Marimekko Pattern

I've had this red & white striped Marimekko make-up bag forever.
I've only had the bicycle oilcloth for a few years.

I've been wanting to make this zipped bag with gussets for a while. My last bag gave me an idea to fuse the lining to the outer fabric.
With this small gusseted bag, you finish the raw edges with twill tape/bias tape/whatever tape.
I made a pattern off my marimekko - basically a large rectangle and a tiny rectangle x2 for the gussets.
I used adhesive spray to bond the lining to the outer fabric and I love that it stays put.








This was a fairly easy zipped pouch to make. It opens wide enough to dig around - I usually travel with my Marimekko filled with toiletries. It would be easier with two bags.

The narrow gussets created several moments of hand-sewing which involved a thimble to get my needle through the oilcloth easier.

A sneak peak at some HST (half-square-triangles) that I am sewing.
Have 45 out of 81 done. (What was I thinking?)

I'm using a layer cake of Road 15 by Sweetwater that I bought with last years Christmas gift card to Fabric Depot.  I usually buy yardage to make my little doodads - this is my first foray into quilty-type fabric buying. Maybe I'll get some charm squares next time....

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I have exciting news - the Lucky Lindy quilt I found at an estate sale yesterday for $65 - which I didn't have?  My Creative Friend went back today and it was still there!!! She talked them down to $50!!!

She's the best friend ever.
Then she brought me some RetroClean and the whole quilt is soaking in my bathtub right now!

January

January

I am really liking my new work location. The eight minute commute  is incredible. It is freeing up time for my other life.

I've been dreaming on Pinterest. I think I have the hang of Pinterest now. It beats bookmarking things I would like to try and then trying to figure out why I bookmarked them years, ahem, months later. Pinterest bookmarks come with a photo and a linkback to how to make it. Unlike my bookmarks, where sometimes the link no longer works or is for the general website -not the specific page.

The boards help me and my OCD organizational bits. I still have to figure out how NOT to get notifications that someone is re-pinning my item --clutter in the email inbox, but otherwise, I am loving pinterest.

Lots of thinking and dreaming going on at home. Had some family 'emergencies', -- but since there were three of them, we have moved on.

My recent estate sale find - a Lucky Lindy airplane quilt with original feedsack fabrics. I didn't buy it as it was only $65. And I didn't have $65. The quilt was a small twin and thin but not holey. Very vintage '30's.

I do own the pattern and I probably need to make one or at least learn more about quilting.
One of  the red planes was made from a print fabric featuring tiny firecrackers.

Plastic Snaps

My package from China came yesterday.
Really fast - I ordered them less than two weeks ago.
I looked at Ebay and  my local fabric store.    I went for cheapest with free shipping.
And you get what you pay for...


For $15.98, I received the pliers with all sorts of extras.
10 colors of 10 15 colors of 10 snap sets each (total 100 sets 150 (!))
Screwdriver





These work just like metal snaps.
 I used my seam ripper to make a pinhole through my fabric.


Sandwich the button and the male end with the fabric between.

And squeeze the pliers together.

The screw at the top of the pliers already fell out - it's just sitting there loose.
I've already broken some of the snaps by squeezing too hard? They still work - it's the base that cracked.

For the most part, they worked fine. I wonder if a different brand of snap might hold up better. These will do the trick for this project.

I even managed to take a video of squeezing.





And these might have fallen into my ebay cart from the  same seller. 
Metal (aluminum --  lightweight) studs for purses or other things that need to be decorated.
Each bag was $2.50 with free shipping.
Too good to be true?

Craftsy Bag Making

After Crafty Tokyo Mama made her boxy pouch, I thought I would whip one out too. This is a free class on craftsy called No Guts Boxy Pouch.
My son came home over the holiday and I was eyeing his ditty bag on the bathroom counter when I saw Janine's.



A couple of people had problems with the tab measurements and the ability for this bag to stand up on it's own.
I fixed the tab by making it longer (2"x 3" instead of 1" x 3") so you have something to grip when you sew it onto your bag.
The other problem that came up in the reviews lies in it's designed ability to be a bag that can be folded flat - for space saving. It probably never will stand up on it's own.

