wienerdog tricks.

I Stopped Fighting with my Granny

The kids were watching Soul Surfer across the room, and I was trying to pretend to be a part of Friday night Movie Night, but all I wanted to do was work on this one quilt that's captured my attention since it arrived in the original pile.

I'd pin basted it (after finally figuring out that it takes more than like 10 pins to do this well. Oh--and blue tape. Somebody finally told me about blue tape and how it helps make everything stop being so godforsakingly skootchy. Probably her, who I really appreciate.)

And I knew I was going to quilt right within the edges of the stars. I'm a fan of that little line on the foot--it's not 1/4" (any Real quilter will tell you--but this stumps me. Why isn't it? And also--why does it need to be?) but it does the work of Steady There as I trace the shapes. 

So I was making my way through the midle of the quilt and all its funky, puffed-up, made-out-of-her-old-dresses stars. But I could tell I needed more stitching to make the thing really stick. 

I started at the corners. There is a nifty place where each block meets and makes a sort of square. So I started sewing squares.

I say "started" because it took me like one "square" to recognize that there was nothing square-ish about them. And the more of them I sewed, the more my quilting of this 50-year-old top was just a big fat fight with with somebody besides my Granny's definition of a square. 

And after sewing about four freakish rombuses trying to tell myself that the unsquared squares were square, I stopped. Set it aside. Didn't like the feeling of fighting with my Granny.

I picked up the quilt the other day and looked at the non-square squares and saw it: triangles. They were right there. Four triangles.

So I'm quilting triangles in the corners now. They celebrate the fast-moving, devil-may-care attitude of my hand-stitching Great Grandmother. From sitting with her quilt tops, they speak clearly of her absolute love for making a quilt block. She lived so far away that I never was with her to see her do this. but the tops themselves seem like almost an afterthought--or really just a way for her to organize her blocks.

And I am absolutely so relieved and warmed to see that my love of Wonk seems now proven to be thoroughly genetic and not at all some boat-missing aberration. 

I am from the island of That's Four Triangles Not a Square. Please do stop by any time.

 

I Get [What I Need Without Having to] B[u]y With a Little Help From My Friends

A Craft Debt  '11 Update

You all know that I like to wait and let the solutions come to me--or maybe go as far as to do a slow-motion hunt for them as I trawl the thrift stores in my county.

And I have to tell you: the strategy always works. And this time it didn't even involve any thrifting.

In response to my wailing over not having the right zipper, Michelle piped in and offered an INTERNATIONAL SWAP. And before I could say Sure That Sounds Canadianly Terrific, she'd popped it into the mail so that I could finish this (that is her quite lovely, perfectly cream-ish zipper that was going, instead, to be orange if she hadn't come through for me):

It looks, I realize, shockingly like this, but is, in fact not: it's a big bit bigger. You're right, though: it is from the same vintage upholstery scrap. This one's got sweet little interior  . . .

a funky, salvaged-together bit of interior binding (which only my sweet friend who is finally going to get this bag will have the chance to enjoy when she flips it inside out) and this nifty inside-the-pocket fabric:

And then BLAM right after Michelle's International Niceness, came Vicki K's super smart suggestion to use two not-so-big zippers to stand in for a long one (since I had been Blog Complaining of not having a long one for my big pillows). She, gracious as she must be, offered it as a You Probably Already Thought of This, but then, as it turned out: I HAD'N'T.

And so the Bed Pillows to Replace the F[loral]ugly ones have been completed. Here's the genius part from Vicki K's brain to my pillow:

 
More on the pillows later (there's a story about freezer paper stenciling and friends around my table drooling from concentration to pull off their projects, but I'll save it for later).

And then, as if that wasn't enough friendship to get any regular girl through a week, Michelle included this little fancification: a Just Add Stuffing sort of a project. I said to myself, "Guy I would really like to stuff that, but I don't have any stuffing--but then I remembered my friend Anne did a podcast over at Greenstitch about using all your scraps to fill dog beds and so I grabbed the little ready-to-stuff, deflated Pin Cushion to Be and started mashing all kinds of bits that I dug out of the trash.

And before I knew it. . .

I had this:

Thanks, friends.

Just a Little Purse: A Tutorial (over at SMS)

I told ya I was gonna do it--and I did.

I put together a tutorial for a Lady Version of the Super Quick Little Girl Purse. It's over there at our good friend Sew Mama Sew (the online community of fellow fabric nuts that has been wonderfully committed to both selling nifty fabric and bringing people together around making.)

Just click here to read all about it: Just A Little Purse Tutorial

Here are my super personal notes about it (scribbled in my Idea Book, something I still think you should get for yourself if you haven't already--but maybe you haven't turned 40 yet and so you are not ambushed by thoughts like I could make a pink pom pom apron! or I should paint my closet pink or I should print a t-shirt that says I am not dramatic: I just really mean everything I say. So maybe you don't need a book like this. Just wait. Forty will come to you and you'll start feeling like you're living with a running inner dialogue that rivals someone wearing a jacket with special arm slots that tie around the back.

