag did not shrink at all. It feels marvelous though!

I tried to get a close-up to show the "fuzziness" better. Not a great picture, but you can still see it. The stitches still show, but the fuzziness looks great!

Here is a picture of my drawstring bag. Same result, lovely fuzziness. What did surprize me was how great the smaller pieces felted! The plaited handle and drawstring came out lovely. I still need to sew on the handle and I'm thinking of adding a flower.

Talking of crochet, I am so excited about Linda Permann's new book, Crochet Adorned! This book has stunning ideas on how to mix crochet with fabric, which has been on my mind quite a bit lately. Some of my favorite projects in the book are a fabric bag with crochet embellishments, and various items of clothing with crochet detail. Have a look at the fabulous apron with crochet trim! Head on over to http://www.lindamade.com/wordpress to see it. It is the next book I am buying! Hope you all have a great, crafty weekend!

Crocheted Bags

2009-08-11T09:30:00.004+02:00

I am ashamed to admit that I did not accomplish much this past weekend. It was Women's Day in SA on Sunday and a public holiday on a Sunday automatically makes the Monday after a holiday. So, I had three days of sewing time and only managed to complete two crocheted bags that have been lying unfinished on my desk for a while...

The above bag I started a few weeks ago and finally completed it. This bag is intended to keep my current knit or crochet project(s) in. I intend to felt this bag. or give it a try at least. I have tested a sample of this yarn a while back. It is only 50% wool mixed with something called "courtelle" which no-one can tell me what it is. It felts, but not completely. Quite an interesting exercise.

I also crocheted this little bag. I started the bag last week, not really following any specific pattern and not really knowing what I wanted. It sort of morphed into a little drawstring bag in the end. I am not a great fan of drawstring bags as I prefer instant access to my bags, not fiddling with drawstrings, etc.

This bag is losely based on a cute little crochet bag pattern in the latest issue of Crochet World. I just loved the plaited handle idea! I added one string of pink in the handle to bring in some colour and doesn't it look good? I'm not sure if I want to felt this little bag. We'll see...

Bag Style!

2009-08-07T09:44:00.007+02:00

I recently purchased the most amazing book - Bag Style. The patterns in this book are truly unique. This is my favorite bag pattern. I love the fact that you mix felting with yarn that does not felt. The bottom is crocheted with a 100% wool yarn and the top part with felting yarn.

A close-up of the contrast between the crochet and felted crochet. Love it! And a pair of my very own handles I recently made! They look stunning with this bag. I did a whipstitch around the top edge (before felting), a trick taught in the book Pursenalities, in pink.

This was my first attempt at sewing a fabric lining into a crochet/knitted bag. Not difficult and I did not use any sort of tutorial, but I did learn a few lessons doing it. I wanted to use interfacing on my lining and also wanted a few pockets, so could not use the instructions in the book as it requires you to pleat the lining, same as the outside of the bag. So I just kept trimming and fitting until I had a prefect fit. The pattern also calls for you to make a lose fabric-covered piece of cardboard to give the base of the bag some firmness and shape, which I did, but you cannot really see it in the picture. My favorite bag of all the bags I have made so far!

Crocheting with cotton

2009-07-29T08:26:00.007+02:00

This cotton yarn looked so yummy, and it's a local brand that contributes towards uplifting underpriviledged women in rural areas, that I had to buy some and try it. I found a lovely free pattern on Jo-ann's website for crocheted placemats and here is the first one!

I have crocheted with thin cotton before, but I have never really made anything bigger than a small piece or little flowers for my scrapbooking pages. This was a bit frustrating for me. I like quick projects. This is all I made the entire weekend! Very unproductive to say the least. And I have 7 more to make?! I also still have to starch them, selecting a method from the multiple options available. I forced myself to complete at least one placemat so I can see if I need more cotton yarn. This little baby takes a little more than one little cotton skein. To my calculations, I need another 4 to complete the project. The shop does not have any more of this colour!

What is the lesson? Rather buy too much than too little. I think I will mix the brown and orange a bit. If I can get more brown, I might be able to finish it.

Pssst! Arthur Bales in Linden is having a fantastic sale! I took a few of the girls from the office yesterday to stock up on our yarn stash. Wow! The shop was so full of women grabbing yarn, you had to be quick! I did get some stunning yarn and now need more storage...