I picked a homedec weight fabric from Finlayson in finland and interfaced this. However, my lining is a quilting cotton from the Summerville line. Cute choices but they don't match in weight.
While I can get my bag to stand up, I had to tack in each corner so lining doesn't wallow around inside the bag.
In fact, when looking at my son's ditty bag (complete with zippered pockets), that one used bias tape to finish the inside seams. When you create the boxy corners, I can see why grabbing the lining too might be a great idea.
How they did it on my sons ditty bag was to create the zippered pockets (outside fabric and inside in the lining), then fuse the lining to the outer fabric. The gussets were sewn from the inside with tape covering the raw edges. Then You don't have a fiddly lining.

My home dec fabric was so stiff and the pouch not long enough, I had trouble sewing the gussets.

If I was to make this again, I would make this longer by two inches.
Or, I would sew the gussets at 1.5" instead of the 2" as directed. 
That would elongate the bag, which I would prefer.

It did turn out cute. This would be a fun giveaway item, filled with sewing and/or chocolate treasures.



It does open wide.




And closed up - quite square.
Struggling to sew gusset corners created a lot of wrinkles in my outer fabric. I took a wad of wool felt (still out from Christmasy makes) and ironed the outside by having the wad of felt inside pressing back.

Good directions for a free pattern.

Mainstream Pads

First off, I admit to poking fun at this subject. If you can't laugh with me, please do not subscribe to The Onion.
Menstrual pads have hit the mainstream shopping experience in Japan. My friend lives in Kyoto but there are other locations (franchise opportunity!) around Japan.

"Of course that shop has a website.  I found it tonight.  It's all in Japanese though." Janine was too amazed! to go back and snap a photo, but she coughed up the web site.

"Here is the main page:  http://www.remedy-garden.co.jp/

The first shop is the Kyoto headquarters:  http://www.remedy-garden.co.jp/pc/kyoto2.html"

 {I wonder if you get a discount on the sun-faded pads in the window?}

"There are lots of photos of the inside of the shop if you click on that link.

"The other two shops are in trendy Tokyo areas and the note in fancy green letters on the left says a new shop is opening in Aoyama on Jan. 18.  Aoyama is one of the more expensive areas of Tokyo.  Click on all the shops to see more pictures.  The shop on the far right, Jiyugaoka, has a good closeup of pads hanging in the show window and some lacy ones in the shop.

{Discretely hanging in the window}

{I don't know that I would go with white. They do tend to look grotty after a while.
Japanese Yen is around 1350 yen to 13 dollars or about a hundred yen to a dollar.}

"Here is the online shop:  http://www.remedygarden-online.com/

Look up above the windows to spot your size. {pun}

A Liberty print one will set you back 2200 yen, about $22.  http://www.remedygarden-online.com/products/detail.php?product_id=679"

{I tried to borrow the liberty print version of a menstrual pad but due to some computer issues (mine),  you'll have to settle on clicking through on the link. }

more liberty

{ Custom Enamel pail for soaking them - storing them.}

{Buying menstrual pads looks to be a very pleasant shopping experience in Japan.}

More On Pads, or Even More TMI

Well, apparently, I might be one of the last to talk about this subject in public.
My friend in Kyoto reports a shop there with these in the front window along with a pretty enamel pail to store them in. In fact, the entire shop sells women's menstrual pads.
I have sent her on special assignment to snap a photo because she was too embarrassed (!), after she got over her amazement (!),  of a whole shop (!), to take a photo.


I bought my first pads from a local seller on Etsy.
My primary reason was commercial panty liners were giving me a rash.
I finally got around to making my own, designing them longer for my peri-menapausal self.

My God, there are a bazillion tutorials out there.
Other women get those same rashes, but some claim their flow is less by using a more natural, breathable fabric.

{{Whatever are they putting in the commercial pads?}}



I created my pattern by drawing around a super long panty liner. The bottom pattern piece is the base that needs enough wing space to snap around your panties. Not rocket science and most of the free tutorials go this direction. You need to sew around those curves, so I chose to draw my wings this way. I also wanted to use my serger and these soft curves will work.

One gal likes the complete circle.


Sorry for the upside-down photos. I took them with my smarty-pants phone who sometimes throws a snit about uploading photos to the blog (BlogIt!  app). When I straightened up the photos and tried to re-upload them , the phone went into a trance; "No Internet Service". I swear that phone will make me smarter someday...