 
Click over to Sew Mama Sew and whip yourself up one of these little purses. They are just the right size for throwing just your keys and wallet. The strap hits just at the hip, so your hand can jam in there and grab whatever you need without too much annoying rummaging around.

I made this one with a piece of vintage upholstery fabric and some good old polyester for the binding (plain old cotton for the interior fabric). There's lots of creative wiggle room for fabric choice. Just make sure you choose something for the outside that's sturdy enough to endure your dragging it around.

Go make one! You'll be super super glad about it.

Whatever About the Toddler Purse: One for Me.

I made this for the Pumpkinhead a couple of weeks ago. And now she drags it all over and stuffs it full of plastic pretend food. Or she shoves a doll in it. Or whatever else she squirrels away from the kitchen (think: two cans of tuna, 3 spoons and some deadly kitchen tool from the utility drawer).

Well, she inspired me.

I've already told you that when I get overwhelmed, I stop everything and make myself a new bag. It's how I am. It goes like this:

1. Feel overwhelmed.

2. Hide self away in back room and maniacally scribble a detailed list of all that I have to accomplish.

3. Walk to purse to stash list so that it will be with me at all times.

4. Decide that I need a cuter purse if I'm going to carry around such a cruial, life-saving list.

5. Make a new purse.

I know you follow the reasoning. 

I'd been wanting to make a bigger version of the toddler purse, so I did.

And I love it. It's definitely cuter than all my other purses. It's definitely worthy of my current list. 

It's about the size of a piece of binder paper in its final form. And made of thrifted woolish houdstooth, with a scrap of a high-grade cottony pure-white-and-black botanical print. And one of the seatbelts from my Salvaged Seatbelt Stash.

I kept myself from using an orange zipper and turquoise polyester for the lining. (Plus I remembered that I already went that direction once.) I used, instead, some of the vintage cotton my best buddy bought for me for christmas. Black daisies. Righteous. Trying to practice some restraint here with color so that I want to do more than laugh when I hit the finished product. It's hard for me. It's hard for me.

And I went with a piece of tea towel that listed the instructions for how to play cricket to get that peekabo of words in the zipper pocket. Just the thing.

The final top binding is my last-ever scrap of the brown and white polka dot polyester treasure I hit last year at a thrift store in Santa Barbara. I wonder if I'll ever find another print I've loved as much. Sigh.

Oh--and I am turning myself into a Snap Expert. I know. Impressive. I found a vintage snap setter a while back and was using it with about 37% success. And then I came across one of these simple, straightforward, hammer-assisted tools and I'm scoring 100% so far. So handy. I am a fan of the snap.

Success. Now I just need to go eat my ritualistic car-sized bean, rice & cheese burrito and I will be ready to tackle the list.

Maybe I Could Pretend It's 6 Months Early

But it's not. This is the bag I made for my dear best friend that I promised in May. (I struggle with Craft Debt as a person.) MAY.  Of this calendar year. Good one.

She chose the fabric from our venture to a super nifty fabric remnant store (Think: the end of the roll of something that if you bought retail you'd have to sell one of your kids for). It's upholstery weight with great bumpy texture to it. The insides are denim-ish. (Or maybe that's twill. Hmmm.) and seams are finished with wide till tape.

I practically had to go out to coffee to say goodbye to this vintage button I loved it so much. I'm telling myself it's going to a good home.

I made a hybrid of this pattern and this pattern because she wants to sling it jauntily across her hip while she glides around town on her scooter. I know: how cute is she going to be? 

UPDATE: I have not cut up any of the quilts yet. I repeat: I have not cut up any of the quilts yet. Some of you were flailing yourselves toward the cabinet for Pepto at my last report. Fear not: I haven't even picked up scissor and FACED them. And I promise to tell you when I do . . .

ALSO: If you haven't yet started listening to Anne Kenlon's Podcast GREEN STITCH, then hie thee to her itunes link and subscribe. It really is lovely--listening gives you the feeling that you're sitting in her sewing room jawing about sewing--and her projects are made entirely of reclaimed goods. Great stuff.

ALSO ALSO: Sew Mama Sew is scooping their community together to rally for reusable bags as gift wrapping this year. Super great idea. Super great. High five, as always, SMS.

Of Course I Did

Because this week was my son's tenth birthday. Because I haven't yet finished the bag that I promised my best friend for her birthday . . . in May. Because Christmas is right around the corner and I'm planning on giving as much handmade as I can--small quilts for the boys if I can swing it (of which I have completed one block, which I might not use). Because my vintage sheet quilting bee blocks are due next month. Because I still haven't finished gifts for the newlyweds. Because three of my friends had birthdays this summer and I haven't given them anything yet. Because I have one blouse project, one scarf project, one t-shirt refashioning project in the works,

I made myself this bag. 

It seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

The inside:

The happy polka-dotty back:

I used true-blue vintage polyester and this pattern (well, a version of it in my head, at least). AND I got to use one of my seatblelts and that's just super terrific. I didn't like the look of the gray webbing for the strap, so I used the clicker part and restrung it with a new strap and anchor. And yes, I can adjust the strap length. And yes I can click it open. Haaaaandy.

Here's me, super happy:

 

Here's the truth: sometimes when there's just way way way too much to do, the only answer is to do something else entirely.

The Nutbag Report: Summer Edition

Wherein I Interview Myself.

Reporter In My Mind: How was your camping trip and did those weird duffle bags work or did they disintegrate on the road?

Me: Back from 7 nights in our tent and would like to report, first off, that the duffle bags were just the thing. They did not melt or fall apart. They withstood excessive flopping around. Beautifully.

 

I won't pretend that the Brothers did a whole lot of Dirty vs. Clean clothing sorting, but the pillowcase insert did give me a place to stash, say, The Shirt One Brother Barfed On As We Drove Through The Mountains. And other things like that. 

Reporter In My Mind: Is that really your laundry or do you just make up those shots for dramatic effects so that everyone will feel bad for you?

Me: Yes, that's my After Camping Laundry. ONE of the three piles. Not lying. I don't make this stuff up.

Reporter In My Mind: Were you glad to be home?

Me: No. I love camping. I baked an apple pie in my dutch oven. I worked on a poem that's been bugging at me. I sort of read in between chasing the Baby Pumpkinhead and falling asleep. It rained and we got to hole up in our tent together. I ate a lot of bacon. I I wanted to stay out.

Reporter In My Mind: Was there anything that soothed the pain of your return?

Me: I came home to a happy stack of little fabric-filled packages ready to be sewn into wonky stars for my first-ever quiliting bee (click here for the Queen [of the] Bee).

If you're a fan of mail, I highly recommend signing up for a bee. What an international hoot.

Reporter In My Mind: Speaking of your odd interests, do you have anything else to share?

Me: On the add'l life weirdness front, I purchased a lot of printers--and I mean, actually, a Lot: 18--from my favorite strange public auction site for a grand-spanking $11.37. We needed a printer. Now all I have to do is find the one good one in this batch of 18. Just one more Rest Stop on the Road to Finding What We Need in the Sea of Used Goodies Lying Around Everywhere.

I picked them all up today. Action shot:

Reporter In My Mind: Do you have plans for further summer travel?

Me: Next up, we're all heading back out tomorrow for a nice long weekend visiting my very own Grandmother, where the kids will swim in the pool and she and I will talk about sewing longer than I'm able to talk about sewing with any other person on the planet. I am planning to drag my vintage Singer with me (the one her mother used to sew on) so that my grandma can tell me how in the heck to thread the thing. 

Reporter In My Mind: Is the sewing machine genetically attached to a heavier-than-rock table? 

Me: Of course it is. 

Reporter In My Mind: Will you schlep it 250 miles north in your minivan anyways? 

Me: Of course I will. 

Reporter In My Mind: Will you tell us what you discover about its happy little quirks and mighty ways when you wrangle that information out of your Grandma? 

Me: Of course I will. 

Reporter In My Mind: Will you eat bacon at your grandma's even though you have avowed only to eat that much bacon when you're camping and not when you're doing regular life things?

Me: No comment.

His & His Duffle Bags

The Brothers needed camping bags. They tend to LOVE to bring along Rolling Suitcases. This is both impractical, annoying to pack and, well, strange at a campground. So I whipped up these:

And when I say "whipped up," I mean it. Pattern: none. I cut out a fat circle, sewed a big rectangle around the edge of it, then up the side--then I added the top piece just like a super wide piece of binding, cut slits (Gorgeously-manicured buttonholes? Nope.) and put a piece of leftover laundry line through it (with a safety pin). And then I added the big, completely fray-able pocket on the front with all the zipper parts absolutely showing. 

Full disclosure:

And the best part about it all is that the Brothers love them. 

And the other best part is that they were made entirely from my Everest-sized mountain of thrifted scraps & notions and that I didn't spend $25 twice for bags for them. Oh--and also that they'll squish nicely into our over-packed minivan when we leave to go camping this week.

But wait! There's more. Here is the truly, tricked-out part of these bags that makes them the Best Ever for camping: I sewed a pillowcase right into them so that they've got a seperate compartment for stuffing their truly gross and so-dirty-not-even-they-would-wear-it-again-before-we-get-home clothes. Super cool.

  
So there you have it. The best way to get what you need is to just sew it. Dontcha think? Fortunately, I didn't need a ball gown.

