Patterned printed cushions

Pardon the poor photos - I sewed these last night and was at work today, so I haven't had a chance to do daylight shots yet.

Here's a redux of last year's Geometric cushion which went down such a treat in Frankie magazine:

And here's a completely new pattern concept, inspired by the chevrons all over people's Pinterest interior design pins:

I plan to tone down the roof a bit and use more contrasting greens and yellows next print run.

And here's the whole happy family!

Still loving 'em!

Spoonflower Delivery!

Oh yeah, oh yeah!

I went for the organic cotton sateen instead of the linen/cotton canvas I tried last time, and it's miles better. The colour saturation is better than the linen/cotton, and a vast improvement over the quilting cotton I used to order. It looks and feels luxe, compared to the linen/cotton which made my image look cheap. The print is still way off square - why can't they fix that?

I still need to increase the white space around the image (ie make the image smaller) so it appears flat on the front of the cushion, rather than being distorted by the shape of the insert.


I've been dying to try this - a border of paisley on the sides to elongate the tram image and make it look a bit more handmade. What do you think?


Perhaps my favourite new feature - tags printed in the Spoonflower design's selvedge and trimmed with pinking shears.


Still need to experiment with the smoothest and quickest way of doing the reverse applique inserts. Not that you can tell they're anything less than perfect from this distance. ;-)

These are just the 'classic' prints - I haven't tried out the gorgeous patterned prints yet! I think I'll be spending some time in the sewing room after the kids go to bed tonight.

Anxiety

No, not me, I'm feeling fine. Maybe a bit nervous about the first day of my new job tomorrow, my first time doing proper work in nearly three years, but otherwise I'm dandy.

Beefranck's Emporium (on the always wonderful Mr X Stitch) has featured stitcher Lindsay Joy's Anxiety Series. I love them. Particularly this one.


'Maybe Attending' is the saviour of those of us who dread social gatherings where we don't know anyone, but don't want to seem rude by admitting we'd rather stay at home and watch the extras on a DVD box set.

Little Bag, Big Bag

Last week I made a darling little Wristlet purse from Nikki M's book You SEW Girl!

I really loved it but it wasn't quite big enough to fit my wallet, plus button loop closures and I are not compatible. I thought about making another Wristlet with the body 5cm longer in the same fabrics, but it seemed a little silly to make almost exactly the same thing again. Flipping through the book I realised there was something bigger I could make, in the same fabrics, without feeling like I was repeating myself.

Behold: my matching City Shopper bag!

I had just enough of both the travel and orange fabrics to cut out the necessary pieces. I would have loved to make the strap orange but didn't have enough left. I had to go buy more of the aqua - shh, I'm meant to be strictly sewing from my stash this year! I used rectangular rings rather than O rings, simply because I liked the look of them when I went through the options at Nikki's studio shop. I have lost count of how many times I've dropped in there in the past fortnight - I really don't plan my sewing projects ahead of time!

I referred to Nikki's Mod Bag pattern method to do a magnetic snap closure instead of the button loop, but couldn't resist sewing a button on anyway.

Even without a gusset the City Shopper is a very roomy bag. I used a light fabric rather than the same black lining as the Wristlet, in the hope it'll make it easier to find things. The print is a green cityscape.

Now, for the regrets - I screwed up the interfacing. This time I read all the way through the preparation instructions in the pattern, and then read the book's section on interfacing. I wanted a stiffer bag than my Wristlet so I'd bought a heavy fusible backing, which I wouldn't have touched if I'd read the book's warning on it being like cardboard (it was). After experimenting with all my different options (heat, interfacing first, wadding first) I decided I was going to do one layer of medium non-woven interfacing, then medium fusible wadding, then another layer of medium interfacing. But when it came time I went into a pressing coma (y'know, when your whole world shrinks down to counting to six, moving the iron, counting to six...) and fused both layers of interfacing before the wadding. The result is that the bag is very easily crinkled and I can't quite get the fabric around the darts smooth. I'm trying to convince myself no-one will notice from a distance, but it still makes me a bit sad. I did the flap differently - that's one layer of wadding then one layer of interfacing - which turned out fine but has the squishiness I was trying to avoid by putting down a layer of interfacing first. I have to avoid letting the designer see it or she'll deny knowing me.

Sigh. Next time I'll get it right. And spend the extra few bucks on woven interfacing.

I'm sufficiently proud of my City Shopper that I'm sure to use it every day. And I was very pleased to find the set strap length is just right for hanging the bag off the handles of the double pram. Versatility! I can use the bag on work days and home days and avoid the hassle of transferring everything back and forth all the time.

I'm sure to make another one in time! In fact, I'm already mentally making fabric combos...

