'Anything' bags!

In this previous post I showed you some new designs I'd been working on for a make-up bag and a brush wrap.  I showed these off on Instagram (a phone app - I'm @sewrayme if you want to come and follow me) and instantly had a few orders! 

Here's one of my make up wraps in a different colourway -

This is the IKEA Rosali fabric in the blue colourway.  I think it looks amazing teamed with the red binding.  I also used a red and white polka-dot fabric inside -

This one is jet-setting off to Lanzarote on holiday with it's new owner!

I have also been making many different combinations of the make up bags, here are a few -

This is the same blue floral fabric, but teamed with a cute red and white striped lining.

Here's the white IKEA Rosali fabric.  The red gingham is also from IKEA and these fabrics go beautifully! 

I've also had a few orders from customers who decided to use their bags for different purposes - i.e not as make up bags!  Here are some photos from customers -

I love getting asked for custom items and this bag was made especially to be used in the sitting room - to go on the mantle piece above.  I was able to pick out some suitable fabrics, send a photo to the customer and she then chose her fabrics.  I think this one looks beautiful in its setting above! 

Another customer ordered hers specifically to hold her 'crochet on the go'!  Here's the white IKEA Rosali bag from above being used on the train :)

So pretty, even the wool matches the bag!

There's a bit of a crafting theme with these as this one is being used by the recipient to store their spools of thread in -

I love making these cute, versatile bags, I'll be making a few more which will hopefully make it into my Folksy or Etsy shops :)

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A coffee date

What a busy weekend I've had.  The make up bag and brush wrap that I showed you in my last post have proved to be very popular and I've had quite a few orders to fulfil!  I'll post some pics soon, but as they've only just gone out in the post I don't want to spoil any surprises! 

As my other half was working from home today we decided to take some time out and go on a date!  We try to do this every now and then, making the most of the time our 2 year old is at nursery by spending some time together, just the two of us. 

We headed to a nearby town, had a little browse round the shops, and stopped for coffee....OK, coffee and cake....

My tasty little treat was a raspberry and almond bake....and delicious it was too!

OH went for a scone....topped with lashings of thick clotted cream and strawberry jam, mmmm!

Have you drooled on your keyboards yet?!

While having a look in some shops I spotted this gorgeous cup and coaster set and couldn't resist buying it! 

Isn't it gorgeous? I love it.  It's very Cath (Kidston) like, but without the price tag!

I also needed a few buttons for the make up bags I was making so headed to some of the charity shops that I knew had plenty for sale and managed to find these beauties -

I was specifically looking for large white/cream ones so I was very restrained and only bought what I needed for the job in hand! 

Isn't it lovely when you have a little unexpected outing, and manage to find a few pretties to brighten up your day?

I'm cured!

It's been in my system for a while now.  Taking over when I least expect it.  A little reminder every now and then.

I think it's gone now. 

Two days of designing and sewing later, and I think I've finally gotten it out of my system. 

Do you ever get so consumed by 'something' you just have to make that you just can't settle til you've done it? (Please tell me you do and that it's not just me!)

I don't get the chance to go away on overnight trips (or holidays for that matter) very often.  But when I do it's a real bugbear that I have to pack ALL of my make up brushes when in reality, I only use 4 different ones every day.  Every time I'm away overnight and I pack/unpack my huge wrap of make up brushes I promise that next time it will be different...that I'll have made myself a little travel sized case for just the 4 that I actually need. 

I don't know what gave me the push lately, but I've finally done it!  I did a quick bit of research online to see what kind of thing was already out there, and decided I didn't only want space for my brushes, but I wanted a little compartment for the small essentials - the little things that always get lost in the bottom of a make up bag - cotton buds, hair bands, lip balm etc.  I did a quick little sketch, worked out some measurements and then chose my fabric. 

I decided to go with the grey print from the Flea Market Fancy line, which you can see a bit of in this post (part of the fabric order I placed from the USA).  I teamed it with the bright yellow circles print which I also ordered from America. 

I hadn't actually sewn on my machine for a while (a 'while' for me is about a week!) so to ease myself back in gently I decided to start with an easy peasy make up bag first. 

I finished the bag off beautifully with this gorgeous wooden vintage button. It's a simple bag, I gave it a box bottom so it's very roomy, when it opens, it folds down like so -

Handy, huh?

This came together pretty quickly so I soon started on my make up brush roll/wrap...which I ended up making up as I went along really.  I decided my original sketches made it far bigger than it needed to be, all I needed was some slots for brushes and a little zip compartment.  After an afternoon of sewing I got to a point where all I had to do was decide on what colour binding to use...of course I wanted a colour that I didn't have. 

A quick trip to the fabric store this morning and I was good to go!   So here, it is, my travel make up brush wrap (and the fabulous RED binding!) -

I decided to keep it really simple and just used a wrap around tie closure and I covered a self-cover button in the yellow circles I'd used for the lining of the make up bag, and also inside this....wanna see?!