All Done.

A Too Many Gifts Month update.

One completely finished messenger-style bag for Baby Pumpkinhead's teacher (It's actually the very one I used for the pattern. You know: multi-tasking.):

One completely finished Tote Bag-Made-Out-Of-Her-Son's Jeans for the big Man Boy's teacher:

   

One Can't Believe I Actually Had Black (Which Is What She Wanted) Polyester Genuine Article Purse for Small Man Boy's Teacher:  

That quilt I was working on a bit ago:

  And these--for the two School Secretaries Who Run the Place:

 

So I'm all done. 

Well, you know, (mostly) all done: finishing the graduate's laundry bag (serious, normal college kid gray on the outside; lime green polyester seam binding on the inside); next in line is finishing up the birthday bag. Then I guess I really will be done.

For now.

Back to the Junkyard & Finished Teacher Gift #1

So I went back to the junkyard and hit the Junkyard Jackpot.

Seatbelts! Here's Mike, my Seatbelt Supplier. He's nice. He is cutting seatbelts out of cars for me before he crushes them.

And here's Finished Teacher Gift #1 (a messenger-style bag with Seatbelt Highlights) 

 

And, as always, I like the insides even better than the outsides.

 
Mike called back today to say he pulled 19 more for me, so it looks like I'm heading back to the junkyard. Nowhere else I'd rather head back to--all that trash waiting to be made into something wonderful.

An Untidy Update

Turns out that even though I mostly post in terms of start-to-finish projects, I don't actually work that way. So here's the update (from top left, clockwise):

Teacher Gift #1: Cut, 1/2 sewn--waiting on brown thread that I didn't find somewhere and that doesn't break every 32 seconds and orange thread for the seam finishing.

Teacher Gift #2: Cut, 3/4 sewn, wonking like crazy for some reason that I'm trying to figure out, bothersomely-not-mismatched-in-the-way-I-like-it colors that I'm still staring at--waiting on inspiration.

Teacher Gift #3: Cut, 3/4 sewn, weirdly floppy and maybe begging a side-panel redesign. Yeesh. Waiting on red thread for seam finishing.

Teacher Gift #4: Mostly finished--waiting on a trip to the junk yard to pick up the salvaged seatbelts that are (hopefully, I mean according to Mike the Salvage Yard Guy) waiting there for me.

Birthday Gift #1: Cut only.

Graduation Gift #1: Um. Let's not lie. I'll probably go shopping for it.

Wedding Gift #1: Not even started. 

There you go, friends. More soon once I go buy thread in 86 colors.

The Good Writer Bag

 I've been working on these in between The Shirt and having all those Quilting Thoughts. 

I'm calling this bag The Good Writer because it's designed to fit just enough for a writer: a journal, maybe an extra book and a zippy pocket for the keys and wallet--and lots of slots for pens. No cavernous spaces for hauling around stuff other people have written--just enough to get your own someday-to-be-published words written down when the moment opens up and you can sit with a pen.

I've been cutting up and re-piecing vintage tea towels and am having such a hoot with the deconstruct/re-construct process so that one big linen tea towel gives me three panels. (And it wasn't until yesterday that I realized that this is actually sort of Quiltingish of me.)

So far London

Australia 

and Circus 

 

. . . are all tidied and ready to roll. I like the insides almost as much as the outsides

No extra pockets, just pen holsters

I'm working now on Scottish Thistle. It's a big tea towel & old polyesters pile still--but promising.

Premature Reflection

I can't help it: I'm a Premature Reflector. I'm not entirely sure that I'm cut out for SHIRT SEWING. I know: it's too soon to say. But I am just reporting here that I currently have the attention span of a nine-year-old boy in church for sewing this shirt. I get about 10 minutes in, my eyeballs start to sweat and I have to ditch the thing and work on something else.

I mean I'm going to go back to it (sleeves are next, I think), but I'm just saying that I can spend 4 hour stretches making other things (things that aren't quite as, well, fussy) and I don't even know time as passed. All of a sudden I look at the clock and I think, "Whaa?" and then I realize that my butt is tingling and that I'm hungry and that my neck hurts because my shoulders are up at my ears because I've been completely surrendered in concentration on whatever strange polyester thing I'm concocting on the sewing machine.

Not so with the shirt. So that's my report so far: Still Sewing. In 7-minute stretches. Estimated Time of Completion: my two-year-old's 21st birthday.

On the upside, I do have lots of love and hours for things like this:

It's a journal-sized bag with a big full flap and a skinny interior--enough for a journal and a pen and maybe a book for inspiration. I chopped up and scrambled a tea towel map of London and paired it with butter colored poly. Just lovely.

 And this:

 . . .and its happy surprise insides:

So that's what's going on in my neck of the woods, Al Roker.    

