Purse Making Day

We're going to a friend's birthday party tomorrow, and we need a great gift. I don't know her that well, but she mailed me a $25 gift card to Michael's for my birthday (which is the day before hers!). I can't believe she did that for me, but it's the perfect gift!

Anyway, at first, I thought I'd make her the Amy Butler Cabo Halter top, however, after looking at the directions, I decided that was too out of my sewing league. It has an invisible zipper, and that makes me nervous, plus I read some reviews on Pattern Review.com, and what I read indicated that adjustments needed to be made through the bust--definitely beyond my sewing capabilites (and especially for a gift for someone).

So... after talking with my mom, I remembered a book I have upstairs: Hip Handbags by Valerie Van Arsdale Schrader. I dug out the book, and decided SURELY I could make her a handbag...

Off to Joann's I went where I was pleasantly surprised to find the purse accessories were 30% off. I got two sets of bamboo handles and a package of magnetic snaps. Next, I found two really pretty matching Alexander Henry fabrics for $8.99 (which I got for 40% off with my two coupons).

I came home and made several prototypes until I figured out the shape and size I wanted. I really wanted a gusset sewn in it, but I kept sewing in puckers/pleats at the corners and I got frustrated and gave up.

The bottom I ended up making is quite nice. After ironing the seams open (which was another challenge I had to overcome--how do you do that on a 3-dimensional bag???!), you pinch the bottom seam and the side seam together so they're flat then sew across the pinch. I REALLY like what it looks like, but I'm going to keep trying on the gusset.

Finally, I remembered to add pockets to the liner. The Hip Handbags book doesn't tell you to do that!

Here's what the exterior looks like (LOVE IT!):

And the inside (which was hard to take a picture of):

The Crochet Capers: My misadventures with a metal hook!

Several years ago, I took an online knitting class with Barnes and Noble. I had SOOOOO much fun knitting sampler blocks to make an afghan! There was just one problem: I never could get my squares to be the same size. So I decided maybe I'd better try crochet. The local Hobby Lobby had 50% off their crochet hooks so I bought several sets of hooks (metal and plastic), and even bought a little zippered case to put them all in. Well then we moved, and I lost them.


Fast forward to two years after a SECOND move, and I FOUND my little zippered case with all my crochet hooks neatly stored inside. I also found a little book I'd bought: Beginner's Guide: 30 Easy-To-Crochet Pattern Stitches! Whooppee!!! I was starting to get bored with quilting so this will give me something new to try!


I hit Jo-Ann Fabrics yesterday to buy some yarn and a new crochet book. I found a great little Leisure Arts booklet with a sampler afghan made from 63 blocks (or squares--what do you call them in crochet?). It's done in mint green, rose and ecru.


So... back at the hacienda, I decided to make the very first pattern in the Beginner's Guide book: the "lattice" stitch. If you're not familiar with crochet or knitting patterns, you have to know they're totally written in CODE. I hate abbreviations. I think they're lazy. That's how I feel about texting--it's just lazy (however, I can type 70 words per minute and don't have to hunt a peck around a keyboard). In a REAL "Beginner's Guide," I think it would be a good idea to have the CODE first and then a translation beneath it. That would be very helpful.


Anyway, Ha! Ha! It took me three tries to make that stinking lattice stitch! The first time, I got a little bit of an arch because my stitches seemed to be expanding. The second time, I got a full curve! Not sure WHAT I was doing. Three's a charm because I finally got a square out of it. The picture looks like the edges narrow, but that's just the angle of the picture. Anyway, I was proud to learn how to do hdc (translation: "half double chain") to make a lattice block (unfortunately, I've already forgotten how...).

Next, I checked out the new Leisure Arts booklet I bought at Joann's, and decided to try the very first stitch: the single crochet--which is the very stitch I would think a REAL "Beginner's Guide" would start with. They recommended a Size H/5mm needle, and said that 25 sts (translation: "stitches") = 7"; I should use ANY size needle I need to to obtain that guage.

Well... see... the problem with me is that if that size needle is SUPPOSED to = 7" then that's what size I'm going to use! I had to pull out all my stitches (translation: "sts") several times until I finally got 7". My problem is that I pull my sts too tight. I need to learn to LOOSEN UP!

Here's what my block/square looks like:

Here are the directions:
ch 26 loosely
Row 1: Sc in second ch from hook and in each ch across: 25 sc. [I don't know why they called them "ch"s here and not "st"s?]
Row 2: Ch1, turn; sc in each sc across
Repeat Row 2 until piece measures approximately 7".

How hard is that? Well... I don't think you can see in the picture, but the first 2 rows I did are jacked up. I don't know what I did. I got it right by the third row, though--ALMOST. There should be 25 sts across, but I ended up with 21 instead. Also, half way through, I noticed I was supposed to be doing the block in green. And... notice the fuzzy thing at the bottom toward the middle? The yarn came out of the skein tied in a knot from the manufacturer!!! This is just wrong!

Anyway... I ordered a crochet dvd from Overstock.com this morning. Maybe that will help me figure out how to decipher the CODE a little better. For example, yesterday (out of the "Beginner's Guide"), I tried making a pattern that called for a row of tr (translation: "treble crochet"), but then on the next row, it said to "dc in each dc across"--huh? How do you dc when you just tr'd?

Traditional Method for Piecing Flying Geese Units

Below is a quick tutorial on how to piece flying geese units the tradtional way--with three triangles. It's NOT a hard method, and I'm always surprised to see directions written with the "cheater" method.

