The Sewing Room

Florenceem

Keiss_21 wrote: »

That's the tute I found, and it works fine for me.

Love your quilt hart - it will look lovely when it's done. I fancy doing some handsewn quilting...been collecting various materials and will be dyeing some material next week with my quilting group, so might choose colours to match the fabric I have collected.

As promised, here's piccies of my bag that I made before I went on holiday. I used it as my flght bag on my way home. Made the strap long enough to go over my head so I can have both hands free. I had someone ask me where I got my bag while I was mooching in a shop at Inverness Airport on Saturday!!



The material I got from D M$ll in their reduced section, the outside was £2.99/metre (used just under 1 metre); and the inside was £3.99/metre - both lovely stuff to work with. I used fusible fleece as well...pricey, but gives a great result. I didn't break any needles until I came to the long strap, and attaching it to the bag - there was a lot of thicknesses to go through, and I almost gave up...but managed it in the end.

I am really pleased with it, I had to make the bag a bit wider to hold my lap-top, that's the harness to keep in place at the back of the inside. I got all the rings, fasteners, stiffening from U-handbag, but I might investigate cheaper suppliers if I wanted to make similar ones to sell.

Right off to get house-stuff done. Have a great day all.

Love this make - fabric is gorgeous. I still haven't got to the Dunhelm that opened near me!

PootleFlump_3

Florenceem wrote: »

Love the Owl doorstop - I am wary of putting rice in a doorstop because of Mice. When I made them - I used stones for weight. Is your Owl made of felt? I have to make a doorstop for my youngest Grand child's room.....thought I ought to use washable fabric as he is a baby.

Cheers florence. I wondered about the rice thing TBH. Have stuffed it with normal stuffing mainly but will need to put something in the bottom. Might take your advice and put stones in instead although where do you get stones from? (is that a stupid question lol ) Ive heard that cat litter is fine or maybe dried barley or split peas would be ok? Yes its made of felt. I dread to think what it would like like if it was put in the washing machine! Big soggy mess I imagine!

Savvy_sewing

PootleFlump wrote: »

Cheers florence. I wondered about the rice thing TBH. Have stuffed it with normal stuffing mainly but will need to put something in the bottom. Might take your advice and put stones in instead although where do you get stones from? (is that a stupid question lol ) Ive heard that cat litter is fine or maybe dried barley or split peas would be ok? Yes its made of felt. I dread to think what it would like like if it was put in the washing machine! Big soggy mess I imagine!

I buy Catlitter, the Mr T, value stuff for things like door stops as its very cheap. However I suppose it could also suck up moisture like rice etc could, but at least the mice wont come for it.

Keiss_21

Georgiabay wrote: »

Keiss, your bag is fabulous!
Was it difficult fitting those turn fasteners?

Thanks Georgia...and everyone else who have said nice things about my bag.

The button parts are easy to fit, just two slits for the prongs to fit through the stiffened material before it is made into the bag. As for the front plates...lets just say, the second one was easier than the first!! I took things very slowly cutting away a small bit of the finished front flap and trying the front plate to see if it fitted. Mind you, I came close to cutting away too much on the second one (far too confident!), which would have meant I would have had to remake the front flap completely (luckily I had enough of all the materials to redo one if I needed to ), thankfully it was ok in the end. I added an extra pocket inside and would probably add more if I made another.

The outside material is heavy curtain weight and I have another metre, as well as 2 metres of an ivory version, so I may well make a few more to sell/give as presents. I really need to calculate how much this bag actually cost to make before seeing if it is really a viable prospect. With the big overall pattern, this size of bag works pretty well, pleased with the centring of the pattern and the matching of the flap and bag....was worth the time I took over the cutting out.

I need to make a few purses soon and perhaps work on a small handbag for myself. If I make my own pattern, then I can sell the pattern as well as some made up bags in the future without worrying about copyright. I have paid for the Amelie and Belle patterns from Geta to sell, so I need to get some patterns made up and a few bags made.

I just need to have some space!! Mind you, DS1 is going to his see his GF tomorrow, then off to London to see a friend in London for a couple of days, then back to his GF...so perhaps I could nab his room for a few days !!

Right, off to watch the latest Torchwood on iPlayer...we can see it on our tv in comfort, so will get some more knitting done!! Then it's "The Killing" to catch up on!

Later on tonight I plan on starting a list as to what I want to get done, and when.

Have a good evening all, and thanks again for all your kind comments.

hmo

Keiss_21 wrote: »

That's the tute I found, and it works fine for me.

Love your quilt hart - it will look lovely when it's done. I fancy doing some handsewn quilting...been collecting various materials and will be dyeing some material next week with my quilting group, so might choose colours to match the fabric I have collected.

As promised, here's piccies of my bag that I made before I went on holiday. I used it as my flght bag on my way home. Made the strap long enough to go over my head so I can have both hands free. I had someone ask me where I got my bag while I was mooching in a shop at Inverness Airport on Saturday!!



The material I got from D M$ll in their reduced section, the outside was £2.99/metre (used just under 1 metre); and the inside was £3.99/metre - both lovely stuff to work with. I used fusible fleece as well...pricey, but gives a great result. I didn't break any needles until I came to the long strap, and attaching it to the bag - there was a lot of thicknesses to go through, and I almost gave up...but managed it in the end.

I am really pleased with it, I had to make the bag a bit wider to hold my lap-top, that's the harness to keep in place at the back of the inside. I got all the rings, fasteners, stiffening from U-handbag, but I might investigate cheaper suppliers if I wanted to make similar ones to sell.

Right off to get house-stuff done. Have a great day all.

great bag well done, is the pattern available off the net or is it a shop one, ive not made a bag with a flap yet.

hmo

ive used rice in one of my doorstops, i put it inside a ziplock bag and then inside the fabric.

ive also used sand i dried it out in the oven first and again put it into a ziplock bag.

as for stones you can buy bag from places like b&q and garden centres, pea shingle and chippings

Noob_Mum

Hi everyone! Have been an MSE forum lurker for quite awhile now. Shame it took me so long to discover this thread!

I love sewing and nice to meet all of you!

Keiss_21

hmo wrote: »

great bag well done, is the pattern available off the net or is it a shop one, ive not made a bag with a flap yet.

It is from a book: The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam. She has her own website where you can buy all the bits and pieces to make bags, fastenings, interlinings etc. her book is good, though could do with a better layout. It took me a while to work my way round it, as I haven't made many large bags before (a couple when a teenager - eons ago!), so had to read through all the techniques carefully.

Probably should have gone for an easier one first, but decided to jump in at the deep end! Still, it was worth it.

avstar

Keiss your bag is absolutely gorgeous! The fabric, colour combination, attention to detail, everything, love it!
What is fusable fleece? Is it like interfacing but fluffy?

Pootle, love your cutey-pie owl, he's lovely.

Welcome, Noob mum! :T

PootleFlump_3

Keiss, which fusible fleece did you use? Ive got H630 and H640 but havent used the H640 in any bags as it looks awfully thick and Im too scared to attempt it then have things go wrong! The H630 works well with bags and doesnt clog up the layers too much.

Avstar its like cotton wadding but you use a damp cloth with an iron to make it stick to the fabric so if you are doing pleats and stuff its much easier to manoevre. Its quite expensive but much nicer to use than polyester wadding which Ive used in the past and absolutely detest sewing with! I get mine from here as was the cheapest I could find but if anyone knows of where you can get it cheaper please could you post a link?

Welcome to the thread Noob Mum. x