An Army of Sidesaddle Bags

 I've been sucking hours from every last crevice of my regular life this last month to sew up a big fat passle of SIDESADDLE BAGS. If you hang out here, you have known this as the ARMY BAG KNOCKOFF. I gave her a little upgrade and have renamed her. 

And after I sewed up a fat stack--Okay: 6. But if felt like way more.--my good friend A. Blake popped over and did her magic with the camera. (She is a crazy good photographer--if you decide to get married again, call her.) Look at all these lovely shots she took:

 

I didn't even realize that I had matching bag/wallet sets. (What a goofball.)

Plus, I modeled. I know: you're intimidated. Don't be.

Even though not everybody can really make the camera purr like I can

 

I know. Some of just have it.

Anyway, the shoot was a hoot. It was a Hoot Shoot. And yes, we took pictures of wallets too. Because I love me my wallets.

P.S. If you are a Wiener Dog Tricks Regular, you got a happy little preview of the Pockety Sidesaddle Bag Pattern in the (E)mail today. Watch for more fun treats, Regulars. And if you want to sign up to be a regular over here at this bar, then just click here and leave a happy little comment.

 

The Bag Ro & Me Fought About

I'm barely ready to talk about it. And she's upstairs pouting still. Didn't even look at me when I left yesterday. It's bad.

We' ve never fought like this before.

But then I've never tried to sew through three thicknesses of homemade polyester binding tape. 

I am not exaggerating when I say that I broke 10 needles making this bag. I would dig through my trash to verify this on the basis of journalistic accuracy (and in the hopes that the number is even HIGHER and therefore MORE DRAMATIC), but suffice it to say that when I ripped the pathetically-attached, needle-breaking straps off the bag to re-think and start over, I found THREE broken needle tips imbedded in the straps. (That would have been a lovely extra, eh?)

Ro says it's a design problem; I say it's a matter of her real interest in helping me out. We're at a standstill. And I've been working today on just accepting her for who she is and working around the realities that my machine's name is not HELGA and she is not an INDUSTRIAL grade baby. And no amount of swearing at her or coo-ing to her while trying for the 14th time to reattach the Fat Straps will turn her Helga-like.

She's a well-meaning 1132 who is most days quite lovely and sufficient. 

We'll work it out. Keep us in your prayers.

Here's The Bag Ro & Me Fought About (which will live forever with that name in my memory and I am handing off to the school art auction as a donation which I thought I would want to buy back for myself but which now I will send off into the sunset quite happily and never look back about.)

 The offending straps:

 (I know I know: you're on her side.)

The workaround:

I stripped both sides, attached them flat (with Ro's resentful help) and then HANDSTITCHED weird polyester patches over the exposed seams. A strangely humble fix, but I ultimately sort of like the Yes It's Handmade look to the final finish.

Here's my favorite part: the insides . . .

Yep, it's an old bedsheet. Wish you were here to see the way the fabrics really sing together. The combo is one of those better-than-you'd-guess mixes that makes me love making fabric talk.

But that two sentences of happy talk was enough for me. I'm going to go back to brooding about my broken relationship with my sewing machine now. 

I hope we make up soon.

Experimenting and What I Will Do For You When I Come Back From Being Wonder Woman

I'm messing around with the hatbox shape:

 So far the handles are unusably in-the-way of the zipper (What can I say? It looked right when I drew it . . .)

So I hacked it 

. . . and turned it into this:

 

Like I said: the theme here is "experimenting"

I scrounged the handles for a later use (I'm going to try to move them to the perimeter seam instead and see if that's better.) I like the shape of the little hatbox bag, though. It speaks of possibilities to me.

Made another wallet--this time in something woolish with backing and it's, well, uber-cute. I won't lie. It's all about those clear sparkly buttons for me. And anything black and white makes me want to keep it forever. This one's a gift. Dangit.

 

 
And I'm making more of these. 

 Because I still think these are the cutest bags ever and yes I know you're tired of me talking about them because I promised to give you the tutorial and I haven't yet and I feel really bad about it and it's getting awkward between us. I know. I know. Don't give up--I'm totally on it. 

It's first on my list when I get back.

Thing For Me #7: Messenger (Finished!) & Thing For You #2: Cash Envelope System Wallet Tutorial

Hello, People. Yesterday marked the very superduper last day of Sew Sew Selfish Month. So it looks like I've got to start thinking about OTHERS now. Yeesh. But first, this:

I made it, unmade it, and then remade it. 

So now I'm dragging it around full of heavy books and tablets and list-making notepads. And it gives happiness to my insides.

I also made another one of these (the much-loved Cash Envelope System Wallets):

  
And I like it even better because that bottom pocket is functional now and not attacked by the buttonhole and the zipper is also on the outside. Two nifty upgrades.

And here's the part about you: I'm putting the final touches on the tutorial for this project, and I'm going to offering it up as my very first FOR SALE tutorial. (Oooooooohhhhhhhh. That's faaaaaaancy.) It'll be 3 bucks--not bad, not bad.

