new purse done

finished sewing the purse for the swap i am in =D
i am sooooooooooooooooo happy with it!
tutorial to follow after my partner receives her package (maybe 2 or 3 weeks... sorry for the delay. dont wanna kill her surprise if she happens to look here)

drafting a new purse pattern...

i am in a purse swap on this crafting website i belong to (www.craftster.org)
tonight i am going to draft a new pattern... unfortunately i cannot post pix (in case she peeks here) but i will showcase my step by step later...
i will also try an start my apron soon...
stay tuned =D

Updated project list...

2011 projects (in no particular order):
yo-yo quilted necklace
apron
pencil skirt
kilt
wallet
necklace hanger
dress
embroidered hoop
sewing machine dust cover
tea wallet  eeeeeeeeeee-i-finished-my-tea-wallet
pillowcases
dog kennel cover
grocery bag holder

eeeeeeeeeee! i finished my tea wallet and i am sew excited!

i finished my tea wallet today... i only hope my friend likes it as much as i do (her bday is end of this month)



i sewed around the whole perimeter, right sides together, and left 3" to flip




snip all corners so that it flips into the correct shape




it is now flipped and ironed flat




i sewed the button to the front




and voila! finito

 i am sew excited to have fiished this project... i was intimidated prior to but now i know its not sew scary

Beginning to make the tea wallet...

i began making my tea wallet today =)

i tried to make a point of taking pix at each step

on that note... here's the progress so far

first i chose my main fabric and fused a 5x7 cut of interfacing to it with the steam setting on my iron



fuse the "glue" side of the interfacing to the wrong side of your fabric



then i cut 2 5x7 pieces each of both the fabrics i chose to use (1 of the pieces is the one i just fused to intefacing)

next i folded the pieces used for pockets in half and steam ironed them, then topstitched the FOLDED edge

i measured 1 inch from the bottom of the main interior fabric, pinned my first pocket, and sewed the bottom of the pocket to the main. i followed with the other pocket lined up with the bottom of the main fabric, pinned and sewed the bottom as well.

i then folded the whole interior in half and pressed the edge to line up the exact middle. i sewed the middle from the bottom of the interior to the top of the top pocket, following the line i had just ironed in.

i pinned a 6 inch cut of ribbon folded in half to the middle of the interior on the right side and sewed the ribbon on

last thing i did tonight is pin the interior and exterior right sides together

i re-threaded my bobbin and am ready to finish this, just not tonight =(

My first wallet...

I have found a good tutorial for a tea wallet and decided to make that for my friends birthday. I have recently discovered tea wallets... never knew anyone who had or used one. But my dear friend is always carrying sweet n low packets in her purse and tea wallets are also known to be used for sweetener packets. so i hope she likes it =D
here is the link to the turotial i will be following:
Tea Wallet Tutorial

well then... off i go to make the pattern...

Intro to my short sewing history...

I am still super new to serious sewing but have been crafting and sewing by hand since I was a kid.

For the past 5 years or so I have had a sewing machine collecting dust and bought all kinds of fabrics and sewing "how-to" books but have never done much wih anything. I was sooooo intimidated by using more than a needle and thread.

I decided this year it would be best if I crafted my Christmas gifts... so i dusted off my sewing project books and fought my machine until i remembered how to thread the bobbin. i have been pretty happy with my results but know i have soooooo much to learn still.

i made a list of 12 things i would like to make during this year (in no particular order):
yo-yo quilted necklace, apron, pencil skirt, kilt, wallet, necklace hanger, dress, embroidered hoop, sewing machine dust cover, tea wallet, pillowcases, dog kennel cover

here are the few things i have made already:

a sewing machine dust cover for my aunt's machine (it is on mine for the picture and mine is smaller, it fits hers just right)

Some flannel PJ shorts for me

potpourri sachets for the ladies i work with

This is a reversible tote bag, it was hard to show detail in the photograph but I promise it is cool.

Red with stars on one side and white with cherries and polka dots on the other. Each side has a pocket =)

I took down my old curtains to wash them, then decided i didn't like them and had these made and hung 3 hrs later.