Bag of the Week 6

Heart Pouch

Here’s a fun little number to spice up your Valentine date outfit.  I created this whimsical little purse several years ago for a show that I was participating in, and it was the first thing to sell at my booth.  The purse is made from red coat-weight wool and is sewn in a simple pouch style.  The heart design is another from Kathleen Parman’s Herky Jerky line (you can read more about Kathleen’s work in my January 20^th post).  I stitched the design on black fabric and then stitched the panel to the purse front using more Herky Jerky stitching.  I knit the eyelash I-cord from one strand each of black and red Fun Fur and created the strap from wool yarn using the Spinster.

Here’s another I created using the same design but different colors.

Bag of the Week 5

The Ribbon Handled Bag

Before my first son was born in 2006 I used to teach kids to sew at G Street Fabrics.  I really loved working with blooming sewing enthusiasts and was always pleased at how proud they were with their creations (even when they were terrible).  One week I was called and asked to act as an extra pair of hands in a class for a Girl Scout troop where another teacher would take the lead and plan the project.  Sue arrived with a darling little ribbon handled bag that she had received as a Christmas present.  And like many of us do when we find something wonderful, she had knocked it off (that’s “copied” for those of you wondering).  That day in class we made these little bags, and they were a huge hit.

A few months later I was teaching a class for 8 to 12 year olds and decided to do this bag as the project.  I arrived at the store to find a handful of students but nothing set up for me – the store had dropped the ball and didn’t realize there was a class that day.  Thank God for Lynn Berry who had brought her daughter to the class.  Lynn is a friend of mine and knows her way around a sewing machine just fine, thank you very much.  She stayed and helped set up all ten machines.  I don’t think I could have done it without her.  Sometime later Lynn asked me for instructions on making this bag and, since I had had other requests from parents, I wrote up a tutorial to share with instructions and lots of pictures.  You can also find other projects on my Tutorial page (the link is in the righthand side bar).  Lynn says she has made a number of these bags in all sizes including one to carry a laptop – they make great teacher’s gifts.

I liked the bag just as it was but wanted to give it a little extra personality so I added a kanzashi flower made from coordinating micro-dot cottons and an oddball button from my button box.

bag of the week 4

With New Years Eve just behind us I want to share a tiny little bag that would be perfect for wearing with an evening gown or fancy dress.  It is just large enough to hold a credit card, ID, key and some cash, and can be worn more like jewelry than a purse.

The components of this purse are made entirely with thread on an embroidery machine.  The design was digitized by Stitch Delight.  This free-standing lace is stitched on water soluble stabilizer which is rinsed away leaving behind the stitched design.  Each purse consists of a front, back and flap.  Each piece is stitched individually and sewn together by machine to finish.  I also chose to create a lining for my purses which I hand sewed into the completed lace purse.  The strap was made by twisting multiple strands of the embroidery thread into a cord using a Spinster.

These designs are no longer available from Stitch Delight though they do have some beautiful purse designs that are a bit larger.



Bag of the Week 3

It’s been exactly a month since Old Man Winter dumped record-breaking amounts of snow on the Washington, DC area.  And here comes Mr. Snow Guy, just in time for our wintery January weather.  This little winter white wool pouch was adorned with a design by Kathleen Parman.  Kathleen developed a technique she dubbed “Herky Jerky” to describe the free-motion quilting around the edges of the appliquéd pieces.  Kathleen also developed a very clever machine embroidery technique for stitching up this and other designs.  This purse was done with one of her machine embroidery designs.  I appliquéd the design onto black fabric and sewed it to the front of the purse.  The purse is lined.  The Fun Fur I-cord around the top was made in the same manner as for The Safari Bag.  The strap is twisted cording made from winter white yarn and the Spinster tool.  I think this Snow Guy lives with my friend Michele now.

An internet search failed to turn up Kathleen's website.  Some of her patterns, including two of her machine embroidery CDs are available from Soft Expressions.  Sulky has a great tutorial complete with pattern and instructions for a Herky Jerky sweatshirt.  This technique is really fun and easy to do.  I will be featuring several other designs by Kathleen in the future.  Check back each week.  And that's what it's all about!

Bag of the Week 2

This week's Bag of the Week is the Safari Bag.  You can read more about this bag in my previous post (New Beginnings).  I have created a tutorial describing how I made this bag so you can create one for yourself.  The sidebar on the right hand side of the screen contains a tab for Tutorials.  Enjoy.