This is my new storage solution in my re-vamped craft room. I love these plastic containers and they stack very nicely too. This is all stacked behind the door so it's neat and I can see what I have. Like a growing stash of yarn....and a huge stash of fabric!

Zippered cushions

2009-07-27T07:52:00.006+02:00

I cleaned up and re-arranged my sewing room recently. It was getting really cluttered with all the constant adding to my stash...(don't see this changing soon though!). Love the new look. I will share some of my new storage ideas as soon as I have taken pictures.

The most important change I had to make was to bring one of my thrift store cane chairs into the small room. I created this little corner where I can comfortably sit and crochet or knit. The chair needed a nice cushion though. A while back I found this awesome tutorial here http://houseonhillroad.typepad.com/photos/put_a_zipper_in_your_pill/. And what a great tutorial this is! Look at my pink pillow below...

The tutorial makes a very neat zipper! I used pink fleece for the back (so huggably soft, hmmm!) and lovely flowery cotton from Hobby Lobby for the front. This tutorial makes the cover fit a standard cushion snugly, which is great.

Not the greatest picture, but I made a blue one for my son. Also used blue fleece for the back and "manly" cotton fabric for the front. I gave it to him and 5 minutes later went back to take th picture - it has already been used to sit on, flat as a pancake! But I do like to see stuff I make being used.

Skirty weekend

2009-07-20T09:34:00.004+02:00

This past Saturday I was in the mood to make some skirts. I ended up making 4 skirts, but none of them are completely finished. As always, I did not use one specific pattern, but used portions of patterns and the rest was my own experimenting. The above skirt is fabulous! I love it! I cut the skirt from a basic A-line pattern I drafted from the book Sew What! Skirts. The dotted brown fabric is a chiffon and I also cut a underskirt from black jersey stretch fabric the same size, but sewed it a bit smaller to fit underneath. You can see the longer hem of the underskirt showing on the picture as I am planning to sew this on my serger.

The top of the skirt is a piece of what is called locally "ribbing". It is a very stretchy ribbed fabric perfect for skirts. Sadly, I broke several sewing rules making this lovely skirt and when I fitted it on, it was too small! Did I remember that the pattern was for an A-line skirt with a zip? Did I measure the top to my hip size? Did I fit on at regular intervals? Of course not. Now I have to undo the top and move it lower. I so hate undoing. But I adore this skirt, so I will be doing that soon. And I have more chiffon lined up to make a few more of these!

Another felted bag!

2009-07-16T22:24:00.010+02:00

This bag has taken a long time to complete! But worth the wait and pain! First, I ran out of the dark brown wool yarn. I hunted around the country and found a yarn shop in Cape Town that had 3 skeins left and were kind enough to post it to me. Last weekend I finished the bag.

This is the bag before felting. Rather large and I was not sure how much it will felt.

Since I was experimenting with leather bag handles last weekend, I decided to make this my first bag with leather handles. I sewed in the D-rings before I felted it and added the handles afterwards.
A little view of the inside of the bag, showing one of the pockets I added. I crocheted two pieces and felted them, then sewed them on after the bag was dry. I absolutely love the bag! Big enough for all my daily stuff and it looks smart. The handles make a big difference. And see my magnetic closure?

Today I finally found some black and grey wool yarn at Fiona's. Could not believe my eyes as I go there often and never saw the yarn! Amazing what you find when you scratch a bit! Now I can finally make the bag I have wanted to make for a while now. Watch this space!

UPDATED:

The grey and black bag is done! My hands may however never be the same again...this Italian 100% wool I bought at Fionas...maybe the Italians should rather design sportscars, not make wool yarn! The yarn was irregular. It had thin parts and then THICK parts. Torture!

So, here is the felted bag. Losely based on the Sophie Bag pattern I purchased, but because this wool is so thick, it came out different. My first bag using a belt from my closet! I think it looks lovely. Almost dry and ready to use. I'll be sewing for a little while to let my hands recover...

Sewing again!

