Twisted Cord Purse Handle Tutorial

 As Promised, here is my twisted cord handle tutorial:

You are going to need about 3 yards of 12/32 upholstery cording. You can get this at Joann's and Hobby Lobby. Also, you need to cut 2 a 45" pieces of fabric on the bias. I cut mine 2and 1/8 inches.

Cut your 3 yards of cording in half. Make sure to tape the raw ends. 

Fold your bias strip right sides together(don't iron it, just fold) and sew with a 1/2" seam.

Cut off most of your seam allowance. I used pinking shears.

put a safety pin on one of your ends to get ready to turn.

I know this picture is blurry, but you get the idea.

I bought this handy little tool at Joann's in the notions section to pull cording through.

Stick it down the middle of the top of your cording and pull the little ring down to secure.

Insert the cording into your fabric tube that you made.

 You are going to need to push and pull the fabric to get it all the way on the cording. It gets slippery with the cording tool. if you noticed, it has a small loop at the top. you can stick a pin through the loop(just feel for it)to help keep the fabric from slipping back.

Once you get both of your cording all the way made, slip them BOTH around the ring and fold in half. Secure with a rubber band.

Cut 2 of you ends evenly and wrap thread around so they will be easier to insert onto the other ends.The other two ends need to be cut evenly as well. Also, you will need to peel back the fabric a bit and cut a chunk of the inner cording out-about 2X's as much as you wrapped the other 2 ends. NOTE: you can save this step for later if you are worried about the length of your strap.

When you cut the cording out, it should look something like this.

 Begin to twist your strap. It will naturally want to twist. Try to keep the pieces going in the same flow all the way down.

Put another rubber band on the end. If you haven't trimmed and wrapped and clipped the cord ends yet, do it NOW.

Fold in your 2 pieces that you cut a chunk of cording out of. At this point, if you don't have O rings that open, you are going to have to put them on and sew the pieces around them. I suggest using spring open o rings. I bought mine here. That way, you won't have to deal with trying to stitch around them and can it them on later.

Put your cord wrapped ends into the folded in ends. I already got my needle started in one end at this point. Then just stitch it shut.

At this point, you should have something like this. you can take the rings off for the next step as well.

I used jewelry wire 20 gauge.I like that they have colors! :)

bend your wire down so you can cover it as you wrap.

keep wrapping leaving just enough room for your ring. once all the way down, cut off your rubber band.

Now feed the other end of the wire behind the wrapped wire. If it's tight and hard to feed through, you can use a big blunt upholstery needle. That's what i ended up doing on one end that was very tight! (I wish I would have gotten a picture.)Cut down your wire ends and hide as good as you can!

You're DONE!

If you have any questions, just ask. 

Danielle

Purse-Palooza 2013

 Here it is. My Entry for Purse Palooza 2013! I have named it The Bulldog Bag.Why?

Well, as I was picking out the fabric, I wanted a classic look that would look good this fall, so I went with this grey twill. I love twill for making bags! It is a great weight of fabric and I feel like it will stand up to much abuse and I think It might even hold a kitchen sink :) which I may or may not carry in my bags:))))))))))))))))) Anyway, grey and crimson are my old high school colors. Benjamain Bosse High School is where I graduated So I'm a Bosse Bulldog. This is the exact grey, so I thought hey, what a great name. It wasn't until I was almost finished with the bag before I realized how much the lines of the bag actually sorta kinda mimic a bulldog face. It was then I knew that is what the name should be.

In preparing for this challenge, I came across a bag that I absolutely loved by Michael Kors. This particular bag goes for $995.00. No way would I ever pay that no matter how much I love MK. I pretty much recreated this bag. You can look here and see how I did. I looked that bag over carefully and drafted a pattern.

I'm a sucker for well made hardware and Emmaline Bags added this new little blingy thing to her stock. I think it really polishes the bag!

I didn't go with crimson for the interior. I does have pockets although it may be hard to tell with that print!

This is the first time I have added purse feet. Love them!

The handle was a challenge to say the least. I tried a couple others that just weren't doing the bag justice. I wish I would have taken a photo, but they had hardware on them and , well, I cut the hardware off before I thought to take a photo. I did a simple flat strap with the same round studs I used as feet. It looked to limp for the bag. Next I tried a thick corded handle. I cut my fabric on the bias for it, but the handle wanted to flip one way on one side, and the other way on the other side. When I straightened out the arc for how it should sit, there were ripples all the way through. The only thing I can figure is I didn't cut on the TRUE bias. My last ditch attempt, I saw a ready made handle at Joanns I thought I could re-create. You can see it here. But after I got it almost made, I decided it too, was to wimpy for this bag. Then my brain started storming with this one grey cord in my hand, I I thought, what if I double up and twist them together???? So I went for it! I think It was pretty perfect for this bag! And really, it was easier to make then it looks! So easy, I made a longer one in case I want to swap it out for a shoulder strap

I know it looks kind of goofy with this long strap standing up, haha! Let me know if anyone is interested in a tutorial of this strap! It's looks complex, but really, it's not!!!

So there you have it. I will be working on another variation of this bag in a more fun fabric for this challenge.I can't wait to see all of the bags at Purse Palooza 2013 with Sara from Sew Sweetness!

