Good-bye in a bag

This is a picture of me and two of my best friends, Caitie and Kim. I was sad to hear that Caitie was going to move and finish her masters degree in New Paltz. Shortly after Kim announced she was leaving... for Africa. (like the Lion King, safari Africa). As much as I am missing these ladies I am really proud of them both.

I wanted to send them off with something that was practical. So I came up with the idea of making them a laundry bag. It is pretty much a giant drawstring bag so if you want to make one follow my tutorial and increase the size. I made mine with a yard of fabric. It makes a great gift for anyone that is going away to college or in their first apartment. I stuck a few little trinkets in the bags and they loved it.

I was originally just going to do a color fabric, but I came across these trees at the store and they reminded me of Caitie because her engagement ring resembles a tree branch (and its really pretty, but I digress.) The other fabric is a print and matched the tree fabric nicely. For the drawstring I was able to buy a nice rope chord at Joann's fabrics. I doubled the side of the bag and it worked out nicely.

It's been a few weeks with out the ladies but so far they are doing well. Caitie is teaching a class as well as finishing her Masters Degree and watching massive amounts of Doctor Who with her roomie, Lindsey.

Meanwhile is Kim on the other side of the world fighting off baboons and obscenely large insects. Not really sure if she'll will be able to use it for actually laundry there but I am sure it can come in handy trapping some ferocious scorpions. You can read about her adventures here.

Right now I have a few projects which will be blogged about shortly. I am still trying to find the right balance as far as managing my time. I love doing this stuff but it is A LOT of work. Anywhos... so long for now!

Sarina

Drawstring Bag - tutorial

This is one style of bag that I have wanted to learn how to make for a while. Drawstring bags can be versatile. Small pouches are great scrap busters, especially if you have long pieces that can be used for the drawstring! You can also make them to fit a wine bottle (which adds a nice touch to a gift). You can even apply this technique to make a big bag for something like laundry.

Tools:

• Sewing machine
• Ruler
• Rotary cutter/Scissors
• Safety pin

Step 1:

• Measure and cut the bag
• (this bag can fit any size big or small, just make sure it is a rectangular shape with the skinny side being the opening)
•  For this example the bag is : 8 inches length x 10 inches width
• Add a 1/2 inch seam allowance, and a 2 inch seam allowance for the top.

• Measure and cut the Drawstring
• The strap must be at least twice as long as the width of your bag 
• The width is determined by how you want the finished drawstring to be, the multiply it by 4. 
• Example bag drawstring is: 12 length x 2 inches width

Step 2:

• Make the Drawstring 

• Fold the drawstring in half then press
• Open up, then fold each edge toward the fold, then press
• Fold up again, then press 
• Pin and sew
• (But Sarina what about the raw edges! I know let me get to it!) 
• Fold over the ends and do a zig-zag stitch on the ends 
• You may want to use a think needle for this step because you are sewing through a lot of layers. 

Step 3: Drawstring hole

• Take one piece for the body of the bag. 
• Measure where the hole will be. This should be at least 1 inch from the top

• This should be at least 1 inch from the top raw edge
• Make sure the hole will be big enough to fit your drawstring.
• Use the button hole attachment on your machine (or you can triangle stitch along your measurements)

• Use a seam ripper to create your hole

Step 4: Assemble the bag

•  Law two body pieces on top of each other, right sides facing. 
• Pin along the edge then sew
• Leave the top edge (with the button hole) open. Do not sew this together. 

• Use the triangle stitch to sew up the raw edges

• Fold the top edge inward, sew along the raw edge
•  this will create the tube in which your drawstring will go through

• Fold bag inside out

Step 5: Insert drawstring

• Use attach a safety pin to your drawstring

• Work it through the hole and along the top edge

DONE!

Crafting up some Christmas

Christmas is around the corner and I am almost done with gifts. It's always frantic and I always get paranoid that I missed someone and my wallet is usually not to happy. This year I have been able to make a lot of home made gifts! Yay! Here are some of the things that I have made!

I came across these cute charm bracelet tutorial. I made a few for all of my lady friends (If you are reading this and you're one of my lady friends, act surprised)

Then my work bestie Margaret got me this awesome shirt! She is quite the muppetational lady so I made her this awesome kermit coffee cozy. She also would appreciapte this mustache ornament... because a christmas tree needs a mustache.

