{a little birdie told me} Messenger Bag + Tutorial

My baby sister turns 20 today... She is headed off to college in a couple months so I decided to make her a messenger bag to carry her books and laptop in. 

I found this fabric (Alexander Henry: Beverly Glen and Heath) and fell in love with it. I love the birds, the colors, and love that it's different... It was the perfect fabric for my little sis.

So here is how I made it....

Supplies needed:

1 yard main fabric

1 yard coordinating fabric

(I used home decor weight for both fabrics)

1 yard fusible fleece

2 d-rings (1 1/4 inches)

6 inches of poly pro belting (you can buy this by the yard. I found it in the notions section of joann's by the elastic by the yard, velcro, and d-rings)

coordinating thread

To cut your fabric:

Main Fabric:

3 pieces 15x20 inches

1 piece 5x44 inches

Fusible Fleece: 

3 pieces 15x20 inches

1 piece 6x11 inches

Coordinating Fabric:

3 pieces 15x20 inches

2 pieces 7x9 inches

1 piece 6x11 inches

Step 1: Iron the fusible fleece to the 3 15x20 inch pieces of the main fabric.

Step 2: Create the pocket on the front of the bag...Take the 2 pieces of coordinating fabric that are 7x9 inches and put them right sides together and sew all the way around but leave a gap that is big enough for you to turn the fabric right side out. Turn it right side out and tuck the unfinished edges in and press with an iron.

 Step 3: Pin the pocket to front of one of the main pieces of fabric. Center it wherever you would like. I put mine in the center towards the bottom of the bag so that you could see it peeking out from under the flap. When placing, be sure to leave enough room underneath and on the sides of the pocket to allow for you to turn it into the bag. (make sure that you place the pocket so that the unfinished part is on the side or bottom so that the little place that is not sewn will get sewn shut) Once it is pinned in place, sew around the sides and bottom of the pocket.

I wanted my pocket to have two sections so I also sewed a line vertically down the middle of the pocket to separate it into two sections. The back of it looked like this-

Step 4: Take 2 of the 15x20 inch pieces (main fabric), and put them right sides together. (make sure that one of them is the one that you sewed the pocket onto) Pin and sew around 3 of the edges (leaving one of the 20 inch sides unsewn).

Step 5: Create box corners. If you need a good tutorial on how to do this- click here.

Turn the bag right side out. The corners should look like this.

 

Step 6: Take 2 of the 15x20 inch pieces of the coordinating fabric and pin them right sides together and sew around 3 edges, and then create box corners as well. Once done with this step you do not need to turn the bag right side out. 

Step 7: Create the flap. Take the remaining 15x20 inch pieces of fabric (you should have one of the main fabrics and one of the coordinating fabrics) Put them right side together and sew around 3 of the edges, leaving the top (20 inch side) unsewn. Turn right side out, press,  and sew along the 3 edges to give it more of a finished look.

Step 8: Create the handle. Take the 5x44 inch piece of main fabric and fold and press it in half, and then open up and fold edges into the center and press. Once the edges are in the center, fold back over. All of the raw edges should now be tucked into the inside and you should have a strap that is the thickness of 4 pieces of fabric.

 Step 9: Sew along both edges of the strap.

Step 10: Take the piece of coordinating fabric that is 6x11 inches and iron the fusible fleece onto it. Then fold the edges in 1/4 inch on both sides that are 11 inches long and sew. 

 Step 11: Fold in half and press, and then open up and fold the edges in and press them towards the center (exactly like you did with the strap). Once it is folded back up, measure and sew along the edges on each side. Be sure to leave a space in the center that is 1 1/2 inches wide so that you can slide the strap through. (when sewing this part, my machine had a heck of a time getting through the 4 thicknesses of fusible fleece and fabric, so I ended up having to put a new sharp needle in to make it work. Once there was a new needle in- it sewed like a charm)

 When it is finished and the strap is through it, it should look like this.

