Natalie from Carry Hers By Natalie, not only makes fantastic bags and purses, but she has also blown me away with this MAZE quilt for her son. It's so original and fun, and I can't imagine how much work went into it. There probably wasn't much chain piecing, and definitely no stack and whacking going on here.  Oh, and it's massive!



The animal blocks are paper pieced and the maze was made with a computer program. This would be a great idea for a baby quilt too. (I think on a smaller scale than Natalie!) Have a look at her quilt, see close up photos, and read about how it was made HERE.

This quilt inspires me to try something that hasn't been done, and try to be original. Natalie has certainly done it. I googled "maze quilts" to see what I could see and there is a lot of inspiration there, but none have these playful animals.

After reading her post, I'm also going to need to google knife edge binding.... I don't know if I've heard of this.  Have any of you done knife edge binding?

If you like bags, you should follow Natalie's blog! Lot's of inspiration on her pictures page.

It's really neat how blogging can bring like minded people together.  I'm not sure where Natalie and I first connected, (it might have been on Lisa Lam's facebook page.) but it's been great getting to know her.  It's kind of cool because we are on opposite sides of Canada, but still have a lot in common.  We are going to get to meet, and even share a hotel room, at Sewing Summit 2013 in Salt Lake City in September.  Geeze, I hope she doesn't think I'm a weirdo!!

I am really fortunate that blogging has been, not only an outlet for me to express myself, but also an opportunity to for me to meet all of you wonderful sewers.  Thank you!

 

Question:  What do you sew a guy for Father's Day?
Answer:  A very masculine padded leather e-reader case... of course!

The story goes like this:  My husband really needed an e-reader, but he didn't think so. I told him several times, but he always said, "no, I like to read real books", "no I don't need one", "no I don't like the screens".  BUT, he travels a lot for work and spends hours in airports and on airplanes reading.  We are always buying him books to lug around (he seems to only read heavy books), and they take up so much room in his bag. He's always running out of books too. An e-reader would give him an endless supply.  It just made sense, but he wouldn't hear of it, which made NO sense to me. Sigh.

Much to my amazement (not really), last week my DH asks me, "Do you think I want a Kindle or a Kobo?"

"Umm.... what? Why? Are you getting one?"

"Yah! All the guys at work have them, and they think I should get one. I had a look at Blah, Blah's and it's great, he loves it! So which one has more titles available, and how do the bookstores work?"

"Really Mike, Really... REALLLY?  The guys at work hey?", I say. "I told you so, I TOLD YOU SO!!  WHY do you never listen to my ideas? hmm???"

Anyway... my darling husband has purchased himself a new Kobo Aura, because it has a backlight and apparently that is why he didn't want one when I suggested it... because he was waiting for this special one.  Since it's new, we couldn't find a case for it yet, so..... sew..... sew I sewed one the night before Father's Day.    Excellent idea.

Here's a look:


About the fabric:  What a challenge to find fabric in my stash that looked masculine.  I instantly thought of the soft lambskin leather that I got at Tandy's a couple of weeks ago.  This black leather is very soft and thin and almost feels a bit like the thickness of an ultra suede.  It's only about 0.8 mm thick so sewing it on my regular machine wouldn't be a problem, I wouldn't even have to dust off old Pinky (the heavy duty) for it.

Finding lining fabric was difficult, and luckily I had one FQ of the very awesome Architextures by Carolyn Friedlander for Robert Kaufman.  I have it in the green/blue as well, but I knew this orange/black would be perfect.  Score!  So glad I had that.


About the zipper pouch pattern:  There are many great zipper pouch patterns on the internet available.  No need to reinvent the wheel here, a simple google search will yield you hundreds.  I didn't go by a pattern, but this is a tutorial showing the method I use.  Go HERE!  I used 1/4" seams and a zipper much too long for my fabric panels, and trimmed off the ends.  I prefer to do that rather than hunt for a zipper the exact size.

How I altered the pattern to suit leather and an e-reader:

* I measured the e-reader and added 1 1/2 inches to both the length and width.  I cut two pieces of leather for the exterior, and two of cotton for the lining.

* In most cases, you will want to interface your zipper pouch, and in this case it was especially important because I wanted the reader to be safe in a padded pouch.  I couldn't use anything fusible, such as a fusible fleece, so I grabbed my by Annies Soft and Stable to use as a sew-in interfacing on the leather.