Baby Boy Quilt!

My cousin and his wife are having their first baby. I'm so excited for them. They have been trying for awhile and started to worry. No worries, baby boy Conner is coming! Kristen had her shower last weekend. I called my aunt and said "what color and what themes" She said blue, grey, and airplanes.

It's kind of hard to tell. My photography took place right before dusk, so light was dimming, but look at this PERFECT fabric I found! 

See the airplanes?? It's Robert Kaufman Inkjet Designs by Marie Perkins.

  And notice my quilt lable? I had them made up at Spoonflower!! I think I shared this on my last post, but it's been so long who would remember, haha!

 I also went with my go-to boy quilting- Circuit board(slightly wonky).

I was being a bit frugal with the backing. The quilt turned out bigger that I thought but I had enough of this matching Kona solid Caribbean:)

I kept cut the cones pretty freeform. This resulted in a wider than I wanted and shorter than I wanted quilt, so I just made it a 47x47in square....or so I thought. when I was all done, binding and all, it actually measured 46.25x47. I thought it was a little off when I looked at it, but oh well, what is done is done!

Here is another project I am working on that I actually started on before the baby quilt.

It's another Elizabeth Hartman quilt. You can find the tutorial here.  I actually started on this first but realize the baby shower was fast approaching so I had to switch gears.:( And NOW Purse Palooza is coming up so this quilt will have to wait again. you know I hate to have UFO's!!! But I haven't put it away so technically it's a WIP:) 

Well that's all I got today! I gotta get some work in on my purse. Stay tuned to hear about my inspiration for that one!

Danielle

Quilt Done!

I have been working on this quilt for a while! It is From Elizabeth Hartman's Craftsy class,Inspired Modern Quilting: 7 Small Projects With Big Style.. It's called Low Volume Tiles. That is How Elizabeth did hers, with Low Volume fabrics. I chose a more vibrant color!!

 

 Here is the back

I also tried a batting that I have never tried before, Fairfield  Nature-Fil Batting which is a cotton/bamboo batting. I love the drape of this quilt upon using this batting! I didn't have any issues with it at all!

I made this quilt label on Spoonflower. I like how it turned out!

I used the quilt design I designed which I have decided to call sliced citrus! I think It turned out great!!

I really liked this quilt pattern. I think I will call my quilt Concrete Jungle, because it looks like buildings all jammed together! What do you think?

I'm linking up with Leah Day!

New FMQ design

I have had this design in my head for about a  week now. I'm not sure why I haven't dived in and tried out this design. Sometimes I get stuck in my own head of what, when, and how to start a project. At first I wanted to create a quilt top to apply this design to. Then, I had a hard time settling on a quilt top design. I seem to stifle my creative process not because I have lost my "mojo". More like to much mojo. I get a series of ideas and then I torture myself with, what if I start this, and figure out I would have more fun if I would have started that? It's quite annoying. I annoy myself, lol!!

I figured the best way to cure this overload, was to dive in and create a "maquette". Ha! I learned that word in Weeks Ringle's Craftsy class Designing modern quilts! I feel better knowing the design will work. It can be done. It can, however be a little tricky.

I quilted the design in rows, BUT, the rows will be on a slight diagonal. I wish I had taken a picture of the first row or 2. I wanted the flower to have 5 petals. An uneven number,as you all know, is more pleasing to the eye. I think this uneven number accounts for the diagonal???

I love this combo of mint green fabric and peacock Isacord thread. The tread color really gives it a luminous look!

Here is the back so you can really see the design. This design requires a little bit of travel stitching, but it is not hard by any means. You do, however really have to think about where you are going to go next. But because the design is a serious of triangles, it is easy to stop at any time and plot out your next move.

I love how the design turned out! I'm thinking of calling it Cherry Blossom. Does anyone have any better ideas? Let me know what you think! I can't wait to put this on a real quilt!!!

My Sewing Machine Got A New Dress

Diane Bohn from blank pages... has this great letter paper piecing pattern that I won on her blog. The contest was to give her an idea of what you would make (in a month or so) using the pattern. My idea was to make a sewing machine cover. I said I think I could finish in a month, but no promoises. She picked me anyway. It took 4 months. Sorry, Diane

I could have finished in a month, but I had a few sewing distractions. More on that later. 

I couldn't be happier on how it turned out. 

If you would like one of her patterns she sells them on Etsy here.

A few of my distractions was to make my mom and MIL a wallet with the Emmaline the necessary clutch wallet. This wallet was FUN to make. She has the best patterns! If you like to make bags, I suggest you check her out!

Here is my moms wallet(which she loved!)

And my mother-in-laws which she also loved

 Then I made myself a purse for the summer. This is one big bag!

I used the Craftsy class Design Your Own Handbag to make this bag. I'm pretty happy with it, although I wish I would have used white zippers instead. I had some that would have matched perfectly(off white metal zippers) but would have had to order the correct size. I would rather not try to re-size metal zippers. I think it would have been perfect, but I'm not always that patient;0

Although I haven't blogged much I have been busy! And now, I'm itching to make a quilt. I have a new FMQ design I want to try out. I haven't really tried to stitch it out yet, just drawing it on paper. But I think it will look amazing on a quilt, so be on the lookout!!