On a Lark » Interfacing

Spring Break trip = new clutch required

Emily — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:57:29 +0000

I’m heading down south for a job interview! And I’m also catching up with some college buddies that I haven’t seen for almost TWO YEARS!! If that doesn’t scream “new wallet” then I don’t know what does. I’ve been using this wallet for a while, but I finally got tired of my shady zipper installation and I decided to try a new pattern. I drafted one this morning the dividers and triangles I should have been using for chartwork practice.

I’m a big fan of a bright lining so I used the same pink fabric from this bag. And as always, Piper, the lion/golden retriever, helped out.

Piper doesn’t look too pleased with my design. Oh man, this is going to be a much needed trip. Wish me luck!

Recycling = iPod case

Emily — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:10:35 +0000

So I have a whole bag full of fabric scraps from my various projects. I don’t want to throw them away but I couldn’t think of anything to do with them except possibly to make a chew toy for the puppies and stuff the scraps inside of it, but I like the fabric too much to sacrifice it to the yellow puppy we are puppy sitting this week. So I made an iPod case! I looked at few blogs for ideas first, like this very cute one and this one.
In the end I made a sleeve of two of my favorite fabrics and folded and sewed. I used interfacing scraps left over from other project. And I took another stab at applique. I haven’t bee using any fabric glue or anything, but I did use up all of my tiny interfacing scraps to make the applique pieces keep their shape as I sewed them. I wasn’t feeling too creative so I went with a star and an ‘e’. I cut and stitched a little hole for the ear phones, I’m sure there’s a better way to do this, but it worked. Here are some pictures from the top:

And here’s the finished product. I lost a little steam on the photo process so I only have the beginning and the end. I used one of the buttons that my Aunt Jo sent me over the weekend. More on the buttons to come, but let me just say that I have enough buttons for a LONG time.

I’d like to find a way to make a case so that I could still use the iPod without taking it out of the case. Maybe a cut out near the bottom where the next and play buttons are. Has anyone had luck making iPod cases? It’s been great for when I toss it in my gym bag or accidently drop it on the ground when I take it out of my car. Maybe you’re noticing a theme hear. I have to make things that protect my possessions from me. This was a quick and easy project, let me know what you think!

Time trial sewing

Emily — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:36:51 +0000

This weekend I tried a new version of the pattern I’ve been working on to see how fast I can make a bag. It ended up taking me a full Saturday morning, including a break for grilled cheese sandwiches. I found a great canvas fabric from J. Caroline Creative and left out the pleats on the exterior. I also had a little “help”:

One grumpy brown dog and one extremely happy yellow dog who loves laying on fabric as soon as you put it on the floor.
I’m still amazed by how terrible a bag can look when you are sewing the final seams, and then you turn it in side out and, as my brother once said, bingo-bango it’s done! I took a series of pictures to show the final (and best) stages of bag construction:

What is this showing? The gusset, which gives the bag some 3-D shape. I’m taking votes on different names for it. Anything would be better than gusset.

And there it is! Ready for a little top stitching and button sewing. I’ve found a few different ways of hiding the seams, like just putting the interior inside the exterior, pinning it carefully on the top and top stitching. This avoids the seam at the bottom of the interior that you have to sew at the end but it’s definitely not as much fun as turning the whole bag in on itself. It’s sort of like magic. So I still haven’t put on the button. Maybe someone will come over and sew it on for me as a surprise. I just set it on top for the final pictures. Close enough for now.

In other news, I got a great suggestion for getting my giant buttons, fimo clay! I picked up some on the way home at the hardware store (who knew?) so that should be an entertaining project for this week. If anyone has an excellent source of abnormally large and amazing buttons, let me know.