But before I start selling them, I want to offer them FOR FREE to a big handful of you who are regular friends over here at Wienerdog Tricks. So if you're interested, just send me an email today or tomorrow (gingerhendrix AT charter DOT net), and I will very happily email you one. (I like to share.) Then in a couple of days, the tutorials will be for sale--good plan, good plan. UPDATE: Hey there--I sent a big handful to some of you good WDTBPF's, so if you'd still like one, just click right over here.

I think you guys are great, my Wienerdog Tricks Bloggish People Friends. (WTBPF's).

Thing for Me #7: Messenger (Mid-Way)

This is a Sew Sew Selfish Month update.

I made this:

 

(Think of this next shot as on the setting that Barbara Streisand used to have photos taken of herself during her Star Is Born years):

 
Something's not right. And I think it's the edges that are bothering me. And the straps, maybe. So I took it apart:

This isn't my first messenger bag. I made this one for the Man Spouse for Christmas:

 

(The innards):

And this one at Christmastime for a dear friend:

 

(The innards):

I think I want the edges on the one I'm making right now to look more finished. So I'm going to try some sort of piping or something when I put it back together. And I'm going to make it skinnier so that it's DAINTIER.  Might even cut the whole bag down so it's just a little smaller. Hmmm. Haven't solved the straps problem yet, but might go back to what I did here with an old seatbelt (a trip to the junk yard's not such a bad idea, really.)

Sometimes Making involves Un-Making. And if you're not sure what I mean (or, really, even if you are), go over here and see this. You'll nod. You'll gasp. You'll shake your head. And then you'll think deep thoughts about Making including Un-Making that you never thought before. 

And of course you'll be the first to hear when I stop all this Un-Making and put the messenger bag back together.

You All Are the Crossing Guards of My Days

Thanks for your guidance, Bloggish Friends--because of your showing up and commenting your hearts out, I now would like to illustriously declare that I will be leaning in to put together and offer up a tutorial for the ARMY BAG KNOCKOFF! Seventeen of the nifty 24 of you who voted asked for it, so consider it done. 

 

(And to the handful of you who wanted to see the Toddler Apron--it'll be next up. I'd hate to leave your toddlers all apron-less and everything.)

In related news, I'll be popping a Rescued Fabric Apron Kit in the mail to ELLE (lucky commenter #20--who was chosen by the tiny little hamsters over at TRNG.)

Your guys are the best. I am the goofy 3rd grader at the busy intersection: you guys are the Crossing Guards. Think about it. (I know what I'm talking about because I was a Junior Volunteer Crossing Guard in 6th Grade. True Story.)

What I Have to Add to the Ditty Bag Conversation.

Okay, it's not much, but I would still classify it as MIGHTY HANDY INSIGHT about the ditty bag.

First off, I was all juiced to write a tutorial about making these, until I found out that I am like 39 years late to the party and everybody has already told everybody else how to make these.

But.

For some reason--a reason which, as you know, I am wont to figure out--nobody has yet talked about making ditty bags out of old polyester AND nobody has discovered my excellent Topstitching Breakthrough.

 

 So, first on the merits of making these out of polyester. All of the things I've been saying are still true:

1. It comes in the super excellent funky patterns.

2. It's dirt cheap at the thrift store. 

3. The stuff can't be destroyed. (Okay, it can be melted, but otherwise not worn out.)

Even better, though, you can make these bags and--with just a little topstitching of a few major seams, they hold their shape without a bunch of interfacing and such. 

 

This old school kleenex box is my favorite shape so far, and i'm loving it as a makeup bag.

You can get a sense of my Topstitching Breakthrough on this purse I just made myself too (same idea: bigger bag):

 

I say Go Ditty or Go Home. 

* One final Sewing Editor's Note: these are just lovely to make LINED, but I suggest lining them by double-siding the main pieces, attaching the zipper and then gussetting, rather than trying to do some sort of fancy two-bag-reversible trick. Here's why: they get too poofy. And yes I know this because I tried it and they turned out, well, poofy. In a bad way. So learn from my mistake, Grasshoppers. I'm just saying.

 

The Hand Off: Craft Debt Item #2--finally.

(Craft Debt Update.)

So this is a biggee, because I've been sitting on it For. Ev. Er.  Okay, for a couple of months. But still.

So here's the messenger bag I finally pulled off for my friend Anthony:

 The strap is a car seatbelt which we fit to him--he can adjust it once it's clicked on. Pure genius--his not mine. He picked this one up at a junk yard and I just sewed it in.

The bag is lined with a navy & white polyester plaid-ish pattern and a bright yellow polyester divider so that's got two sections (his request). He wanted the bag "funkier" (which is easily the worst thing ever to hear from a lifechanglingly talented artist), so I had to wait a bit for inspiration.

