A Time to Finish

 This week I got motivated to try to finish some languishing projects.  I was tired of unfinished projects taking up valuable space on the flat surfaces in my sewing studio.

I had cut out the materials for this crossbody vinyl bag last fall.  At the time, I didn't have the hardware (swivel hooks, D-rings, and strap slider) needed to finish the bag, so I set everything aside.

Dear Hubby and I attended a college baseball game last week, and I needed to take a see-through bag to the game to hold some essentials.  I had a smaller bag I also made last fall, but a roomier bag was definitely preferable.  Time to assemble the prepped bag!

 I used a regular dressmaker-type zipper on this bag; next time I'll be sure to order a zipper with a larger zipper pull.  Happily, I found this cute zipper charm hiding in my jewelry box!

Another project leftover from last fall - zipper pouches designed to use up the unused Dallas Cowboys fabrics from this pillow project.  I had cut out the parts and pieces for three zipper pouches, but set them aside when I decided to order donut pull zippers.

I finished one pouch yesterday and hope to finish the other two today.  The pattern is the Sotak Handmade Essential Pouch in the medium size.

No more bags, just strings!

I had a lot of pink, green, and flamingo scraps leftover from my Flamboyant Flamingos quilt.  Because the fussy cutting made such irregular holes in the fabric, it seemed like a good idea to cut the scraps into strips.  The strips inspired 60 degree diamonds, and the diamonds inspired stars.  

All the strips and diamonds were stashed at our camp, where I could piece them on weekends with my treadle sewing machine.  Last weekend I finally finished enough diamonds for four stars, so I brought them all home to start the assembly process.  The star blocks will definitely need some sashing and maybe some cornerstones.  Luckily, I have plenty of fabric to finish the project, so it shouldn't get stalled out and languish for months!

"Pinspiration": Vinyl Zipper Bags

I've written before about my Pinterest-inspired craft projects.  There's lots of crafty inspiration to be found there - probably more than I'll ever be able to attempt in my lifetime!

Pinspiration struck again when I was visiting my family over the holidays, and I noticed my sister stashed all her cosmetics in generic plastic zipper bags.  She said she didn't see the point in spending money on fancy bags to carry cosmetics, when plastic bags worked just as well.  I thought I could at least make her some custom vinyl zippered bags - and I already had a tutorial pinned to a Pinterest board!

I made a practice bag first to test everything out.  I followed the instructions as written in the tutorial, but added gussets to the bottom of the bag for a little more versatility.  The vinyl came from my local Hancock Fabrics store - I went with a fairly thick vinyl for durability.  The vinyl was about 60" wide, and I bought at least a yard - I'll have enough vinyl to make bags for a long time!

I thought my sister would get a kick out of having custom zipper bags with fabric from her alma mater, so out came the University of Florida scraps.  I used matching regular sewing weight thread for all the seams.  This used a 7" zipper and finished at about 7x6".

This one also has a 7" zipper, but is taller and has deeper gussets.

Some tips for sewing with vinyl:  increase your stitch length up a click or two (sew a test seam to see what stitch length works best).  I used a #14 leather needle, which punched through the vinyl nicely.  If you have a walking foot - use it!  Also, it really helps to put a piece of scotch tape on the bottom of your presser foot.  The tape helps the vinyl feed over the feed dogs more easily.  Above all, don't hurry!  The vinyl is sticky and wants to adhere to itself, so just work slowly and deliberately to avoid problems.  Using tissue paper in between the pieces of vinyl might be helpful, but I didn't want to pick pieces of paper out of my seams!

A handy travel set for my sister!

I need to get some more zippers - I've got plenty of vinyl and plenty of fabric scraps - I can see using these for all kinds of storage!