Month: November 2017

The Winners of the Serendipity Hip Patterns

~ Michelle

Thank you to everyone who made a comment either about my ‘Hip Mountie’ bag, or the contest. A lot of you know your commercials – even some non-Canadians got it right Good for you!

If you haven’t seen the commercial before, here it is. Just remember our Canadian humor (humour), and know that although we’re intensely proud to be Canadian, we also keep our tongue pretty firmly in our cheek most of the time.

Congratulations to… Amy, and Mandy! I’ll be sending out an email with your code for you to claim your free Serendipity Hip PDF pattern.

Come back later for the wrap up post and to enter to win one of the prizes from the Rafflecopter draw.

Happy creating!

ChrisW Designs Global Blog Tour – Serendipity Hip Pattern

~ Michelle ~ 55 Comments

Welcome to my little corner of the blog sphere from here in Canada!

I was asked to be a part of the Chris W Designs tour, and I couldn’t resist!

 It was one of Chris’ designs I first fell in love with that made me want to make my own bags. I’d been searching the internet for handbag patterns to sew myself, and I found this:This is Evelyn. Isn’t she lovely? I love everything about this. If I could only find this same material. I’ve kept this photo on the wall in front of my desk for sewing inspiration!

A Journey to Get Here

My bag-making has taken a round-about journey to making a Chris W Designs (CWD) pattern though.

After that initial searching, my first and second bags ended up being made following video classes. Being a very visual learner, it really helped me to start that way.

After both of those, I felt ready to tackle a pattern without a video. I chose an easy bag, and made a few of them. With a few successes behind me, I felt ready to branch out. It was at that point this tour was mentioned to me. Perfect timing! I really do feel like I’m coming full circle.

My Tour Make

 For my make on this tour… I’m still not making an Evelyn! Can you believe it? No, this time around I’m making a bag for a friend. She loves cross-body bags, so that’s what I’m making her.This is the Serendipity Hip bag. CWD graciously gave me this pattern to make for the tour. I think my friend will love it!

The Materials

This year marked Canada’s 150th birthday. To celebrate, there were lots of Canadian-themed fabrics. My friend has family members who are RCMP. Do you know what the RCMP are? They’re the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, often referred to as Mounties. These are our police.

So, seeing as my friend has a close connection, I couldn’t resist this adorable Mountie motif fabric, after all, I Am Canadian.Along with the Mountie material, I chose a dark red that coordinated, and a Native print to contrast for the lining.

How Did I Do?

  So after following videos and only making an easy bag pattern, are you wondering how I did? I found CWD patterns to be very well explained. Whew. That was a relief for me. Each step is not only well explained, but most steps come with a photo to show the step as well. Oh, I love photos to help me understand.

Something else that impressed me were there were even pattern pieces for rectangles. I can’t tell you how many patterns don’t include those, and I find them really helpful. I can get numbers mixed up sometimes, so I’m always double and triple checking them, so having that pattern piece instead of simply saying a 20″ x 8″ piece or whatever – it makes a difference for me.

My Finished Bag

 Here’s my finished bag:

I really think this is charming with all those little Mounties. The pattern front features a large slip pocket with a cell pocket inside, as well as a front zippered pocket. That’s three pockets before you’re even inside the bag. I was impressed.

Here’s a photo with something in each of the front pockets. The inside has another zipper pocket, and a card pocket with a small slip pocket behind it.There are lots of pockets! That seems to be a theme of CWD’s bag patterns.

Here’s the back of my ‘Hip Mountie’ bag.No pockets here, just Mounties! I really love this bag.

Bling

I had to do a few little bling things for this bag too. A little Sewn zipper pull.   And a leather tassel because I made an extra one with my last bag and it matched this bag too! My hardware came from Emmaline Bags.

Those Straps

For the straps, I used something I’d read on Chris’ blog: Jazzy Straps. This style of straps have made an appearance on a few of the bags in this tour. They give more of a pop to an otherwise basic part of the bag. Here are mine from the front:And from the back:I love these straps! Adding that extra bit of color takes them from basic and functional to not-at-all-plain, and makes them another feature of the bag.

Something For You

  Chris has also given each of us bloggers two of the patterns we’ve made to give to our readers. So, I have two Serendipity Hip PDF patterns to give away! Thank you, Chris! Not only is Chris giving each blogger 2 patterns to give away, but all her patterns are on sale this week! 20% off. Check out the code below.

 So for my give away, I want to make this fun. I mentioned a well-known line from a Canadian commercial. What commercial is it? Comment on my blog, and Marsha (Flying by the Seam of my Pants) will randomly pick two numbers out of how many have answered correctly. I’ll announce the winners tomorrow when I post tomorrow’s blogs for the tour. As well, I won’t approve correct comments until after the draw is finished. (This draw is closed now, but if you want to still comment, please do.)

If you don’t know the answer, I’d still love to hear what you think of the tour, and my Hip Mountie bag.

