Swoon

Useful Handbag Hacks

~ Michelle ~ 13 Comments

Do you ever want to make a handbag and the pattern looks great, but it just doesn’t have all the features you want? That’s how I’ve been feeling.

Here’s my first Raspberry Ripple handbag. I love the outside of this, but I didn’t love the inside. A zipper on one side and a couple of side pockets. It’s adequate, but not exactly what I want.

Common Patterns

I’ve been looking at a lot of patterns, and too many of them are totes. I don’t love totes. They’re fine as a tote, to throw a few books in when heading to the library, but they’re not a handbag.

Most of the patterns I have, or have seen are all missing one thing I really want in a handbag – a divider inside. I love a divided handbag. I like to put things like my sunglasses on one side, my wallet in the zippered divider pocket, and any cosmetic things like hand cream or lip balm on the other side. Nice and neat – not all thrown in on the bottom. I also like a top zipper closure to secure it all.

So, I haven’t found my perfect patterns out there. After a little searching around, it seems I’m not alone. A few bloggers have posted some hacks that look really good and I wanted to share them with you.

Purse Dividers

This first one was referred to me by Marsha (Seam of my Pants). Thanks, Marsha! Sherri at Thread Riding Hood has a free pattern (for a tote) and tutorial on how to install a divider.  I’m using a photo from Sherri’s blog post to show you just how nice it looks.

That is so lovely and such a neat-looking finish. I love her fabric choice too.

This next one came from a search and it looks really good too. On the photo it says it’s from Diedel Bug. It’s on the Swoon website. It’s adding an interior divider pocket to the Eleanor handbag. This is a great-looking tutorial, and exactly what I’m wanting. Again, I’m using the photo from the website.

This is great! It even has the zipper in the divider just like I’m wanting.

Here is one more divider tutorial for you.

This photo is from Abby at Things For Boys*, and it’s a divider for a tote bag.

These are all great tutorials, and I’ll go through them all before I draft a divider for my next Raspberry Ripple handbag.

Zipper Closures

There’s one more thing that will make my Raspberry Ripple, and so many of the other bag patterns I have, my perfect handbag – a zipper closure at the top.

Here’s one more great tutorial on how to add a zipper closure.

This one is from Lisa at Andrie Designs. And it’s for a tote!

With all these tutorials, I feel ready to make all the changes I want to make to my Raspberry Ripple pattern.

Happy creating!

The Cotton Spandex Opportunities

~ Michelle ~ 6 Comments

On a sewing forum I follow, someone posted a cute pair of panties and had lots of response. ‘What pattern are these? No elastic? I have to know what pattern, …’ It went on for a while. We were told they were Scrundles. Off I went to search the web for Scrundles. I didn’t find any Scrundles, but a little more searching and I found Scrundlewear Ladies Underwear by Stitch Upon A Time.

I looked at the first photo to show up and thought, that doesn’t look like what I saw. This photo is from their Etsy shop. These are boy shorts. What I’d seen were more of a classic brief shape.

boy short

Then I scrolled through the photos and saw this:

brief

These were more along the lines of what I’d seen posted. Super cute!

The pattern offers five styles of panties in one.

pattern

Hmm. Now I’m thinking. I really love my TNT Kwik Sew 2286s, but I did think these were super cute. Here’s what they say about their pattern:

2 different styles included, Briefs and Boy shorts
4 different waistband options
2 different leg band options
3 different trim options, faux fly, lace and ribbon bow
You can make more than 16 different underwear with this one pattern!

They were sounding better and better.

Then things got more tempting for me. On the same forum, all these people started posting about the cute printed Cotton Spandex they were finding at a Canadian fabric store, Fabricland. Off I went to my local store to see if they had it. Nope. It seemed to skip my Province. From what I was reading, it was in the Eastern stores, and the stores in the Province west of me too.

I put the thought of those cute panties on hold. If I was going to make them, I wanted mine to be cute with some patterned material too, not just the solid colors of Cotton Spandex I’d found.

Then there was that unexpected trip to Ontario. After visiting and spending time with family, a very quick trip to Bra Makers Supply, and more family visits, it was time to go to Fabricland.

