Super Totes!

I feel like there should be some sort of superhero theme music playing... SUPER TOTES!

Anyway.  E's teacher (this is E's third and final *sob* year in the same early childhood classroom) went on a trip last month and told me how well the Noodlehead Super Tote I'd made her worked as a carry-on bag.  The para then said that she uses hers as her everyday bag, and then I realized that I never blogged about the bags, which were their end-of-school gifts from us.  Weird, because I LOVED them.  So, so much.  Even though I started them much too late and ended up practically pulling an all-nighter.  So I was happy to hear that they're holding up well.  Late night sewing can be suspect.

The pattern is pretty awesome. I had no problems with it, despite my lack of sleep.  It does require quite a few pieces and a lot of interfacing, which added to my time crunch.  Well, and my usual procrastination.  One thing I will mention is that the recommended interfacing was super expensive compared to my usual stuff.  I'd never used anything like it before; it reminded me of a fusible muslin.  It was nice, but considering E's owl bag was made with considerably cheaper interfacing and is holding up great on its third year of daily use, I probably wouldn't spring for this stuff again.

The main prints are both home dec fabrics.  The red and brown are linen blends, and the linings are quilting cottons.  There was much agonizing over fabric selection.

I didn't make many changes.  Instead of piping on the outer pocket, I just used a strip of contrasting fabric.  I'm pretty sure I swiped that idea from one of the bag testers, but now I can't find where I saw it (one of the perils of blogging about something months later).

Love magnetic snap closures!  You can also see the non-piping trim.

 I only put the elastic pockets on one side of the inside, purely for time-saving reasons.

The recessed zipper top might be my favorite feature.  It was easy too, so I'm sure I'll add it to other totes that don't have a zip-top.  I seem to manage to tip over my bags regularly, so secure closures are much appreciated!

I  actually cut other another one for O's teacher, but he wanted to give her a gift card to his favorite frozen custard place instead.  The pieces taunt me regularly, so I'll have to sew it up soon.  I think I've finally recovered from the panicky night sewing to attempt another one.  Ha.  He actually has the same teacher again too (his school combines 2nd & 3rd grades, as well as 4th & 5th), so maybe I'll see what he thinks about it for a Christmas gift.

E's First Day

E had her first day of Early Childhood this morning.  I planned for her to wear an outfit I'd made during Summer KCW, but some of you may have seen my panic yesterday on Facebook about how it was going to be too cold to wear it.  I considered sewing up something warmer, but decided in the end to go the more sane route and just add layers.  I rarely make reasonable decisions when it comes to last minute sewing, so maybe this means I've turned a corner.  Not likely.

Last week when it was 90 degrees every day, I was thinking she'd wear her yellow Ottobre tank with her bee skirt -- she loves her bee toy so much that she even has one at school for motivation, so I knew her teacher and para would think the bees on her skirt were fitting.  It was much too chilly for that this morning, though, so she wore a white Jalie tee under a RTW knit blazer, and we added some tights as well.

She's also on her third year of using the owl bag (tutorial here).  I am beyond thrilled with how well it has held up! 

Swim Bag, Take Three

I think I'm going to keep gifting these until every kid I know has one.  It's a practical gift, but still kinda fun.  This bag was for a five-year-old who likes pink.  I made hers the same as my niece's, although I must have marked the drawstring openings wrong, because they were off a bit.  Still functional, fortunately, since I didn't realize it until it would have required serious tear-inducing seam ripping.

The birthday girl really likes pink, so my original plan was to have a pink zipper and drawstring, but Joann's didn't have any appropriate pink cord.  The PUL lining is very, very pink, though! Hopefully that pinked it up enough for her liking.

I love this print.  After making a play sling and a dress from it, I'm down to just a few scraps.  It's so girly and spring-like.  And I'm so very done with winter.  It appears that winter is not done with me, however.

In completely unrelated, but nonetheless awesome news, check out the envelope art on this pattern I won from What Nancy Drew Wore.  Pretty much the coolest ever.  I think I'm going to frame it to hang in my sewing room.

Teacher Gifts Part 2: Roll-up Tote Bag & Coffee Cozy

O. didn't really have any ideas about what he wanted to give his teacher, so I suggested this roll-up tote bag along with a coffee cozy.  He came along to the fabric store with me and immediate picked out a grey and yellow print, which I loved.  Well done, O!  It was conveniently grouped with other coordinates, so he chose a yellow to go with it and we found a matching polka dot in the remnant bin.  He also chose a yellow flower button for the cozy.

Construction of the bag was pretty standard.  If/when I make another one, I'll probably use a slightly longer piece of elastic cord.  This one seemed to be stretched to the limit when the bag was rolled up.

