Project Updates

I promised photos of the blue/green bag I was in the process of making, though it really doesn't look too much different to the separate panels :) This is the front, or more blue side:

This is the more green side:

 I also made a smaller bag with some of the green pieces. Side 1:

 Side 2:

I've only got as far as making the last of my nuno strip pieces into panels for a bag. It was this yellow piece:

I used various types of fabric–cotton, viscose, silk, suspected silk, so got various textures:

I liked these two strips next to each other, they showed the very different way felting/shrinkage affected them:

I used some of the spare offcuts from the orange piece to make up the panels:

 I showed some half finished purses not so long ago. I finally finished all the blanket stitching and buttons/buttonholes:

I also had some others I was at various stages with, and finished those too:

It's nice to have a growing pile of finished projects instead of a growing pile of felt pieces waiting for the inspiration (and energy!) to make them in to something!

Latest Sewing Projects

I got some new tubs to organise my felt off-cuts and project pieces recently, and while I was sorting them out, I put a few strips to one side to make a new camera bag. I've been using my current one for about 18 months, it was kind of a prototype to see how it would hold up to being used, and happily, it's still in one piece, but some of the felt pieces I used were too soft where the bags rubs against my hip. I used all nuno pieces for this one. This is the front:

If I feel like a change, I can flip the bag around:

While I had the sewing machine out, I thought I'd make a coin pouch with one of my bigger offcuts, I try to be more careful when cutting out these days, to keep pieces as big as possible intact:

Luckily, I never did get around to putting the sewing machine away, so when I finally finished blanket stitching the tops of some coin purse pockets that I cut out a few weeks ago, I could sew those up too. Here are some pink ones:

This is what they look like closed:

The next step is to round off the corners of the front flaps, then stitch all around with blanket stitch. I think choosing the right thread for the blanket stitch can take as long as the stitching sometimes! I had to make a make-shift table out of a cardboard box to put all the things waiting to be stitched, that stack of boxes on the right is about 9 of the thread drawers I have:

At the beginning of last year I made a nuno sample piece with some strips from a viscose scarf and a linen scarf. I thought it would make a nice pencil pouch. I made myself one a few years ago and use it almost every day. The idea is to use an extra long cord to wrap around to close it instead of a zip or other fastener. This is what it looks like closed:

This is the back when it's opened:

And, inside, I lined it with some nice fabric I got a few years ago:

And, while the machine is still out, I may as well ... root through all those offcuts I tidied away. This is a bookcover I've been working on, the front, inside front sleeve, and the back is finished. Here, I'm planning the layout for the inside back sleeve. I thought I'd make enough for a future one while I was at it, so made it extra long:

Finished Purses

Happy New Year!

In my last blog post, I was stitching together some felt purses and finished almost all of them. The first two were made from a piece of woven nuno felt I made earlier last year:

This is the first purse, Front:

And the back with the flap opened:

This is the front of the second purse:

And the back of it:

You might remember a sunflower nuno piece I made a while ago:

This became a coin purse too. This is the front:

This is how the back looks when the flap is opened:

And if there's not much sunlight, you can always open it up and look inside ;)

The flowery purse I was sewing from a piece of fabric I made for Beyone Nuno got finished:

Back:

Inside:

But the bluey/white/turquoise one didn't. I did find the perfect button for it though! This is one of my favourite pieces from last year, inspired by plaid:

If you need some inspiration to get you back into felting, Ruth has posted the first quarterly challenge on the felting and Fiber Studio today: http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2016/01/02/first-quarter-challenge-2016/

Book Cover and Purses

I thought I'd get my sewing machine out last week and make a few things with offcuts, samples and test pieces. The first thing I made was a large notebook/diary cover. The main part only took a couple of hours, but then all the little fiddly bits, straps, flaps, attaching them and sleeves etc all seemed to take about another 4 once it was all added up. I got through quite a few cd albums making it anyway! This is the front with the clip closed:

This is the front with the clip opened:

 This is the back:

And this is one of the inside sleeves:

I don't know if you remember this piece I made earlier this year, testing out a piece of viscose scarf:

I thought it would make a perfect coin purse. I measured it, cut out the parts and then chose some embroidery threads:

Another felt piece I cut up for a purse was a flowery sample I made years ago for Beyond Nuno:

Choosing More threads:

It all started getting a bit hectic once I got the buttons out too :)

I haven't finished the pale turquoisey viscose purse yet, I couldn't find the perfect button. I think I need to buy a few more :)

Catching Up

I've been trying to some of the projects I started before I began working on my polymer clay e-book. I had a few purses and glasses cases cut out or part sewn up. The first one I finished was a ruffle camera case. It hadn't even been cut out, so I did some measuring and cutting then discovered my electric machine won't work :( I cleaned out the bobbin case and took the parts off and wiped them and put them back, but the needle won't pick up the bobbin thread. From what I can tell it is timing or something and I don't think it's something I can fix. So, out came my ancient electric Singer without the electrical parts. It's slow going but it works, for straight stitching anyway :)  This is the front of the case:

And this is the back:

This was one of the purses I hadn't even blanket stitched, it's made from the same piece of felt as one I made earlier. It's a slubbed wool which I added some cotton and silk threads to and some strips of rolled edges from silk scarves. Front:

Inside:

The felt this wool makes has a really nice texture. Back:

A piece of coppery bronze felt that I made a while ago was just big enough to make a purse and matching glasses case:

I have to edit a few more photos then I'll be able to add the pink ruffley camera case and the bronze purse and glasses case to etsy later today.

Do you have piles of WIPs at different stages?