A pillow

A friend had a medical procedure this week involving needles in her back and a lot of bedrest. I don't know how it went yet.

I decided to make her a pillow as a get well wish. She loves birds on things so I appliqued some linen and made her this pillow. I fused the linen with a synthetic interfacing to help ward off creases and then underlined the front secion with flannel for some body. It has an envelope style back.

I had an extra, so there is one in the Etsy store as well.

More pictures

Interior of bag. For some reason blogspot wants this rotated.

I have a black bag started, but the black suede is not as deep in value as the brown was compared to the leather so I am searching for another option. I saved the negative cuts and stitched those down on some brown suede. It created a very different look to the positive cut.

Another Irish Dance dress

This one has a skirt in poly shantung rather than plain satin. I used a 4 thread rolled hem on my serger to create the turquoise line. The previous dress shown was serged over a ribbon. This one is more balanced from front to back of the ruffles. This aspect is important as both sides show.

Purse kick

So I guess I am on a purse kick now. This one is my first all leather purse. I often use leather trim but have never made an all leather bag.
This isn't a great photo so I will need to take more as soon as I can. The bag has a large front pocket with appliqued leather on suede. It is stitched with a straight stitch set at a 3 on my Husqvarna Mega Quilter. I had to leave long tails on all the interior shapes, pull through the threads and tie them off before cutting. Fortunately many shapes began and ended at the edge.
I tried to cut all of the shapes leaving the negative ones in undamaged condition. I am not sure if it will work, but I want to try using them as a negative applique.

Some handbags

I have been very busy with work sewing and no time for personal sewing, but NEEDED to make something else. I saw a purse style I like at Anthropologie http://www.anthropologie.com/ and tried to emulate the style. The purse is called "Flash-And-Fete Clutch" and I cannot seem to link directly to it.

This one is made from tapestry fabric and lined in a snake embossed synthetic suede. Licarrit from Artisan's Square used to have a tutorial on her blog, but I couldn't find it so I had to wing it.
It has a zipp closure and a snap to hold the flap down. I put a topstitched fisheye dart in the underside to encourage it to flip over. I used a heavy cotton fuse inside and it is very firm. I went softer on the next one.
I put a pocket in the back, using the same fabrics.

Then I had to go and get all applique-ish with the design.

This one is a bit shorter, more like the original from Anthropologie. I used a synthetic sude in turquoise over brown cotton. I did this as reverse applique, but didn't love the result so I satin stitched over the edges.
I was going to applique the entire front, but realized half the design would be covered by the flap, so I cut the piece and used part on the base and part on the flap. They kind of line up with a little gap between.


It is lined in Kasha sating and there is a banded pocket in this one as well. I interfaced every piece with a soft interfacing, but would go a bit firmer next time. It takes a few to get it right.
It seems a bit three bears-ish. The first was too hard, the second was too soft, perhaps next will be the baby bear one and be just right.