Cowboy Back pack for Kenton

Don't remember when I bought this kit for a small backpack.

Sweet DIL asked for a bag for our youngest grandson.

I remembered this unopened kit and started working on it for his first birthday. 

I have made 3 Wren Weekender Bags from VFT and have learned a few things about bag construction.

The pattern calls for a continuous middle zipper section but I had a different idea.

I read the instructions several times but didn't really understand how to sew in the lining.

I used double fold bias binding to attach the lining and I like how it turned out.

I resized the pattern to add a couple of inches to the width and length.

I also changed the bottom to a flat, boxy style instead of the curved one in the pattern.

I added tabs with D rings at both ends of the zipper.

The rings are handy if there are items to be clipped on the outside of the bag.

Notice I forgot to topstitch one side of the zipper panel. Oops!

The appliqué is fused on and stitched around the raw edge.

Front and zipper panel finished.

Inside the bias tape was sewn on after the two pieces are attached to cover the raw seam.

I thought I could skip all the repeated sewing of the same area but it didn't work.

I guess all the stitching will make for stronger seams.

I clipped the curves and trimmed a little in some places.

The pattern called for 1/2 inch seam allowance but I sewed about a 3/8 inch seam.

Inside out before the bottom piece was added.

Finished back with padded straps before the bottom was sewn on.

The webbing is dark brown-looks black in the photo.

Finished front without bottom.

I thought about ways to sew the bottom without extra bulk in the corners and decided to cut

square notches on the corners of the front, back, and sides.

Then I stitched each side.

Last step was sewing on the bias binding.

I ran into trouble sewing through all the thickness, thought I had broken something in my sewing machine.

Rethreaded, changed the tension, finally called a halt in frustration.

After stepping away for a day, I was successful in binding the last bit.

I will need to hand sew around the corners.

There was just no way to sew through all the thickness even with the corners cut out.

Above is the finished cowboy backpack.

Below I added ribbon to the zipper pull.

One last pic - I love the binding covering the raw edges and holding the lining in place.

Very tailored look.

Next project is a little Halloween wall hanging.

What are you making this week?

 

Charity Lap Quilt & Small Wren Bag

Since my last post I have made a charity quilt from supplies in my stash.

Our quilt group asks each of us to donate one lap quilt each year.

Another quilt group I have been visiting had received many containers of scrap fabric and

I impulsively took a stack of fat quarters and some remnants that looked like yardage.

I used the fat quarters to make a rail fence lap quilt.

The colors are not quite true but one of the light fabrics is a purple and green floral.

There were two remnants of this yellow floral.

I sewed two similar lengths together for the backing.

Just making sure the back was big enough.

The green border picks up the green in front and back.

The binding was another green print.

Above is a back view after trimming.

I quilted it on my domestic sewing machine.

View of the front after trimming.

Quilted in the ditch vertically and horizontally, then on one diagonal.

Below is a small Wren bag made from the leftovers of Miss Ava's princess dress.

The handles were extras from another bag. (Somehow I cut too many handles.)

After making two middle size bags I investigated another way to finish the lining.

This time I sewed the bottom on last. It was much easier to sew the sides and zipper section.

The birthday girl is going to be 5.

She is going to school every day and I thought a cute hand sanitizer unicorn would be useful.

I added a strap to the bag so she can be hands-free.

This pic shows the matching dress.

Inside I made a sunglasses case and tissue holder.

More hand sanitizer choices.

Too many for me.

Hope you are well and safe where ever you are.

We are waiting for hurricane Ida to come ashore.

Linking up with Peacock Party if I am not too late.

 

 

August Sewing List

The first days of August have flown by. 

I have been working on sewing for grands. 

This week I completed these two items.

First finish was this romper/short overall for baby Kenton.

He is only 10 months old but wearing 18 and 24 month sizes.

I made the size 2 to be sure it will fit.

I altered the pattern to be fully lined and had no problem until I sewed the leg openings.

A little ripping and rethinking how to finish with snap tape.

I made this pattern many times when sewing for this guy's father.

Happy with the finish.

Little Miss Ava requested this navy check fabric when she saw the photo of the Violette Field Threads

pattern. This is the Harriet pattern. I had not made this one before.