Pretty Ditty Apron for a 30 Year Old

It was my little sister's 30th birthday party on the weekend! She said she'd like her apron to go with her two year old daughter's apron, and picked this apron from designer Jamie Christina's Flickr stream for my inspiration photo.

Here's what I came up with - my favourite so far!

The pockets on this side use fabric left over from my niece's apron, to make them more matchy.

All fabrics from Spotlight, as usual. They do insist on emailing out vouchers for 20% off quilting fabrics!

If this apron looks a little familiar it's because I used the offcuts to make Baby Amy's Preschool Backpack.

Happy birthday (on Thursday) Christine!

Completed project: Wristlet!

The kids were in childcare again today, adjusting to when I start work in a week and a half (!!!). What to do with a day to myself? I've been very jealous of Baby Amy's chic Preschool Backpack so I decided to make something for myself for once. The You Sew, Girl! wristlet touted itself as a quick project and it looked like a lovely little thing to tuck into my work bag.

Of course, once I picked the project I had the eternal problem of what fabric to use. I didn't want to do the fallback of black, white and red, and I didn't feel like using linen. I always admire the bright, funky things other people sew so my keyword for this bag was bold.


The whole thing came together when I remembered finding a scrap of fabric the other day and thinking, "This is my favourite print in the world". Unfortunately I didn't have enough of the black colourway left, but even with the lesser brown background I still love love love this fabric. The aqua is a reproduction of a design in the V&A textiles collection - I don't know more than that because I don't have enough of the selvedge.


The original plan was to have the orange as the front and aqua as the back. When I went to attach the flap it was clear that the orange really emphasised the brown in the travel print, while the aqua tended to neutralise it. Every time I'm mixing prints I end up making the planned back into the front!


The navy (bakelite?) button comes from Daylesford Bazaar, and has a sibling in author Nikki M's button collection. The navy isn't very bold, but it really suited the vintage feel of the travel images.


Inside - bold black and white! I teamed my travel theme with this fab Britannia print. Ideally I would have had the little Routemaster bus centered on the inside flap, but the borders around the Big Ben clocktower and Tower Bridge were much prettier.


And to finish it off, a Mrs Beckinsale label (I'll place it higher next time), a purple zip and cherry print. Choice!

I feel that this is me, represented in bag form. If I saw this in a shop it would kill me that I hadn't been the maker. It took under four hours to make (and will take less time now that I know to block fuse the interfacing and the wadding before cutting out - I really need to learn to read instructions!). I'll do the wrist strap tomorrow - I need to drop into Nicole M Design headquarters to pick up a swivel hook.

I think this could be my 2012 birthday presents project, like my 2011 Pretty Ditty Aprons. Such fun!

Completed project: Preschool backpack!

Here's Baby Amy's new little backpack, from the wonderful You Sew, Girl! book. After making Jack a half-hour library bag last week it was a bit of hard slog spending hours on this one, but just look at it! It's so gorgeous and so well made, and will last for years.

All the fabrics are from my stash, apart from having to buy another 30cm of the paisley for making straps and binding. The fact I went to Spotlight and back without reading all the way through the materials list, and so don't have a proper cord for the drawstring (and don't own any large wooden beads), means the bag is done up with a thick cotton tape for now (ie, for the next four years). That will teach me to be so cocky when approaching patterns. It wouldn't kill me to slow down and read something from start to finish before jumping into it.

I couldn't resist putting a bird on it. Wish I'd done the self-cover button in a different fabric though - it goes missing a bit with all that paisley swimming around.

And here's Jack's equivalent bag, which looks rather sad now.


Sorry Jack.

You Sew Girl Preschool Backpack

I've finally got my hands on a copy of Nikki's tome You, Sew Girl! My bestie bought it for my birthday - as a rule, presents between us must be at least four months late (but I think I may break that rule this year with my apron-making streak). The first cab off the rack will be a Preschool Backpack for Miss Amelia Roxy.

It's much swisher than Nikki's previous half-hour library bag tutorial, which I knocked up last weekend for Jack (pics someday). So many opportunities for mixing and matching fabric! I've made six Pretty Ditty Aprons so far this year (again, pics of #5 and #6 someday) and have grown a great rainbow stash of offcuts as a result. But what combo will make the perfect backpack for my bubba girl? I've decided to do a polka-dot body and paisley pocket, with a third fabric for the flap (and possibly more contrast for the bias binding trim, inside of the flap, and so on).

I am very taken with some of these blue combos. The first pic has a corduroy flap rather than craft cotton. Perhaps with a bit of purple trim around the flap?

The red end of the spectrum is also very tempting.

And again, I've got a corduroy flap option.

What would you choose? I think I've already made up my mind!