* Normally, you would place your fabric piece on an uncut piece of Soft and Stable, baste around the edges, and then trim the Soft and Stable, but in this case, I didn't want to add basting stitches through the leather, and I wanted to be able to easily trim back the Soft and Stable to the seam lines created by the actual seams (leaving less bulk) so instead, I cut my Soft and Stable squares to match the exterior leather size and taped them on. (Putting too many stitching holes through the leather will weaken the leather and cause tears along the seam line, much like tearing off a postage stamp!)

* Important:  I trimmed 1/2" off of the top edge of the Soft and Stable (the edge that the zipper will be stitched to) because I didn't want the Soft and Stable to add bulk in the zipper seam or top stitching. To attach the Soft and stable to the leather, I used double-sided adhesive mounting tape. (This tape is tackier than double-sided wash-away tape and found in your craft section, probably by scrapbooking or picture framing). I put the tape on the leather about 1/2" in from the edges so that I wouldn't be sewing through it when I sewed the sides together.  Essentially, the Soft and Stable will match the left, right and bottom edges of your leather pieces, and be 1/2" shorter along the top (zipper) edge.

* I followed the instructions to make a zipper pouch like I normally would, but left a much larger opening for turning than what would be normally recommended.  I left open the entire bottom of the lining for turning as the leather and Soft and Stable would be quite bulky. BEFORE turning,  I trimmed back the Soft and Stable right back to the seam line, being very careful not to clip any stitches.

What I would do differently next time:  The sewing machine sewed through the layers very easily, and it wasn't until I was part way through that I realized that I hadn't even put a leather needle in, and my Universal needle was doing just fine.  (Using a walking foot is recommended!!!) But... I used regular sew-all polyester thread (never use cotton on leather, it deteriorates the leather) and I do regret not using a stronger thread like an upholstery thread or nylon thread. I am afraid that I may have broke a thread in the bottom of the pouch when turning, so I turned it right side in again, and did another row of stitching across the bottom to be sure and that is a bit of a no-no as well, because it creates more stitching holes, but I didn't have a choice - darn it!

There is a lot of bulk in the zipper ends, so when I turned the pouch right side out, it made a smaller opening than I bargained for and the Kobo barely fit in! It's snug, but works. That is why I recommend the panels be at least 1 1/2" wider than the e-reader is long. The Soft and Stable is thick too, so it "uses up" a lot of fabric width too. I'm sure that's not a technical term.... if you have one let me know!!

Closing thoughts on the e-reader case:  It was fun, fast and very easy!!  I'm doing it again!  And... IF Mike doesn't like it for his Kobo, it's going to make a great passport or headphone bag for him. So it's all good.

I had a bit of trouble finding a masculine looking prop to go in a photo with it though... how about Mike's shaving brush... does that look masculine??  What does shaving have to do with an e-reader? Nothing.  But I think it looks good there.


What else we did for Father's Day:  CAKE!!!  We had a BBQ with family here at our house, and we had CAKE, CAKE, CAKE!!   Man, I love cake. This really, really cool cake was made by Jacqueline at Cake Affair here in Spruce Grove. It was a very delish neapolitan 3 layered cake and went over very well with the crowd.   I had the cake sitting in the middle of the table all afternoon and a few people never knew it was a cake! Three different people actually thought it was a stuffed or plastic centrepiece. Great cake, Jacqueline!


I hoped you liked my little story about the leather e-reader case. If you have any questions at all, please ask and I will try to help as best as I can. All I can say is, don't be afraid to use different fabrics when sewing.  We are not always limited to quilting cottons. There is so much nice canvas duck, corduroy, faux suede, thin leather, vinyl, upholstery fabric, decor cotton, etc., out there.  Experiment!  You will usually get great results and learn a lot in the process.

I hope this helped in some way.  Leave a comment!!

Today I had plans to go the Edmonton Quilt Festival with a good friend, but we have to postpone it until tomorrow, so instead I'm doing some sewing. I'm should be sewing seat covers for my husband's truck.... but I just can't get into it! Instead.... I made a handmade leather clutch!


Tandy Leather has assorted lambskins with a wide assortment of colors and finishes on sale this month and I couldn't resist getting.... umm.... 9 of them. Oops! They were a good deal at 19.99 each. You can't blame me. (BTW, that does not count as fabric purchasing, although I did blow my vow to not purchase fabric last night because Pink Chalk Fabrics got their yarn died linen back in stock and I've been waiting for that for ages.)