There is was! The same cute patterned Cotton Spandex I’d seen on the forums.

cotton for panties

My first trip to Fabricland was a quick trip, so I grabbed a meter of each with plans to go back and get a little more while it’s on sale for half price.

At this point, I had the material, but not the pattern. Then came Jennifer Getter’s birthday (Jennifer of Stitch Upon A Time). On the SUAT’s Facebook page, she said she was celebrating by offering 40% off patterns that day. What a great opportunity! I’d bought some material, so with 40% off, there was no reason to hesitate anymore.

Another of my goals for this Spring is to make myself a T-shirt that really fits. Sewing with Nancy had a few episodes on sewing the perfect T-shirt. After watching, I purchased my pattern. It’s from Pamela’s Patterns. You can find it here.

perfect t-shirt

This is a darted T-shirt, so should really help when it comes time to do a Full Bust Adjustment on it. It’ll be like the work is half done for me. Rather than starting from scratch and adding a dart, I’ll only have to adjust the dart that’s already there. On the show, they even show how to adjust the dart higher or lower as needed. Great!

However, it was another of those projects that needed Cotton Spandex, so it’s been waiting.

These are the materials I purchased to work on a few Summer tees. I may mix and match things up too.

cotton for tees

I had hoped on my second trip to the store, I’d find some brighter colors. They did have a couple, but the prints were huge. They weren’t anything I’d want for panties or Tees. I’d even brought my hubby in with me to help me decide. He didn’t like the other prints either, so I’ll have to be happy with all these nice new black and white prints.

While I was there I did see one more wonderful fabric.

african print

This is part of an African Prints collection. I grabbed what was left (not even a full meter), and will use it for a Swoon bag, or as a feature on a bag. So pretty.

Happy creating!

Sewing Amidst a Mess

~ Michelle ~ 6 Comments

My sewing room feels like a disaster right now. It’s somewhat functional, if I don’t mind stepping around piles of things needing to be sorted and re-arranged. On top of the sewing space feeling like a bomb went off, my camera isn’t working properly. I’m hoping it’s just the USB cord and I’ve ordered a replacement. It will still take photos, I just can’t get them off the camera. So here are some from my phone. (not great quality)

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This might not look too bad for some, but for me, well, I’m not enjoying my space at the moment.

What happened? Well, remember my new-for-me serger? It’s all computerized. The outlet I had the previously-borrowed serger plugged into didn’t have a surge protector on it – it didn’t need it. That serger wasn’t computerized at all. I live in a town, outside a major city. The city has regulated power. I don’t. When I bought my sewing machine, I was told if there’s a surge of power, it will fry the circuits of my sewing machine, and now my  serger. I needed a solution before I could use it.

It took a while for me to convince my hubby that this was a priority. But it’s done now, and I just need to re-organize.

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Here’s my new little surge protector for both my sewing machine and my serger. This little guy is screwed into the outlet so there’s no chance it will come loose. My sewing machine and serger both have a new desk too.

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It’s cozy, but it works.

I’ve even completed my first project in the new space. Just after the New Year, a neighbor came over asking me to alter her costume for her granddaughter. I don’t enjoy alterations, but because she’s a good neighbor, I said yes. I’m going to have her spread the word that I’m terribly expensive so I don’t get a bunch of costume renovation customers. I’d much rather sew selfishly or for gifts.

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It’s a charming costume, and the alterations weren’t hard. It was too big in the waist and arm, and the shoulders needed to be taken up too. I’m hoping to get a photo of her in the costume.

Now for some me sewing. I have a Swoon Coraline Clutch all cut out.

Happy Creating!

Coraline Clutch

~ Michelle

Oh, I think I love bag-making as much as I love bra-making. I made another Swoon. I must say, I love it. I used it the same day I finished it, and was so happy with it. Here’s my Coraline Clutch shown with the pattern.

with-pattern

I made this out of the same fabric I used to make my Agnes-inspired skirt, and the temporary dog boots. (I told you you’d see more of this, but I think I’m pretty much done with the material now.) This is a thick flocked knit. I really do love this material. I have a little more in black. I also have a similar black flocked stretch denim. So many things to sew still!