To make a pattern like this, I like to use plastic page dividers or card stock. Something I can draw around later with ease.  I found one page divider and drew the rest on a paper grocery bag which works well too. The grocery bag's pattern  advantage is it's size - less piecing on larger projects.


To make the underneath 'wing' base, I placed the pad shape on top and drew, freehand, the wings. You want the base to be a tad longer than the pad (in order to sew it down).
You want the wing base to be wide enough to snap together under the crotch of your panties.

Now if you are a little OCD (and you might need to work on that), you can make sure your wings are exactly the same. --Mine aren't which makes me happy as my OCD tends to flare up when my auto-immune is stressed.

You can add a taper in the middle to better fit between your legs.

I placed my patterns on my flannel and PUL fabric and drew around them. I cut them out with a rough 1/4" for the seam allowance and then serged them all leaving about 1.5" for turning.

Some of the how-to's involve a removable pad.
I might need to try these. My niece, had all-in-one diapers for her girls and they incorporated a removable absorbant pad.

This is how I ended up with the PUL fabric. My niece was trying to talk me into making AIO (all in one) diapers for her so she wouldn't have to pay $28 apiece. The PUL was staring me in the face when I was at Boersma's so I picked it up then. Once I figured out the time involved to make an AIO diaper, it got tucked away.




To make this seepage resistant, I utilized PUL fabric inside. This is in all diapers nowadays. But it isn't natural and I may make some without - especially the panty liner ones.

One of the sites mentioned this product and I am now on the look-out for it:  Water Resistant Wind Pro Fleece


I forget what these handy dandy turners are called. They have a rounded tip that will death grip onto a seam and turn things right-side-out super fast.


Before you sew the two sections together, make some stitch lines down the middle of the pad to prevent fabric bunching when washing.
Remember that hole where we turned it right-sides-out? Great thing about flannel is that you can just finger that raw edge inside and topstitch down. No need for hand-sewing these.
Because they were both flannel, I placed the pad on top of the base and topstitched it down in one big oval. Flannel doesn't creep like cotton fabrics will. I didn't use pins at all.
The last thing to do is install the plastic snaps. You want to use the plastic snaps because of laundering. The  metal ones will rust.


I can't believe I am talking panties, menstrual pads, and crotch on my blog. I dithered about it until Crafty Tokyo Mama (II) told me about the shop in Kyoto.
These are mainstream products now!

Use 100% Cotton Flannel. --More natural, better quality (quilter's flannel).
Although, it doesn't really matter. These are 'rags'. They are supposed to be sewn from stash. You shouldn't have to go buy supplies to make these (ahem, new plastic snap setter tool). Some people have reused old t-shirts (soft cotton knit), old flannel bathrobes, etc. You don't have to use PUL fabric as there are other options.

Laundering: My bathroom sink is private, so I throw them in here to soak. You can add vinegar to the water to naturally neutralize odors and bacteria. Then I throw them in my regular wash.

Oh - pick some pretty flannel. That's what most of the people who use cloth pads had to say. It makes your period a little less cursable.


Resources:

TIPNUT  -- some of the links are broken but most work. Nice compilation of pad design ideas.

Pink Lemonade review. Review of the Pink Lemonade brand of pads.

AskPauline; This gal used metal snaps and didn't seem to have rust problems.

SewGreen :    Insertible Pad Design

Circle Design



and, finally, two youtube videos (there are more!) if you want to have some audio:






Selling Pad kits:

January In Canbyland

No winds, just frosty this morning.
I went out to re-fill the bird feeder and had to bring in both the hummingbird feeder and the bird feeder - I can't get the top off the bird feeder without possibly cracking the acrylic. Brought them both in to thaw.

My camellia.




Sunrise glow happening. Looking out towards runway through my Star Magnolia.
I'm actually facing North towards Portland.

Son climbing Mt. Hood this morning. Nearly to the summit. 11,239 feet up.


Autumn leaves resting atop my creeping wooly thyme


Still a couple of fall color Apple leaves on the tree.


An evergreen Azalea. I was given this shrub many many years ago.

It doesn't get too cold here in the Willamette valley. No snow accumulation at all. A good sunny day following this frost - possibly it will warm to the 40's today, enabling me to get out and take care of some winter clean-up.