It's been a wonderful year at Emmaline Bags & Sewing Patterns. Thank you all for the wonderful support and feedback. Exciting things are happening in 2015, so let's bring on the NEW YEAR!!    

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all!!




 

Hey everyone! I am very excited that today, pre-orders are going on sale for the Bag of the Month Club for 2015! If you are not familiar with the club, please click here to view the club offerings for 2014 so you can get a taste of the quality of bag patterns that are in store for you in 2015!

The Details

6 of the best bag sewing pattern designers in the business are teaming together to bring you a 6-month membership club. The club runs from January-June of 2015. Each month, you will receive an exclusive and brand-new pdf bag sewing pattern from that month’s designer, delivered directly to your inbox. If you are familiar with even one of the designers, then you know that you can expect a high-quality and easy-to-understand sewing pattern each month! The bag designs will be a mystery until each pattern is revealed every month. We promise, they will definitely be worth the wait! The patterns will be exclusive to the club for the duration. Each pdf pattern will be delivered on the 1st of the month, and will include detailed instructions, illustrations/photos, and templates needed to make the bag pattern. If you join after the club begins, you will receive all patterns released to the club up until that point (for instance, if you join on February 14th, you will receive the patterns for January and February automatically).

 

We are all so excited for you to join us! The one-time fee for 6 months of Bag of the Month Club is $40, during which time you will receive 6 pdf bag sewing patterns. HOWEVER, if you sign up during the month of December 2014, you will receive an early-bird membership fee of only $35! The club runs from January through June of 2014. The club is a great value; pdf bag sewing patterns usually cost around $10 each, and you will be receiving 6 patterns for only $40 (or $35 in December)!

The Designers

January - Samantha from Sewing Patterns with Mrs. H. is a Welsh pattern designer with a group of pretty yet practical bags in her pattern library. I heard about January's bag design and I was very excited, as it's a piece of purse hardware that I have never used before, but always wanted to. Look out for January's bag, as it's going to be amazing!

February - Sara Lawson is up for February. She likes bags with a lot of pretty details, and we had a lot of requests last time for smaller bags, so she is going to see what she can come up with! "Smaller bags are challenging for me to design, but I'm up for it!"

March - Anna from Noodlehead has many versatile free tutorials and paid patterns on her site, many of which are wildly popular with quilters! Anna's first book is due out in February, called Handmade Style: 24 Must-Have Basics to Stitch, Use, and Wear.

April - Janelle of Emmaline Bags. Janelle has a thriving pattern business, where she also sells all the hardware, handles, and interfacing needed to make the bag patterns in her shop. Janelle's first book is coming out in 2015.

May - Betz White is a bag designer and textile artist, and she is the author of three books, most recently Present Perfect: 25 Gifts to Sew and Bestow. You can find her patterns available on-line in her pattern shop, as well as her video classes on Creative Bug and Craftsy.

June - Chris of Chris W. Designs is an Australian bag pattern designer, and Chris has sewing patterns available for various skill levels. Her linky party, Bag Brag Tuesday, is also great for linking up your finished projects and seeing what everyone else is making!

How Do I Join?

All you have to do to join is click on the ‘Add to Cart’ button below, and you will be able to sign up and pay for the club via Paypal. Also join us on Facebook and Flickr for photo shares of members’ bags and member questions!

 

Current Subscriber Notes:

"All patterns will be sent automatically on the 1st of the month using automated software. If your Paypal e-mail address is different from the e-mail where you would like to receive the patterns, just drop me a line and I will make that adjustment. If you feel that you have missed a mailing (please check your spam folder also!), or you have a question about the club, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at any time and I will work quickly to solve any issues! sara(at)sewsweetness(dot)com. Thank you!"




 

If you have been following on here or facebook, you will know that I have listed some new large metal "handmade" hanging tags for your bags & satchels. These will hang from a leather lace, cord, or fabric loop that co-ordinates with your handmade bag.


Yesterday I put up a mini-tutorial to show you how to sew up your own fabric loop. You can find that tutorial HERE. Or, you can PIN it for future reference by clicking HERE!!


