Halloween Project Bag Sewing Frenzy

Up until quite recently, my toddler girl has been surprisingly indifferent to my knitting or crochet projects lying around the house. But now all of a sudden she grows more and more interested in the squishyness of yarn balls... Which means I can't let my projects lie around openly any more. I need project bags - with zippers! Now, I have made a few of those in the past, but I've never kept a single one for myself.

My favourite pattern for zippered pouches is the Open Wide Zippered Pouch. I found some halloween themed fabrics in my stash - leftovers from last year's halloween swap sewing - and took full advantage of the size chart. I made two bags of each size... in just two days (well... evenings)!

Now I just have to keep them hidden from the 5-year-old... she loves bags of all shapes and sizes, and I bet she would just love to get her hands on the one with the little ghosts on it - because it's glow-in-the-dark! But hey... I've got plenty of that fabric left - she will get one too... eventually.

I just hope the little one will take her time to find out how those zippers work...

Uh oh...

... has it really been almost three years? I never intended to take such a long break from blogging about my crafty endeavours, but then I guess work life got the better of me. Anyway, I'm back! Hello again!

So, what's new?

Most importantly, my family has grown a tiny bit. My second daughter, Rebecca, was born July 31st, 2016. It's hard to believe she's already celebrated her first birthday.

But this this actually not a blog about my private life, is it? So, back to crafty topics...

I got myself a new sewing machine... uhm... two years ago, I think? Best decision ever to get rid of that old thing that made me think twice before I started sewing late at night, for fear I might wake my daughter or even the neighbours. Seriously - it sounded like a demolition hammer rather than what I thought a sewing machine should sound like. Plus, it wouldn't sew through more than two or three thin layers of cotton fabric without constantly getting stuck. So, I bought a Husqvarna Viking - and haven't regretted it even once. It's making such a huge difference! I dare tackle much more elaborate projects now. I still love making project bags, but the limits of what is possible for me to make have been pushed waaay out.

My favourite sewing project so far this year was a costume I made for Helena (who is almost five years old now!). She (like almost all girls that age I guess), just loves everything Frozen. She hasn't even seen more than half of the film, BUT... everything has to be about Elsa and Anna and the rest of the lot. So, no big surprise - she asked me could I make her an Anna or Elsa dress in time for the carnival party at kindergarten. I went with Anna's outdoor winter wear. I followed the Simplicity Pattern for the dress and cloak, and found a pattern for the cap somewhere on the internet (if I come across it again, I'll edit in the link).

I loved making the dress, and I think it came out beautifully.

My daughter was absolutely thrilled - here you see her fully dressed up.

So, I'll stop here for now... there'll be more news later (and also things that are really not new...), but chores are waiting...

FOs (Sewing): More bags...

Project bags make wonderful swap gifts - they are useful, and they are rather quick to make. And while I'm still struggling to improve my sewing skills to a point where I dare sew adult sized garment, I have by now become fairly good at sewing project bags - nothing special, but hey! Half a year ago I wasn't even able to sew straight. So... I have made some progress.

A couple of weeks back, I found some cute owl fabric for sale in a local shop, and I made it into this drawstring bag for an angel package:

This was the first time I worked without a sewing pattern. I just knew what I wanted the bag to look like and how big I wanted it to be, cut out the fabrics - and it worked!

And then there was the fairy tale swap in August. I had come across some really cute Red Riding Hood fabric that I just had to use for that swap. I went by the Reversible Sock Knitting Project Bag tutorial again. I've used the pattern before and love it - all the instructions are already very clear in their written form, but there are also lots of pictures to guide you through every step.

And because I had (and still have) plenty of the Red Riding Hood fabric left after making the project bag, I made a matching notions pouch:

This is also a pattern I have used before - it's the Zipper Pouch pattern from the free Craftsy Class on Bag Making Basics that helped me take my first successful steps into machine sewing.

FO (Sewing): Shoulder Bag

I also wanted to make a bag for my swap partner in the Fantasy Swap, and I had come across some nice and fairly easy looking shoulder bag patterns in a magazine (Pauline in 3 Varianten - Sonderheft Patchwork Magazin Nr. 7 - Taschen selber machen). 

Most of the sewing was indeed fairly straightforward - apart from the fact that my sewing machine just doesn't seem to like working through multiple layers of fabric and fusible fleece. Oh, and I still have to work on my curved seams. 

The hardest part was turning the strap right side out... oh, did my fingers hurt... a day later it felt as if I had hit my finger with a hammer! And I will have to do it again, because I definitely want to make another bag for myself. It's just the right size to take anywhere - it's not huge, but it will hold a purse, keys,... even a small knitting project if need be. 

FOs (Sewing): Reversible Drawstring Bag and The Owl Dress

Reversible Drawstring Bag

I tried out another project bag tutorial and loved it. It's fairly easy to sew, the bag is a nice size (perfect for socks), and it's reversible! I made this as a last minute swap gift - but I will make at least one for myself once I've finished some other sewing projects.