2009-07-16T22:06:00.007+02:00

As you know, I am still in the "crochet and felting" phase. I recently made a holder for all my crochet hook and other items needed, but it just did not work in practise. Too big. Crochet hooks falling out. The list goes on. So I searched the internet and found this great tutorial here http://www.joleo.co.uk/todayweare/?p=516. I made one each for the ladies in the office that I brainwashed to take up crochet to keep them keen! And one for me...

So here is mine. I made a few changes. Surprize! I like the woolfelt for my needles and I also like Amy Butler! Love this one. So portable.

I also added a velcro-fastening that makes opening and closing easier and quicker. The ribbon tie takes too long! I bought this lovely pink velcro at Hobby Lobby in Chicago earlier this year just because it was pink. I knew it would come in handy sometime.

Last night I also had time to fix two skirts I bought at cheap prices a while ago. The skirts were both adorable but miles too big for me. My plan was to undo the waist and make them smaller to fit me. This is the first one I fixed and I love it. The second one is in the wash and I will show it when I wear it, soon!

Make your own faux-leather purse handles

2009-07-13T11:26:00.011+02:00

Leather (and faux-leather) purse handles are so nice on crochet or knit (and fabric) bags, but very expensive. I have not been able to find any locally to buy anyway! I decided to make my own, and as always, started to search the internet for some inspiration or maybe, if I am very lucky, some angel blogger has done all the work and I can just download the tutorial! No luck this time though.

So, I started playing around with my faux-leather stash and came up with a few very simple methods to make some cute faux-leather handles that will make my bags look great! I will share my method in case anyone else is interested in making their own handles. This is a relatively inexpensive way to make your own faux-leather handles provided you have most of the material and tools needed in your stash. If not, there is another inexpensive option at the end of this post.

Faux-leather bag handles tutorial

You will need:

Tool to punch holes and set the eyelets/snaps
Rotary cutter
Self-healing cutting board
Ruler
Pen
Leather sewing machine needle
Faux-leather fabric (a quarter yard should be enough to start off with)
Handbag hardware such as D-rings, O-rings, buckles
Eyelets, snaps

First decide how you want your handles to look, the length, the hardware you will use, etc. I wanted one longer handle with D-rings at the end that I will sew to my crocheted bag with yarn.

Cut two pieces of faux-leather with your rotary cutter. To ensure I cut straight, I use a ruler to draw a line with a pen on the back of the fabric and then I cut it using the ruler.

Remember that you cannot use pins on leather, so I used paper clips to keep the strips in place for sewing.

Put the two pieces wrong sides facing together and sew right around the two strips. Remember to change the needle, tension and stitch length on your machine before you start sewing. Once you are done, neaten the edges by cutting off extra pieces.

Now you are ready to punch the holes. Put one edge through the D-ring and fold back over the handle. Punch a hole through both pieces of leather, insert your eyelet and set it. I was lucky enough to find my trusted WRM Crop-a-Dile in my scrapbooking stash and lots of eyelets too! It worked like a charm. And you are done! That's so easy, anyone can do it.

Here I made another pair of handles with black faux-leather (my machine hated this leather!) and gold O-rings at the end. I am still experimenting and will be sure to share more ideas soon. Of course, there is another easier way that will cost you nothing!

Go hunting in your closet and take out belts you don't wear anymore, like I did. These are instant bag handles. For a single long handle, thread through a D-ring inserted on each side of your bag and close the end as if you are wearing it. Here is an example of a knitted, felted bag that used this method on the Better Homes & Garden website http://www.bhg.com/crafts/knitting/wearables/how-to-make-a-pretty-paisley-purse/. This purse is on my list of projects!

If you do decide to sew your own handles from leather or faux-leather, do google it and read up on the experiences of others. I learnt a lot that way. I sewed several pairs of handles this weekend, each one made for a specific bag I am busy making. I will post the completed bags with their handles when done. Enjoy, and please let me know if you did try it. I would love to see other variations!

Crochet hook case

2009-07-08T21:11:00.005+02:00

Since I am doing quite a lot of crocheting lately, I decided to make a crochet hook case. Without searching the net for tutorials, I decided to make my own. It came out a bit bigger than I intended, but has lots of space inside. I can store all my hooks, needles, scissors, tape measure, etc. in the pockets.I made a flap that closes with a magnetic snap on the back. I used a lovely dark brown corduroy fabric and cotton for the lining. Not a very portable size, so I need to make another one...

