A busy weekend

This weekend it is all about Loddelina. Thanks to my husband, who took the children to grandma's, I have a whole weekend to sew!

Ok, almost the whole weekend because there are other urgent things to be done, like reorganizing my pantry (to make sure I restock on food that is actually missing and stop buying more and more pasta that I already don't have room to store anymore, for instance).

This morning I dedicated some time to call a few of dear friends I made during our stay in Germany - we were able to catch up without constant interruptions from children who always want to take part in the conversation...

Later I prepared my sewing table and started work on a new design (I have cut the pieces and fused the interface the evening before). But my stomach reminded me it was time for lunch so I had to take a break - my abandoned sewing table didn't look very attractive but that is how interfaced, double stitched insides of a tote bag look like...

I cooked some pasta, what else (to make more room in my pantry), spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce with cubes of fresh mozzarella on top. It is one of my favourite 20 minute dishes and I often make it for my family.

After lunch I hurried to finish the bag (I will do the dishes later) and here it is, a sneak preview of my canvas summer tote with handmade starfish charm. It has interior zippered pocket, slip pocket for mobile phone and a swivel hook for keys. It closes with a magnetic snap and makes a perfect medium to large summer bag.

I intend to make two more starfish themed designs this weekend and I hope to have them all photographed and listed on Sunday.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Instead of My day Monday - Trying something new

A coupple of weeks ago a friend of mine asked me to make her an iPhone cozy - so this is my attempt, a softly lined snug pocket, made from printed canvas. The flap is narrow enough to expose the earphone socket and it closes with a magnetic clasp.

I later learned that an iPhone is a bit thicker than an iPod touch which I was using to make the cozy pattern - so I ended up making another, slightly larger cozy for my friend...

It was fun trying out something new, I might consider offering some fresh items in my shop after it opens again.

Bird lover's birthday bag

Another birthday invitation for Gaston, another gift project for Mom...

The bag measures 23 x 29 cm (9" x 11.5") with 40 cm (16") handles

This time the invitation came from Fabio, a quiet boy nexdoor, who just turned 6. I was planning to go to town and find a nice book on nature, his favourite subject. But in the few days I had before the party there was no opportunity to go book shopping so I ended up making another tote bag.
Yes, I know, Fabio is a boy, but if Tinky Winky from Teletubbies can have a bright red feminine purse (vintage even), then a boy can have a nice book/gym shoes tote.

Unlike my son, Fabio doesn't care much about dinosaurs, robots or big construction machines, but he does like birds. I used the printed canvas with birds and branches from Ikea and cut the pattern out so that I got a bird on the front and solid black colour on the back (I used another bird print on cotton for the lining). I then machine embroidered his name in red thread and used red cotton rope for handles. At the end I hardly had time to take some pictures before I had to wrap the gift and off we went.

Fabio loved the bag. And he got enough books from other children...

Ada on Etsy

I've just listed my new city tote bag on Etsy. Ada is quite a roomy bag with comfortable shoulder straps long (or rather short) enough to be carried also as a handbag.

I took it for a test spin the other day and it is very "user friendly", easy to reach in and get your buzzing mobile phone out before it's too late...

By the way, did you know Germans call mobile (cell) phone a "handy"? Well, most of the times it is anything but that so I've sewn a big enough interior pocket on Ada to put all the gadgets safely inside.

New tote bag Ada

I've finished making this tote last night and have given it a "test wear" this morning to see how it feels....

Ada is a roomy everyday tote, 38 cm (15 inch) high, 33 cm (13 inch) wide with a 9 cm (3,5 inch) wide T-shapped bottom seam and two shoulder straps, 55 cm (21,5 inch) long from end to end. It is made of middle weight printed Scandinavian canvas (yeah, Ikea) lined with black light weight cotton fabric and has one interior pocket. The front is adorned with some trims and three vintage buttons.

I've only managed to snap these two photos of the bag before the battery on my camera went dead - so I will have to finish photographing it later...

Got-everything? messenger bag

After designing Ma-ma zipper pouch for nappy changing necessities (see earlier posts) it was time for Mama to get her own messenger bag.  A bag just for me and my most basic stuff: it has a metalic hook to fasten my keys, an interior zippered pocket for documents, a padded compartment for my cell phone and another one with a velcro closing flap for my ixus. Next to it is yet another small interior compartment that holds a lip gloss and a pen. 

On the back side is a zippered pocket for my tram ticket and a small sewing tape measure plus another zippered pocket, hidden under the flap in the front (the flap closes securely with two magnetic snaps).

I've used the same fabric as for my Ma-ma pouch, a printed cotton canvas from IKEA - I've seen it used by quite a few Etsy sellers but for some reason people are reluctant to give it's source. Well, the beautiful floral pattern was designed by Linda Svensson.