New Purse For Me

 This is a cute little crossbody purse I made for myself.

Mostly the Sunshine Wristlet by Bagstock patterns, I added some hardware to add an adjustable strap.

I used some of my favorite cork fabric along with some cotton fabric that has a cork design.
This purse has an outside pocket for my phone and a zippered security pocket inside the zippered body. Perfect small size for me.

I took it on my trip to Reno to see my son.

I cut out another to sew up for my RunningWithHandmade Etsy shop. Must sew now.

I have decided straps are my least favorite part to make.

M and M Bags

 I've made several of these lately. All scrap except for the zipper. I've made them with straight sides and a logo (bottom panel) stitched to the lining. I've boxed the corners for a softer, rounder, coin purse shape. This time, I kept my bag intact at the middle and did some fiddly zipper sewing. These lie flatter. Overall, I'm liking the resulting shape.

The candy people have encased their M&M's in plastic. I suppose it keeps the candy fresher - longer. I saw a tutorial about re-purposing these bags years ago but it involved iron-on vinyl to give strength to the paper/plastic bag. The plastic nowadays is pretty tough - especially for a novelty purse. Who wants to deal with possible melted plastic on their iron - glad to have skipped straight past a vinyl overlay.

That's my cut basil as a backdrop. We won't get a freeze until November so I'll probably get one more cutting in before the basil dissolves into mush.

 I am supposed to be finishing these lipsense bags with the cute hedgehog. But I hit a zipper end roadblock. I don't like how they appear, how they came together - at all. I think I have figured out what to do to make them work, but it involves seam ripping and a few choice words.

This is my first end. It disappears into the side seam, but could flip up raw if you were, somehow, to push up into that corner.

 My second end - I sewed a fabric tab onto the end of the zipper. It's all bulky and bunches up there.
Don't like that one neither.

 I'm gonna try my third thing to remove some fabric bulk and then just get on with my life.

These bags are for Lipsense Lipsticks and will be sold in my etsy shop. That's why I'm making my sewing life miserable. I want these to look awesome - like the first one I sold. I'm over-thinking these zipper ends - that's for sure. Why I derailed for sewing candy bags.

Some fall garden photos.

Volunteer Putunia

 My exciting still life of fresh tomatoes and purple grapes nestled on a bed of basil. yep.

Ice Cream sundae Hydrangea

Cosmo plus some awesome raspberries

We've had some recent rains which helps to throw everything onto the ground.
Most of the sunflowers are in resistance.  This dahlia is so much fun. It has been my favorite this year.

  I had a chance to attend my local library book sale and really hit the jackpot. This is my first haul. Some are destined to be Christmas presents, Some will wing their way over to Japan. Some will be read. And one will be sold on Amazon to pay for the lot.

I actually went back when I had to return to work in the afternoon and got a second (and much bigger) haul. It was a really good sale.

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts - 2017 bag competition.

Travel Purses; Passport Wallet Finished

I've got another post planned on this trio of travel  purses with all the pattern info and my hacks in one place. For right now, it's getting mailed today up to dear daughter for her upcoming trip to Sweden and Finland.

I am still hiding from my photos as she will be visiting some of the relatives there as well as possibly one of my friends who is visiting ME tomorrow! 

The travel set consists of a messenger style bag, a coin purse, and a passport wallet.

The Messenger style bag is sewn without the flap but with a recessed zipper to keep items secure while in strange places. It also contains a zippered pocket inside for extra security. The two outside pockets  stack on the front - one zippered, one a slip pocket.

The coin purse was my own design but loosely based on some small bags sewn during BagIt, hosted by ElmStreetQuilts last November. BagIt for 2016 has already started and will go on for three months this year.

The passport wallet is from a new-to-me pattern but was seriously hacked by me. I downsized the wallet to 80% of original. I added some credit card pockets inside and I also added the alternative pocket option. It also fits my IPhone6. I'm showing it with my old android which is a bit smaller.

I like the concept of this wallet but it gave me 2am nightmares trying to figure out the next step. Now that I've sewn it, I love the concept. You make what type pockets you want, then cut the outside and lining so those pockets will fit inside. Definitely my style of sew as you go.  I'll be blogging more about the pattern difficulties later.

On the main bag, I like the length of the tassel but it was a trial one out of thinner fabric. I may re-do the tassel but my brain says it's done.