If you love all of the designs you’ve been seeing of Chris’, check her out on Instagram, and on her Facebook group.

Below are all the details on what you can save now, and the prizes to be won! Those prizes wouldn’t be there without the amazing generosity of our sponsors.

Thank you!

Tour Discounts

  • ChrisW Designs is taking 20% off all patterns until end of day (Australian Central Standard Time) November 21. Code GlobalBlogTour17 (applied automatically with this link. Buy without fear: If you purchase during the tour and then win a pattern, your purchase price will be refunded.
  • Handbag Hardware Australia (aff link) is offering a 10% discount for the duration of the tour. Use code: CWD10. (Excludes interfacing and Emmaline Bling.)
  • Bobbin Girl has a 10% discount using code BLOGTOUR17. (Not to be combined with any other discount or rewards points.)
  • Gold Star Tool is taking 15% off for our tour readers. Use code chriswdesigns.
  • Zipit (aff link) is also offering a 10% discount on shop items. Use code chriswdesigns. As well, you must be signed in and the discount is applied to your cart after you add your items.

Giveaway (This giveaway has ended.)

Prizes:

a Rafflecopter giveaway (wait for the end of the tour for this!)

Tour Schedule

(Australia Central Standard Time)


// Please note that none of these post links are available before the scheduled date (ACST). If you click on one too early, you will get an “Error 404: Page not found.” You know about those, right? //

♥
Sunday, November 12

♥
Monday, November 13

♥
Tuesday, November 14

♥
Wednesday, November 15

♥
Thursday, November 16

♥
Friday, November 17

♥
Saturday, November 18

♥♥
Tuesday, November 21

  • Giveaway winners announced on all the blogs:

ChrisW Blog, Glitter in my Coffee, Michelle’s Creations, Flying by the Seam of my Pants, Serial Bagmakers, Tiger in a Tornado, Vanaehsa, Judith Stitches and More, Doctora Botones, Sewsewilse, Suck It Up Buttercup, Vicky Myers Creations, Marvelous Auntie M, inspinration, Fée bricolo, Trisha’s Craft Corner

♥

 

Getting Some Sewing Done

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

I’ve had a few things on the go lately. The Canada Cups tour, which just finished, and a tour starting tomorrow! More on that a little later. Both of these have been taking up a fair amount of my time, but as I’d mentioned in my last post, my pup really needed new boots.

Done

  I finished a pair of booties for my pup. Rather than following the pattern and making a circle of faux suede, I used some faux leather and covered the whole bottom.I’m hoping they’ll endure a little better. Also seeing where the wear and tear is (no pun intended), I hope a more-padded bottom will prevent that.I cut the ‘strings off the old booties to re-use on the new ones. So the straps are looking a bit fuzzier, but they work.I also cut off the old Velcro and elastic bits from the worn out boots to use again, because wearing these every day from November until March, I’m sure I’ll be making a new set again next year. I am hoping this set will endure better though.

Next Project

   Have you heard of Beautiful Pie Shop’s slippers?

I bought the pattern last year thinking they’d make a great gift. I bought the fleece and the non-slip material for the bottom. I did everything except sew them up. I decided this was a project I was completing!

You know when something is just that perfect timing when the Facebook group announces they’re doing a sew-along the day you’re going to start to sew. I think I’ll wait a few more hours and sew-along with the pros.

 A Few Bumps

 You know how things always look so much easier when someone else is doing the sewing? That’s how it was for me with these slippers. However, now that I’ve made a pair, the next ones would be much easier.

My first little bump was not using my Teflon foot to sew over the non-slip bottoms! I pulled that first slipper through the machine.

Then I switched machine feet for the second slipper and I still pulled the slipper through the machine!  Yup, definitely non-slip!

I used tissue paper when I had to sew another part on that sole again.

The tissue paper tore off easily and for the first time sewing these slippers, I didn’t have to fight with the sole.

I did struggle a little with the instructions over which side was the inside and which was the outside as that’s never set plainly in the pattern – because it’s left up to you. You can use cotton on the outside and fleece on the inside or vice versa. However, it did challenge me.

Finished Booties

     I managed to make an adorable pair of slippers.  Aren’t they cute? And I know they’ll fit as Em and I wear the same size shoe, or in this case slipper.

Here’s a photo of the bottom of one slipper. I know one thing, she won’t be slipping around in these! And here’s the inside of the slipper.Do you see the little fleece bow? That’s covering up a mistake I made. I didn’t realize from reading the instructions to only cut through one layer of material for the elastic. Whoops! But a little bow over top and it’s all hidden.

The cute heart material was something Em gave me. I thought it would be fun to use some of it for her. The photos don’t show it very well, but the fleece is a dark fuchsia.

Starting tomorrow (or later today)!

Tomorrow, we have a blog tour starting! It’s the Chris W Designs Global Blog Tour. Come back here for a listing of all the blog stops – all over the world! If you’re not in Australia, but maybe in North America, the tour will be starting later today.

Happy creating!