Step 12: Put your liner bag into the main bag and tuck the top unfinished edges into the bag between the outside bag and liner. Pin in place all the way around except the back top edge of the bag. Slide the flap in between the liner and outside bag and pin in place evenly.

Next you will need your d rings. These are the kind I used. I got them at a cute little sewing shop near my house, but Joann's carries the plain silver or gold kind too. Make sure you get the 1 1/4 inch ones.

Step 13: Take your 6 inch piece of poly pro belting and cut it in half so you have two 3 inch pieces. Take each piece and slide a d ring on each one.

Step 14: Take your piece of belting with the d ring on it and pin one on each side of the bag.

Step 14: Sew all the way around the top of the bag. (Again- this will be tricky at parts since it is so thick- if you machine has a hard time, try putting in a new sharp needle)

Step 15: Now it is time to sew the handle to the bag. Slide the handle into the d ring on one side and fold the unfinished edge over 1/4 inch and then up an inch or 2 and sew to the handle. I sewed 3 lines to make sure it was secure. Then repeat with the other side. Make sure that when you do the other side that the handle is not twisted at all. 

Now you are done! Enjoy!

Christmas Stocking Tutorial

Supplies needed:

3-5 different fabrics for outside(if you have scraps leftover from other projects, this is the perfect time to use them since you don't need much for each piece of the front side)

fabric for back piece and liner

fusible fleece

thread

4-6 inches of ribbon

(yardage for fabric and fusible fleece depend on how big your stocking are)

Step 1: Trace or freehand a stocking onto paper. (if you are tracing, be sure to add a little for seam allowances)

 Step 2: Cut your stocking pattern into the design you would like. I cut 4 pieces, but you could do more or less pieces! It's up to you:)

 Step 3: Cut out your fabric (I used a different fabric for each of my 4 pieces) and then piece together your stocking by putting each piece right side together with the piece that it lines up with. After you are done piecing it together, press open the seams.

Step 5: Lay your stocking onto the fusible fleece and cut out a piece exactly the size of your stocking. (Make sure that when you do this step that you are laying the stocking on the correct side of the fleece so that the fusible side will fuse to the back side of the stocking) Iron the fusible fleece to the back side of the stocking.

Step 6: Now for the quilted part. I just sewed straight lines because I have never quilted anything before, but you could get really creative with this step if you are experienced or braver than I am!:) For mine, I just placed the needle as far to the left side as my machine would allow and then just lined up the right side of my presser foot to the line I previously sewed. Super easy and since it is such a small piece it isn't too hard to get your lines straight! :)

Step 7: Trace the stocking onto a piece of paper to create a pattern for the back of the stocking and the liner pieces.

Step 8: Use the stocking pattern to cut out a piece of fabric for the back of the stocking as well as a piece of fusible fleece. (make sure when you do this step that you have the pattern flipped the right way so your pieces match up and you don't create two fronts instead of a back) Iron the fusible fleece to the back piece. Once the fleece is ironed on, you can quilt the back piece if you would like. (I chose not to just because of time.)

 Step 9: Use pattern and cut out the liner fabric. One front and one back.

Now- if you have ever made a zipper pouch, the rest of the tutorial pretty much follows how you would make a zipper pouch (minus the zipper of course)

 Step 10: Take the front piece of the stocking and the front piece of the liner and put them right sides together and sew along the top of the stocking. When you open it up, it should look like this.

Step 11: Take your piece of ribbon (I used about 4 inches of grosgrain ribbon) and create a loop and sew along the bottom edge of the ribbon to secure it.

 Step 12: Take your back piece of the stocking and the back piece of the liner and put them right sides together, but pin your ribbon loop face down on the liner piece in the corner. (make sure to pin it on the side of the stocking that has the heel on it- not the toe side) Sew along the top edge of the stocking

When you open it up it should look like this.