I am pretty proud of this design, and I consider these "Bag Jewellery". They are like a shiny broach, that gives any handmade bag a nice shiny focal point, while boasting "handmade".  You can read more about how awesome I think they are in the tutorial, this post is about a GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck to all of you. Watch here for more prizes and new products and sewing patterns.
Thank you!

 

I am so thrilled with these bag tags!  They are going to look awesome hanging from a bag strap ring on any medium to large size bag or even from the strap loops on The Totes Ma Tote bag pattern. They are shiny nickel and HUGE. Handmade is something to be proud of and share!

Metal Hanging Tags from emmalinebags.com

At first, I just designed these because I love the sparkle and shine and the addition of a focal point, that is often missing on a bag, but then I realized that these will actually help custom bag makers attract customers too! If you sell gorgeous looking bags, sometimes its hard to carry your own and advertise at the same time, because they look so professional. Customers will first love the bag, see the tag and probably ask you if you made it yourself.

I don't sell bags, but I love to carry handmade and I don't think the commercial bag designers should be the only ones to make and carry something shiny.  I like my bag jewellery!

You could hang them from a leather cord, some recycled vinyl or leather straps or make some professional looking fabric straps from some fabric that coordinates with your new handmade bag.




Here's a quick and easy tutorial on how to make a slender fabric strap of your own.  It ends up only 1/4" wide!

Fabric Requirements & Cutting: 

Cut 1 rectangle 1" x 14" of coordinating light to medium quilting weight cotton, decor cotton, or sateen.

Instructions: 

Press your fabric strip like you would for an open-ended 4-fold strap.
1) Press the the strip in half, wrong sides together, down the length of the strap.
2) Fold the outside edges to meet the center at the fold line you created in step 1.




**Alternative for Joining:If you are using thicker fabric, or want a smoother joining seam with less bulk, join the ends of the strip using a 45-degree seam. (This would be the same method you use for joining bias binding strips.) Fold the strip so that the ends are crossed at a 90-degree, right sides together. Make sure the ends of the strap extend about 1/4". Sew across the straps at a 45-degree angle starting and stopping where the strips meet at the edges - not at the end points of the strap. See diagram (1) below. Trim off the corners, leaving a 1/4" seam allowance. Press seam open and refold strap.


6) Sew the open edge of the loop closed, edgestitching about 1/16" away from the edge. Go slow and make it neat! If you are uncomfortable being so close to the edge, you could always move over ;).

Perfect Edgestitching!

8) To attach this to a strap ring on a bag - repeat Step 7, inserting the end of the loop without the tag through the strap o-ring, making it big enough to allow the hanging tag to go through, and pass the hanging tag through the loop.
I hope you love this bag bling as much as I do. They are so luxurious and professional looking, but also a great way to brag out your amazing handmade project.  Handmade IS chic and professional TOO!




Make sure you join the Emmaline Sewing Patterns Group to get some great bag inspiration from items sewn from Emmaline patterns. It's such a wonderful group!

 

There was fabric, there were sewing notions, and there was an explosion - perhaps several small explosions. The result was this:

Please DON'T click to enlarge ;)

and this....


It's terrible. Shameful.

There have been times in my life when I have been fortunate enough to have a sewing room, and times when I haven't. The sewing room has been the kitchen table, a desk in my bedroom, or in the home office. Currently, it's a small bedroom. It's not a large, "pinterest inspired" sewing room with clever ideas and matching motifs, but I am lucky to have it - so I don't complain. So why do I not take care of it?

Because creativity is MESSY business!

I couldn't even sew in it anymore.
And SEW I fixed it. It didn't take long, only a few hours of folding, sorting and dusting and it is beautiful again!

My desk found a nice sunny spot by the window, so I can spy on my son and the neighbourhood kids. (A great spot for sewing machine photography too.) The iron found a necessary spot away from the curtains.


My fabric is folded, and the shelves are clean and organized.


Best of all, Lady Liberty has found a great spot between Pinky and the Juki. The Brain, my Pfaff, stays packed in her travel bag for sewing guild meetings so Pinky and the Brain are not a duo any more. Juki has taken center stage!!


It have to say, it feels AMAZING to have a clean room to work in again. Going through all of my fabric enabled me to sort it so I know where everything I want is. I did realize that I really don't have that much fabric, and that is soooo sad... but easily fixable !!

