After my small success with the japanese bag pattern, I thought I’d tackle a more difficult japanese pattern. This pattern is from the summer 2008 edition of Cotton Friend (I got it on etsy here). There was a picture for every step, which made it feel a little like cheating (even though I had to read the steps top to bottom and right to left which was totally disorienting). Why can’t all patterns be made for visual learners like me? The armscyes were a little tricky and I have about 5 messed up necklines cut out, but I figured it out and it fits! There is a matching pattern for mama in the magazine, but this mama is pretty pregnant so I think matching my kid would look extra silly now, but maybe next summer…

A friend of mine started a blog a while back called darts and tarts, documenting her (and her friend’s) mad clothes making skills–like this awesomeness–so go check them out.

Erin is responsible for most of my daughter’s summer wardrobe, this year and last.  Her tutorials are easy to follow and super adaptable. I made a bigger size of the Twirly skirt this year, but it seams my daughter didn’t grow that much so I guess it will fit next year too.  Though I’m sure I’ll want to make another one when next summer comes around. I’ve got some more summer clothes for her in the works, but not much planned for my son. Are there any good, stylish tutorials or patterns for boys out there, beside the ubiquitous “easy pants?”

On a completely unrelated note, I’ve been asked to make the pattern for my kiddy messenger bags available for purchase. I would love to do this, but worry about copyright and pattern bootlegging (ha!). Do any of you sell PDF patterns? And if so do you have any advice on the subject?

just a quick note to say there are new bags in the shop! and two bears too.

have a great weekend!

I made another nursing bag for a friend (babies all over the place these days). This time I wanted to make a styley one from a japanese craft book I picked up a while back. Normally, I wouldn’t ever buy a book about bags, I mean it’s just a couple of rectangles sewn together, but of course this japanese one was too awesome to pass up. For all those in the midwest who are interested, I got mine at Mitsuwa outside Chicago. It’s a japanese supermarket/bookstore/cafe and it’s super close to Ikea, which just makes it even better. I know they say the diagrams in japanese craft books make them easy to understand, but really I think you need to know how to make it (whatever it is) before you start. This bag really is two rectangles sewn together, which I can do thankyouverymuch, but the circle detail is the cool part and I’ll be damned if I can figure out what the directions say. So I just made it up. I cut out the front piece slightly bigger than the back. Then sewed circles with the longest stitch on my machine. I pulled the bobbin thread to gather the circles a little–they don’t have to be perfect and really irregular gathers look better. Then I sewed around the circles again a bunch of times with contrasting thread to secure the gathers. I pressed it, then sewed the rest of the bag together. The other nice detail on this bag was the twisted handles. I think I “misread” the directions and pressed the seam of the handle to the middle, which sucks, it would look nicer if it was hidden on the edge, but whatever. I still think the idea of twisted handles is great and I’ll use it again for sure.

see more of the book here and here and here.

I am super excited about this little project: it’s an embroidery sketch book! Now that it’s springtime here in the midwest–and what a lovely spring it is, by the way–we are outside most of the day. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to knit or crochet, so the only portable project I have as a sewer is seam ripping, which is less than pleasurable. After doing a little embroidery for a quilt square I was reminded how much I like to embroider. If I came up with a real project to embroider I wouldn’t want to take it outside because it would inevitably get dropped in the sandbox or hosed down by the sprinkler, so I made a little book out of fabric and cardboard to take with me. I just cut out a piece of lightweight cardboard (from a cereal box) for the cover, making sure it was a little bigger then my smallest embroidery hoop when folded in half, so I could use the hoop for all the pages. Then I traced the cover onto some fabric (adding seam allowances), made a pocket to go across the whole thing, sewed up 3 sides, slipped the cardboard in, and sewed up the opening. Then I cut some gray and white linen for pages and sewed up the middle.  Done.  When I was thinking about making this sketch book, it was much more elaborate with lots of pockets and pin cushions (more like this) but in the end I wanted something I could make fast, use up, and then make again. Now we’re off to the park.

For more photos look here, and here.