We'd had a great conversation months back about the way that people ask him of his art What Does It Do? (And then they suggest things like putting a clock into his art so that it'll sell. Classic.) And he's shockingly the kind of guy that doesn't deck them when they say things like this.

So I decided to make him a bag that was the answer to that question. It's a bag that Does. Think activity bag from your childhood. Think Dressy Bessy and Dapper Dan.

It's got lots of zippers and buttons  

(The front: . . )

(The back: . . .)

(And on the inside of the flap. . .)

The prince goes up to meet Rapunzel . . .

 

And the Wolf eats Goldilocks. . 

 

Yes, I made the thing for a grown man--luckily, he's just the sort of grown man to  get a big fat kick out of it. 

I fully expect to see him riding around town on his bike with it flung over his shoulder. Can't wait to spot him.

Go Ahead and Ruin It, Ginger (Craft Debt Item #6: CHECK.)

(Craft Debt Update.)

The surprise, I mean. I'm going to ruin the surprise. Because I finished this bag last night for my friend in the NW and immediately stood up from my table (after hand sewing on that eye-rollingly cute vintage button) and said aloud to my Sewing Machine, Ro. That's easily the cutest bag I've ever made.

(Ro was annoyed. She wanted more credit. Whatever.)

And I know I'm ruining the surprise for my friend, but I also know that she'll get over it and understand that I am officially more of a Maker than I am even a Gift Giver because as soon as I make something, I just want to stand on my roof, watch for people to drive by, flag them down and then TALK ABOUT IT.

But my friend Dawn understands me. So that's positive. Plus, when she sees her name typed here, I know she's going to stand up right on top of her expensive office chair and hoop out loud to her writer friends and make a big show of it and feel generally happy before leaving for a light lunch at the company cafeteria. So that's positive too.

Two more action shots of the inside:

If this were Art, I'd call it Celebration of Brown Polyester. Excellent.

Craft Debt: Item #3. CHECK.

Craft Debt UPDATE: The baby purse.

It has a happy yellow middle.

I skipped #2. I won't lie. Try sewing for an amazing artist. Go ahead. You try. On to the good news.

I pulled off the baby purse for the Lady Baby who--okay, let's be realistic--doesn't really KNOW I promised her, but still. She needed it quickly.

And now for the action shots:

I'm starting to mess with both the messenger bag and the star-shaped footstool cover. Light candles and put out makeup in front of the Craft Gods, please. Because both projects are challenging my brain parts.

Winner! (Another one.)

Lucky #23 gets the orange polyester prize. Everybody high five her. She's got real tote bag style now. Happy Tote Bag Style. A happy somebody at 2 hippos is the lucky tote-er.

And if you didn't win, don't feel sad. Like I keep saying. Just make one.

And this, of course, is in big celebration of SEWN, the all-new, all-terrific website. (Which is supposed to be up and ready to be clicked later this week--Tuesday or Wednesday-ish they're saying. Hey--it's up and running! And I have to say: nifty. Go check it out.) I would like to add that it is now my favorite sewing site because I actually won something too. A pattern from here. Score!

This just in.

BREAKING NEWS FROM MY UPSTAIRS SEWING ROOM:

I did it. And it's a Totally Reversible Mood Bag. One side for when you're feeling horizontal; one side fo when you're feeling vertical. Click down to here to enter to win (in honor of a promises-to-be-super sewing blog launching tomorrow, SEWN.)

Feeling horizontally? 

 

Feeling vertically?

Stamped again with the words USED IS THE NEW NEW.

Go enter to win this lovely chunk of polyester wonder.

You've got another shot.

Updated: This party's over. I picked the winner.

If you're down in the dumps because you didn't win this:

--fear not. Turns out I've got more polyester totes in me. In celebration of the new sewing website SEWN, I'm hopping on to the giveaway wagon again. Come, um, hop on with me.

It looks to be a nifty jackpot of a sewing site. Plus it's out of Australia. And personally, I'm for everything that's out of Australia (Think Muriel's Wedding and Strictly Ballroom. C'mon.) Just leave a comment, and I'll draw for another bag on June 8th. This one's going to be orange. I'll post the picture as soon as it's whipped up. 

What should I comment on? How about telling me other blogs you like. I love going blog hunting.

And in the meantime, of course, if you're tired of commenting and waiting, just make one. They're cinchy.

This Lovely Tote Could Be Yours.

The party's over for this giveaway. Check out the winner here. And come back next time. :)

It's true. I'm offering up this never-before-and-never-again totally reversible polyester tote to a lucky somebody as part of Sew Mama Sew's Big May Giveaway Day!