Duck canvas = the answer to interfacing woes

Emily — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:21:55 +0000

So, my Mom’s birthday is coming up! For those of you who know her, she is a great lady and has some excellent fashion (some of which she may or may not have liberated from my closet). So, for her birthday present, she picked out some fabrics that she liked and I got to work.
On the other bags I have made, I was never completely happy with the interfacing on the exterior. (Interfacing is an iron-on stiffening layer). When I made the pleats, as soon as I pressed a pleat lightly, the crease was almost impossible to remove. Answer? Duck canvas! I got mine from Joann’s on sale, but it’s available all over, especially at fabric warehouse type places. So, for Mom’s bag, I drafted about a 2/3 size from the pattern I used from my charcoal and teal bag. I’m still perfecting my pattern making skills. At the moment, this mostly involves brown wrapping paper, a ruler, and scissors. There must be a better way. Here are all the pieces ready to go:

Anyhow, I used a dark red canvas for the exterior. The handle has two layers of fusible fleece and is made from home decorator weight fabric that I got at The Fabric Warehouse in Auburn, ME. If you’re in the area, they are amazing. Great prices and very helpful staff. The interior is the same design fabric but light blue. I made two pockets, one divided to hold cell phones etc., and one with a pen holder. And of course, a giant button. I wish I could find bigger buttons. Any suggestions are welcome. Because they are great.
Here’s the finished product! I’m going to make one for myself this weekend, so stay tuned.

Zippers can’t get me down- Part 2

Emily — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:20:07 +0000

So, the previous post is all about my first clutch making experience. Once I made it, and discovered that I needed some improvement in my zippers and the general design, I started doing some research. So, first things first, I needed to learn to properly install a zipper in a small pouch. I found tons of great tutorials on installing zippers in clothing or for zippered pockets, like this one from J. Caroline Creative.
But I still couldn’t find one for a small zippered bag until I found THE GREATEST ZIPPER TUTORIAL IN THE WORLD! Ok, that may be an exaggeration, but I would say that my level of excitement when I found this site was equal to when I find a bar that has Boddington’s on draft. So I was pretty excited.
Before I started I made a little pattern to make it easier to modify in the future:

Then I applied interfacing to both exterior fabrics and quilted the neon green fabric. I also double interfaced the pockets and put fusible fleece on the interior panels:

After putting in the zipper, I was really happy with the weight of the clutch. There are four credit card slots and a bill pocket:

I think I’ve conquered the zipper.

Zippers can’t get me down

Emily — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:59:01 +0000

This is the first of two posts about making zippered clutches. For the first one, I used some thin and inexpensive fabric and only batting, no fusible fleece or interfacing. It was my first try with quilting. Thankfully no one was watching while I struggled with a ruler on the sewing machine. It’s a work in progress.

I also decided to install a zipper for the first time. I basically just sewed it in there. Very classy.

I’m using this as my wallet right now because it goes nicely with Carhartts and winter boots. But I discovered that I needed to learn how to properly install a zipper, more on that later. Also, fusible fleece and interfacing are necessities because a floppy bag leads to cell phones and credit cards falling out of your wallet. I’m talking from experience here. So this is my first effort. You don’t want to start off too good, because then the expectations are really high for number 2.

Using myself as a guinea pig

Emily — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:07:50 +0000

After one successful attempt at handbag sewing, I decided to make one for myself to figure out potential kinks in the patterns. I used quite a bit of the Amy Butler pattern. Charcoal and that teal color is my favorite color combination. Even though my favorite color is red. And my favorite season is spring. More Emily trivia to come haha. Here is it:

And here’s the button. Oh man I love big buttons:

Here’s a picture of the interior:

What I learned from this version:
-I need more padding in the handle: when you have a laptop inside it’s a little thin
-I’m switching to duck canvas without interfacing for the main exterior panels because the interfacing doesn’t seem to hold up as well over time and I think the duck canvas will be better/faster.

Bag Number One

Emily — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:06:47 +0000

Here is the first bag I ever made! I made it for my very soon to be sister-in-law for Christmas!

Here is the interior:

Using interfacing and fusible fleece for the first time definitely had a learning curve. For my own patterns, I tried to avoid using as much interfacing. I will have to make her and updated edition soon! I got all of the materials for this bag from Alewives Fabric in Nobleboro.