After it was all done and sorted, I made up a cute little coin purse with a purse frame, and I sewed up a quick and easy fabric strap to hang my new round handmade bag labels from. I intend to put up a little blog post to help anyone that wants to make a fabric strap for them. These suckers are HUGE. A bit larger than I had intended when I first designed them, but I think they will look pretty amazing hanging from a strap ring on a large bag. Watch for them in the shop November 3rd!


How have your sewing rooms been looking lately? Lost your sewing mojo? Clean your room!! I am ready to go work on a quilt AND a new bag pattern.

 

It's snowing! 

The 3rd Annual Snow Sale has begun... This year I have upped the discount from 15% to 20% to celebrate and appreciate my amazing customers. 

Use the code SNOW20 until midnight Oct 29 (MST) on everything in the shop at Emmaline Bags. Let it snow!! Janelle & Chantal (...my fantastic friend and helper.) 

(Note: orders will be filled in the order they are received. Orders may take 1-2 days to ship. Some items may go out of stock, and this sale is only valid while supplies last.)



 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

11 FQs AND Emmaline Bags Store Credit!

READ THIS! Before I get on to the contest, you are going to have to endure a little story about adventure and spontaneity while on holidays. As some of you know, I traveled to NYC with 5 friend from here in Alberta, and met up with 2 friends from Ontario and one from NZ.  We had a blast!

This story is about a day I planned to go with Natalie and Jo from Ontario and Deb from NZ to the Museum of Natural History.  It was going to be a nice quiet afternoon looking at previously alive things. They are always quiet and relaxing, aren't they? (Unless you are in the movie, Night at Museum.) This is a picture I took of the museum while driving by on the top of the double-decker bus the day before, whilst wearing my herringbone wool wrap and handmade flower pin that you read about in yesterday's post.  Isn't it lovely and relatively quiet looking?

Click to enlarge.

On our way to the Museum, the subway was PACKED, just like in the movies!!! It was only my second time on it, so I just thought it was normal. Very NY. When at the Columbus Circle stop, right at the start of Central Park, we heard the announcement, "for those of you going to the rally, this is your stop. Next stop Harlem - 125 street".   ACK! Harlem?  We were supposed to get off at the Museum station.  Everyone was getting off! The four of us ran for the exit and one of us muttered, something about maybe it was an express train? But oh well, we could go up and walk to the Museum. And a rally? I thought, " a rally, how cute!"

Columbus Circle, Manhattan.

A couple of weeks ago I had never been in a New York subway train, and a couple of weeks ago I had never been in a protest. Now I can say that I not only rode the subway to the Museum of Natural History in NYC, but also came up from the below the street into the largest protest in the world, the protest for climate change with 310,000 people! OOPS! That was unexpected, but rather exciting.


Moral of the will be given in the middle of the story: Always consult current events if you don't want to end up on the same street as 310,000 people, and if you do end up on the street with 310,000 people - enjoy the atmosphere because you won't be going anywhere fast.
We ended up detouring through Central Park for a while, as walking against the crowd was not working. We decided a parallel route might work.

Click to Enlarge!

I got to see parts of the park that I didn't know I would see that day. It's 843 acres, you know.


We eventually made our way to the steps of the museum.


Somehow we were all wearing protest buttons and carrying stickers and papers that we never started with. Security told us we had to put them in our bags though because protesters were not allowed in the museum.  Protesters? It was peaceful!! I did pocket the button and stickers and I am very happy I did, because my daughter loved receiving them when I got home. I had hoped to pick up a poster for her of the Statue of Liberty holding a wind mill turbine instead of a torch, but sadly when we came out much, much later - they were all gone.


At the time, we did not know there were 310,000 people, but we could tell there were a few thousand. It wasn't until we were in the museum basement at lunch that we googled the NBC news and found out. The museum was amazing and I feel very lucky to have gotten to see it. We kind of raced through, but I saw some elephants and plenty of awesome bones.



I was going to show you my pictures from B&J Fabrics on Fashion Ave.. but I think I've gone on long enough, so I will share those with you tomorrow.





a Rafflecopter giveaway