Back on subject.  I decided I would like to give a clutch pattern away with a certain purse lock that I have ordered to be made, and that shipment should be here in a couple of weeks.  I drew up a pattern, made a mock up and then bravely cut into a nice brown piece of leather.  It's very thin, and embossed with a sort of snake skin pattern. The snake skin kind of creeps me out, because I hate snakes, but I also think it's kind of cool at the same time. I find it ironic that a lambskin would have a snake print... A lamb in snakes clothing? Is this a juxtaposition, or a paradox, or an oxymoron? Regardless, I think this leather was initially doomed to be an Italian shoe, but because of flaws or size, it can now be a little clutch with an adorable little lock!!  (This is not the lock I'm getting in stock, I really wish I had more of these little guys.)

This clutch sort of looks like the popular envelope clutches at first glance, but is actually quite different. The leather sewed together very easily with my Pfaff on the main seams and my heavy duty machine on the top stitching. It was easy to turn the leather right side out and do regular seams, because it is so thin. You could not do it with a thicker leather. I lined with some nice quilting cotton that was backed with fusible fleece (that was cut 1/2" smaller around all edges to make sure it didn't get in the seams).


I'm also playing with quilting cottons with this pattern as I know that not many can, or will want, to use leather.  I used by Annie's Soft and stable on this and it was not ideal because of wrinkles created in the exterior fabric.  Quilting it before assembly would have fixed this problem.


I am going to try it with a few other interfacing options and tweak the pattern a bit before it is released.  As of now though, I do like it because the 2 exterior pieces will fit nicely on a fat quarter and you line it with another FQ. If I went any bigger, you would have to buy more yardage and that wouldn't be ideal.



So now... I must put this aside and either clean the house, shop for flowers for my pots, walk to the park with my son and neighbourhood kids, or work on DH's seat covers. Which do you think I will do? Park!!

Thank you for reading.  Please leave a comment, I LOVE to hear from you.



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Recently, I purchased about 8 dozen pairs of microfiber purse handles from a lovely lady named Barbara H.  Barbara had been searching for Everything Mary purse handles that are sold at Joann's and Hancock Fabrics in the USA but aren't available to us in Canada. Everything Mary offered to sell her a box of 250 that was in a warehouse in Ontario and since she didn't need that many, she asked if I would take the excess off her hands... of course!


Barbara makes bags for friends, family, and charity auctions and has a few great ideas of what to do with microfiber purse handles.  Not only will they look good on any purse or bag, but they are also very strong and long enough to go over your shoulder - so GREAT to shop with!

Here is her method of making a tote.  It's explained quite well, but you will need some experience lining a tote so I will provide some tote pattern links below.
Barbara says:

 *  A simple square bottom large tote works beautifully with them.  I use 36” x 18” denim or corduroy.  I press on fusible interfacing (Pellon 808) to the fabric back.  
*   I line with cotton and many pockets on inside as well as 2 or more on the outside.  I square off the bottom with 6” ends for nice size that the grocery packers love because it is easy to load with groceries (stays nice and wide for them).
*  I mark the centre front and back of the bags and place the handles in either self fabric or sturdy braid loops @ 3” from either side of centre. 
*  Once all pockets and lining are in place,  I also use pieces of firm plastic (even the plastic webbing that is used for cross stitching crafts cuts easily) to cover with the lining fabric or scraps to sit in the bottom of the bag on top of the lining .  This firms up to bag to sit open for packing and keeps the lining in place as well.

Barbara also sent me some pictures of some lovely totes that have been made using some orphan quilt blocks, don't these look great!




I haven't been able to make anything with my microfiber purse handles yet... but I will soon!  I think they would work PERFECTLY on my Boyd St. Bowling Bag Pattern and I'm eager to try that.

Some free tote patterns:
Free Downloadable Bag Patterns at pursepatterns.com

These would look FAB with Lisa Lams "For Pleats Sake" Tote, just add tabs.



About the Purse Handles:
Sturdy, quality, ready-made purse handles to give your tote, purse or handbag that professional, personalized look. These look awesome, and so easy to add! These BLACK microfiber EverythingMary brand purse handles have a gorgeous braided detail where they are attached to the 1" (inside diameter) shiny nickel colour rings. They are 24" long in total, and 5/8" wide and come in a pair of 2 for $5.90 CAD. Available while stock lasts.  Get them HERE.