Speaking of ornaments... I made this one for my little brother. He, like a lot of men, loves bacon so yeah and its cute. (If you want to make your own bacon find the tutorial here). Also for the broski, is this awesome snuggie. Last time he came for a visit he was jealous of my own snuggie that I made one for him to enjoy. If you want to make your own just follow this tutorial from instructables!

So did you make any Christmas presents this year? I wanna hear about it ! Leave a comment! 

Sunglasses Case Tutorial

In my quest to rid my crafting world of this evil box of scraps I started making these neat little holders for sunglasses. It is very simple and quick to make.

First things first though.. you need some of this stuff:

Tools

• Sewing Machine
• Scissors or Rotary cutter
• Needle
• Iron

Materials needed, see dimensions below.

Materials

• Exterior fabric 
• 2 peices measuring 4 inches wide by 7 1/2 inches high 

• Lining 
• 2 pieces of felt material measuring 4 inches wide by 7 1/2 inches high

• Loop
• 1 piece of fabric 6 inches wide by 1 inch high 
• Button 

Step 1

Take one of your exterior pieces and measure where to put the button. I place mine 2 inches from the edge and 1 inch from the top edge. Sew and attach the button.

Mark where the button will go

Step 2
Take your two exterior begin to pin them 1/4 inch from the raw edge. The right sides of the fabric should be together. Pin along three sides and leave the top part open. Sew up along the pinned edges. Then turn inside out.
Repeat this same step with the lining (felt) pieces except only pin along the 7 1/2 inch sides and do not turn inside out.

The loop is pictured here but you will learn how to make it in the next step!

Step 3
Take your loop piece and follow these instructions

Fold strip in half, then press

Open, then fold into 1/4s and press again.

Fold, press then sew

Fold the strip in half to make a loop. 

Step 4
Now it is time to assemble the case.Get all of your pieces together

 

Sew the loop to the inside of the exterior piece. Make sure it is on the opposite side of the button. Also sew from inside of the case. (Look a few steps down to get what I am talking about)

Insert the exterior piece into the lining

Pin all of the pieces together from the inside.

This is what I mean when I say sewing from the inside. Its really tricky but go slow and WATCH OUT FOR THOSE NEEDLES! (if you forget one it can damage your machine and give you sad face)

Then turn your case inside out.

Stitch up that cap in your lining. Then push the lining into the exterior.

TA DA! Now you a lovely and stylish place to put your glasses!

 Tips:

• You can alter the dimensions and apply the same technique to make cases for stuff like phones, Ipads...the sky is the limit! 
• When sewing everything together I recommend using a quilt needed or a denim needle (something that can handle sewing threw multiple layers)

Harry Potter Crafts

Hello to all of my Harry Potter fans! The thing that really got me into knitting was my desire for a Gryffindor scarf with the scarelett red and yellow colors (because buying it meant paying a stupid ammount of money) So I taught myself to knitt (with a little help from my Aunt Marie).  Recently, with my love for Harry Potter re-energized (because of the last movie, going to the Wizarding World theme park, and my loveable nerdos Caitie and Kim) I felt it was time for a new scarf. So I made a lovely one for myself, then I made one for one of my nerdos. I also found some left over Harry Potter fabric I had since the Chamber of Secrets film came out. So I finally decided to use it and I made some pillows of the flying Ford Anglia.

Also after an amazing trip to the Wizard World theme park and my first sip of butterbeer... o-m-g. I could not live with out that stuff! So me and Tim made some we follow this recipie which came out really yummers. It's pretty much butterscotch, cream soda and amazing-ness.
Then I tried experiementing. I tried a hat, it came out ok. They were made with circular needles and it was allright but I didn't blow myself away, I'm not very good at hats. Then my fingers started to freeze in the artic tundra that the North East has turned into this Winter. My current gloves are cute fingerless ones that I love, but I needed something better. So I broke out the double pointed needles and came up with these!

My first successful attempt at glove/mittens and I did it using my own design! I have some ideas to make even more knitted gloves that aren't harry potter related. I am going to try and make Avatar:the Last Airbender gloves and perhaps even a 1 + up mushroom. I'll keep you updated on those (if they ever happen)
If you would like to be the proud owner of a pair of these beauties, then check out my etsy shop: Jip Ma Gip
If you like the gloves but not crazy for Gryffindor I can do any other color combos you'd like, contact me via etsy and we'll work something out.