The Owl Dress

Yes, it's done! I finally finished my daughter's owl dress. It sure isn't perfect, but I'm still really pleased that I made it through the pattern (to be found in: sabrina Nähen special: Kinderträume aus Stoff zum Selbermachen).

It was a great learning experience, and it did turn out cute! What I love most about this dress is that it doesn't look to "girly" - it's just the perfect little dress to wear while out playing.

My little girl had been very excited about this dress ever since I had told her what I was making and that it would be for her. Then on Friday I received the owl buttons I had ordered (I had been looking for owl buttons for weeks, and finally found some that I liked last week), and I told her that she could wear her dress as soon as I had sewn on the buttons. Actually wanted to do that Friday night, but got distracted... Saturday morning after breakfast, she goes to the living room, sees her dress... "button?, button?". Oops... So, I sat down to attach those buttons, told her to sit down beside me and watch... which she did very patiently - I've rarely seen her sit that still... Needless to say she had to put it on rightaway - and she seemed so happy wearing it! 

I'm already looking into sewing more clothes for her - started working on a pair of trousers, and found some other adorable dress patterns...

FOs: Two more bags!

I made bags again last week to get some more sewing practise - I especially wanted to practise using zippers again. Someone had recommended tutorials for a Pyramid Purse and a Box Bag to me a while back and I had wanted to try them ever since. Both tutorials were quite easy to follow, and the bags turned out really cute (even though my topstitching along the zipper of the box bag is a bit wonky).

I made the pyramid purse a little bigger than the tutorial version - I used a 15 cm zip - but it is still tiny. I think it will serve nicely as a small notions bags. The box bag is a nice size to hold a smaller project such as socks. More bags to follow shortly, I guess...

WIP Parade

Thought I'd tell you what I'm working on at the moment - that is to say, my recent WIPs, not the long time UFOs (those will become WIPs of the week once in a while). As you might have noticed by now, I'm not good at sticking to one project at a time...


Cabled Tree Sweater Vest

I'm making this sweater vest for my daughter (1 1/2 years old). I'm knitting it one to two sizes larger than she needs right now, so she can grow into it.
Found the pattern in one of those knitting magazines (Bambino Strick Herbst / Winter 2013) and just liked the look of it. I'm using a merino / cotton blend (Junghans Wolle Merino-Cotton) - very soft and nice to work with.

I'm almost done with it, actually, just need to knit a couple of rows of ribbing around the armholes - should be able to finish this over the weekend.


Harvest Cardigan

I'm knitting this cardigan as part of the Simple Collection KAL in the Beginner's Knit-Along group on ravelry. I had wanted to knit a cardigan for myself anyway, and this one looked very nice in its simplicity. The pattern is available on the Tin Can Knits website.
I started the cardigan in mid March, and so far am having fun knitting it. But now I've got the long stretch ahead of me... between 9 and 10 inches in pattern before the garter border starts...

When I chose the yarn for the cardigan, I wanted 100% wool, but machine washable (I've got a toddler in the house, after all), and finally went with DROPS Big Merino - a yarn that I had worked with before.


New Oaklet Shawl

I have come to love knitting shawls. So when the Triangular Shawl KAL came up in the Beginner's Knit-Along Group I couldn't resist. I chose to knit the New Oaklet Shawl (pattern available here on the Tricksy Knitter website).

I have finished the four repeats of the lace chart the pattern calls for, but have enough yarn left for a fifth repeat. So I'll add one additional repeat before starting to work the border chart.

I'm knitting this shawl in Malabrigo sock - love that yarn for lace accessories.


Blue Mystery Socks

This is the second time I'm taking part in the mystery knit-along with the Solid Socks group on ravelry. Last time was just so much fun - couldn't resist. Love the pattern so far - looking forward to the next clue, which should be released tomorrow.

Crazy Stripey Cabley Socks

Yes, another pair of socks - just couldn't resist. This month's KAL topic in the Beginner's Knit-Along Group is cables, and this - Socks on a Plane - is one of the recommended patterns. I just had to cast on...

I have knit toe-up socks only once before - and that was baby size - so this construction is still quite new to me, which just adds to the fun!

Oh, and this is the first time I'm using self-striping yarn for my socks (not counting the pair of baby size socks mentioned above) - I love it! I would still not use it on sock patterns with lots of pattern detail that might get lost, but it's just such a joy and so exciting to see how the colours will work up. I have not tried to match up the colours for my socks - because, hey, I'm knitting crazy stripey socks - they are not supposed to be a perfect match!


Owl Dress

My only non-knitting project for today. I have started to sew the dress for my daughter. We'll see how that goes...

Helena at least loves the owls on the fabric, and I had to tell her what I'm making. She seemed very excited to find out that I'm making something for her, and now everytime she sees me handling those pieces of fabric she points at them and says something like "de, de" (which I think is supposed to mean dress), and then her name. 

Uhm, rather long list... hope to have some finished object(s) next time.

My first zipper!

In my last post I mentioned that I wanted to make the zipper pouch from the Craftsy class on Bag Making Basics. Well, I did - a couple of days ago, actually... just didn't find time to post.