Ta-da!  I am *so* pleased with this!  It's turned out exactly how I imagined/planned....or maybe even slightly better, :)

This makes such a gorgeous set, and since I only got half a yard of this fabric I'm glad I've made something out of it which will last me forever and it'll be such a nice treat to use it for weekends away and holidays. 

I may also make a few more, for my Folksy shop...and also for my new Etsy shop which I've opened this week. 

But for now, it's just nice to have gotten it out of my system ;)

Joining the Design Team

A few weeks ago I saw this blog post over at The Sewing Boutique's blog.  They were looking for designer/makers to join their Design Team and come up with some crafty makes each month.  This sounded like so much fun so I emailed to apply straight away.  Imagine my delight to find that they'd chosen me to be a part of the team! 

You can read a blog post about little old me here on The Sewing Boutique's blog.

So, I hear you ask, what exactly does being a Design Team member entail?  The lovely Rhiannon will send each of us members a mystery package, roughly once a month, and we have to design and make something with it. 

The first package arrived a couple of weeks ago and here's what was inside -

There was a sheet of (super soft!) red, white and blue felt, a mixture of red, white and blue buttons - and a Union Jack one!  Also a bag of sweet gingham bows. 

The briefing for this task was to create something to help celebrate the Jubilee. 

We didn't really have any big Jubilee plans so I decided to make it more a day for Joshua - who's almost 3 and had the day off nursery.  Since we were all at home I thought it would be a nice idea to have a little picnic - we seem to have been very lucky and had a dry day with sunny spells!  The first thing I got Joshua to do was make a crown. 

I cut the white felt into strips 2.75" and then sewed them together at the short ends to make a band long enough to go round his head.  I put velcro at each end to enable a better fit.

I then cut the red and blue felt into triangles (jewel?) shapes and allowed Joshua to glue them on.  He does a lot of glueing at nursery and he really impressed me with his skills! 

Joshua - crafting in his jim-jams!

He then chose some buttons to adorn his bejewelled crown.  And here he is modelling it later in the day once the glue had dried -

It's a little blurry because it is virtually impossible to get a 2 year old to stand still for more than 1 second!!

I had some felt left so decided to do some quick little projects.  You can't have a Jubilee picnic without bunting, so I cut out some teeny triangles and glued them onto a length of cotton tape, here it is strung up at the window -

I also dug out some cocktail sticks and made some little cake toppers.  Here they are stuck in some lovely homemade cherry vanilla cupcakes -

If you'd like to buy any of the fab materials I've used in this challenge you can head over to The Sewing Boutique's online store, they sell fabrics, haberdashery, and lots of lovely extras! 

You can also see here what the other members of the Design Team created with their packs of Jubilee felt, buttons and bows!

I can't wait to see what will be in the next mystery package!

Home Style

I don't tend to recommend a lot of products to you through my blog, but every now and then I come across something that I just *know* many of you will love (so I have to share!). 

Over the past few months I've been trying to make better use of my evenings (usually spent watching rubbish on tv) and actually do something productive.  First there was a bit of crochet..and some embroidery, and most recently I've re-discovered cross stitch.  This was probably the first sewing I ever did as a child, I was given a little Forever Friends kit for Christmas one year and loved it.  I continued with little pictures of Winnie the Pooh etc, as I think a lot of us did back then :)

I kind of went off it as the magazines a few years ago were terribly old fashioned.  Then, through Instagram and Twitter, I started to see a more modern type of cross stitch emerging.  This book in particular caught my eye -

It's from the team at Cross Stitcher Magazine and is a compilation of the 'best bits' from the mags. There really is something for everyone in this book.  For me, I especially love the Cath Kidston style projects, and there are also some fun projects that caught my eye.  Here's a few of the ones I especially love -

The first project I decided to do from this book was the Union Jack love heart (above top right).  I chose to use slightly more pastel colours and have displayed my finished picture in an embroidery hoop. 

I thought the blue gingham ribbon matched perfectly!  I was thinking of hanging this somewhere on the sitting room wall....just got to figure out where exactly...!

Well as soon as I'd finished this project I'd already decided I *had* to try the cover project - the beautiful bunting.  I've already seen a lovely rectangular white frame in Matalan...fingers crossed the finished stitching will fit this frame!  I'm almost finished - here it is (very crumpled) with just 1 more flag to go. 

To me, the patterns on these flags have a very Cath Kidston feel to them, just beautiful! 

There is also a section at the back of the book of Christmas projects, this advent calender is a lovely project.  I'd love to eventually make Joshua an advent calender and this one may certainly be in the running, it's a great project to break down into little pieces as it's made up of so many little (and quick) stitched pictures.   

If you have this book already and have blogged about any projects you've made from it, please leave me a link so I can come and check it out :)

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