It has a sort of circle skirt that was interesting to cut out.

Above shows the button shoulder tabs.

The dress was not hard to construct.

I washed and ironed the fabric before cutting out the pattern.

Look how the side seam lined up! 

Serendipity... and the other side is almost matching.

When I cut out the two skirt pieces I tried to line up the pattern at the same spot on the fabric.

Two more dresses to go for Miss Ava's birthday in a few weeks.

This week I also hand stitched the binding in the bag shown below.

My poor fingers hurt when I finished. 

I was wishing for a thimble or something to help push the needle through the thick places.

Linking with Wendy.

Have a good week!

 

Quilt finish, flimsy finish, weekender bag finish

The quilt

Florentine Flowers for Karen

The fabric and pattern were bought by my mom but she never got around to making it.

I pieced the top and sent it to Angie for quilting.

Now the binding is on and it has been labeled. I will share it at Jackson Quilters before giving it to my niece Karen. She loves cats so if the pieced top doesn't fit her decor she can use the cat side.

The Flimsy

Hey! June blocks finished. 

I liked the arrow illusion layout.

The benefit of taking a photo of a layout - view of possible problem blocks.

I moved four blocks and sewed the columns together with continuous thread webbing style.

Then I sewed the columns together.

The cream on cream border was added and that's a flimsy finish. Yea!

                                                                             The Weekender Bag

This is the second Wren Weekender Bag I have finished. This time I made the handles and fused a lighter weight interfacing to the outside fabric. I chose the inside binding finish technique. I used a very stiff inter 

facing for the bottom and it was hard to turn the four corners. I decided to hand stitch the inside binding.

The bag does stand up with this thinner interfacing.

I have several yards of beautiful canvas that I will use to make some more bags.

I am considering fusible batting for the next one.

More bags to come.

Oh, I bought some fancy ribbons that may show up on small zipper bags.

Check back next week.

Vacation fabric purchases and new sewing machine

Last week we spent time at Hilton Head Island with our daughter and her family.

Of course I had to check out the local quilt shop, Island Quilters.

Below are some fabrics that I will make into a memory lap quilt to help us remember the dolphin tour and butterfly house we saw on the trips.

The two pieces below will become a dress for Ava.

She wasn't on the trip but she loves the beach so I think she will enjoy having a dress made from this cute ocean adventure fabric.

On the way to the beach we stopped to visit with my brother and sister-in-law.

Doreen was looking for a new home for her grandmother's treadle sewing machine.

I was interested. My brother delivered this beauty to our house Friday.

Curb service!

Can't wait to find out if I'm coordinated enough to sew with this machine.

When we got back home I had a text from quilter Angie.

The Florentine Flowers quilt was finished.

She did a great job with an all-over fan pattern.

She used cream on the top and white on the back.

The binding will be the cranberry fabric in the photo above.

I have trimmed the excess. Next to prep the binding.

Meanwhile I am slowly making progress on Hey! June.

I have all the light colored blocks finished.

Just about to go work on the dark blocks.

How was your week?

 

Quilting and dressmaking busy-ness

Once again the photos uploaded in the wrong order.

This week I finished a dress for Ava - Piper by Violette Field Threads. I cut it out yesterday afternoon and almost had it finished in two hours. I changed the armhole finish from the way the directions suggested. The photo to the side is the back view.

Below is my quilt finish. Yes, I had sort of finished it months ago but I wanted to embellish it with big stitch quilting. I finished all the embellishment and wrote the label Monday. It is on my bed and I love it. It was a good learning experience. I will use what I learned when I do some big stitches on My Small World quilt ... maybe in the fall. 

Below is the documentation I wrote on the lining of the Piper dress. After reading comments on VFT's Facebook page, I thought it would be good to write the name of the pattern and the size in the dress.

If Ava wants another Piper dress, her mom can see which pattern to request.

I used bias strips to finish the armholes. The directions showed how to make a burrito fold, sew the seam and turn the dress inside out. I wasn't confident I would do a good job with the process. Happy with my hack.

In other sewing news I started Hey! June by Gudrun with others from around the globe. I have my fabric cut and ready for assembly line sewing.

Going to Ava's tomorrow, then to the beach for a week.

Looking forward to time with grandchildren.

Happy sewing!