Retreat Bags For The Great Nieces

 These Retreat bags from Emmaline Bags were super quick to put together. This is a free tutorial on the Emmaline Bags blog.

 There are wire frames that hold the bag open. It's not necessary to have the wires but it makes this bag Super professional. My sewing is never professional - I added handles and I haven't clipped threads nor did I switch thread colors. I had black on the sewing machine and ran with it.

These are for my great-nieces who are six and four. For sure, they will not notice.

 I used two japanese prints I bought at SewExpo over a year ago.
Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood fairy tales as only the Japanese can draw them.

You will notice I used some of my 'new' birthday airplane stripe denim to line one bag. The pink stripe came from Japan and is a remnant from a futon cover.

 You might notice some animals trying to get inside. Another garage sale score about a week ago. An entire bag of really cool animals (no repeats) that will be fabulous play toys for those great nieces.

 When's the last time you played with giraffes?

And I used two more estate sale zippers. The bigger teeth ones. Easy for little hands to pull open.

The Handles were something I added. I stitched them down about 4" from either end. Makes it easier for little girls to carry.

Snow White Pop Up Reader Case

 I went into my sewing room to pull colors for a friend's daughter.
A belated graduation gift.

Several ideas wandered around inside my head from a zip bag to a phone charger pocket to a drawstring bag to a slouchy  messenger bag.

So I made her a eReader cover that allows you to prop up the reader for hands free reading.
I don't even know if she has an eReader.

The Tutorial came from the Inspired Wren - I made three of her vinyl lunch bags in the last month.
Very clear instructions.
After realizing her case is for one of the newer, sleeker eReaders, I found this site which gives dimensions for some of the earlier versions.
Her case length was around 7", give or take, I wanted to make mine longer - about 8".

Ren walks you through the math to make a case to fit your eReader. In my case, since I don't own one and I'm not sure the intended giftee has one, I upped the size of my long panels to 6.5" wide(1/4" seams) by 24.5 tall". My case came out at 6" wide x 8" tall.

I used a thin batting inside instead of interfacing and it worked fine.

The case is basically two long lengths of fabric sewn together that are then folded in thirds to make the case.
If you want to cleverly piece your fabric, just divide the case in rough thirds and work from there. I fussy cut my Japanese Snow White fabric (from Puyallup SewExpo 2014) to show the witch standing above Snow White.

My hint?  Fold your panels in thirds before sewing and decide what end will be folding down from top - this part shows the most when case is closed. Mark with a pin or something so you don't get confused when you are piecing various parts.
I had a coordinating stripe and the turquoise fabric for the inside.

 I used a priority mail box (bit better than 1-ply) for my cardboard that forms the pop up.

The pop up is adjustable and the shank button keeps the reader from sliding down.

I could always ask Jen what she'd like for me to sew for her - but where's the fun in that?