Pattern Review - Sew Liberated Dapper Day Bag

I am prolific at the moment aren't I? I actually really want to do two particular reviews of Maternity appropriate patterns before I get this baby out so perhaps I should make that my goal for next week. But for now - another bag!

This week I made something that has been on the to make list for a long time - the Dapper Day Bag pattern from the Sew Liberated Book by Meg McElwee

After my bag making attempt from last week I was surprised that I was making another bag - but this one had no interfacing in the pattern so I figured it couldn't be that bad.

I have had the fabric picked out and put aside for this one for a while - a gray wool blend of some description for the outer shell and a pretty quilting cotton for the lining.

 

The pattern came together easily enough, I didn't make my own piping like it says in the instructions as that seemed to just add a layer of complexity that I didn't need right now, so I just bought some piping. I have never sewn anything with piping before and I was surprised at how easy it was - and it does create a lovely look on the finished product. The instructions for sewing the piping in were excellent.

In hindsight and via my fabric choices, this bag would have been better off with at least a light interfacing for the shell It is just that little bit too unstructured without it.

I also feel like the shoulder strap is a little bit too short and the width too wide for my shoulder as it doesn't sit comfortably on my shoulder. I would like to be able to sling the bag across my body messenger style but the strap is too short for that.

It is a good size day bag though!

I also made this:

A little set for bubs. I bought a few packets of plain onesies a while back and I have been slowly adding things to jazz them up. I decided to make a pair of soft jersey pants and a little hat to go with this one - babies always look nice in matching sets! I'm a bit addicted though now and I went out and bought some more jersey yesterday to make a couple more sets!

Unfortunately it will be starting to get cold here (the 'rules' in Canberra say you aren't allowed to break out a jacket or the heating before Anzac Day) right around when bubs is due - and I don't really have any jackets for him. I am waiting to see what size he is before I rush out to get some though as you just never can tell!

I think I'll just be applying the layering aspect of fashion to this little one - as we already have quite a large amount of boys size 000 clothing!

Another UFO bites the dust

I am slowly slowly working my way through that UFO basket and today I finished sewing the binding on the biggest of all the UFO's - the Quilt I started for the H boy over 2 years ago.

 

Given that this was my first quilting adventure I am really quite happy with the end result. There are a few mistakes and some of the squares don't line up but it is a quilt for my boy and it is finished.

While quilting is not my favourite thing in the world when it comes to sewing, I am already planning the next quilt project - a quilt for the new baby. Partly because I discovered a whole lot of precut squares that I had obviously planned to make a quilt with at some point. 

I do like that most of the projects in the UFO box are simple finishing off jobs and so they are usually quick - no doubt things I had just lost passion for at the time I started them. So I have been able to have a project that I am interested in as well as  some quick but satisfying sewing going at the same time.

Pattern review on it's way tomorrow!

And - completely on another topic - can I just declare my secret love of Turkish Delight... can't describe exactly what it is about the pink sugary goodness - perhaps it is just the prettyness factor but it is just heavenly!

 

and I just discovered Turkish delight ice cream...mmnnnn

Freezer Paper er... Contact Paper stenciling

I have wanted to try Freezer paper stenciling for a while now but haven't wanted to spend the money on getting a roll of freezer paper from the US only to have it not work out.

I have searched and searched and as far as I can tell, freezer paper is not available in Australia unless you are paying $20 or so for a roll - that is too much money to spend on something that may or may not work out!

So I have been thinking and thinking about how I could do it using something as an alternative to Freezer Paper.
 I even Googled it - and nothing (however I am not very good at good Google searches!).

I was thinking about it again the other night and I thought about the principle behind the whole process of freezer paper stenciling - the waxed paper sticks to the fabric and therefore doesn't slide around when you put the paint on.

I thought to myself - what else would do this?

I came up with Contact - the stuff you use to cover books with. It has a paper side that you can draw a pattern onto, and a sticky side that you can adhere to the fabric - and it is cheap enough that if it doesn't work then - oh well!

So yesterday I gave it a go - and guess what? It works!

I'm sure my technique needs a little bit of work and that I may need to concentrate on really sticking down the edges of the design but hey - it is better than nothing!

 

This was my trial run and as you can see it turned out OK! I did find that you have to stick to fairly small designs as the Contact paper can be a little tricky to lay down on the fabric but a little bit of lifting and re sticking did the job. So because it was so easy and the trial run went so well, I decided to venture onto stenciling onto a baby onesie. It was a little more difficult. The cotton rib fabric was harder to work with than the stiff cotton and I attempted a different design. It turned out looking a little 'homemade', rather than cute and crafty. I didn't remember to get a before shot. In remedy, however, I thought I would sew some fabric applique to the onesie and see if I could make it look better. Which I think I managed to achieve -

I am still thinking about whether I like the whole look of the freezer paper stenciling - perhaps I just need to do a few more and get more of a hang of it.