Happy Tuesday! I wanted to share a little bit of what I'm working on right now. I'm mostly working on moving prep and taking care of our toddler, but there has been some sewing too. Not as much as I'd like, but I know that is temporary!


When going through my closet a few weeks ago, I pulled some handmade shirts that I haven't worn in a long time. One was a tunic made from this excellent dot from Habitat by Jay McCarroll. I decided to chop it up for the fabric instead of letting it continue to languish in my closet. Right away I turned it into a drawstring bag! This is the bottom accent from the expansion pattern. I used a scrap of leftover sparkly cotton by Robert Kaufman for the accent, a purple blender for the lining and some cotton twill that I dyed last year for the ties! (In case you missed it: Tie Dye Twill Tape Tutorial) This is an everything size bag. I used my Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern and Expansion Pattern to make it.


Another drawstring bag! I had the fabrics pulled for this one for years! I was cleaning out my WIP storage and found this combination. It was perfect for an afternoon where I didn't have much time, but wanted to sew. I don't work a lot with black fabrics, but I really like how this bag turned out! I love how the black ruler twill tape looks with these prints.



I can't stop making towel bags!! I need to write a dedicated post about working with towels, they're just so much fun. I found this incredible mustard/gold plaid towel at the outlet and knew it would make some great bags. I was able to squeeze two boxy bags, made using my Triplizip Pattern, plus a plain flat pouch. I was so glad that I had some matching zippers on hand.



I've been working on a new quilt for the last month using all striped vintage sheets. Actually, I used scraps leftover from putting together these stripe bundles. I'm hoping to share more when I share the finished quilt soon!


Another project made from a vintage quilt, a giant bow! I didn't have a seasonal wreath to hang on the door for Summer, so I made this bow! It has a bit of random interfacing to give it a bit of structure. I serged the cut ends and hung it up with a zip-tie. Easy peasy! And I love it.



Saved some little half-square triangles leftover from making my Starflower zipper pouches, turned into a few random blocks!


I have started slowly adding things to my online shop as a part of a moving sale! I'll continue to do so through the Fall. These will be a dedicated post about it hopefully in the next month or so!


I'll leave you with a photo of Dusty cat helping in the sewing room. So nice!

Happy Sewing!

Upcycling a Towel and an Apron into Bags

Happy Tuesday! I've started going to the Goodwill outlet on a regular basis, and it's been such fun hunting for treasures, especially textiles. I need to put together another adventures in thrifting post soon, to share all the things I've found lately! Today I want to share two projects that I made using textiles that I salvaged from the outlet. I loved working on these projects and it's inspiring me to continue to upcycle more textiles!


I have a real soft spot for vintage towels and I've amassed a good collection of them over the years. We use them every day! I got excited when I spotted this one, only to realize that it had been altered. It was amongst a bunch of vintage aprons, so I believe it had been turned into an apron at one time. It was so cute, I bought it anyways and figured I'd come up with a project later.


I ended up turning the towel piece into a dopp kit! I was inspired by Joanne Sunny K and her work with vintage towels.


This is a larger version of the boxy pouch from my Triplizip Zipper Pouch Pattern. I also left it unlined. The dimensions ended up a bit big since I wanted to use as much of the towel piece as possible!


I love that if I spill something in this bag, it's a towel! It feels so practical. Would also make a great beach bag. My gears are turning for other towel bags!


I reused the original tag as an embellishment on the back.


This was such a fun project, I loved making it. I really like the way that the floral pattern lines up around the zipper. I kept things really simple to finish it up and used some webbing for the handle.


The second bag that I made was a drawstring bag! This is the project size from my Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern.


I found this vintage apron on the same trip as the towel piece! I really liked the fabric, but I don't wear aprons very often, especially not half aprons. I grabbed it anyways, knowing I'd probably unpick it for the fabric.


I did end up unpicking most of the apron, but left the pocket! I was able to center the pocket on one of the exterior main pieces, which was lucky.


I paired the apron fabric with a black and white gingham for the accent. I love how it ties in the black ric-rac on the pocket! For the lining I used a white solid.


The apron had a personalized maker tag on it. It was so cute, I really didn't want it to go to waste! I added it to the back of the bag.


