Upcycling

Canada 150 — In the Emmaline Bags Bag

~ Michelle ~ 71 Comments

Welcome to my stop on the Canada 150 — In the Bag tour.

This tour is a bag-making, bag designer, bag supplier tour, so by my title, you may have guessed I’m featuring a bag from Emmaline Bags.

Most of the bag patterns shown on our tour were donated to the bloggers by the designers. You will be able to buy them, and maybe even win one. (I’ll be giving away a pattern on June 10th, so keep checking in.)

Here are all our sponsors, but some of these are our Designers too. (At the end of this post there are links to all of our sponsors & designers)

All of our Designers offer great patterns you can purchase, however, I really wanted to show there are free options out there. We are celebrating after all!

The bag I’ve chosen is a pattern from Emmaline Bags – and it is free. In fact, the additions I’ve made to it are all from Emmaline Bags’ blog, so they’re free too. Well, you do have to buy your materials and hardware…

Here’s the pattern I made:

Isn’t that lovely? I’ve been admiring the Miss Maggie’s Handbag since it came out, and dreaming of a leather Miss Maggie. However, I found some perfect fabrics I wanted to use for my Canada 150 bag.

Here’s my Miss Maggie’s Handbag:

Oh, I love it! The material I used for this was created to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday this July 1st. This is Stonehenge Oh Canada by Northcott. I’m including a link for the fabrics just in case you love it too. Being Canadian, I was able to find this at my local quilting shop.

Here’s the back view of my bag:

Nice hardware, eh? Yup. I really do love this bag.

Pockets

The bag is lovely all on it’s own, but I wanted to add a few things. The first thing I added was a zipper pocket inside the bag.

This zipper pocket is the perfect size.

Here’s the tutorial for adding a zipper pocket to a bag.

SEW AN EASY ZIPPER POCKET METHOD 1- A TUTORIAL.

Janelle (owner of Emmaline Bags) says, ‘Everyone needs an internal zipper pocket in their purse or handbag…’ I felt the same way. I love to have a zippered pocket to keep things tucked away and safe. This tutorial was easy too. I had no problems with it whatsoever.

The fabrics I used for the inside of the bag are both special edition fabrics that were created just for Canada’s 150th. The maple leafs (part of the Canadian Sesquicentennial Collection by Northcott) inspired my maple leaf on the front of my bag, and the Canadiana quiz material (same collection as the maple leafs) was just too fun not to use.

More Pockets

The bag comes with one slip pocket included in the pattern.

That pocket is perfect for a cell phone, or anything else you want to keep separate in your bag. I’m thinking my cell and sunglasses!

You can also see in of all of these pocket photos that I’ve added a magnetic clasp for a closure. This closure is what the pattern suggests, and Janelle has a tutorial for that too.

How to Install a Magnetic Snap Closure

Janelle has some really great tips in this tutorial to keep that snap tightly secured, and I followed them.

Bling Bling

I had to add some bling to my bag.

Who could resist a Sewn label? Not me. Anyone who sees my bag will know it’s an original and handcrafted.

The Long John Strap Anchors, the handmade hanging metal tag, and the leather tassel are more bling. Well, the strap anchors are rather practical in that they attach the straps to the bag, but they definitely bring the bling factor.

So much more love!

To make my tassel, it was back to Emmaline Bags’ blog for another tutorial.

HOW TO MAKE A TASSEL: AN EASY BAG MAKING TUTORIAL.

I had so much fun making my tassel. It was extremely satisfying. Leather is so lovely to use. The leather I used for my tassel was from a second-hand score. A box of leather samples and a few other things for $5.

As well as making the tassel from my upcycled leather, I also made a gorgeous Maple leaf – the symbol on Canada’s flag.

Over the top love!

 All the beautiful bling I bought (commonly called hardware) came from Emmaline Bags’ online store. Unfortunately, it’s not free. But you do have a chance to win some.

Hardware Tip & More

In the Miss Maggie pattern, it’s suggested to keep the plastic protective covering on your hardware while you sew your bag. That makes a lot of sense, but some of my hardware didn’t come with plastic on it.

I used some Press & Seal to cover my hardware during the sewing process and it worked perfectly!

There were no scratches to any of my hardware this way. Not only does Beverly Johnson (The Fairy Bra Mother) tell us how to clone a bra with Press & Seal, but now I can see another great reason why we all need this in our sewing rooms! You can see I started by covering my hardware with a bit of felt. The Press & Seal was faster and no pins.

I have one more little tip for you. To attach the magnetic clasp, I needed double-sided fusible interfacing. I know I had some, but I could not find it anywhere. I happen to have lots of single sided interfacing though and more than one sewing machine.

I sewed a strip of interfacing together with the glue sides out. It worked perfectly under the magnetic closure.

