Obligatory Time Jump Title Card

 

Sewing, Day Who Even Cares Anymore?

So I was reading back through old blog posts...

Once upon a time, I was posting progress pictures as I created a purse. (I'm not going to bother linking them, you should be able to find them by the Craft Addict linkything a the bottom of this post.)

Once upon a more recent time (but really, still over a year ago), I made a Random Things post (Random Things linkything in the side bar) where I promised I would make THIS post "soon"...

Yep.

Hilarious part is that that purse is already broken and has been for a long time... I tried, I really did, to design a strap that wouldn't be the first thing to fail... still the first thing to fail.

But still, a promise is a promise :P

Now I just have to figure out what's happening in all of these pictures...

Seriously though... what's happening in these pictures??

Well!  I am 100% making this up as I go. Hold on.

Possible Step One:
Start working (HEY NEW CRAFT ROOM IN NEW HOUSE!!)
Realize picture taking is a thing you want to be doing, take picture of messy craft room.
As you can see the thus-far-completed portion of the purse is sitting on the chair, and if I am recalling correctly I had to iron ALL of the OTHER PIECES because I just shoved them in something during the move... Please refer to the post where I cut out all of the pieces for some perspective on how many pieces there were.  I think I stood at that iron for like an hour :P

Oh hey look! A progress picture of the ironing!

What do you think this picture is supposed to be about?

Possible Step Two:

Realize that the top of your bag is floppy, and floppy just won't do!

Make the decision to add structure to the lining pieces.

Side Note: Quilting those together took FOREVER. I remember that. It sucked.

Possible Step Three:

Sew the inside pocket things onto the front and back linings.

Look! This one has a secret pocket! Such a sneaky pocket.

Possible Step Four:

Sew the sides and bottom of the lining into a long strip.

I think I maybe also added pockets on the side panels... you can maybe see that in this picture... maybe you can't... I don't know,,,

Possible Step Five:

Basically stop taking pictures... apparently.

Sew the front and back lining pieces on to the side-bottom-side strip... leave a hole for turning later.

Stuff the completed purse part (aka the outside) inside the lining.  Line up the top edge for sewing next.

Take a picture that looks really weird and confusing and most just reminds future you that the quilting took FOREVER and sucked :P

Sew the top of the lining to the top of the bag. Think to yourself, "Hey! For once, I didn't make it have so many layers that the sewing machine nearly couldn't handle it! Go me!"

Turn everything right side out and sew the turning hole in the lining closed.

Realize you need to top stitch the top part so that everything lays nicely. Think to yourself, "Crap, I hope the sewing machine can handle this... I shouldn't have gotten cocky."

Possible Step Six:

Success!!!!  Be finished!!!

TAKE PICTURES!

Closed.

Open. Pockets!

Inside. Pockets!!

Front of Inside. Pockets!!!

Outside, Back. ZIPPERED POCKET!!

The end.  I think there's a picture buried in the archives somewhere of the strap being broken. Not actually the strap, but the piece of light grey cotton material holding the strap on to the main body of the purse. Turns out the metal things I used there had sharp edges that slowly, but surely sawed through the flimsy pieces of cotton that were the only thing keeping the strap attached to the purse. 

'Twas a shame.

I made a thing.

I just finished my handmade graph paper journal. I'm really happy with how it turned out! It was a lot of fun to learn some bookbinding and to try my hand at embroidery (and creating the design).

That should satisfy the creative urges for at least a couple of days :)

I shall call him Ernest.

Sewing, Days 2-4

I has been a long time since I've had the time to craft!  I worked on my purse a little bit on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

(Sorry for the graininess of the pictures!  The only camera I had access to was my phone and the lighting in the room was horrible for pictures!)

Day 2:

Step 1 -- Clean the craft room

That's better :)

Step 2 -- Sew the other side of the strap on.

I love this picture because it shows how even with hoards of pins at my disposal, I would rather use random clips!  I sooooooo very much detest pins!

Step 3 -- Sew the front (I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out! Yay, pockets!)

Step 4 -- Basically run out of thread.

Day 3:

(I didn't take many pictures this day, because they would have made no sense.)

Step 1 -- Buy thread!

Step 2 -- Sew the bottom and sides together.

Step 3 -- Pull one of the seams apart to resew it in a way that doesn't make the strap twist in the middle.

Step 4 -- Sew the back together

Step 5 -- Sew the bottom to the front and back.

Day 4:

Step 1 -- Sew the sides to the front and back.

(Thank goodness there were clothespins nearby or I would have had to use pins!)

Step 2 -- Finish the outside!!!!

Tada!  I'm really happy with it!

Now I just have to remember what I had planned for all of the inside pieces...

Toodles, my lovelies!

Sewing, Day 1

The first day of sewing the purse went thusly...

Step one:  Set up work space.

  -- I realized as I was putting this up that it looks like I set up my water bottle for the best angle, but I promise, it was all an accident :)

Step two:  Iron all the light grey pieces. 

Step three:  Start sewing the strap.

  -- The strap is always my least favorite part so I figured I get it out of the way first. 

Step four:   Spend an hour fighting with the sewing machine.

  -- The tension was off, then it kept un-threading itself (which makes it get all knotted in the bobbin case, so you have to cut the work out of the tangle of threads, then open up everything to get all of the little pieces of knotted thread out, then re-thread the machine, then cross your fingers and try again.)

  -- Finally, I got two diagonal lines sewn and felt like I'd conquered the beast!

Step five:  Almost finish strap, and run out of bobbin thread.

  -- Convenient since I had to go to work anyway.

Step six:  Come back after work, supper, and Youth to finish strap.  Add the buckles.

  -- Again with the water bottle!  This time was also unintentional, for the record.

Step seven:  Take a break from the strap of nightmares to quilt two pieces together for the bottom of the purse.

  -- This took SOOOO much longer than I thought it would!  I was going to do the same with the sides,but quickly nixed that idea as soon as I'd finished the bottom.  It may be structural, but it was exhausting!

Step eight:  Sew the strap to the side.

  -- I only did one...  I'll do the other side next time. 

The end of day one.

Goodnight, lovelies...

When Creativity Happens...

Hello lovelies!

So it's almost two in the morning and I've spent the last nearly four hours* doing THIS!

*I recounted in the normal hours of the day and it was actually less than three hours... apparently my brain stops being smart after midnight.  It's like Cinderella, except... not.

One of the many hobbies that I have is sewing -- specifically purse design.  Since all of my purses have decided to fall apart as of late, I decided that I should start this project that I've been designing for a year.  This also gave me a convenient opportunity to use my new Christmas present -- a cutting mat and rotary blade (happydance)!  Thank you sister and brother-in-law!

You see that piece of lined paper in the middle there?  That's my list of all of the pieces of material that I had to cut out.  Makes a little more sense why I was working for four  three(ish) hours at this, doesn't it?

The pile of grey material on the left is actually the pieces that I had ALREADY cut out when I took the picture.

There were A LOT of pieces in that pile so I decided that I should label them before I forgot what they all were.

Hmmm... I think I like pockets :)  And those are just the ones on the inside!

 Here's the final pile with all of the pieces cut!  Does it look like a purse yet?

Yeah... it doesn't really look like one to me either, and I know what it will (should?) look like in the end!  Stay tuned!  Hopefully, I'll post more pictures as I put them all together.

Now...

I know that I said this would be a YouTube free post, but I can't resist!  This song is so adorable :)

Until next time, my lovely stalkers!