My creative Space: how to make a clutch

Alright, alright... So I said fairly recently that I would stop making clutches. But I did do something different for my last creative space, so that counts for something right?

So back to this clutch up here, it's made from a tea towel. Wanna know how to make one of your very own? Well read on friends because here comes my very first sewing tutorial... Oh, and it may be helpful to keep in mind my good friend's words of sewing wisdom: Close enough is good enough. Yes indeed.

You will need:

- 2 pieces of fabric each measuring 41 cm by 22cm (I used a vintage tea towel and some cotton from Ikea, be creative, use what you have on hand)

- 1 piece of light or medium weight iron on interfacing measuring 41 cm by 22 cm

- a snap fastener (velcro circles also work)

- a sewing machine

- thread to match (or mismatch if that's your style) your fabric

- pins

1. Choose your fabrics and cut them to size. I love the look of this tea towel with this mismatching leaf print, and both were pulled out of my stash. You don't need much fabric so it's a good way to use up smaller pieces. Once you've chosen your exterior and lining fabrics cut them to 41 x 22 cm. Then cut your interfacing to the same size. Now iron this piece of interfacing (shiny side down, this is the adhesive side) onto the wrong side of your lining so it stays put.

2. Pin your three layers together. Lay your lining piece right side up (this is the piece with the interfacing ironed on) and then lay your exterior piece wrong side up on top of it. Your two rectangles of fabric should be right sides facing each other now. Pin all around this rectangle.

3. Start sewing. Using a 1 cm seam allowance sew all around the four sides of the bag, leaving open a gap on one shorter side that's at least 12 or so centimeters long.

4. Clip corners and turn inside out. See that corner bit up there, go ahead and chop those off being careful NOT to cut into your sea at all. This will make your corners sharper. Now carefully turn your bag out through the hole you left. Poke the corners out gently so they're nice and neat and give the bag a good press.

5. Topstitch the opening closed. See that hole up there? Time to close that bad boy up. Topstitch (which means sewing close to the edge) all the way from one short end to the next so you close the hole up.

6. Finish sewing! Take your rectangle and lay it on a flat surface with the lining facing you. Fold up the bottom edge 15 cm. So the blue piece of fabric up there with the dog, that's 15 cm from the fold to the top (of the blue fabric, not all the way to top the top). Now topstitch from the bottom of one side all the way to the top. Then do the other side. Now pat yourself on the back and put your sewing machine away.

7. Hand sew on your snap fastener. Grab your snap fastener and center one half of it on the inside of the flap. Carefully hand stitch this in place so it's nice and strong (I doubled my thread) but be careful not to catch the exterior fabric so your stitches are not visible from the outside. If they are, you can cover them with a decorative button. Next, match the other half of the fastener on the body of your bag and carefully hand stitch this in place.

8. You're done! Admire your handiwork!

p.s. I hope this was clear, but I realize there's a large chance it's not so if you have any questions feel free to ask me! Happy sewing. xx

p.p.s. for more creative spaces, go here

My Creative Space: a halloween costume

I'm still not quite sure why I decided at 5 p.m. on Saturday night that making a halloween costume would be a good idea. But against all logic, that's exactly what I did. Using this tutorial for a bird costume, I frantically started cutting and sewing until a few hours into a project that was only supposed to take about an hour, I called it a day and stopped.

You see, those ovals are supposed to go all the way up to the neck and the neck and armholes are supposed to be bound with bias tape. But when you start making a costume the night you need it you can't be too fussy! So I threw my half finished costume on and went and partied like it was 1 BC :)

Nicole and I. She's dressed as a 90's grunge girl (which was my original costume idea, the less insane idea). All photos by husband.

in the above right photo I'm flying, you know, because I'm a bird

What did you guys do for halloween?

For more creative spaces go here.

My Creative Space: a yoga gift

what am I doing with my face here?

So I've noticed something... I seem to make the same 2 things over and over again: clutches and yoga mat bags. The only possible conclusion that we can draw from this is that I'm boring as hell. At least as far as crafting goes :)

Next week I swear to you I will attempt to make something different. Maybe even something I've never made before! But for now, you're stuck looking at another yoga mat bag. Sorry. This is one I made for my friend and amazing photographer, Sonja Sipala, to thank her for taking my yoga pictures. It's made from some gorgeous Anna Maria Horner fabric (you can see a skirt I made from the same fabric here) and I even found a yoga mat that matches it perfectly. Yay me.

For more creative spaces go here. Happy crafting!

