Bright, handmade summer purse (and new shoes!)

Look what I made yesterday!

And I got these shoes over the weekend at Shoes Carnival <3 (My brother got some new shoes as well)

The shorts are cutoffs I made from Goodwill jeans a couple of weeks ago, and the Kpop t-shirt is one I’ve had for a while.

I could probably stare at the pattern of the purse for hours. When you look at it one way, it looks like 3D boxes with a stud in the center…But let your eyes refocus, and it looks like rows of striped diamonds (vertical gray/white stripes, horizontal yellow/gray stripes). Trippy! Reminds me of those holographic folders that were so cool in middle school.

This was my first time sewing a zipper, and it was pretty simple. The duck cloth is really bad about getting frayed, but after cutting all the fringies off the zipper opening looked okay after all.

      

I didn’t have any really stiff interfacing, so I used some plain duck cloth as the inside layer to give it structure (Except for the handle).
The only problem I ran into was that I miscalculated the length I needed to go around the circle so I had to cut an extra square to cover the bottom of the purse. As a result there is one extra seam at the bottom so it’s not a big deal. Measure twice and cut once! Lesson learned.

1 tote, 2 purses, and flowers for all

The dreaded finals week is over, so now I get to catch up on some of things I’ve been working on

I got some fabric at JoAnn’s in Lexington a couple of weeks ago. I’m used to going to the Richmond Hobby Lobby or Walmart, so being in JoAnn’s for the first time was amazing! So many things. And the red knit fabric there on the bottom was on sale

With summer coming up (and just for the convenience of it), I wanted a couple of totes that were big enough for a binder because I hate getting sweaty from wearing a backpack.

This was pretty simple to make. I used almost exactly one half yard of fabric. I’m thinking about making a little pouch with the leftover strip. Thinking back, I should have added a pocket on the inside. Oh well!

You’ll see these flowers again soon for another project I’m planning.

This purse was made from a clearance tablecloth I picked up at Walmart one night. I bought it specifically for the purpose of practicing making purses. Making this was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.
Instead of using the yellow/gray fabric pictured at the top to make a tote, I think I’m going to make another round purse. I think a zipper would be the best option for the top (it’ll be my first time sewing on a zipper!).

The technique I wanted to practice on this rectangle purse were the teardrop-shaped sides.

The front is pretty boring though. I think this could be pretty cute if the front flap were in the shape of a heart, or maybe had a scalloped edge.
The split handles were actually a product of laziness that I ended up really liking. I was trying to finish the purse so I could go to bed and didn’t feel like sewing a strap, so I used the extra edges of the tablecloth I had cut off earlier. Since it was so thin I folded the “string” in half and sewed them together in the center.

I’m looking forward to making the final versions of one or both of these purses with some nicer fabric soon. I would LOVE some floral fabric.

Btw, I won $505 at bingo last weekend! 5 was from a pulltab and 500 from the last “coverall” bingo game. I told you guys I was lucky! Remember all these things I won last year? I wish I could go crazy and spend it all on fabric, but alas! I’ve got other things to pay for. Some of which will show up on this blog

See ya!

Thrift shop style

I picked up this shirt last summer in some no-name thrift shop in Murray, Ky. Originally it looked like it was made for someone 3 inches shorter and 10 inches wider (I’m not exaggerating). This was before I had my own sewing machine, so I asked my grandma to take in the sides.

Last weekend I made a short trip to Goodwill in search of jeans I could cut off into shorts. I lost weight last semester, so none of my shorts fit anymore. I didn’t find any jeans, but I did find this adorable maternity dress! I was on my way out the door, and it caught my eye. It looked like new, and I loved the bright color. I’ve been making an effort to comfortize (is that even a word?) my wardrobe and this dress fits the bill. It’s a medium/heavyweight knit with some length to it. It cost about $5.

This was supposed to be a fast and easy makeover, but took a little bit longer because I kept making mistakes.

Basically, I flipped the dress inside out and made a new, slightly curved seam on each side. I didn’t have a dress to copy from, so it took a few tries to get the seams just the way I wanted. After I was fairly happy with the seams, I still had a few small puckers around the hip area, which I couldn’t seem to fix. I got a few of them fixed and wore the dress anyway since it’s not that noticeable. I’ve already worn the dress once and got several compliments I love my new dress!

And here’s this because who doesn’t love this song?

Have a great day!

Cats and coffee and Keurig!

I’ve finally joined the world of coffee drinkers this semester. I’m not to the point where I go crazy if I don’t have coffee, but I generally drink two or three glasses a day thanks to this super speedy Keurig. My boyfriend got it a few weeks ago using some gift cards he won at work.

Isn’t this coffee mug adorable?! I brought this back to school with me from home, since no one there uses it.  It’s at least 10 years old, probably older. Its stubby front legs make me laugh.

In other news, I started a new job this past week, I really need to get going on an econ paper, and it looks like I’ll be attending Daegu Haany University in South Korea next Spring (assuming North Korea doesn’t go crazy on everybody before then).

In progress: crochet blanket

I’m finally starting the blanket that I bought the yarn for a long time ago! Originally I was going to knit it, but crochet is sooo much faster. I have about 8 squares finished so far. This yarn is SO soft. Like, amazingly so.

Rather than having a plan, I’m just going to crochet these squares until I run out of gray yarn. After that, I will decide how much more yarn I need in a second color in order to make the blanket big enough. Maybe a dark red color? I’m using a Michael’s brand yarn, so I’m waiting until they have some kind of special yarn event or a “25% off your entire order” deals to buy more.

By the time I finish the blanket it will probably be getting warm outside, but I don’t mind.

Put that scrap fabric to good use: bow wallet and infinity scarf

I have a box of scrap fabric. Some of it’s leftover from material I bought, but a lot of it is from old clothes. These two projects were really easy and fast to do. I used an old sweater dress, so they’re also really soft.

This wallet is really cute, but not really practical because this fabric is SUPER stretchy. I mostly made it for practice. I might remake a larger version with stiffer fabric for use as a clutch or something.

The opening flap tucks underneath the bow! How handy is that?!

For the infinity scarf, I used four long strips of fabric and sewed hem into a tube.

I made it small enough so that it would stay gathered right against my neck to keep me warm. It also turns out to be THE PERFECT SIZE to wear as a headband/ear warmer. I didn’t plan that at all. I wish the rest of my life would happen like that lol.

My first sock using the bright tweed pattern by Edie Eckman

After getting some sock knitting supplies for Christmas, I’ve been working on making these socks. This is the bright tweed pattern by Edie Eckman.

This picture was taken during Christmas break.

After making the cuff and heel, I got stuck at the instep and set the whole thing down for over a month. Until now! I’ve been working on this baby off and on for a few weeks, and have finally finished it. There are only a few problems with it.

The biggest issue is that I didn’t mark the beginning of the row, and managed to knit this weird little corner on the top of the sock. I think the whole body is rotated, but the rest of the heel looks pretty normal. Other than the two holes, that is.

There are also these holes and a dropped stitch, which I stitched down so it wouldn’t cause a run.

Overall, this sock turned out better than I hoped, and it actually fits! So if I need a holey, single mate sock one morning, I’ll always have one I guess. hahaha.