A flying geese unit is made from three triangles that, when sewn together, form a rectangle.

Skill Builder: Here's a quick block that uses eight flying geese units

Requirements: a rotary cutter, cutting mat and acrylic ruler, scrap fabric.

Cut TWO pieces of scrap fabric 5-1/4" square. Cut the square on the diagonal TWICE (see first photo below).

Cut EIGHT pieces of scrap fabric 2-7/8" square. Cut the square on the diagonal ONCE (see first photo below).

The picture below shows HALF of the fabric requirement:

2. To begin the unit, lay out one large triangle (the "body") with two small triangles (the "wings") in the upper corners:
3. Fold down the left "wing" so that the bottom edges of the two triangles align and the fabric is right-sides together:
4. Sew with the "wing" triangle on top. Sew along the short edge of the "body" triangle:
5. Iron the seam toward the "wing" triangle and trim off the two dog ears:
6. Next, fold down the right "wing" triangle so that the bottom of the two triangles align:

7. This time sew with the BODY on top. Sew along the short edge of the "body" triangle:

8. Press toward the "wing" and trim off the dog ears. The resulting rectangle should measure 2-1/2" x 4-1/2":

9. Repeat the above steps until you have EIGHT flying geese units. Lay them out in a pattern you like. Below is the one I chose:

10. Next, join the flying geese units to each other: Align two units and and sew with a 1/4" seam. The 1/4" seam should land just OUTSIDE the point where the "V" of the "body" joins the "wings." If the 1/4" seam falls INSIDE the intersection, the point is lost so slow down and pay attention!!!

11. Below shows what the flying geese units look like when the 1/4" seam falls where it should have. Notice the point of the left hand unit is still visible:

12. Finally, join the sets of flying geese units together:

Piecing a square-in-a-diamond

Here's an easy way to align square-in-a-diamond units:
1. Layout the pieces. You'll be sewing together the pieces that are opposite from each other.




2. Stack up the first two triangles that were opposite from each other with the point pointing down. Trim off exactly 3/8" from the tip. Flip the two triangles over and trim off 3/8" from the other side, too:
3. You'll have two pieces that look like this:
4. Sew the two pieces to the square and press open:

5. Repeat with the other side: stacking the two triangles, trimming off 3/8" of the points from both sides and sewing on the two triangles. Press open:

Quarter-Square Triangles

There are a bazillion blogs for how to calculate quarter-square triangles, but I'll add mine out there, too. Simply take the finished size of the square you want and add 1-1/4" to it.

Back up a step: What's a quarter-square triangle? A quarter-square triangle is a square that's made up of four triangles. When using two fabrics the resulting square looks like an hour glass.

Here's a quick tut on making a 12" Ohio Star block which uses 4 quarter-square triangles:

1. Cut the following shapes from two different colors of fabric:
Fabric #1:
2, 5-1/4" squares, cut in half diagonally twice (see first photo below)
4, 4-1/2" squares

Fabric #2:
2, 5-1/4" squares, cut in half diagonally twice (see first photo below)
1, 4-1/2" square

2. Layout the fabrics in the following Ohio Star pattern:

3. Pin and sew one half of the quarter-square triangle units together. Press the seams to the darker fabric then trim off the dog ears:
4. Butt the seams up to each other and sew the two halves together:
5. Press the seams to one side then trim off the dog ears. The units should measure 4-1/2":

6. Once more, layout the individual units in the following pattern. Assemble the block as you would any 9-patch block.7. The resulting block should measure exactly 12-1/2" square.

Finding 1/4" on a Sewing Machine

I have an old, mechanical Singer sewing machine that doesn't have a 1/4" foot on it, and it has lines marked on it, but no numbers printed on it to indicate what the lines are! This is the method I use to find 1/4" on it:
1. Use an acrylic ruler to mark 1/4" on a small piece of scrap paper (use a very fine point ink pen or a very sharp pencil to make the mark)
2. Drop the needle of the machine directly on the line you just drew:

3. Put a piece of masking tape directly beside the piece of paper. You can build a "fence" by using multiple layers of tape, if you want:

4. Raise the needle and flip the piece of paper to the other side. Sew down the length of the paper using the masking tape as a guide:

5. Remove the paper, flip it over, and make sure your stitches are directly on top of the line you previously drew. If it is, your masking tape is in the right position; if it's not, repeat this whole procedure until you get it exactly lined up.

Unfortunately, until I figure out a way to permanently mark the line, I have repeat this procedure every time I change the bobbin (because I have to remove the tape to get to the bobbin compartment).

Tools of the Trade: What I Can't Live Without

My favorite rulers are the Easy Rules show above. Sometimes the 24" ruler I have is just too large and cumbersome so I switch to the Easy Rule by Sharon Hultgren (which is 6-1/2 x 13-1/2"). When even that one is too large, I go down to the Easy Rule, Jr (which is 3-1/2" x 9-1/2").

Also shown above are my 5" Gingher scissors. I use these for trimming dog ears. I love the size.

The 28mm rotary cutter is my new cutter of choice. I get more leverage over it than the 45mm one.

Not pictured is my seam ripper. I use it instead of scissors to break the threads between chain piecing. It's just faster than using scissors.

And, finally, I love my Rowenta iron. It gets soooooo hot, though, I have to pay attention not to scorch my fabrics!