Blog Conference Tote Bag

You all gave me permission to make myself a new bag for the Creative Estates blogging conference.  But, I may have gone just a little overboard! :)
I found this gorgeous fabric at Wal-mart- yes you read that right, Wal-mart!!  And since it was not all that expensive I bought both color-ways of the canvas and both accent fabrics as well.  So, I made my bag- extra large since it costs money to check luggage now days and I wanted to have room to bring things home.  And I had fabric left over.  So I kept making things.  A notebook cover, a wallet, a business card holder (not pictured) a small notebook cover (not pictured), and three zippered pouches.  By the time I was done, I was a little Too coordinated.  But it was fun. :)

 This is the wallet I made.  I love this flower accent- it's easy and it's flat which keeps me from having to worry about it getting smashed. :)

These are the two zippered pouches.  I know you're all anxiously waiting for the answer to the sharp corner question, but I'm sorry to say I'm not there yet.  I will give you a heads up on what I've learned so far in an upcoming post, but quite frankly, when I do get the corners square- I like the look of the slightly angled corners better.  Hmmm.  We'll talk about it all soon.

This is the flower I made for the tote bag.  I just sort of cut out random + shaped pieces at varying sizes, singed the edges and glued them together.  No pattern, just kind of organic.  I love how it looks. 

And the final shot is my Little Miss with the pouch she allocated for herself.  I used it on the trip to hold all the business cards I received, my business card holder and my little notebook where I kept notes on who I met where so I would remember them better.  I'm so glad I did that because my brain is fried. 
I do make these bags to sell, but I have not had time to put them in an Etsy shop yet, so if you are interested, leave a comment or send me an e-mail and I'll be in touch about pricing and shipping.
I'll be back tomorrow with some lessons learned from my first-ever blogging conference.
* Edited to add- I've decided to give this tote bag away.  I owe you guys one big HUGE thank you for all your love and support!  So, even though I used it for the weekend- one lucky reader will soon become overly coordinated herself. ;) The give away will include the tote bag, notebook cover, wallet and small zippered pouch.
To enter:
1. Leave a comment- you must be a follower of my blog, since this is a reader appreciation give away. (new followers are welcome)
2.  For an additional entry- Like my facebook page, come back and leave a comment.
The give away will be open until next Wednesday April 20th!  Good luck. :)
xoxo,
Amy
Linked up to Show and Tell with Blue Cricket Designs, and Show off your Stuff party with Fireflies and Jellybeans

Perfecting Pouches

In case you were worried that with all the leprechaun nonsense going on around here I have neglected my mission on perfecting zippered pouches and the slouchy corner problem- Have NO fear! I am on the case. They are getting better and better! I am hoping to have a tutorial up soon on how I have achieved my magnificently crisp corners. :) But, as I have been searching high and low and clicking on every zipper pouch link and tutorial I can find- I am realizing that I am perhaps the only person out here who even cares what the top corners of a zipper pouch look like. Am I really the only one who thinks they should be square?

On a lighter note- this is the inside of the pouch/wallet. I am totally loving my new cash stasher! All the fabrics were on sale for $2.49 a yard at Joann's- Yippee! I love me some cheap fabric.

Happy weekend!

xoxo,

Amy

Linking up to Sew Many Ways link party

Luggage Tag Tutorial

This is the last week of our Love Notes month! Hard to believe February just up and flew by so quickly! I have been wanting to make these forever, and this last Love Note week was just the motivation to do it. I have to apologize for the pictures- it was late and no daylight was to be had.
My kids take hot lunch at school, so I don't have the opportunity to slip cute little notes in their sacks every day. But, I wanted something that I could use that I could swap out at different times to let them know I'm thinking about them and that I love them. So, yes, I've been thinking about doing this since school started, so we'll just say that I've got a jump on next year! Want to make a bunch? Here's how:

First you will need to trace your tag template onto the wrong side of your fabric. I then folded the fabric over and stitched right on the line, leaving the bottom short side open. Trace the same template on to some Pellon Peltex (it's super stiff interfacing, you don't need it to be fusible). Cut out the tag, just on the inside of your traced line.

Trim around your sewn edges, clipping corners and turn right side out. Slide your Peltex tag into the fabric casing. Turn under the bottom edges around the Peltex and edge stitch all the way around.

Now you will cut out a piece of plastic your desired size. You will want it to be slightly smaller than the width of the tag you are doing, and leave enough room at the top of the tag for the grommet or button hole. You will also need a strip of fabric 2" wide, by enough length to go around all four sides of your plastic, plus an extra inch or two. Take this strip of fabric, iron it in half, then bring the sides into the center crease, creating some double fold bias tape (but it doesn't have to be on the bias).

Slide your plastic into the binding, lining the edge up with the crease. Begin on one of the long edges, but leave part of the end unsewn. *If your presser foot or feed dogs touch the plastic, the piece won't move and you'll rip a big hole in the plastic. (any guesses on how I know this?) In order to solve this problem, I used binding at least as wide as my presser foot, then I moved the needle as far to the left as I could to get the stitches on the edge of the binding.* Sewing on the Inside edge of the binding, sew up to the edge of the plastic and backstitch. Clip your threads.

This is where we miter the corners. If you turn the binding 90* and line up the new plastic edge with the crease, most of the work will be done for you. Take the corner fabric and fold it down until it makes a right angle with the previously sewn side of binding. Start stitching where the corners meet and sew until you reach the edge of the plastic again. Repeat for all remaining corners. When you reach the beginning of the bias tape, you have 2 choices, the easy way or the hard way. I chose the easy way. I trimmed the loose tail of binding so it overlapped the end by about 1/2", folded under the edge and slipped it over the second edge. Stitch down and you're done. It's not the most finished look, but not so bad. I'll show you the hard way another day. :)

Edge stitch the top edge of your plastic piece. Take your bound plastic piece and center it on the bottom of your tag. Edge stitch around 3 sides, leaving the previously edge stitched side free for slipping paper in.

Now, for hanging. You could put a grommet in here. But since grommets are on my "wish" list and not my "have" list, I settled for a button hole.

Cut open your buttonhole, put some ribbon through and slip in a sweet note. Now your kiddo or darling or complete stranger will know how you feel about them!

I also did the same thing with a zippered pouch for my boy. He thinks we should continue the notes/treat tradition all year long. And even though I probably won't do it every day, I think it will still happen every now and then. Cuz that's kind of the point.

I have been working on the zipper solution. I'm almost there, but I still have a few more experiments to try. (I was a scientist, remember?) I should have at least the first installment this weekend.

So, the take away for February? Even though Valentine's Day is a whole year away, don't let that stop you from making sure the wonderful people in your life know how you feel about them!

xoxo,

Amy