The Egyptian Bag

If you read the previous post, you’ll know that I made two bags for our school auction.  The second bag was for the Egypt theme.  Here’s the auction description:

Take your own Egyptian filled tote, filled with Mummy and Ancient Egypt books and a Lego game along with you to the King Tut traveling exhibit at the Pacific Science Center with a $100 gift certificate (can be used for anything at the Pacific Science Center).

The bag:

This one stumped me, but once I started going through my embroidery design stash I found that Egyptian and just knew I would make a version of this bag without the front pockets.  I left the large back pocket because I’ve been finding that one so useful in my BG bag.

There was one oops…I ended up making the strap a bit too long.  I contemplated cutting it and making it shorter but then the more I stared at the problem I realized it wasn’t an “oops” after all.  The fabric allows for the easy knotting of the strap so that it can fit any body (when worn cross body or over the shoulder).  I like that idea and so I’ll be playing with knotted handles a bit more in future projects.

I hope whoever won this auction enjoys their tote!

Dragon Bag

I’ve decided that this year will be the year I open my etsy store.  And that this will also be the year that I try very hard to make handmade gifts (to share my love of creating with friends and to inspire products for the store).  That being said, when information came home about the school auction I thought long and hard about what I could contribute.

With two different classrooms and two different themes my first thought was to make tote bags…then I had a bunch of other random thoughts about what I could make but in the end went with the first idea: bags.

The theme:  Year of the Dragon.  While the bag isn’t really “year of” it is one of my favorite dragon related embroideries:

The bag is a variation of this bag, just made with one large straight pocket on one side and a smaller pocket on the other.  The top can be folded over or folded inside if a smaller bag is desired.  It can be worn cross body or over the shoulder.

Here’s the auction description:

Denim dragon bag filled with a dragon T-shirt, 2 Chinese art prints, $50 gift card to Din Tai Fung in Bellevue, a red dragon puppet, red Chinese New Year envelopes filled with $12 in cash, chopsticks (x4) and holders (x2), How to Train Your Dragon DVD, My Father's Dragon book, The Great Race: Chinese Zodiac story, Puff the Magic Dragon book and CD, Dragons and Monsters pop-up, Magic Treehouse dragon book, Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke, and Fire Within by Chris D'Lacey. Happy New Year!

I hope the winner of this auction loves everything they've won, especially their new bag!

Going Buggy

With spring right around the corner, this little buggy dress is sure to be a hit!

I made this 6 years ago for my oldest and just pulled it out for the next girl in line.  I still love the fabric and the design is timeless.  I'm so glad I kept this one!

Mini Owls

I threw another sew crazy birthday party this month.

The kids all got faeries, bags, bean bags and owls...it was a lot of sewing and stuffing but well worth all the effort!

Missy T had a blast and so did her friends!

Today I'm sharing the mini owls:

Aren't they cute!  I'm thinking these are small enough to attach to headbands or barrettes...hmmmm I feel another crafty project coming on!

check out some of the linky parties I've linked to this week!

Hostess Gift

Over the holidays so many projects were started and completed!  I can’t wait to share them with you all!

This adorable little apron was given to a new friend as a hostess gift.  It was so much fun to make and very well received.  I’m so glad she liked it!

The pattern comes from this book:

I added the pocket….somehow an apron isn’t an apron without a pocket.

What I learned from this project is to double check all my patterned fabrics!  The Santa’s were in lines alternating right side up and upside down—something I didn’t realize until the apron was complete!

Still, the pattern is a keeper—simple and quick to put together and fun to wear.

Check out the great linky parties I participate in!

Gathered sleeves

I've been playing with gathered sleeves lately.  Just a bit of puff on the shoulder—not the exaggerated puff I seem to be seeing everywhere!

My girlies love a bit of frill or puff at their shoulders, but I’m calling these gathered sleeves because while they have a bit of puff shape to them I’ve been told by the five year old that they are definitely not puffy. :)

Using Simplicity 9362 as a base, I traced the sleeve onto my handy dandy pattern paper (the giant roll of freezer paper I picked up at Costco six years ago is still being used for this purpose!)

I folder the traced sleeve down the middle and “added” a shadow outline on the top of the sleeve and about  three inches down the arm.  The new outline is half an inch wider at the armpit and a quarter inch taller at the shoulder.

I ran a basting stitch along the shoulder portion of the sleeve—make sure you leave “tails” of sting on both ends!  Hold one end of the sting and pull on the other, gathering the fabric.

Here’s what it looked like on my mannequin—not too much puff.

Just enough to be a perfect addition to a sleeveless costume—or, as my girlies have decided, an everyday top perfect for our PNW winters!