I also crocheted my first hat last weekend. This was the 5th try! I don't even have a picture of it since my niece now owns it. I even found myself offering to crochet her a little bag that matches the hat!

Anyway, the bag is finished already. Complete with plastic tubing inside the handle. I was really pleased to find a button that matched the pink yarn perfectly! Really cute bag that started with a specific pattern and ended up being completely different. Why can I not follow a pattern?

This means that I will have to make myself another hat, and the bag is cute too - must have one!

Did I tell you that I am the winner of the 'Thinkin' outside the Box" challenge? I won a gift voucher to the lovely Superbuzzy store! Thanks again, Kate for hosting the challenge! And my lovely prize!

Thinking out of the box challenge - complete!

2009-06-30T17:40:00.012+02:00

As per my previous post, I finally selected the project I will make for Kate's (http://curiositys.wordpress.com/) Thinking Outside the Box Challenge!

I survived working with RED. I survived mixing bright colours that don't match (according to me). I managed to follow Nikki's Belle bag pattern without any major problems. Whew! So, here she is! The brightest bag in town!

I think the little Belle bag is quite cute! I would love to make another one with some of my favorite pink fabrics. I would however use firmer interfacing next time.

I wish I had a different colour bag handles to use, but this is all I had. Since we are thinking outside the box, I suppose it does go!

Very roomy inside despite it looking so small from the outside.

At least I managed to line them up pretty well. This is the bottom outside of the Belle bag. I adore Nikki's (http://nicolemdesigns.com.au/) patterns! I think I will buy a few more soon!

Of course, my "STOP" button is out of order, so whilst I was on a roll, I made another bright bag! This cute little mini-bag is not any specific pattern or design. Not sure if I will ever use it. I'm sure it will become a present!

I still need to sew a button on to the little flower. I used very stiff interfacing and added a large pocket inside.No more RED for a while now, thank you....

Thinking Outside the Box Challenge Update

2009-06-29T10:40:00.005+02:00

Red. Not my colour at all! But Kate's Challenge is all about crafting outside your comfort zone. I HAD to go all the way though. Not only am I using RED, I am also combining bright colours that aren't a perfect fit AND I am taking on a challenging handbag pattern I have not used before! Is that enough challenge for you?

So, here is a picture of the beautifull Belle bag pattern from the talented Nikki at http://www.nicolemdesign.com.au/, the bright fabric that includes RED and the pattern I have already traced off. Will I pull it off? Will I be able to finish this bag before I go crazy?

Crocheted coin purses

2009-06-29T10:23:00.006+02:00

As you know I am participating in Kate's challenge to sew something you normally avoid. This weekend I was trying my best to avoid starting my project. I did however select the pattern and the fabric I would use. I got a headache just looking at the fabric! More about that later.

So instead, I played around with making some crocheted coin purses. I have quite a few metal purse frames I ordered from Etsy and I always feel bad because I don't use them often enough. Now that I am hooked on crochet, I decided to crochet one. I searched the internet but could not find exactly what I am looking for. Remember that although I have been knitting and crocheting since I was a child, I am still a complete novice! I can do both, but can only do basic stitches, no fancy stuff. I am hopeless at following even the simplest pattern! I always end up with more stitches, or even less, than the pattern. So, I decided to make my own pattern!

I have a few of these very small metal purse frames that have holes to handsew the fabric to the frame. This is the first time I am using one of them. What a pleasure to use and so cute! I used some of my lovely Sublime angora yarn for this one.

I also made this one to fit a bigger frame. This frame is about 3.75". I have compiled a PDF tutorial for both of these crocheted purse frames and will post it as soon as I figure out how to upload a PDF to my blog! Any advice would be welcome!

Completed felted bags

2009-06-25T23:28:00.003+02:00

Finally! I have finished the two felted bags. This is my little basket bag from a pattern in Crocheted Pursenalities, although I did omit the basket "weave" effect. Really love how the handles came out with the plastic tubing inside. I added a magnetic snap under the flower on the flap. It is a small bag, but can still hold quite a bit.

