My First Messenger Bag

A friend saw some of my work and asked if I'd make her a pink messenger bag. I've never made one, but I'm always up for a challenge, so I said yes (enthusiastically - she watches all three of my kiddos for fun)! My friend and I both share a love for God and a gift of music. If you look closely, you'll be able to see a bunch of references to the musical theme...

I started with a plaid upholstery fabric (from my "big find" at the thrift store) that reminds me of a picnic. I wanted it to be a "pink" bag, but my friend is not a huge ruffles and lace girly girl (kind of like me) so I went a little less frilly with this one - but cute, none the less! Here's the front flap. I wanted a design that made sense both right side up AND upside down (for when you open it up). So the flowers actually look like flowers right side up, but upside down they are actually eighth notes!

Here's what it looks like when you open the flap. On the pocket is another cute little flower, complete with treble clef!

And would it be complete without a bass clef? I think not! We are, after all, pianists.
All of my stems and clefs are hand-embroidered with a "wrapped stem stitch", which is a two part process. First, I did the stem stitch, then I went back over the stem stitch and wrapped the thread like the stripes on a candy cane. The flower stems are all the same color, but I tried something different with the clefs - stem stitch in one color, and wrapping in a contrasting color. Pretty cool effect - I was impressed, as I had never tried that before!

Here's a better view of the sweet interior pocket. It's made out of an upholstery fabric sample. Too bad I only had one sample - I would have loved to make this into the exterior of a different bag. I'm really excited that it matches so well, though.

One thing I will explain here (because I've been asked) is how I construct my handles/straps. Here's a picture. This is how I did my twins Iris Bag (see my previous post), and how I've done a few others, using a grosgrain ribbon. I am not big on making tutorials (I save that for the pros), but I've never seen one for this type of construction, so since a picture is supposedly worth a thousand words, here you go:

See? In this strap I wrapped some quilt batting inside a stretchy jersey knit (REALLY STRETCHY!), then sewed that fabulous grosgrain ribbon on top of that "batting burrito". I don't usually use batting for the handles, but a messenger bag usually sits on your shoulder with only one strap so there's only one point of contact - might as well be comfy, right?

And lookie lookie! The flowers match my peonies! Yay for ant plants and fun sewing projects (not necessarily in that order)!

So Sierra, thanks for having fun with my kids - I hope you're really truly blessed by this bag!!!

By the way, this is the first time I've joined a link party, so if you're visiting from A Bowl Full of Lemons, WELCOME!


PS - I got the straps too long originally, so I ended up shortening them. I added another fun little monogrammed flower, as well as my very first label! Check 'em out!

I know, it's hard to tell from this photo, but it says "cadamsCREATIONS"!

My Twin Loves Irises

Irises make me think of my twin sister. Last month I inherited two tops with irises on them, so I decided to make "something" for her. But what? After thinking about it for a while I decided to make the irises on the white cable-knit sweater into some kind of applique. Knit is tricky - it unravels quickly! I serged the edges and attached it to a plaid pillowcase that I had made out of an oversized button-up shirt. And as Spunky says "voila!" (actually, he says "wall-LAH" - he's only 4, you know?!).

I am learning a bunch of embroidery stitches right now, but this is not my handiwork (I'm pretty sure this one is machine embroidered, but it's pretty!).

The other top was a butter yellow t-shirt with an assortment of flowers (including said iris). My twin loves yellow. I hate yellow. But neither of us can WEAR yellow. So I made this adorable bag. Yes, adorable - even if it IS yellow! And the interior is a purple cotton with a textured look, with a VERY dark purple pocket.

You can't really tell from the picture, but this bag is about the size of one of those recyclable bags you get from the grocery store. What's that? About 18"x15" with a 3" bottom or so?

Check out that great ribbon - I got it at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. Gotta love a sale!

I experimented with a different type strap construction for this bag - I sewed the ribbon on one side and the other side is just the yellow cotton jersey left over from the t-shirt. I made it so you could see a little yellow on either side of the ribbon for contrast, and the ribbon (grosgrain) helps keep the jersey from stretching. I think it turned out pretty good. The only thing on this one that was a bit wonky was the graphic, which did not end up completely centered, and the magnetic purse snaps, which were kind of mis-aligned.

Oh well - I never said I was perfect :)

The Paris Dress

A friend of mine gave me a beautiful - no, a gorgeous(!) panel of fabric that looks like a bunch of vintage postcards from Paris. I found a pattern for the Snappy Toddler Dress on PrudentBaby.com (http://www.prudentbaby.com/2010/07/snappy-toddler-dress.html). It was pretty easy to make, except that I couldn't get the snaps installed so I switched them out with velcro.

I made the cute little green leggings out of the same material as the yoke (a recycled maternity top). I love the lettuce leaf edges!

Did I mention that I'm not a professional, and that making clothes is not my favorite thing to do? Sunshine got to wear the leggings once. Yep, once. And she's wearing the dress (which now looks like a tunic), for the third (and last) time. She's growing so fast!!!

Reverse Appliqué for Mothers Day

My son has such a great imagination. He loves aliens, robots, and all space stuff. I've got a clothes line on my living room walls, filled with his artwork. This is one of my favorites:

Here's my first attempt at reverse appliqué. (I traced Spunky's aliens onto freezer paper, ironed the paper onto my felt, embroidered the designs directly onto the felt, then took off the freezer paper.)
I found some fun little 4x6 photo albums and made covers for them, then sewed the designs to the inside of the covers. The fun part was cutting out the top layer to expose the designed layer underneath!
"Space Robot with Four Eyes":

"Space Dog":

"Space Spider":

If you look at his artwork, these designs are from the creatures on the right side of his rocket ship.

See?

Hill Dinosaur

I've had 4-yr-old Spunky's drawings hanging up on a clothesline in the living room for a while, and every time I see them I think "I love these!". One of his pictures is an adorable dinosaur, which he calls the "Hill Dinosaur":

Why a "Hill Dinosaur"? Glad you asked - I did, too. It's a "Hill Dinosaur" because it looks like a hill! Good point.
Spunky is so great. I asked if we should make him into a stuffed creation, he asked if we could make it for his little brother. Oh my, what a cool idea! Sprout will be so happy with his new dino friend :)