Yes--I know it looks familiar. It's the very same tote I made in the 37 Minute Totally Reversible Polyester Tote Tutorial, with the added love of a little necessary stamped-out commentary:

I would love to send this happy polyester tote to a good home full of people who want to fill it full of ruttabegas at the farmer's market or books to go back to the library or, really, whatever important-to-you crapola you drag around. Why not drag it all around in something this happy? 

Here's how it works: just leave a comment on this post any time between today and May 31st (We'd all love to hear some good, "This is the best thing I ever did with Old Polyester" ideas, but if you just want to say "Hi," that's okay too.) I'll pick the winner by random. How easy! (And to be perfectly clear, I'm even happy to send it to people who live in places like France and Australia and Israel. I'm not afraid of international postage.)

And did I mention that (if you haven't already) you should go over to the big list of giveaways at Sew Mama Sew? It's like a Free Stuff Tornado of already-sewn and sewable goods over there.

And remember, if you don't win this one, you can just make one yourself. I swear you can do it.

Jumping in the Tote Bag Tutorial Swimming Pool

Okay, I know there are already about three gazillion tote bag tutorials, but I just feel like jumping in the Tote Bag Tutorial Swimming Pool and splashing around for a bit. And I feel a real calling to spread the news about old polyester. It's like a calling for me right now.

I've put together an easy-to-follow tutorial for how to turn some of this (that double knit stuff you're always passing over in the thrift store fabric bin):

Into this:

It's the best-ever fabric for making tote bags: sturdy, easy to sew and just sort of happy in general (can't get enough of those patterns, myself). 

For a play-by-play tutorial on how to make this tote, click right on over to my 37-MINUTE POLYESTER REVERSIBLE TOTE TUTORIAL. It's really easy, lots of fun to make, and the perfect project for big thrifty scraps. I think you can pull it off in 37 minutes. If you're like me and have to work in 4 1/2 minute stretches of uninterrupted time, then it might take a whole evening. Still, it's quick and super do-able.

Go do it. You'll have a good time.

P.S. To add to the fun, I'm offering up this very tote for Sew Mama Sew's big May Giveaway Day, May 27th. Click here to get the scoop about all they're giving away over there next week, and come back over here next week for a chance to win this superific tote for yourself.

P.S.S. We just got a real friendly shout-out over at Craft Gossip. Go check them out. It's like finding a secret room you never knew about in your favorite store over there: full of good stuff, surprising and like a really good moment in your day.

Another Tote.

Please don't get tired of seeing these, because I think I have another 30 or 80 in me. I'm in love with the texture of old old polyester--the rough stuff. So sturdy. So oddly unattractive until you help it make friends with something spunkier and more awake. 

Here's the new one:

Here's its happy insides:

And yes that's a SNAP, which I handily attached with my brand new thrift store-find-of-the-week snap setter. I feel like the handiest person I know.

I have, of course, already given this away because I couldn't help myself. 

I am currently stretching my brain to figure out how to make these lined totes without having to sew the two pieces separately. If anybody has any real smart thoughts about this, DO share them. 

Totes.

Yesterday I was all about totes. I had the whole day off (well, let's not kid here: I had a sick 7 year old home and a 1 yr old playing with fabric scraps at my feet while I sewed), but still: I COULD SEW! There are so many KINDS of free time, as you know.

So I sewed totes.

Here's the first one, which I have already claimed as a purse, since I am tired of carrying around my camo diaper bag. 

I took my favorite Trader Joe's bag (you know--the cream colored cloth ones) and made a pattern. It was SO EASY. You've probably already done this. Those cloth bags are a super easy pattern to work with because they're just two side panels that connect to a long single piece of fabric. Easy Peasy. (And if this doesn't seem easy, then TELL me and I'll totally post about how to do it.)

The very best thing about this bag is that it's made of that SUPER ROUGH POLYESTER that women wore pants out of in 1973. So really all that can happen to it is that it might melt if I accidentally stand too close to the oven or trip at a bonfire.

The second best thing about this bag is that it's lined. Here's the inside:

But this is the best part: my very own sarcastic commentary sewn right onto my purse. Just right for the moment when somebody annoys me. My purse already says REALLY? Excellent. I'm ready to face the world.

I also made this MEGA TOTE by taking a pattern from this book and exposing it to that same radioactivity that happened on Gillian's Island that made the vegetables huge. And, like the veggies, I'd like to report that the bag turned into something monstrous and strange. Cute though. Who doesn't want a monster beach tote with monkeys designed right into Rich Lady upholstery fabric? C'mon.

The lining is a diamond-patterned SUPER ROUGH POLYESTER (you see I can't get enough of the stuff).

It has a sassy little big outside pocket that appears to have no function beyond style at its current size. (In the smaller version, you're supposed to shove your newspaper in it, I think.) And two smaller ones that actually could help.

So: TOTES! Has everybody already made these and I'm just behind? Probabbbbbbbbllleeeeeeeeee.

I'm going to make another TJ Tote next. I still have more polyester . . .