My creative Space: the week of the clutch

I'm not sure why but this has definitely been the week of the clutch. This week I have, no joke, made FOUR clutches. Three of them have been the Meet Me at Mike's Cute as a Button Vintage Clutch (see other versions of this bag that I've made here and here). See above (the other 3 clutches remain in the possession of my unofficial sewing club buddy).

And the other clutch is the artsy clutch from Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol. This is actually my first go at it and I LOVE it! Super cute, and sews up in an hour. And it looks nice with fun fabric on the inside, like bright orange, in this case.

For more creative spaces go here.

My Creative Space: a prints charming pin

I haven't been very crafty lately, but yesterday the urge struck and I really felt like making something that I could finish in an hour. Know what I mean? Sometimes the thought of a multi-hour, multi session project is just not appealing.

So I made this pin. And it was perfect because Prints Charming kindly gave me exactly what I needed and instructions to boot. Easy as pie. Ah, mindless crafting of the perfect kind.

For more creative spaces, go here.

My Creative Space: coaster love

I seem to have a thing for making coasters; they're some of the first things I ever made and since they get ratty fairly quickly I've ended up making replacements a few times. I just love how quickly they come together, and how cute you can make them with tiny scraps of leftover fabric.

These are from a pattern in Meet me at Mike's, but they're really easy to improvise as well.

They also look pretty darn cute tied up with a bow and given to a friend as a gift...

You can see another set of embroidered coasters that I made here.

For other people's creative spaces, go here.

My Creative Space: A prints charming apron

We're taking a trip down memory lane today for my creative space. A couple of years ago I decided that I wanted to know how to sew. I'm not sure why I decided this, but I was pretty determined.

So I did a class at Prints Charming (which I must've found online) where we learned some very basic skills (i.e. "this is a sewing machine" says the teacher, "wow" responded the 4 students) and made an apron. This apron. After my triumphant apron making, I came home, bought a heap of sewing books and fabric and went crazy. But this is where it all started: this apron, that old house where we used to live and this country which I now call home. ♥

My creative space: a scarf

This has got to be the world's lamest my creative space ever! I intended to make a dress out of this Anna Maria Horner fabric, and then I realized I didn't have the right colour thread. I was determined to make something though so I threw aside my half finished dress and made this scarf in a hurry. And then to add insult to injury, when I wanted to blog about it there was no one around to take my picture. And so I bring you these photos, live from my bed. You're welcome.

For other people's (hopefully more exciting) creative spaces, go here. xx

My creative space: collage wall

Blame it on spring, but this week all I want to do is change everything up in my apartment. Yesterday I tackled my desk area. Specifically, I took down a picture hanging on the wall and put up this little collage with cute tape.

Most of the images (like the map, the flowers, and the 'thus i flourish' poster) are from Frankie. The others are cards and photos. I'm hoping that this wall will be in constant flux, with things coming up and down as I'm inspired. But for now, I'm loving looking up at the map of the world and dreaming about my next trip!

For more creative spaces, go here

My creative Space: sunglass case

Are you guys sick of seeing my projects from the first Meet Me at Mike's book yet? I hope not, cause here's another one...

It's the sunglass case and it's been floating around my bag for the past year or so. It's actually quite big for sunnies, but I don't mind. I love the little pen pocket, and I think it makes a great gift. What have you guys been making this week?

for more creative spaces, go here

My creative Space: laptop case

Yet another project I've been meaning to make for ages... a laptop case! Mine has been lost for a while now ("misplaced" if you ask my husband), which was a perfect excuse for me to make this project from One Yard Wonders that I had been eyeing.

I used fabric from Ikea and the binding is vintage compliments of my mother in law. If I were to make it again, I think I'd use 2 layers of batting because it's not quite as padded as I'd like. But it is cute, and I've gotten quite a few compliments on it ♥

To check out other creative spaces, go here.

p.s. Special thanks to my friend Natalie for modeling!

My creative Space: flannel booties

I'm posting these on my blog today because I'm pretty sure that by now they will have made their way over to the little feet they're meant to keep warm, baby Poet's. As soon as I heard that lovely Jodi had given birth to a girl I started digging around for some flannel, and of course the only flannel I could find was pink.

The pattern is Anna Maria Horner's cute-as-a-button-booties from Handmade Beginnings and the fabric is Anna Maria Horner's folksy flannels. You can see the one pair that I've made before here, and now that I've made 2 pairs I'm convinced that this is possibly the best baby gift ever. I do have one tip though: if you make these be sure to slipstitch the sole lining to the exterior of the shoe, fusible interfacing just doesn't do it.

Congratulations again Jodi! Poet is just gorgeous. For more creative spaces go here.