How to Win

For my give-away in the Canada 150 – It’s in the Bag tour, I’m giving away a PDF pattern from Emmaline Bags.

Comment on my post about your biggest sewing failure for a chance to win. Marsha (Seam of my Pants) has already picked the winning post number for me. All you have to do is post. The winner will be announced on the 10th.

As well, on the 10th I’ll be sharing my project that didn’t work out for this tour.

Enjoy the rest of our tour.

Happy 150th Canada!

&

Happy creating!

Each blog has an exclusive giveaway, so be sure to visit them all.

Tour Discounts

  • 10% off!
    Tangled Blossoms Design     is offering 10% off anything in stock for the duration of the tour. Offer expires June 10, 2017. Use discount code HAPPYBIRTHDAYCANADA
  • 15% off!
    Bringberry Handbag Hardware and Design     is offering 15% off anything in stock for the duration of the tour. Offer expires June 10, 2017. Use discount code LOVECANADA150

Tour Stops

(These links will be active on and after the day they are scheduled.)

June 4

Emmaline Bags

June 5

Tangled Blossoms Design ◊ With Love in Every Stitch ◊ Happy Okapi

June 6

Michelle’s Creations ◊ Barabooboo ◊ Soca Sewing

June 7

Glitter in my Coffee ◊ Michelle’s Creations ◊ Seam of my Pants

June 8

Seam of my Pants ◊ Creative Roots Sewing ◊ Happy Okapi

June 9

Seam of my Pants

June 10

Giveaway ends at midnight EDT (North America)

July 1

CANADA DAY 150

Giveaway Prizes

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please join us in thanking our tour sponsors by visiting their websites.

* Jewellery is the Canadian spelling.

Revisiting McCall’s 6516

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

Last year, I made a jacket I love. I wear it often. It’s my McCall’s 6516 jacket.

jacket-flap-undone

I love my jacket, but my hubby doesn’t. Now, before everyone jumps all over him, let me tell you exactly what it is he doesn’t love.

He doesn’t love that unfinished look to the flap. ‘Add some lace,’ he says. I have no desire to take the jacket apart to add some lace.

You can see here, the materials shown on the pattern’s envelope don’t have any large white ‘unfinished’ looking flaps, but I love this material.

m6516_a

I do have to admit I don’t love the white flap either. I decided to revisit my jacket. Out came my little black fabric marker.

Here’s my jacket half done.

jacket-both-flaps

 I’ve been sitting and relaxing while I draw inside the jacket. Okay, it does look better.

Here is it all done and laundered.

washed

It did fade a bit in the laundry, but it still looks better. Have you used a fabric marker on anything? What was it? How did it turn out?

Happy creating!

A Little Upcycling

~ Michelle ~ 4 Comments

I love to find a new use for something. I love to go to thrift shops too. I really like a good bargain.

Here’s my latest find. It’s an old wooden spice rack that will now happily serve as a thread holder. And look at how much more room I have! The little plastic thread box I had was full. This is much better.

spice-rack-with-dress-forms

How do you like my little toy dress forms? They add the perfect touch of whimsy to my thread rack.

Recently, I was inspired by reading Emerald Erin’s blog. She was going through her closet and working towards a capsule wardrobe. That is something I’ve been thinking about doing too. I have a full closet, but open the door and feel like there’s nothing in there.

After reading Erin’s post, I went through my closet. The problem was, although there were things in there I really had no problem getting rid of, there were some things in there I really did. Even though I never wore them, I loved the material. I didn’t want to get rid of them.

I set them aside. I had three piles on my bed. Pack away. Give away. I don’t want to give away.

3-piles

I was not going to put that third pile back in my closet or pack it away. Then I thought of what I could do. Upcycle!

I have Betz White’s class on Craftsy. Here’s a link to take you to the class on Craftsy.

project-upcycle

As well, I just bought a new pattern. (ClubBMV has too many sales!)

I’m sure I can use some of this material towards something like this:

m7413_a

Or maybe more like this:

v9057_a

This second pattern is used in the Craftsy classes The Ultimate T-Shirt and The Artful T-Shirt. Both of these classes are by Marcy & Katherine Tilton.

In the photo for the Artful class, they show this same T-shirt with a lot more piecing.titlecard

I’m thinking there must be a way to use some of these materials I love so much and make something new.

tops-and-skirts-use

There’s one other thing in that hard-to-give-away pile: a silk skirt. The blue floral material? That’s silk. I’ve been holding onto it for years. I think I wore it once, maybe twice. This is going to make a few lovely bras.

Time to get cutting out. Have you upcycled anything? How did it turn out? Do you love it? Will you upcycle again? What’s your favorite thrift store find? I’d love to hear.

Happy creating!