I am proud to announce that I attempted the circular needles (torture sticks) again and this time - success! What a pleasure they are to use. I found a shorter pair (60cm long) and it worked much better. And just look at this felted bag - no seams to sew! This is a variegated wool from Elle and felts like a dream. I finished knitting the entire bag in two evenings, threw it in the washing machine two nights ago, and tonight it was dry. A very simple bag. All I did was to sew a button on the flap.

Now I am just waiting for my brown wool to arrive from Thimbles Quilt & Knit in Cape Town and i can finish the striped bag I am busy with. I used dark brown, green and yellow in a random pattern. Love the effect.

Oh, and I spent this evening trying to crochet a coin purse to fit into a small metal frame. Not as easy as it looks! I am battling to find some simple patterns on the internet. More on that soon.

I cannot wait to start on Kate's challenge tomorrow night! Nothing like sewing a new bag.

Thinking outside the box challenge!

2009-06-24T08:30:00.003+02:00

Kate from http://curiositys.wordpress.com/ is hosting a challenge - Thinking outside the Box! The challenge is to make a sewing project in the next two weeks using fabric or colours (or a technique?) you would normally avoid.

Hmmm...for me it would be using pastel colours, or mixing different fabrics in one project that don't EXACTLY match. I cannot resist a challenge, so here I am, thinking what project to make that I would still use afterwards. I think I will go with mixing bright colours that don't exactly match. Pastels just don't DO it for me and a completed project will find itself at the back of the cupboard to be forgotten very fast. I do not want to waste precious stash or sewing time on something I will not use.

What to make? It has to be a bag of course! This might be a good time to use one of the gorgeous bag patterns I bought from the famous NicoleMdesigns from Australia. One of the patterns is just perfect for this project as the bag has panels. I will post progress on this scary project!

Felted Bag & Weekend projects

2009-06-22T08:39:00.008+02:00

Despite many other things I had to do and being out the house quite a bit this past weekend, I managed to finish a lot of projects. My kind of crafty weekend! First up, my second successful felted bag!This is close up view of the bag body and the flower I also crochet and felted. I am so pleased with how the flower came out! There is still some stitch definition on the bag but not much. I used the pretty little basket pattern in my new book Crocheted Pursenalities. I wanted to do a test run of this pattern before I use my horrendously expensive wool to make a grey and pink basket bag as is displayed in the book.

I was concerned that the pattern might be too advanced for my skills, but I am pleased that I could follow it without any help! I went to the hardware store on Sunday morning to get plastic tubing for the handles and I am tickled pink because it came out stunning!

The handles show an almost weave-like pattern once felted. I assume it is because you felt it with the plastic tubing inside.

I also felted samples of some of my new wool. I am a bit disappointed with some of the samples, like the dark grey, top right. I had high hopes for this wool but it did not felt at all. The cheap dark green wool, bottom right, did felt. The light grey, middle right, is the horrendously expensive wool for my next basket bag. It did not felt too great, but I think I can improve on it. The bright green, top left, is local handspun and dyed angora wool. It felted great but shrunk almost 50%! It is also extremely difficult to crochet with all the fluff. I think I will have to knit with this wool as it will be easier to see the stitches.

I also made a few fleece blankets yesterday. I love making these! These are all gifts for some friends and colleagues. The stitching is quick but cutting and pinning takes forever!

Apart from this I have three bags in the making - one knitted and two crocheted. I hope to finish them by this coming weekend so I can felt them. I hope you also had a great crafting weekend!

Torture sticks!

2009-06-17T08:11:00.004+02:00

Have you seen these things before? They are called circular knitting needles but I am convinced they are torture sticks! I thought it was the coolest thing to use to knit a bag and most of the patterns I downloaded calls for it. It is not.

Every pattern mentions "be careful so the stitches don't twist...". How on earth can you see if the stitches are twisted if the thing won't stop twisting?! I had knitted for about an hour when I decided to check if the stitches are OK, and guess what? The stitches were twisted! This is after an hour of wrestling with these needles, stretching the knitting and lots of swearing. A whole 10 rows knitted. So, I am back to conventional knitting needles. So what if the bag has a few seams?

I prefer crochet anyway. It is so much quicker and easier. Yesterday was Youth Day in South Africa and I went shopping for books. Again. This is what I found.