Doodle Swim Bag

One of my nieces had a birthday earlier this week, and my sister suggested that she could use a bag like O's for swim club.  I was happy to oblige.  I've probably mentioned this before, but one of my favorite things about blogging is that it's so helpful for gift ideas for friends and family.  That and my project notes are in one permanent place instead of scribbled on scraps of paper that I subsequently throw away or lose.

My niece is still into peace signs, so I was excited when I found this fabric that looks like it's been doodled.  Isn't it perfect for a tween? I thought the black background would be good for the dirt and muck potential of a locker room floor too.

I made it almost the same way as I made O's, but I did make the changes to the drawstring casing that I mentioned wishing I'd done.  This time I cut the two outer pieces to 14x20" (2" longer") and the one PUL lining piece to the same 14x35".  I left openings in the side seams of the outer between 1 5/8" from the top and 3/4" further down.  When I sewed the lining and outer together, then turned and stitched in the ditch, it created a casing just of the outer cotton turned to the inside.

As I'd hoped, this cinched up much more tightly than O's did with the PUL in the casing.

PUL-lined zipper pocket

The drawstring straps are probably too long, but that's easy enough for my sister to customize for my niece.  She can just retie the strings a bit shorter and trim the ends.

KCWC Day 6: Girly Patrick Curved Raglan

No KCWC sewing yesterday; I was busy cleaning the house to make it respectable for the babysitter in the afternoon.  Oddly enough, the only room other than the bathroom that was reasonably clean was the sewing room. I did sew a gift bag for the wedding that we went to last night, but then managed to forget the present and not realize it until it was too late. This isn't the first time we've done that, so I put it in a very visible place in the living room to no avail. I'll be sending off a package on Monday, I guess.

The wedding had a baseball theme.

I got back to it today, though.  Regular readers (aka my sister and aunt) probably know that I can't get through a KCWC without using at least one of my TNT Fishsticks Designs patterns. I had a cut of interlock with an owl design embroidered on it from a few years ago when I'd gotten some PUL cuts embroidered for E's medium pocket diaper stash. The design was too long for a baby garment, so I set it aside and completely forgot about it until the great sewing room cleanup last week.

It was calling out to be made into a Patrick Curved Raglan, and in the middle of the night, I remembered this floral knit print on brown that I thought would coordinate. In the morning when I checked, it was pretty close.  I cut the usual 3T width/4T length and narrowed the neckband piece to 1.5" wide to girlify it a bit.

It needed a bit more of the solid brown, so I added ringer-style armbands, cut 1.5" wide by 7.75" long.  I also trimmed 1" off the length of the sleeve before sewing on the bands.

Only one more day of KCWC!  Not sure what's on the agenda yet.  There's been talk from O. of a tee with a clone trooper helmet on it. We'll see if he's serious about that request or not.

Star Wars Swim Bag

O's class recently started swimming lessons at the local YWCA, and it seemed he needed a special wet bag to put his things in.  A regular plastic bag did not seem to offer enough incentive to not just throw his damp towel and swim trunks right in his regular backpack...  

I suggested a drawstring backpack, and he requested that it be Star Wars, specifically with a light saber on it.  The original plan was to applique one on, but when E. and I made a quick trip to Joann's a few weeks back, I spotted this comic print and knew he'd love it.  He'd just gotten this old Return of the Jedi graphic novel at Goodwill and thought it was pretty cool.

I used this lined drawstring backpack tutorial, but enlarged it a bit.  The outer fabric pieces were 14x18", and for the PUL lining, I just cut one 14x35" piece, eliminating the bottom seam.

I also changed the pocket to use an inset zipper, like this.  My zipper was 9" long, so I added 2" to the PUL I used to line the pocket.

The one change I would make next time would be to cut the outer a bit longer and the lining shorter, so that the casing was just the outer fabric folded to the inside.  The PUL is a bit bulky to close, especially with the fabric from the seam allowance taking up room as well. It's still functional, though, and O. likes it a lot. So far he has come home every week with the wet stuff IN it.  Yay! 

Sorting & Matching Peg Dolls

One of my friends has a little guy who turned two last week.  I've had this Wooden Peg Sorting & Matching Doll tutorial picked out for him for quite a while, thinking two is just about the perfect age for such things. 

I found some candle cups at JoAnn's and the chunkier pegs at Hobby Lobby.  I really liked the simple faces on this version, so I tried to emulate those, but with boy/gender neutral hair.  I was so glad I had the teeny-tiny paintbrushes from the medal holder; they made things much easier, what with my lack of painting experience and all.

I used a matte acrylic spray, rather than glossy.  I tend to be a matte sort of a girl, but it did make it hard to see if I'd completely covered everything or not.  Hopefully two coats did the trick.