I don't know if dd will want to carry all these as she usually travels via small backpack. I think she will like the passport wallet as I like to have my drivers license/ID and passport in the same place and readily available for airport screeners. She probably won't need to pull it out too often. In Japan, I felt like I was showing my passport about five times a day.

In other good news, one of my cousins saw the bigger bag/purse and ordered one exactly like it for herself. Thank you for helping to pay for new cork fabric addiction.

Travel Purses; Part Three

The Passport Wallet.

This is just a teaser post as I'm running amuck with house guests arriving Saturday and my awesome work schedule getting in the way.

The bathroom is cleaned and it will just have to stay that way until Saturday.

Here's the first post in my Travel Purse trio.

And my second with the coin purse.

This wallet has been placed under my mattress to flatten it out and set the folds.

Travel Purses: Coin Purse

 I sewed this coin purse to attach to my daughter's 2 zip hipster bag. For this little purse, I brought out the lining fabrics. On this side, you can see Alaska - where she currently lives.

On the opposite side is a street map of Paris with the Eiffel Tower. DD traveled there a couple of years ago along when visiting Budapest, Germany and England.

 Cute and tiny. This coin purse is about 5 1/2  inches wide by 4 inches tall. On the front is a piece of vinyl to easily see which coins you have 'collected'.
 
I even found her some Swedish (Sverige) coins as well as my paltry collection of Euro coins and her more substantial stash. We can't spend Euros here in Oregon  - so take them back.

The bling includes a Eiffel Tower frippery (Daiso in Japan! Yay!) and a lace zipper.
 There are a couple of scraps of cork to pull the set together.

I am still hiding from those photos and getting addresses for DD.
Sewing is sew much more fun.



Part one of Travel Purses is here.

Travel Purses; Part One

 My daughter is traveling soon to Sweden & Finland. I think Russia too. Instead of looking through the family photos and finding the Swedish relatives and addresses, I chose to make her a purse set.

This first purse is the 2 Zip Hipster sewing pattern by Erin over at Dog Under My Desk Patterns.
I haven't made one since my trip to Japan over a year ago.

At the time, I wanted the bag to be a bit wider and I thought I took good notes but found I could be more specific about writing down which changes I made. A couple of mistakes in cutting were easily fixed because I sewed this in Cork fabric.

If you haven't worked with cork fabric yet, order some. Very easy to cut and sew. The edges don't fray. It's easy to add a short piece on if you made a cutting error.
Cork fabric is also weather resistant & mold resistant. This cork fabric comes from Portugal and is a sustainable natural  product. It's seriously awesome for bag making.
I bought mine here.

I had to pet it for a year before I could bear to cut into it. I have mostly used up my natural color cork and still have some of this sea foam color. I need to order more but it's pricey.

 I found some Paris map fabric last year with dear daughter (the traveler) in mind. Along with it is some world map fabric that coordinates. I hadn't bought the seafoam cork yet so it all added up to serendipitous sewing

.

This bag has an outside zippered pocket and behind that a slip pocket - perfect for traveling. It also has a zippered pocket inside - the pattern only calls for a slip pocket but I add a zippered one inside because it's more secure.
The top zips shut easily with a big purse zipper and the strap can be worn over the shoulder or cross-body.

In fact, I didn't have enough natural cork for the strap and I didn't want a seafoam color strap, so I robbed the strap off my Japan bag ( which I had robbed from a garage sale bag). Never say I am not into recycling.

Yesterday, I received some small tassels - God bless Daiso - from Janine in Japan. They are too short for my bag. However, Kyle's turquoise tassel is too big. Need to make one. Then this bag will be done.

Except, I'm making two more bags as a set. The coin purse which attaches to the inside dangly strap (airplane ribbon) and a passport wallet.
I have the coin purse done to blog about another day. Need to cut out the passport wallet tomorrow before work.

Does anyone else hide from their trip photos? I probably took 1600 photos when hubs and I went to Sweden and Finland 4 years ago (Summer posts in 2012). I was supposed to put the family ones in a photo album and send to the 2nd cousins in Mariehamn (Åland Islands between Sweden & Finland).
Did I? ..ahem...shhhh...I'm sewing.

If I can get them printed, I could send them with dd and save on postage.

Don't even talk to me about  my Japan photos.

And here's a gratuitous photo of my work apron. Pencil Girl sewed a front panel for me as a birthday gift. How sweet is that?

Of course, it will be ripped to shreds in a few months (unsafe equipment).
Don't look too close - this is the guys restroom - it looks marginally better than the gals bathroom.