I went with black ruler twill tape for the ties and 1" beehive wooden beads, both available in my online shop!

Happy Sewing!

June Monthly Report

Happy July! It's time for June's monthly report. See past reports here.

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted! I didn't mean to take such a break, but I'm hoping to get back on track with sharing my makes this month. I went home to Ohio for a week, so I know that threw my schedule off a bit. This sweet quilt ladder is in the guest room at my parents, and just so happens to be filled with some of my quilts!


I actually did a lot of sewing last month, mostly gifts. It was my friend Amanda's birthday, plus my Mom's birthday and Father's Day, so I was kept busy stitching! First up, I made my Mom a fun little zipper pouch. This is the boxy pouch from my Triplizip Zipper Pouch Pattern. I used this patchwork cheater print from Echino and some Essex linen so it's got a nice weight to it.


I also made two more mini sewing tool organizers! I have loved making these little guys. One was for my friend Amanda, and one for my Mom. I used the #10 Sewing Caddy Pattern* by Sew Can She. You can see the other two mini ones I made here: Mini Sewing Tool Organizers.


Last but not least, I made my Dad a pillow to match a quilt I made him a few years ago. Thankfully I still have the matching fabrics, so it was a pretty straightforward project. Just a simple star block with a fussy cut center! I used up some leftover half-square triangles on the back too. Here is the quilt that goes with it: Deer Sparkling Cider Quilt.
 
To keep myself accountable for my stash goals, I track my yardage for fabric and yarn each month. Read more about how I track here. Here is how I did in June:

June Fabric
Used up: 13.75 yards
Brought in: 4 yards
Net: -9.75 yards
Year to date: -39.5 yards

June Yarn
Used up: 622 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: -622 yards
Year to date: -426 yards

I finally bought some fabric! This was my first fabric purchase since March. We stopped at the Polka Dot Pincushion, which is one of my favorite shops that is local to my parents. Had to pick up a few things while I was there. Otherwise, I was still in the negative this month thanks to all the gift sewing I did. Plus I finished a quilt that I will be sharing soon. I also get into the negative on yarn, since I destashed a couple skeins this month.


Of course while I was home in Ohio we did plenty of thrifting. I was pretty lucky with vintage sheets this trip!


George the bunny, munching on some hay!

Have a Great Month!

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

October Monthly Report

Happy November! It's time for October's monthly report. See past reports here.

Quilt top from Expanse Quilt Pattern.


October was a really busy month over here. My parents came to visit, and a few weeks later Michael's grandparents visited too. While my parents were here we tackled a bunch of projects around the house, including preparing and planting grass in our backyard. It was quite an undertaking, but I'm glad it's in! We also took a trip to Monger's Market and picked up this set of vintage lockers. I've always wanted some, and they had a huge selection.


Despite all the work on the house that we did this month, I actually got a good bit of sewing done. I didn't finish anything huge, but I made progress on a number of projects that were lingering. I did finish a few small things, including this patchwork drawstring bag. I had some smaller pieces of my friend Anna's fabric collection, Forage, to play with. I chopped it up into squares and made an Artist size lined drawstring bag!

Patchwork Drawstring Bag Tutorial


I also made a zipper pouch for my friend Brianne's birthday! This is the cosmetic pouch (slightly upsized to fit the zipper I had on hand) from my Triplizip Pattern. I added a little hand quilting for an extra fun detail. It was fun to use some of this linen cheater print from an old Heather Ross collection, Nursery Versery.


To keep myself accountable for my stash goals, I'm tracking my yardage for fabric and yarn each month. Read more about how I track my here. Here is how I did in October:

October Fabric
Used up: 5.5 yards
Brought in: 4 yards
Net: -1.5 yards
Year to date: -15.5 yards

October Yarn
Used up: 0 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: 0 yards
Year to date: +218 yards

Pretty happy with my intake this month. I bought some solid red fabric that I used up right away for a set of stockings (I'll share those soon!). Closer to the end of the month I ordered some more sweatshirt fabric. I finished a new sweatshirt this month, and that spurred me on to make more!