Here's the result:

I was a bit worried about sewing in the zipper, because I had never done it before, but it was easier than I thought! I'm so glad that I tried. The whole thing took me just over an hour to sew - and I was checking the video tutorials frequently (this was after all my first attempt at this pattern).

I did make a tiny mistake, though: I forgot to trim the corners before I turned the pouch right side out and closed the last seam - this leaves the corners slighlty rounded. As I said - tiny, tiny mistake. I love my new pouch and have put it to use right away.

I think these make really nice little gifts (especially as they are so quick to make), and I'll definitely sew more of these (already got a couple of zippers). Anyway, I do need to make one for my daughter first - she is trying to claim mine all the time.  

FOs: Peach Leaves Socks and Reversible Tote

I've got two more finished projects to show this week.

First up is a pair of Socks. The pattern is called Peach Leaves Lace Socks by Qianer Huang. The yarn I used is Vendita sock yarn. I purchased it at one of the local discounters a while back, and while it is fairly inexpensive yarn, I can't complain about quality. I've used it for socks before, and it is sturdy, holds up well in the washing machine, and is still quite soft.

I have been taking part in her knit-alongs now and then since October last year, and I'm really enjoying her sock patterns. When I first tried to make (plain) socks I would end up with a single sock, just because I got bored after the first one. Anyway, I have been very disappointed in storebought socks lately, so I figured I should start knitting my own socks. My goal this year is to knit one pair of socks every month. The knit a-longs help a great deal when it comes to actually finishing complete pairs, and so do the lace and cable designs - they keep the knitting interesting.

Oh, and the socks do actually fit, too.

My second finished project is another bag. It's a reversible tote, and the pattern is from the second Craftsy class on bag-making basics (reversible tote and zipper pouch). Of the bags I have made so far, I found this bag to be the easiest to sew, and I like how it turned out.

This is what I consider the "outside" of the bag:

And this is the "inside". As you can see, this tote has got a cute little pocket on the inside.

While it is a reversible bag (technically), I like the look of the "outside" better. I think if were to I make a second one, I would not choose three different fabrics, but only two, and make the lining the same colour as the outer top, and the pocket the colour of the outer bottom and handles. Well, chances are I will make a second one... but next in line is the zipper pouch.

Oh, and what happened to my WIP of last week - the colour waves blanket? Well, I actually did get about 4.5 inches done, so I've still got about 7.5 inches ahead of me, and then the border. I noticed two mistakes I must have made yesterday while not paying enough attention to what I'm doing - but I have decided not to rip back to fix them. I just want to get that blanket done before June...

Bucket Bag

I went ahead and made the bucket bag from the Craftsy tutorial I mentioned in my previous post.

Overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out, in spite of some crooked seems. It was my first time working with interfacing and fusible fleece, and  the fleece especially didn't make sewing straight easier... the result being that my stitching on the handle is far from parallel to the handle edges. Also, I had some issues sewing the bottom in -  the rest of the bag seemed to get in the way all the time, and I ended up with some minor creases in the exterior bottom seam.

Still, I love this bag. It stands up on its own - which I think is wonderful for a project bag. But the best feature by far are the customised pockets that run around the entire bag. I made some narrow pockets for needles or pens / pencils, some slighlty wider ones for a pair of scissors or a ruler, and two really wide ones for instruction sheets.

Learning to sew...

I got a sewing machine for Christmas (or my birthday?) a couple of years ago, but never used it. About three weeks I decided that I should just try it and put it to use. I had found a pattern for a dress that I would love to make for my little girl - it didn't even look too difficult! So now at least I had goal.

Since I had never really touched a sewing machine before, I decided to start with some easier things and - more importantly - things that don't have to fit... So I started making bags. 

For my first bag, I bought a bag making set - it included instructions and all the fabrics I would need cut ready to sew. So I sat down and started sewing - only to find that something as trivial sounding as sewing a straight line proved to be quite a challenge! No need to say the seams on my first bag turned out rather crooked... BUT I had produced a usable bag! And in spite of the crooked seams it still looks cute:

Next I went to a local shop and bought some scrap fabrics at a reduced price - and went on to making drawstring bags. First, I found the DIY: Crochet Project Bag Tutorial on Gleeful Things- I gave it a try, and it worked! The bag is just the right size for a smaller project (I'm using it for a shawl I'm working on right now).

The pictures in that tutorial show so very clearly where you are supposed to sew - I just loved it!  I also found that the straightness of my seams was much better than on my first bag.

The pattern for the third bag I made is from a free Craftsy class on bag-making basics. I had plenty of left over fabrics from my previous project, and I love how different these two bags turned out inspite of being made from the same materials.

I am feeling a lot more comfortable working with the sewing machine already and start having tremendous fun. So where do I go from here? My goal is to be able to sew clothes for my daughter. I have now learned to sew reasonably straight, so I guess my next step should be to sew curves in a CONTROLLED manner. I greatly enjoy the Craftsy class, and I have decided to make the second bag (a bucket bag) as well. Should help me with that next step...