Thursday, October 27, 2011

Sheepy Applique: Free Knitting Pattern!

I'm so excited to share my very first knitting design!


Isn't it cute?! I was inspired by a super adorable Sheep Hat in the book 60 Quick Baby Knits which I recently knit up for an upcoming baby shower:
The chochet-look stitch is called the Trinity Stitch, and it gives the sheep an awesome, puffy, sheepy look. I wanted to make a little matching sheep that I could add to a baby sweater to go with the hat. For the sweater, I chose a simple pattern (Striped Outfit for a Striped Knight, available on Ravelry) and knit it in colours to match the hat. 
Here they are, hanging out like two sheep in a knitted meadow, lol:
To knit my little Sheepy Applique, you'll need less than 50yds of a worsted weight yarn in white, less than half that in a dark grey and some scrap black yarn for the eyes. Also, size 7 (4.5mm) needles.

Download the pattern for free! Perfect for adding to a sweater, bag, hat or just about anything that could use a little sheepy cuteness. If you make my little Sheepy, I'd love to see it! Feel free to use it however you'd like, but please give credit where it's due with a mention and/or a link back to me. Thanks!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Teardrop Bag and Key-Keeper Coin Purse


Here are two more of the great bags from Amy Butler's Style Stitches book: The smaller sized Teardrop Bag, and the Key-Keeper Coin Purse. While I made them in matching fabrics, they're not really meant to use together, as the coin purse barely fits into the opening of the bag. When she calls it a key-keeper, she means it, you can easily fit your keys, a lip gloss, bank card and driver's license in this adorable little bag.

Speaking of fabrics, I just love these funky prinst I found at Fabricville a while back. I got them on clearance for $2.99/meter.


The bright lime in the remnants bin, just under a meter for less than $2. I used it as lining for both bags.

I didn't keep these bags, they were prizes during the Opening Celebration of a message board I help to run. I'm looking forward to using some of the fabric on a bag for myself really soon, though!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Finally! Blossom Bag Completed!

So a few posts ago, I shared the awesome home decor weight fabric I had picked up to make Amy Butler's Blossom Bag. I had all my fabric cut, but was delayed due to not having any magnetic snaps. Then, once the snaps arrived in the mail, I discovered I didn't have enough interfacing on hand, so the project was set aside for over a week until I could get to the fabric store to buy some more. I was able to pick some up on Tuesday evening, and over the last three days I was able to finally complete the bag. It's a straightforward pattern, but it has a LOT of pieces to cut, iron and sew, so it's not a quick project.

After all that, I absolutely LOVE this bag. It's by far my favourite, and most professional looking project I've ever sewn. The home decor fabric made a huge difference in the quality of the finished look, and I'm happy I took the time (and extra fabric) to match up all the stripes...  well, all the stipes in the front ended up matching perfectly, but apparently I wasn't great at visualizing the ones in the back LOL Oh well, the ones in the front are the ones everyone will see, right?

So here's the outside front of the bag:


and the back:


A couple of detail shots... The handle ties were the most fiddly part of the bag to work with, but even they weren't too bad, and I absolutely love how professional they make the bag look.


The great ruffled/tucked in sides, caused by pinching the fabric in around the interior divider panels. These I had to hand-sew in place. Because of the heavier weight fabric and all the layers, even my workhorse vintage Singer couldn't handle it.


The interior, with two divider panels, one zippered:


The only modification I made to the pattern was to add an extra small tuck on either side in the front. Without them, the front of the bag gaped open. I didn't like the look of it, and it made it difficult to get the flap closed properly. The extra little tucks fixed that issue perfectly.


The photos are deceiving, because the bag is actually fairly large. It's 15" wide across the bottom, 8" tall (not counting the straps) and 6" deep. The non-zippered divider pocket is the perfect size to hold my Kobo eReader and my iPod Touch, keeping their screens safe from potential scratches caused by keys and such things. My wallet and coin purse nestle perfectly in the center section, the zippered divider is great for keeping girly unmentionables tucked away, and there's still lots of space left for cell phone, keys and the numerous other things one manages to accumulate in her purse.


The pattern can be found in Amy Butler's Style Stitches book, but it's also available for FREE on the SewMamaSew blog!