Moving??

     So, my husband decides to tell me that someone he knows is trying to sell their house because he is being deployed in a few months and it's been on the market for a few months with no takers.  He sent me the link in an email that I later checked out.
     When I did some digging about our financial situation, it just wasn't going to work for us.  Yes, we could get a VA loan with no money down but we have no money to pay for the closing costs and all the fees and the property taxes and blah blah blah!  So, my vote is no.

Shopping Bag

I started on this project yesterday but I got completely frustrated with it and couldn't figure out the last instructions on how to close the bag up so I figured that I would just wait until the next day to get started on it again.  Unfortunately for me, my nose was going crazy with allergies and I was way too hot to stay asleep, so, at 3:30 in the morning I got up and I just couldn't get back to sleep.  I tried to get tired by playing games online but it was only waking me up more!  After I got bored with the games I decided that I was awake enough to go back to work on this...so I ripped seams and tried again to finish the bottom and...considering the fact that I'm still very much a novice, I think it turned out all right...not perfect, but who is any how.

Ok, This is a pattern I bought many months ago hoping to make a few bags but that never happened.  I feel like I've lied to you from the first post that I wouldn't be able to do projects very often.  I've gotten motivation just by starting this blog.  I guess when I run out of fabric and ideas it'll be true.  :)  I will be showing you bag/view B.  I did not make the little pouch that goes with it.

I cut out all my pattern pieces already, pressed my fabric, flipped it right side down, pinned my pattern onto the fabric and began tracing it with my favorite tool...a pencil.  I tried to use the ruler on the straight parts but I gave up on that shortly after I started tracing.  

Lift up the edges before you take the pattern piece off so that you can make sure you traced all the way around.  

My pattern had a few fold marks that I needed to put onto my fabric, but I later found out that the marks need to be on the right side of the fabric.  I cheated and just measured and got the same result.  I'll go over that later.  I used tracing paper and a tracing wheel.  I think it was under $5 to get both of them.  They come in handy.

 Here's my crazy hair and me tracing away! 

Before you move on, check to make sure that your marks transfered on to the fabric and that you can see them clearly.

I messed up.  My fabric wasn't quite the right size because I made that smock so I had to cheat a little here too, but I messed up yet again, you can't tell when it's all put together, but this ended up being about 3/8"-1/2" shorter than it was supposed to be.  Oops!

 Here's my other fabric.  This was large enough that I could fold it in half and cut two out at the same time.  You have to cut out two for the front and two for the inside.  I did that same thing with tracing the outline, making the marks, and then I pinned the fabric together so that it wouldn't shift when I went to cut it out.  

To transfer the marks onto two pieces of fabric at once,  I just sandwiched the fabric with the tracing paper making sure that the colored side was on the fabric.  Always check to make sure your marks transfered, or you'll be sorry that one time you forget and then you have to line everything back up again and it's just a pain!

Now you need to pin up the sides of each half of the bag, the inside and the outside.  If you were good, unlike me, and cut out the marks you were supposed to, lining things up should be easy.

Sew up the sides.  I backstitched on both ends, I don't think the pattern mentioned anything about doing that but I hate it when things unravel.

This was the interesting part.  With both halves of the bags sewn up at the sides, put the right sides together and pin all the handles together.  I was a pinning fool yesterday.  I used more that I really needed to, but I hate messing up, even though I do all the time, I like to minimize it as much as possible.  

Here it is all pinned up and ready to go! 

 You only sew up to the top of the handle.  You don't close it up.  I don't think that it would harm anything if you did but we're trying to stick to the pattern...at least a little anyway.  

Then after all that is done, flip it right side out.  I must love to pin, I find it easier to pin things to the ironing board just to hold then in place.  It works for me.  I ironed all the way around the parts that I just sewed because guess what, we get to sew the edges again where we just sewed it up and ironed.  Sew about 1/4" from the outside edge.  

Now, we have to sew the handles together.  Then iron the seam flat.

