Craft Month

Hi everyone!

It has been craft book month for the past 30 days :) and of course I had to wait until the very last minute to participate. There is something about a looming deadline that lets me get creative.

Let me say that I rarely buy craft books. I own three, one of them Amy Butler's Style Stitches. Now, I know that this is probably one of the books almost everybody has at home and the Cosmos Bag is probably the most made bag. 

But if you want to use faux leather (not quite sure you would call it that, basically it is plastic and sewing with it has the same advantages and challenges that coated fabrics create) you are probably wondering if this bag is even possible to make.

 

The short answer is: yes! I simplified the pattern a bit: no outer side pockets and no clipping the edges on the bottom panel the way it is described in the pattern. You also have to be carefully when sewing with faux leather because every stitch shows and your stitches shouldn't be too narrow because it can tear the fabric apart.

I must also say that this is not an easy pattern to make - contrary to what the description says. Having a lot of experience with sewing patterns comes in handy but if I hadn't had them I doubt I would have tried. Last time I made the pattern, I was shocked to see how huge it turned out so this time I shrank all the pieces to 75%. I think it is the perfect size now!

Because I was afraid that the handles may come undone if I pieced them together, I cut them in one single piece. Now, getting the lining and the outer fabric to match up was quite a challenge but I basically folded the seam allowances to the inside, put the left sides together, put paper clips in place instead of pins and just topstiched through both layers. No turning necessary :)

And here it is on me (yes, with a heart the same color as the bag!). If you made this bag, let me know how you thought it went, I would love to hear it.

Have a great start into the week!

Johanna

Thank you and a giveaway at the end

Thank you everyone for repinning me! I am very grateful that you helped me!

Unfortunately, I didn't make it under the first ten people to fill up their repins, so no fabric for me. I must say that I found it a bit unfortunate about how everything was handled. I do understand that giving away that many bundles is too much for a business but as a shop owner myself I usually limit the things I give away (or I keep an eye on the giveaway to make sure it doesn't bankrupt me).  But I really don't want to restart the discussion here, a lot of people made their point over at the blog post announcing giveaway winners.

Now, onto happier things. This quilt was made with the help of my friends from Bee Germany and uses Dolce from Tanya Wheelan and two solids. It doesn't have any batting, just a back and a front and I simply quilted around the stars. Now I can use it as a table cloth and not just as a summer quilt.

And now onto the giveaway! In order to say thanks to you, I am giving away a small stack of Dolce by Tanja Wheelan. There are a few FQs and some Fat Eights in there as well as some scraps.

I weight it and it makes for 2 yards of fabric. 

 

Just leave a comment over the next three days and I will select a winner on Sunday. I will send it anywhere in the world.

 

 Good luck to everyone!

Johanna

I need your help on Pinterest

Well, as you all probably now know Fresh Squeezed Fabrics is having a wonderful contest over at pinterest. If you pin a bundle from Randi and get the number of repins that the bundle costs you get the chance to win it. 

I had my eye on Perfectly Perched for a while, it is just too pretty to resist. And I need your help to get it! Will you please repin my pin here? 
All you need to do is click on the link, it will take you to my pin. Then you click onto "repin" and you pin it to one of your boards. You need to be on Pinterest to do this. For instruction how to participate go to Randi's blog post.

 

And please leave a comment so that I can repin yours as well.

I have about two more days left :)

Thank you so much for your help!

Johanna