Frank the Wine Bag

I wish I would have taken more pictures of him before I gifted him away. This is still a good shot of his awkward face.

Meet Frank. The lovely wine bag I made last weekend. It was super easy to make. Of course adding his hair added an extra step, but still super simple. The face is appliqued. Super easy iron on adhesive. I used the paper bag from BevMo to get the size right. I even added a "Made by Teresa" tag to the inside.

I may make more of these for future holidays.

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Simple Cardigan from a Hoodie

While looking to upcycle some old clothes, I came across Cola Cola Island's post with a tutorial to use a hoodie to create a simple cardigan. And she looked so cute in her photo, I thought I would try it with a hoodie i acquired that didn't quite fit me right.

I started with a red American Apparel hoodie like this one.

Then I cut off the hood and the zipper. Hemmed in the edges. And voila!

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What's My Motivation?

Okay, so I haven't been making too many things lately. I'm working full time, and with another job on the weekends. But mostly, I'm running out of projects. I have ideas of things I want to make, but something holds me back. Either I don't know how to do something so I plan on teaching myself a new skill, or I just don't have the time to really sit down at my sewing machine. So lately, I've been knitting in front of the TV, but even that gets tiresome, as I've been working on the same project for a while now.

Recently, I taught myself how to crochet, but I only know the basics and don't really know how to incorporate it into my other projects. There is still so much to learn.

Also, I've gotten by with making things for myself but how much can you really keep making for yourself. I tried to make a few purses and sell them on Etsy, but I didn't get any bites. No sales. :( Very discouraging.

So I feel stuck. Where do I go from here? Plus, I don't have too much extra money to buy fabric. I have a ton of scraps, and I'm addicted to fat quarters, so I have those coming out of my ears. I do have some projects that can be made with fat quarters, but again, the lack of motivation to sit at my machine is annoying. I also have set aside some old clothes to be used as fabric. I guess buying fabric isn't my problem. It is just my laziness and discouragement holding me back.

So what do you do with the things you have made that you can't sell? And do I continue to make more of them hoping that somebody will catch on and tell their friends about them? I wish I had more business sense so I could actually make money off this stuff.

Anyway, any suggestions are welcome.

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Jazzin' up the Onesies

So a friend of mine (over at LB&J) is expecting a little boy in April. She needed to jazz up some plain onesies she received from her mother-in-law and knew that I was crafty with a sewing machine. I had made a purse for her last year. So she commissioned me to help cutefy some outfits for her little man. I happily obliged and my applique adventure began.

I was familiar with the art of applique but I had never tried it myself. I went out to cyberland and looked at some helpful craft blogs to find some helpful hints and patterns. I decided to go the iron-on adhesive route, not being too comfortable with my decorative sewing technique. It proved to be very helpful holding the shapes in place while I sewed around the edges. Those suckers are on there and won't be going anywhere soon.

Some of the designs I drew myself (turtle, cupcake, car) and a couple I traced from an online pattern I found (guitar, apple). I'm really happy with how they turned out. They were really fun to make too. And LB & J being a good friend of mine, I could pick patterns that went with her and her husband's interests and lifestyles.

Here are the results:

I may end up making more of them and putting them up in my Etsy shop.

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Crafts or Bust?

So I'm out of work again. That means more time for sewing. Although I'm hoping to have a new job soon. In the meantime, I thought I could sell some purses for some extra cash. But I haven't had too many people interested in what I do have already up. Do I just start making more stuff and hope that people will become more interested? Or do I just make things for myself and never sell anything? I guess sometimes it takes money to make money. I'd have to buy materials to make more purses. Sure, I have some fabric. I could make maybe 6 or 8 purses. Is that enough to start with? I think whatever I choose, I'll make excuses not to do it. That's just the way I work. Pathetic. I've gotta change that, for sure. Maybe I'll just make the purses with the materials that I've got and hope for the best.

After I make a few of them, I'll probably post pictures of them up here for all the readers I have. Ha! I will also put them up on my Artfire store. I seem to have gotten some views on what I have up there, but no takers.

Hopefully it will work out. Thanks for reading.

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Don't Shoot the Messenger

So I found an adorable Messenger Bag tute online a while ago and I've been wanting to make it for a long time. I didn't have any heavy weight fabric at the time. Then I remembered I had and old pair of corduroys somewhere. I had used half of one leg to make something else months ago. The dimensions of the fabric I got from the pants were slightly smaller than what I needed, but I made do. It just came out as a tall skinny Messenger Bag. But I really really love how it turned out.

The little pink fringe adds a little touch of feminine and the brown corduroy makes it strong enough to hold anything. The knotted handle is a cute little addition, making the strap adjustable without extra hardware added. It adds a little character too.

I need to work on my photography skills. But I think you get the idea.

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Hand It Over!

So I was looking for a small hand bag that was easy to make, and not too complicated. Something I could just sling over my arm and go. A lot of the patterns I found were complicated or required heavier fabric than the quilting cotton that I usually buy. Then I remembered I had a pattern that could be scaled down very easily and gave it a try.
I've made this pattern before just a much larger version.
Lula Louise: Reversible Shoulder Bag

So I scaled it down to fit on 2 fat quarters (1 outer, 1 lining).

I wish I would have made the strap a little bit bigger because it doesn't fit around my arm as comfortably as I would have liked.  But it is a really cute little bag.

And it's reversible! So it can match whatever my mood is.

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Sewing Machine cover

I found a tutorial online for a quilted sewing machine cover I thought was really cute. Patchwork Sewing Machine Cover


Here's mine. It may look a little familiar. I used a photo of it for the design of this blog.

I just used fabric I had on hand. None of it really goes together, but somehow I like how the mismatched squares kind of work.

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Custom Tshirt Purses

So for my first post I thought I would showcase some of my favorite items to make. It started out as just a trial thing. I was low on fabric, then I saw the bag I had set aside of old clothes to take to Goodwill. Found a couple of shirts that I really hated to part with, but they just didn't fit anymore. So I used the fabric to make a purse.

It's a cute little purse. I've improved the design a little, like making the strap less stretchy.
I recently made a couple of Tshirt purses for a friend.

I played with the design a little bit for each of them. Different sizes, and the red one has squared corners. It was a fun project to make and I think they turned out pretty well.

They are really simple to make. I found a great tutorial on About.com

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Sew Many Ch-ch-ch-changes

One of my first projects I did with my new sewing machine. It's a 6 pocket tote bag. It's a little smaller than I expected but I really love the fabric.

Yup I think this is going to become a sewing blog. Hopefully I can keep it up on a semi regular basis. I am still job hunting so maybe I can sell some bags/purses to pay some bills. We'll see.
I've got to get some better pictures of the stuff I've made so far. Then I will slowly post them up here for you all to see. 

Welcome!

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