Fold it in half so that you're hiding the raw edges.  Sew down the the middle to bring the handles together.  I've learned a lesson about canvas.  It's heavy and thick...durable, but a needle breaker.  I broke one needle and bent another working on this project...told you I'm a novice.  So, my zig-zag isn't pretty, but it's there.

 Here is something we should all try to avoid...

 So, we've come to my least favorite part of this bag.  The directions on the pattern are so unclear about how to finish off the bottom of the bag.  I think the next time I make this bag I'll try a different way, but after several failed attempts, here's what I've got.

You need to fold up and iron flat all around the raw edges so that they end up on the inside of the bag.  I folded them about 3/8" up.  Then you need to pin it up trying your best to match up the seams on the side of the bag.

 Now we need to fold it along the marks we made on the right side of the fabric if we remembered...however, you can just measure 4" from the seam on either side.  I put a pin in it to mark it's place.

And on the other side...

 Now we need to fold the fabric so that the pin on the right is on the edge.

 Then we can bring the other pin over to meet the first pin.  I used a ruler to help makes things a little neater.

Pin it all up and repeat on the other side.  Try to make the edges as flush as possible so you don't end up with any holes in the bottom of the bag.  Pin it all together and pray...

Sew it all along the edge.  I found it easier to go from the center toward an end to help with the fact that with 4 layers of canvas and 4 layers of cotton...it's thick and doesn't like to be sewn on a little machine like mine.  When I hemmed all around it before pinning the folds together, I used a 1/4" seam allowance.  I also went back after the pinning and folding and used the same allowance, but just for fun, I zig-zag'ed the bottom...hoping that it would give it some more strength.  

Zig-zag crazy!

 And so, here we are with a cute bag that drove me nuts for hours and hours!  Will I ever do it again...yes, but not with such a thick material, or if I do it with a thick material, I won't line it!

Post your pictures or links of your adventure with this pattern.  Thanks for stopping by!

Smock Apron

Today I made a smocket...smock apron for children.  I've made one before for my friends little girl.  I bought the pink camo fabric to make her another apron with.  You can find the pattern and the instructions here.  

Here is the pattern all put together and cut out.

 Here are the two fabrics that I chose to use.

 I trace the pattern out with a pencil on the wrong side of the fabric first.

I pin the fabric together and cut around the out line.  (I went back and read over the instructions a little while ago and found out that I skipped a few steps...I didn't know that you were supposed to cut about 1/2" around the pattern piece to allow for a seam allowance...oops.  It still turns out alright.)  

They look like bats when you cut them out...interesting.

Then I remove the pins and cut out the other fabric which I already did by the time I thought about taking pictures of this.

Unfold the cut out pieces and iron the fold out as flat as you can.

 Lay the right sides of the fabrics together.

 Pin all the way around and leave a marking at the bottom so that you know where to leave about a 3" to 4" opening.

This is to show you what seam allowance I use.  Make sure you tack at each end of your sewing so that it doesn't unravel while you pull it right side out.

 Here is the opening I pulled it through.

After you pull it out the right way, iron the seams flat.  But make sure you get the corners pushed out as best you can before you iron it.

Now, to close the opening, I put the apron on the ironing board and pinned the top fabric back out of the way.  

 I folded the bottom fabric up and pinned it to the ironing board to hold it in place.

Then I did the same thing only for the top, making sure that the raw edges of the fabric end up on the inside of the apron.

I then pinned it so that I could sew around the edges.  

 I messed up a little at the bottom so I satin stitched  it a little...

 Here it is after I sewed around the apron.

 I used these snaps in stead of tying the apron at the top.  That makes it easy to get in and out.

 Here it is with all the snaps!

Here it is all finished!!

How cute!

It's completely reversible too!!

I didn't add any pockets to mine or anything else to mine.  Here are a few links to other versions of this apron.  one  two  three  four  five  Post yours in the comments!  Happy crafting!