Here is the sweatshirt I finished! This is my second hooded sweatshirt that I've made, and I'm loving it. I drafted the pattern for it from my favorite Loft sweatshirt. It was really simple to create the pattern, and with this one I was able to further adjust it so the fit is just how I want it. For this one I used organic cotton fleece from Birch Fabrics. I'm not sure what color this is, I found it in a remnant bin at a local shop last year.


I started a new project with some of my indigo scraps! I had a bunch of skinny strips, and one day I decided to just play with them. I used the June quilt pattern from my friend Amanda Jean's book No Scrap Left Behind. I only made a few blocks because of the limited fabric I was working with. I'm not 100% sure where I want to go with it from here, but I'm not in a hurry, so I'll let it sit for a while.


This was the first Halloween in our new house, and so our first time handing out candy! We had been warned that Halloween was pretty crazy in our neighborhood, so we decided to dress up and decorate the house too. We went with a Stranger Things theme, I dressed up as Eleven, and Michael is Mike. We had a ton of fun and we went through an insane amount of candy!


Even George was sleepy the day after! And maybe a little grumpy! :)

Have a Great Month!

FIGO Fabrics LookBook

FIGO Fabrics is a new fabric division of Northcott fabrics that launched last week at Quilt Market. They debuted with five beautiful modern fabric collections.

The folks at FIGO reached out to me this Spring to mock-up some of my patterns in their new fabrics and they stitched up a bunch of great projects! Many were on display at the show, and they can all be found in their LookBook! I'm sharing the projects made from my patterns below, but definitely check out the entire thing here, as well as their instagram.


Pattern: Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern
Fabric: Mountain Meadow by Pippa Shaw, shipping December 2018


Pattern: Florette Quilt Pattern
Fabric: Perfect Day by Naomi Wilkinson , shipping December 2018


Pattern: Triplizip Zipper Pouch Pattern
Fabric: Mountain Meadow by Pippa Shaw, shipping December 2018


Pattern: Triangularity Quilt Pattern
Fabric: Special Delivery by Lemonni, shipping December 2018

All images in this post belong to FIGO Fabrics and were taken from their Spring 2018 LookBook.

Waxed Canvas Duffle Bag

Happy Wednesday! Let's start off the first week of the new year with a finish to share! I gave a few handmade things this holiday, and this project was one of my favorites. Michael had this old green duffle bag that was in complete disrepair and in need of being replaced. I knew I wanted to give him one this Christmas, and early in October it hit me that I should make one!


I used Simplicity #2274 (which I've made before: one, two, three) as a base, but made it quite a bit larger. It's about 2" taller and deeper, plus about 7" wider. It took a bit of fiddling to adjust the pattern correctly, but it all came together just fine! I did a pocket on each end, but skipped the pocket between the handles.


Knowing how much use this duffle bag could potentially get, I wanted it to be super sturdy. I ordered 12oz waxed cotton canvas in dark olive from A.L. Francis on Etsy. I had been wanting to try out waxed canvas for a while, and this seemed like the perfect project. The canvas I bought is super wide, so I have enough leftover to make something for myself too. The fabric was really interesting to work with, you scrunch it up to give it texture and a worn in look. I used a size 16 needle and black polyester thread for the entire bag. Bonus: it smells really good, like beeswax!

For the handles, I used 2" cotton webbing instead of jute/fabric. I found webbing that wide here. I referenced the original duffle for the handle length and placement. I knew I wanted to also make an over the shoulder strap that was removable. I found 2" side release buckles here. I serged all of the edges of the bag pieces before I did any sewing. I also doubled stitched almost every seam, and backstitched over any stress points. It took a while, but I think it will wear well.


I also made a matching toiletry pouch to go with the duffle bag. I sized up the boxy pouch from my Triplizip Pattern. I used laminated cotton for the interior, waxed canvas for the exterior and black 1" cotton webbing for the handle.


To finish off both the duffle and pouch, I used black suede cording for the zipper pulls. I also recycled part of the original hard removable bottom for the duffle bag. I had a piece of binders board the right size already, and I wrapped it with the black nylon from the original.


Michael was really pleased with the set, and didn't realize I made it at first. I gave it to him before Christmas so that he could use it on our trip home. It held SO much! I am glad I was able to make something for him that he'll use!