My next thought was that little sets like this tend to get scattered all over the house, at least in this house, so they needed a storage bag.  I'd pinned this clear storage bag tutorial a while back and thought it would be perfect.  

It went together easily, although I should have planned out the size better.  The dolls were drying in the basement, and I was too lazy to run down and actually measure how big of a bag they'd need, so I guessed.  I used a 7" diameter base, which was much too big.  Hopefully he has some other loose toys that would like to share a home with these little guys.

Every time I pulled the drawstring shut, at least one guy fell over.  He looks kinda pathetic, doesn't he?

When O. saw them, he decided that E. needs some for her birthday, and then when he noticed that one of them had green eyes, he decided we should make Harry Potter ones (this is not an original idea, apparently).  She doesn't have the manual dexterity to actually put them in their cups, but she might like picking them up and knocking them around, so we'll see if he remembers as it gets closer to her birthday.

Owl Bag Tutorial

E. started school this fall too. She's in an early childhood class four mornings a week and needed a mama-made bag of her own. My original plan was to make a messenger bag and applique an owl like the one on her second birthday dress. O. suggested that it should actually look like an owl, so I came up with this little guy.

I kind of love him.  Actually, there's no "kind of" about it.  I've been trying to decide if, at age 32, I can pull off using the bag when E. isn't, but I'm pretty sure the answer to that is a resounding no. 


Want to make an owl bag of your own? Here's how:


Supplies
Pattern
1 yard of main fabric, medium to heavy weight
1 yard of lining fabric
1 1/4 yard heavyweight sew-in interfacing
1 1/4 yard fusible featherweight interfacing 
Fusible webbing of your choice -- by the yard, the sheets are too narrow
12" square of fabric for the face
2 - 5x10" scraps for wings
Smaller scraps for eyes
Magnetic snap (optional)
Small piece of plastic canvas (optional)
1 packages of piping (optional)
Spray adhesive or fabric glue stick (optional)

** All seam allowances are 1/4 inch **


Print the pattern, making sure page scaling is turned off, and assemble.  Please note that to save paper the pages for the main body run horizontally, and the gusset pages are vertical.   I just realized that the gusset is mislabeled as the strap on the pattern, so please pretend that it's correct until I get a chance to go fix it.

Cut the two body pieces and one gusset (on the fold) each from your main fabric, lining fabric and both interfacings. Also cut a 5x30" strap piece from your main fabric.

Apply the heavyweight interfacing to the main fabric body and gusset pieces, either by basting or with the spray adhesive or glue stick.  Iron the fusible interfacing onto the lining pieces.

If you are using a magnetic snap, apply the pieces 1.5 inches down from the center on each lining piece.  If  magnetic snaps are new to you, Rae has a great tutorial here.  I like to reinforce mine with a small square of plastic canvas also.

Plastic canvas

Both sides applied

If you want any tags or pockets on the inside of your bag, add them now.  E. didn't need any pockes, but I did put on a tag.

Next, trace the face, eye pieces, beak and wings onto fusible web. You'll want to trace the nice Photoshop drawn circles for both sets of eyes, I just left the wonky badly-traced ones on the pattern for a placement suggestion.  ;) 

Tracing the face.  I used Heat'n Bond Lite.

Applique the face pieces onto one of your main body pieces from the bottom up: face, wings, outer eye, middle eye, pupil, beak. If you need an applique refresher, here is a tutorial.

Baste piping to the right side of the sides and bottom of the front and back pieces -- not the top!

Now pin the gusset to one of the body pieces, right sides together. I like to mark the centers and then pin from each center out.  Sew.

Repeat with the remaining body piece, then turn right side out. 

Baste piping to the right side of top edge of the bag. You will need to angle the piping where you start and stop.  I would *not* recommend doing this on the gusset, as my machine didn't like the number of layers once the strap piece was added also.  The center back may be a better choice.

Sew the lining gusset to the lining body pieces, leaving an opening for turning.

Prepare your strap by ironing it in half the long way.

Then open it up and iron each side to the middle.

Think  I need to wash my ironing board cover?  Eek.

 Refold along the original fold and iron again.  Topstitch both edges of the strap.

Center the strap on the gusset and baste into place.

Pin the lining and bag right sides together and sew along the top edge.

Reinforce the strap area by bartacking (sewing a tight zigag).  Turn the bag right side out.  Sew the hole in the lining, either by machine or by hand.  As many of you know, I avoid hand sewing at all costs, but decided to suck it up and do it for this bag. I'm glad I did, since you can't even see where the opening was.


Fill it up and enjoy!  We usually have a spiral notebook, E's leg braces, and a thermos of milk for snacktime in the bag, with some room to spare.

It fits perfectly in the basket of E's fancy-schmancy adaptive stroller.