Back to Coraline. Here’s the inside of the bag.

Inside

The pattern is a great pattern, and it all comes together easily. Swoon has a Facebook group for support, and that group lists a bunch of files. One of those files is a video tutorial that I used to help me make this bag – just to make sure I was doing everything right.

I added a fun little bracelet charm to the zipper to give it a little more oomph, and to make it easier to pull that little zipper.

zipper-pull

Here’s the backside of the zipper pull:

back-of-zip-pull

I love that it is two-sided. Regardless of which way it shows, it looks pretty.

I worked to pattern-match the fabric so I’d have the same pattern showing on both the front and the back. I could have done a tiny bit better with my pinning because I noticed the bottom seam doesn’t match perfectly, but I’m pretty pleased with it overall. Most of the time I won’t be looking at it from the bottom, so the sides match well. There’s always something to work on for the next project, isn’t there?

pattern-matching

One change I made to the pattern was to simply attach my strap into the bag’s seam. The pattern calls for a 1″ D-ring and a 1″ swivel clip. I didn’t have those on hand, and didn’t have time to run to any store. I made this up, showered, and went out to a banquet. I love it as is, but also think I’d love to see it with the D-ring. I have another planned already.

Here’s my new Coraline with Catherine, just to show you the size.

On-Catherine-with-new-drape

Catherine is draped in some lovely fabrics that I’m hoping will make it into a holiday skirt.

Happy creating and have a very Merry Christmas!

Swoon Ethel

~ Michelle ~ 2 Comments

After making the Conference Tote Bag, I thought I’d like to make more bags. I’ve read a few books, bought a book, reviewed a book, am planning on buying a new book coming out, and took a few Craftsy classes – all on bag-making. I thought it was time to try another bag.

Let me tell you, it’s a lot more of a workout to make a bag than it is to make a bra! I can’t think of a anything that you fight with as much on a bra. The only thing that would come close is stretching the elastic along the band, but that’s nothing. Now, having said that, there are no fitting issues with bags at all.

Before I go on about the fight I had making the bag, let me show you what I made.

Bag-on-Catherine

This is Ethel, a free pattern from Swoon. I love the shape of this bag – that’s what drew me to it in the first place. It’s just a bit different for a tote bag with its tear-drop shape. DS2 came home the day I’d made it and said it was beautiful and what he really liked was the shape too. So, it’s a winning shape.

It doesn’t show up really well in the photos, but there is an outer divided pocket on the front of the bag. That’s something great for phones or keys or lipstick that you don’t want lost in the bag.

I used the same quilting cotton for the lining on this bag as I did on my Conference Tote Bag.

lining

Here’s the outside of Ethel with just a bit of lining showing. I love how these go together.

bag-front-and-inside

You can see that front pocket I mentioned a little better in the above photo.

And here’s the back of the bag.

bag-back

Oh, I love that shape. I’d like to make this again and include a few of the lovely details from the Conference tote – like an inside pocket with zipper, and a zipper closure.

Speaking of detail, here’s a close-up of the floral detail:

detail

I love the gold on there, and the contrast between the dark brown and white.

Now, let me tell you about the fight we had. Well, the bag has interfacing and/or foam on all the pieces to give it structure. I did fight a little bit with the Conference Tote Bag – I’d decided boxed corners and I were not going to be friends. On this bag there are no boxed corners. However, the whole time I was sewing the seams, the foam seemed to want to push against something and I felt like I was fighting to keep my seam allowances straight. Tell me, any other bag-makers out there, is that normal? It felt like an arm workout that lasted too long.

The second fight is leaving that little six-inch gap in the lining to pull the whole bag through! I’ve read different comments where bag-makers have referred to that as birthing the bag. To me, it seemed more like I was trying to rip apart what I’d just fought to sew! Again, it was an arm work out too. Once the bag is turned though, well, that’s when you can see how it’s going to look when it’s finished. There’s just a little bit more sewing and some pressing to do, but the finished look is there. It’s a great moment.

In the end, I’m very pleased with it. This will be making its way to my Mum for Christmas this year. I had a lot of hints and questions after the first bag I made – I knew my Mum would love one too.

Happy creating!