It seems that my blog is unintentionally becoming a love letter to Rashida Coleman-Hale. I didn’t set out to do that, but her projects and fabric are so appealing to me that it isn’t much of a surprise.
I ♥ Patchwork is full of squeal-worthy, gratifying projects. Many of them can be whipped up with materials you have on hand… this isn’t one of them. The fabric wasn’t an issue — Continue reading
Welcome back to Do Your Pins! This feature is really giving me that extra push to make new things, rather than to let them sit in my queue indefinitely. I imagine that I’ll eventually come up against some fails, and I’ll blog those too, but so far only raving successes…
Sizing magic! The most impactful way to customize your tote is to adapt the size. This simple change takes the same shape from a tiny party favor bag to a large shopping sack. In this episode of Rock the Tote, I’ll show you a few size variations and provide you with easy equations to tweak your next tote to perfectly fit its contents.
All of these bags are adaptations of my Rock the Tote: Basic Recipe. Please refer there for the full instructions — only the modifications are outlined here.
Zakka Style is an adorable, inspiring book. Also, it is a beautiful example of one that I’ve had in my collection since it was released, read through longingly, tape-flagged intentionally, and promptly never sewn from. So, to fix that but good, I have decided to participate in the Zakka Style Sew-Along. I’m under no delusions that I will complete all twenty-four of the projects in the book, but my goal is to do six of them. Putting that out there in the ‘verse.
My first selection was for the second project in the book, The House Pouch. Of course, one can never have too many little zipper pouches like this. I’ve made probably a dozen or so over the past few years, never with a specific intended use, yet somehow I have no unused ones at all. But none of the ones that I made came anywhere close to the cuteness that this one oozes:
There’s been a running joke for a while now that, as awesome as Pinterest can be, a lot of us are spending time there drooling over beautiful, creative projects, rather than spending time making beautiful, creative projects. Some links, I pin with no intention whatsoever to attempt them, but just because I love the idea, or the photo, or colors, or something else about it. But there are many pins that I do want to try or that have given me ideas for similar projects (like that pincushion). So, I’ve decided to challenge myself with a recurring feature called “Do Your Pins,” where I’ll discuss the ones I’ve tried and the experiences I had with them.
When I wrote about my orange slice bag last week, I mentioned that I changed the way the handles were constructed, and I promised a tutorial. I decided to attach the straps (and corresponding instruction) to a whole tote bag. This is a fairly standard tote, nothing revolutionary, but it reflects the tweaking and techniques from my experience making it, many times now.
Precious few items rival the utility of a tote bag. Yes, yes, left brain, but did you know it is also ripe for endless creative variation? (You can adapt it however floats your tote! OK, I’ll stop.) I have plans to post several of these adaptations in the future, so Rock the Tote will be my baby blog’s first recurring feature. Huzzah! It’s hard to overstate the tote’s usefulness, not that we crafty types ever have any stuff to lug about. OK, let’s get to it… Continue reading
