Making whoopee

So a friend rings me & says "make me some lavender bags for a colleague... blah blah blah...", all the rest has been deleted in the interests of national security. I don't want to cause any ructions here, so I've gone with discretion being the better part of valour, and all that.

Anyway, gift made & ready to be shipped, and pictured here.

I've also just received 50, yep 50, 9" zips (that's 22.86cm for those of us in the rest of the world), from here, in a whole range of great colours, & I'm about to seriously start making pouches for sale. I have a gorgeous one in turquoises cut out to give to a person at work who is about to get married, & we'll see how we go. Alex loved hers (well, it immediately disappeared into the depths of her room, so I'm thinking she liked it!)... is 10yo approval less worthwhile than, say, 40yo approval? I'm not sure.

Anyway, my time here is up, my jammies are calling me and I've got a big day going round & round on the shuttle between the city & somewhere else! Off to bed, said Zebeedee.

And when you're not...

You're definitely not. I made another pouch to give to Miss Alex, who's 10 (nearly 11!) & got it all stitched up & then noticed I'd caught the little bit of a patch I made when I cut it out, in the side-seam & it had split. Damn. About the only thing I can do is to unpick the lining seam, turn it back out & then make it even narrower. Major bummer - and so I definitely can't give it to Alex. But I did make her another, much better, pink one, here! Also I have things to post that I've made for Kaz's birthday, but I can't post them yet because I know she reads this... sometimes!!!

Also, if anybody knows how to make a lined box-y pouch, can they tell me? Mine are definitely only coming out 'boat shaped' (which is not so bad really), but I want to make a proper lined box!!! See, the frustration did get to me. Off, off to the biscuit tin (I got some genuine McVities Ginger Nuts last week and they're mine, all mine!)

Heat burns, y'know...

So, did I rave about the little iron mwh bought me for Christmas? Well, if I didn't, I should have, because it's great for getting into those tiny little corners & the insides of things. But it also has this magic property - it burns things... good thing I was watching (sort of) what I was doing... the silk bird (top left) I made has a light brown patch right under her tail from the shaft of the iron. Boy you have to watch those hot shafts.

Hmm. Moving right along.

I made these today, for Mary, and the birdies yesterday. I just love that Olive Rose. Also, as promised, I posted the zippered pouch & matching lavender bags off to MGF Kaz. We'll see what she has to say!

Back to work today. Notice how that's the last thing I note here? 'Nuf said.

Cricket, anybody?

Well, I don't know about you people but I'm really enjoying the colour and zing the latest South African cricket team has brought to this summer - from being a people who had segregated toilets based on your skin colour to being able to be photographed wearing the girliest of colours, pink, in honour of Jane McGrath & the McGrath Foundation, and also having people of different coloured skin and religious beliefs in their team - well, all I can say is, we've got a long way to go, baby.

In their honour, I have made this little darling; he's got the most fabulous variegated floral front, and stripes of many colours on the back, and of course I have named him Protea. What else?

I also made these, out of some gorgeous silk twill I bought years ago at the late, lamented Home Yardage store in York Street; I wish I'd bought the whole bolt, it was so beautiful and the first time I (gently, by hand) washed the blouse I made, it ran everywhere, leaving a pale imitation of itself. Ick. These are a bit wonky, so I'm selling them cheap. I do have a bit left, if anybody wants some non-wonky ones made. Just yell!

Pretty Frogging Good

I just made this pretty girl to replace Rusty, who I was quite attached to, and who I probably should not have sold (even though he did go to an excellent home and I know he'll be looked after and appreciated)... she's pretty cute & I'm going to advertise her for sale. I won't actually sell her, just use & abuse her for advertising. This must be like being a puppy breeder, I think... you can't get too attached to them because then how do you ever let them go?

Zippetty Doo Dah!

Man, when I've got it, I've got it. When you're hot, baby, you're hot. I made another two of these little babies, firstly using up some fat quarters I didn't really like that much (well, the pink is okay but the mustard is not really in my preferred quadrant of the colour wheel...) Snidely Whiplash eat your heart out.

Anyway, I digress... I thought the first lined one went well, but I couldnt work out how to put it together & still be able to trim the angles - so it has the pinked angles inside the lining. Who's ever going to look? Nobody, that's who. It's not going anywhere, except into the bag of unwanted prototyped sewn stuff... or maybe into my handbag? It's a good size for something, but I have no idea what - maybe a small iPod or camera?

Anyway, I got on the net, and found this excellent tutorial which walked me through making the lining, and all I had to do was figure out how to put in the corners from the other one - anyhooooo, mine has come out a little non-square (that's the technical term for boat-shaped, honest) but I like it. I'm going to send it to my friend Kaz with some matching lavender bags & then make some for sale ...

Zip!

Well, that was about the easiest pouch I've ever made (says she who's just made one other one...)... I'm sure I posted the link whereby I gotted this good stuff - (that's the technical, post NY lunch, term) - anyway, it's made me think about making some of these to sell in my shop but I want to make them a bit different to all the others out there, so I've been thinking (not easy on a hot sunny day when I'm full of fabulous food & Italian wine from here, let me assure you...) about how to do it & I have a cunning plan. You just have to wait to hear it. Really. It'll be worth it.

Anyway, this is number two (please, no, not 'a number two'), the second one I made. Note the neat top stitching on the bottom (confused yet?) and the carefully inserted zipper. Boy zips are easy when you get to cut the head & tail off them. Like dealing with a snake!

BTW, happy new year to you all (all one of you, I know who you are) & talk soon!