This book has 20 fabulous crocheted, felted bag patterns inside! I will post some pics of some of my favorites as soon as I have taken them. I am already busy making one as you can see in the picture in a lovely mustard yellow and rusty brown colour. This is local felting wool from Elle that I found on sale at my local Bernina store on Monday.

Lots of sewing on my to-do list as well, but sewing is mostly restricted to weekends nowadays. Knitting and crochet is quicker and easier to do on weeknights, so I hope to have my two bags finished in time to felt them on the weekend.

Felting success - sort of...

2009-06-15T21:44:00.008+02:00

Well, I went to the washing machine with mixed feelings last night when the cycle ended. My first attempt at felting bags was in there....

Success! The Sublime Angora Merino wool felted beautifully! Sadly, the bag is a long sausage shape and the top opening is rather small, but I am still so pleased that it worked! Here is a close up of the felted bag...

Love it! The little bow I knitted also felted beautifully, although a little uneven.

As for the black and orange round bag, not so good...

And this wool yarn is supposedly specifically for felting. Umph! I am also a bit miffed because I only read on a blog today that you must stitch the opening of the bag closed to avoid this gaping. Overall not too bad, but not as good as the first bag.

As for my samples, mixed feelings. The pink is a sample of the 100% wool yarn from Portugal which I had high hopes for, but it did not felt so well. The purple is the same Portuguese wool. It took me several days to knit this piece! The wool is very thick. Felted OK.

These babies are busy drying at the moment and I am planning the next felted bag projects! Hope you have a good week!

Weekend projects

2009-06-14T21:53:00.005+02:00

I have spent the entire weekend sitting mostly in one spot and crocheted and knitted. Damn but this stuff takes so loooong! I am however determined to test my fabulous new wool yarn to see if it felts. This is what I made.This yarn is amazingly soft! At almost $8 a skein I expect it to be! It is Sublime angora merino yarn that consists of 80% extra fine merino wool and 20% angora and seems to be made in England. I found a free pattern here http://www.thepurseworkshop.com/felted-crochet-bag-pattern.html. I did not make mine exactly the same as the pattern called for several colours and this was just too much for me being a novice! I had my Encyclopedia of Crochet Techniques handy all the time. The bow is from Nicky Epstein's - the Queen of felted bags - book, Fabulous Felted Bags and can be removed.

It came out very long and I worried that I will end up with a sausage shaped bag after felting. What would I carry around in that?! But then I read that felting shrinks more in the length than the width, so let's hope it is OK. It is in my washing machine for a second run as I post this. After the first short cycle it looked the same, so I put it in for a longer cycle.

I also crocheted this round bag. I found the idea here http://www.instructables.com/id/felted-bag/. I know this yarn will felt as I have used it before but not in my front-loader washing machine. I read however that you can felt in a front-loader so let's hope!

I also found this fabulous 100% wool yarn in a local shop. It is from Portugal. It also feels so soft but so difficult to knit with as it is double knit. I am trying to split the pink yarn but this seems very difficult as it breaks.

I will post again on the outcome of the felting process tomorrow. Let's hope my bags and pieces felt!

A new hat?

2009-06-11T08:42:00.004+02:00

No, this is not a new hat I am (trying to) crochet. The intention was to crochet a large circle with this lovely 100% wool yarn, felt it and make a round bag. I thought I could easily crochet a circle without a pattern, but somewhere things went wrong...

So I have been surfing the internet and found a very basic tutorial on how to crochet a simple circle. It is all about increasing the stitches gradually. The hole is too big as well as felting makes holes even bigger! Best to unravel and start again. I can already see this lovely bright orange and black bag, felted and hanging from my shoulder....although I can use a nice hat as well...

Buttercup fever!

2009-06-09T20:16:00.006+02:00

I made another TWO Buttercup bags this weekend! One for me...

In the most adorable lilac, purple and pink flower corduroy fabric I had in my stash! The lining is another lovely lilac corduroy.

Here you can see the magnetic snap and one of the little pockets. Once again I used a light fusible interfacing for the exterior fabric only, not the lining, as well as for the pockets and handles. I think they call it "fusible batting". I love sturdy handles and interior pockets as they take the brunt of everyday use. I still need to sew the decorative button flap on. (The other bag I made is a gift...)

