Enough with the garment sewing, I’m back with a bag! It felt really good to make something I actually know how to make and with this tote, I don’t even have to feel guilty about having too many bags because it’s actually a present for one of my best friends who is turning 30 tomorrow. I really had a hard time picking the fabric for the bag, because her style is a lot more girly than mine, so I let her choose the main fabric from Etsy and went with her request for some lace.

I used Keyka Lou’s Lots of Pockets Tote and mixed the Kokka print with some brown corduroy, a pink cotton for the lining and some lace. I think the flap could use a pretty button, but I hadn’t a pretty one lying around so I’ll just buy one next week and sew it on in the office, lucky for me we’re working together :) I’m still not 100 % sure if she’ll like it but it was as girly as I could get.

As far as the pattern goes: I absolutely love it!! I enlarged it by 120%, because her pattern tend to run small, and made the handles a bit wider and longer. It’s a great, great bag with an awesome shape and I really like the front pockets. I may even go so far and say it’s my favorite bag pattern so far. Which leads me to the conclusion: I have to make one for myself to. But you knew that already, didn’t you :)

It feels like ages since the last time I posted something. Thanks to everyone who commented or sent me an email asking what’s going on with me. You guys are great! The last two weeks have been a bit hectic and sometimes life gets the best of me and I don’t even feel like hanging around on the web. So please bear with me if I don’t post that often in the next couple of weeks, I’ll try my best not to disappear for too long :)

I haven’t felt really crafty lately, but this morning I woke up and went straight to my sewing machine. Et voila: the Summer Blouse, take two!

This time I lowered the neckline by 2 inches (still too high for my taste), took in the sides by 2 inches (still too wide), shortened the sleeves by 4 inches (they’re 3/4 sleeves now even if you can’t see it in the picture) and made it 4 inches longer which is a good length for me I think. I used two Heather Ross Mendocino prints, and even though I love the fabric I think it has a bit too much body for this kind of shirt. So next time I’ll try and use something with a bit more drape. Yup, you heard right, I’ll make at least another one :)

In other news, spring has finally arrived in Germany and I can’t wait to wear my flip-flops!! I hate being in shoes and socks and I would love to walk around bare foot 24/7. Tomorrow we’re invited to a barbecue so I’ll have to get going and get some nice steaks and cheese, and after that I’ll be back and do some blog reading. I’m sure I missed a lot :(

The good news: I made my first dress! The bad news: it doesn’t fit. I know it looks quite wearable in the photo but that’s only because there is a binder clip holding it together at the back :) But let’s start from the beginning and please excuse my scary face expression in the picture.

I really wanted to try the Kimono Dress from Heather Ross Weekend Sewing and found the perfect linen for it, but before I screw up the 24 Euro/meter fabric, I thought I’d go with something cheaper first. So I bought this really cheap dotted viscose that was pretty enough to wear it in public if the dress would turn out fine. 

The pattern was really easy to follow, up to the point where you have to join the bodice with the skirt, using elastic thread to shirr the fabric. I don’t know if it’s my machine, the fabric, the thread or my sewing skills, but I couldn’t get the fabric to shirr up for the life of me. Any tips on that? Fortunately I still had some elastic lying around, so I just sewed in an elastic waistband and tried it on. Well, guess what: the bodice is waaaayyy too big. I have no idea how to fix this, other than ripping the thing apart and even then I don’t know how much I have to take in. And if I take in the bodice, I have to make the same adjustments with the skirt too, but that one is fitting quite nicely. The skirt still needs hemming and I didn’t make the obi sash (I used a scarf for the picture) because there is no point in an obi if I don’t have the dress to were it with, now is there?

Even though I can’t wear the dress it still feels good that I made it! I can’t just go on making more bags. Oh wait that’s not true :)

Just a quick post to let you know I’m still alive and crafting. I finished another bag from my list, the Highbrow Hobo from U-Handbag to be exact. This bag was pretty easy to make, even though it took me around 4 hours to finish it.  I love the shape and how big it is! I used some Ikea fabric (new collection is out!) and I found some cotton for the lining in the exact shade of green like in the Ikea print. 

On second thought, white might not be a good color for a bag, because while I was cutting the fabric on the floor, my cat came back from a stroll and walked right over it with his muddy paws. So the bag has already a lovely cat paw shaped stain. But hey, maybe this will gonna be my trademark, who knows :)

In other crafting news: I made the first version of the Summer Blouse and I’m glad I used a bed sheet, because I messed up the binding and plancket. And it’s way to short for me. So back to the drawing board and sewing machine.

And yet another item from my Project List done. I actually made the sleeve on Tuesday but haven’t gotten around posting it. The moment I got the bear fabric I knew I wanted to use it for my MacBook sleeve. But since I only had a half yard of it,  I had to use something else for the body because otherwise the bears would have run in the wrong direction. So here it is: my new cozy, envelope style. 

I wanted to use a snap button like Shannon suggested, but luckily I tested them on some scraps I had left over, just to find out that they ripped the felt :( Since I had already sewn everything together, there was no way of adding some interfacing and so I had to come up with something else for the closure. Not many options there, so I went with two buttons wrap around style. 

If anyone is interested, I’ll try and post a tutorial for this sleeve, just give me a couple of days :)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I should be working on my quilt, but instead I made a belt out of the scraps, sue me:) Now I just have to find some pretty belt buckles and then I’ll make one in every color available in my stash. Think of the possibilities - a matching belt to every bag *swoon*! 

Sounds like a great idea? Go and make one with this fab tutorial over at Not Quite Vintage.