Step 13: Pin your front and back piece of the stockings opened up right side together. (quilted pieces together right sides together and then liner pieces right sides together.) Sew all the way around the stocking but leave an opening big enough to fit your hand in on the side of the liner pieces. (This will be used to turn the stocking right side out.)

Step 14: Once you have sewn all the way around (except your side opening) turn the stocking right side out and then stitch the side opening closed by tucking the raw edges in and stitching as close to the edge as you can. Then tuck your liner down into the stocking.

That's it! You are done! Ready to hang your homemade quilted stocking over the fireplace- or in a tree if you want a cool picture:)

Top 12 for So You Think You Can Sew Competition

Before I announce the Top 12, I wanted to thank everyone that has been involved in the contest thus far. The Judges, the sponsors, and the contestants that submitted projects! I am so happy that I didn't have to choose who would make it to the Top 12! It would have been way too hard! So thank you judges!

Here is how the top 12 was chosen. Each judge chose their very favorite project and that project/contestant automatically made it into the top 12. For the remaining spots, I combined the other favorites of the judges and the ones that were voted more than once by the judges made it in as well. So if you are in the top 12- that means that you were either the very favorite project of one of our judges or else you were on a list of favorites for more than one judge. Make sense? I hope so:) 

So without further Adieu... Here are your Top 12 contestants for So You Thin You Can Sew! (They are in no particular order:)

Contestant #77: The Birch Dress

Contestant #85: Princess Dress

Contestant # 74: Polka Dotted Ruffle Top

Contestant #100: Anthro Knock Off Quilt

Contest # 126: Armless Chair Slip Cover

Contestant #5: Diaper Bag

Contestant # 59: School House Tunic

Contestant # 11: Shirley Temple Dress

Contestant # 34: Belle Dress

Contestant # 56 : Sun Shades Dress

Contestant # 60: Dress Made from a Car

Addendum: One of the contestants had to drop out of the top 12 so the next up in line was chosen for the top 12 and it was: 

Contestant #73: A Sailor Dress for Mom

If you are one of the top 12- please leave me a comment with your email address so I can contact you with all of the details asap! Thanks!

Aren't these projects amazing???

I was so impressed with the turnout and the talent that I saw with all of the entries. Thanks again for everyone that entered the competition. I want to make sure that you all know that just because you didn't make it into the top 12, doesn't mean that your project wasn't awesome or "good enough"! We had to narrow down from 127 entries to pick only 12 so our judges had a super hard time picking!

If you didn't make it into this round of the competition, still come back in January and vote to make sure that the most talented sew-er (kinda looked weird without the hyphen ;) wins! I don't want this to just be a popularity competition... We want the best of the best to win it!:) 

And for those who didn't make it to the top 12 this time... get working on a new project to submit for next round because this summer there will be a summer edition of So You Think You Can Sew! That's right! Details to come later!

Last but not least, I want to thank all of our AWESOME sponsors!! Make sure you check all of them out and show them some love!!

           

Live Chat on Facebook with Kodak

Hey everyone! 

I am going to be taking part in a live chat tonight on facebook about family Christmas cards! I will be chatting with Bonnie Marcus, an amazing card designer...do you wanna join us?

Details for tonight's chat:

What Is It? It's a Facebook Chat called HOLIDAY CARDS 101: Gifting and Giving Back.  It's acually the 2nd of a 2-part series...sponsored by Kodak.


When Is It?  TONIGHT!!  Thursday December 8th at 8PM, ET.  It'll be 1 hour long.


Where Is It?  Kodak's Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/Kodak

The chat is sponsored by Kodak, moderated by their chief blogger, Jenny Cisney.  Hope you join in! 

I will be there chatting with 5 other bloggers...

Allison @ Oopsey Daisy Blog

Grace @ Grace Hester Designs

Jennifer @ Mom Spotted

Jess @ Craftiness is Not Optional

Joy @ Creative Mamma

Shari @ Earth Mother Jest Means I'm Dusty

Hope to see you all there!