I saw my best friend today at my conference and she is madly in love with my bag. Guess I will be making her another bag the same as mine this weekend! I made this bag to go with my velvet lilac suit I wore to the conference today. A perfect fit! This is such an adorable bag I cannot stop making it. You must however use a small print to make the best of the lovely pattern. See the free pattern at http://madebyrae.blogspot.com/.

The Buttercup Bag

2009-06-06T22:49:00.006+02:00

I have made plenty bags but have not made my best friend a bag yet. Shame on me, I know. Problem is that I have actually made her several bags, but none of them were "right". I wanted something really special for her.

A few weeks ago Sew Mama Sew had a Fat Quarter Month and one of the projects featured was the Buttercup bag by Rae of http://madebyrae.blogspot.com/. This is the cutest little bag made from just a fat quarter!

Last night I decided to make a Buttercup bag for my friend.

This little bag is an absolute delight to make! I made a few small changes like adding some interfacing to the outer bag, I sewed the handles on before turning the back out and I added another pocket inside.

Not a great picture, but you can see the contrasting lining fabric and two little pockets for her cellphone and a few other small essential items. Perfect bag when you go shopping and just need your purse, cellphone and a few other items. I hope she enjoys her bag. I enjoyed making it so much that I am busy making another two! One for me and the other is a gift. Thanks Rae for a great pattern!

Storage and...bags?

2009-06-03T22:32:00.008+02:00

During my quest to organize my closet, I bought this lovely magazine at our local news agent...

I just love the BHG magazines. Lovely pictures and great ideas, just like their website. Whilst browsing for storage ideas, I spied this...

Yes, I like the gorgeous pink chair, but look what is on the chair! And this...

Lovely pink cushion, but what is on top of it? This was enough to let me forget all about closets and storage! Do I ever NOT think about sewing? I hauled out some of my home dec fabrics and this is what I made...

It started off as the green leave bag on the pink chair and sort of morphed into a pleated bag with side pockets. A lot bigger too. The pockets came from the second green bag. I put knitting needles in the pockets to show it off. Love this fabric! It was the last piece in the curtain department at Fiona's and was rather expensive. I have been saving this fabric for ages. The bag is not finished yet but I love it so far. It is not lined, same as the bag in the picture, but the fabric is very sturdy and this is meant to be a casual bag.

I am also on a mission to make some fabric grocery bags. I am collecting far too many plastic bags! (and fabric too!) Here are a few that I have cut out from sturdy, home dec fabrics so far...

Just need to sew them. Some more of my home dec weight fabrics I plan to use for grocery bags, including the lovely grey fabric I used for the bag above.

I think some of these might morph into other type of bags too. Love the feel of home dec fabric! I do have some stunning Amy Butler home dec fabrics too, in lovely orange and some grey and blue and brown. Hmm...

Books Galore!

2009-06-03T21:42:00.014+02:00

I am a little ashamed of myself as I went on a book-buying spree a few weeks ago...As it takes 2-3 weeks for books to ship to South Africa, I started getting my books late last week and this week.

Impressive stack, isn't it? Some of these titles I have been yearning for, for ages! Of course we are all familiar with Weekend Sewing from the fabulous Heather Ross and Sewing Green from the smart Betz White, but if you are seriously into sewing clothes, here are the books to buy:

Sew U: Home Stretch by Wendy Mullin of the Built-by-Wendy fame is a genius. This book is all about sewing knits and have some fabulous free patterns inside. She also shows you how to alter the patterns to make even more fabulous clothes. There are many great reviews in blogland so google the title and you will find it.

DowntownDIY Sewing is not a picture book. If you want lots of colour pics, this is not the book for you. It does however have some fabulous sewing projects from clothes, bags and accessories in. Simple instructions and free full-size patterns make this inexpensive book worth it.

But, for the ULTIMATE sewing book, for sewing clothes that is, THIS is the book to buy!

I LOVE this book. I only received it yesterday and i have not put the book down often. Chic & Simple Sewing by Christine Haynes is fabulous! For a great review visit http://www.craftypod.com/2009/05/04/review-chic-simple-sewing. I cannot do a better review. While you are there, check out her other book reviews. I want to make everything in this book. Honestly. Great patterns, full-size, and stunning designs that are simple and elegant. Watch this space for my projects from this fabulous book.