New Year, New Organised Start

Those who know me well would probably use the word 'organised' as one of the three to describe me but to look at how my sewing room had 'developed' I'm not sure that word applied in my creative life! 
I had seen various posts where people had been busy organising all their fabric and so in the back of my mind (filled with envy at what couple be) I planned to have a go at a tidy up once the crazy Christmas crafting had ended. 

So here's our starting point!  2 storage units doing their best to contain my ever increasing stash.  Kind of tidy but what you can't see is that each little box (which was at least sorted by fabric colour) is bursting at the seams with fabric stuffed in.  No hope of really knowing what's in the boxes, plus a whole tonne of stuff down the side!  All of my lovely ribbons were exploding out of their little shoebox!

 

So I tackled the ribbons first, wrapping them round some lolly sticks then storing them in tall glass jars.  I can now see each colour much more clearly and it's not a big tangled mess of ribbon all in knots!

I had some time ago seen a fab tutorial on mini fabric bolts and felt this was the way to go for the fabrics.  With the help of some comic backing boards bought from local comic store (Legacy Comics) in the lovely Piece Hall in Halifax, I've made some wonderful fabric mini bolts which I love.  I couldn't believe how many different fabrics I have amassed - loving my Aneela Hoey stash!

 

A little more organisation of buttons, fastenings and boxes for tools like the Big Shot and my KAM snap pliers and all was complete, bliss!

I think reading other posts from fellow bloggers the New Year has been a good start for people sorting out their crafty spaces.  Feel free to comment if you have any great tips or ideas you would like to share.

Happy Sewing

Keri

Here it is then, my tutorial for the baby bag as promised.  It definately felt like quite a big project to condense into 15 pictures, so please excuse me if I've missed out some little details but I'm hoping you'll ask if you have any questions or anything isn't clear.

What you will need

44" x 60" Outer Fabric - Strong, hardwearing fabric such as cotton duck or canvas

44" x 60" Lining - Any lining fabric of your choice

22" x 37" Pocket Fabric - accent fabric in good quality cotton

Elastic for the top of the pockets (35cm x 3 and 5cm x 3)
2m of 40mm webbing
1 x 40mm bag slide

1 x 40mm rectangle ring

Buttons or Velcro (as closure so depends on your preference)

Measure out on the wrong side of your fabric a shape as below (at 29" my bag was quite wide, I would be tempted to make it approx 25" wide)

Cut out 6 pockets from your accent fabric:

• 3 x 11" x 8" - to make smaller side panel pockets
• 3 x 11" x 29" - to make the long pockets on the side of the bag

 Next step is to create your boxed corners on the smaller (end panel) pockets

Fix your pockets to the outer of the bag.  The outer will have pockets on all 4 sides (inner will only have 2 pockets)

Create a top flap for the bag, I made mine 29" wide x 10" deep, long enough to enclose within the bag, cover over the 4" depth and close over the front of the bag

Phew, that was a long one, I hope it all makes sense but please contact me if you have any questions or anything is wrong in order that I can either provide more information or correct my notes!

Finally, thanks for reading!

Keri

Shopping Fun

I LOVE shopping for fabric, it's always such an adventure wondering what you might find.  After a couple of days at work I thought I'd have a relaxing days shopping in Leeds - the market there is great for fabrics.  I got some lovely new additions to my ever growing stash.  More of the summer fabric that I made this dress in - friends are all wanting one.  I also got some matching net, thinking I might make my little one more of a party dress in it too. 

I got some lovely fabrics to make my friends a 'new home' apron and some great fun printed cottons for the bibs and bandana's I'm making for my friends little one.  How exciting!  On the minus side my little one was sick all through the night and still very pale, hot and quiet so the sewing will have to wait while I undertake my most important job of all - Mummy - giver of loves and cuddles!