Back on Etsy

It seems there is no booth available for me at the flea market, at least not for a while. I decided to list what I have made on Etsy. I reopened my shop, Quiltinprogress, just like the blog. So far I have only listed some of the zip pouches, but more pouches and more items will be coming soon.

I have plans to make zipper pulls with beads and charms, coasters and coaster sets, and even tote bags. I will have them priced with free first-class shipping, with the option to pay for Priority to receive your goods faster.

Mug Rugs

This is a good attempt at mug rugs. Again, a sleepless night last night gained me a couple of sewing hours. I used the paper-pieced awareness ribbon and small quilt block patterns to make these.

First is the burgundy ribbon for Multiple Myeloma, my cancer. I used the corners I snipped off the wall quilt I made late in the spring for a customer on Etsy to make the pinwheel block. The second is a pink ribbon (no explanation needed, and I’ll give it to my Mom who is a survivor) and did a simple string quilt block with coordinating fabrics.

I know where the mistakes are and family won’t care, right? I’m considering making a lot of these during my cancer convalescence and putting them for sale on Etsy or eBay. I need to live away from home for a month and I plan to take my small portable Brother sewing machine along, and keep my sewing materials manageable, as in one tub only. Maybe I can use up a lot of my stash and small bits making these.

Something else I decided after doing these – I think I’ll make a fabric “ribbon” (two-sided with hemmed edges) and applique the ribbon to future mug rugs. It takes quite a bit of time to make the paper-pieced portion of the mug rug.

I’ll need ideas on what will sell in the store, what’s your ribbon? I plan to do the zebra-print for Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (rampant in my family), Alzheimer’s of course, but what else do you suggest?

Now a doll fashionista…

Oh yes, that’s me! (Can you hear me giggle?) Well, let me explain.

It started with the idea I would make doll quilts too.

Then I couldn’t resist buying an 18-inch doll. No, I didn’t go for the American Girl, but I bought a similar doll, Journey Girl. Following that were the purchases of several books of patterns for sewing doll clothes to fit her – except her waist is a bit smaller. No problem, I just went shopping for another doll, this one is a Madame Alexander, whose waist more closely resembles the American Girl.

Isn’t she sweet looking?

I’ve decided to open an Etsy store to see if the doll clothes will sell. I’ve had some sales by word-of-mouth already, and I’m looking forward to making this a cottage industry business. At least I hope it pays for the materials and postage!

Update: I no longer keep the Etsy store open. If you would like me to create something, send me a message and I can make a custom order on eBay for you.

Update on Mug Rug

I decided to join the 4 small designs into one and sell in my Etsy store.

I think it came out great. I adjusted the proportions so they look a little more life-like. The finished design is 3.82 x 4.76, which is larger than my little embroidery machine will handle, but others will appreciate having the complete design in one file.

So, click on over to my Etsy store and make a one-of-a-kind gift for someone special. Quilt it any way you want, backing fabric that fits the personality of the recipient.

Also, for a limited time, anything in my Etsy store is 25% off with cash transfer from PayPal. Use the coupon code IUSECASH to take advantage. This even applies to special requests where possible.

Tutorial: Cell Phone soft case

I love making these. I’ve made two for myself, one for my mom, and put several in my Etsy store. Lined with soft flannel, they will keep the screen free from scratches and the interfacing makes the whole thing hold its shape.

Now it’s your turn to make your own. Put your personality into it! There are so many novelty fabrics that in a very short time you will find several you can’t live without. My solution? Make them all! Also a great way to use an orphan quilt block from a previous project.

Start by measuring your device. Smartphone, slider, clamshell, iPod, iPad, anything. Measure the longer side, shorter side, and depth.  For instance, my ancient iPhone is approximately 4.5 x 2.5 x .5.  Approximate is close enough.Add shorter side twice plus the depth. For mine, that would be 2. 5 + 2.5 + .5, or 5.5.  There will be bulk from the seam on the inside, so add a little, plus the fold takes up some bulk, and the seam at the top edge.

I’ve been using a 6 inch square, which works just fine, and you can see that the length will fit inside, as long as I take scant 1/4″ seams. You will cut a square of outer fabric, one of fusible interfacing, and one of flannel.

Note: if you have fabric with a one-way design, cut it 1/2″ longer than you need, cut the length in half, lay right sides together and stitch a  1/4″ seam. This will be the bottom of the cell phone case and the bottom of the one-way design should be at this seam. Now your design will be right side up on both sides of your cell phone case.

In this photo, I have highlighted the seam and the direction of the print in green.

Lay the fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the outer fabric and press with your iron. Layer the wrong side of your flannel (if there is one) to the wrong side of the fused outer fabric and interfacing.

 

Use a strip of coordinating fabric or binding and bind opposite edges of the fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

Fold so that the flannel is to the outside and the outer fabric to the inside. Stitch with a narrow seam at the sides.

 

Turn.

It’s that easy!

 

Alternate method: no binding.

For this one I used two smaller pieces of flannel so there is a pieced seam.

 

 

Lay fabrics with right sides together and stitch at opposite ends.

 

 

Turn and press.

 

 

 

 

If desired, topstitch at the seams.

 

 

Turn outer fabric to the inside and stitch the side seams.

 

 

 

Turn right side out and press.

Need an iPhone case?

I’ve had a bit of fun working up some adorable and fast iPhone cases. I carry my phone in one, recently gave one to my mom after she bought an iPhone, and decided to make some from stash to sell in my Etsy store.

Thrift store score, and 2 more purses done

The exotic book purse was almost complete yesterday, and I decided I needed a much different strap for it. While my mind was on other things, it occurred to me that a gold chain would be the perfect strap. I could even weave a colorful ribbon through it. Among my errands for this morning would be a stop at the local thrift store to see what I could find.

I should have taken a photo of the store, it’s totally crammed with goods. I pawed through the belts hanging on 6 large nails on the wall, but knew it would be nearly impossible to find the location of the correct belt to pull it out of the mass. I considered taking every belt down so that I could take what I wanted and put the rest back, but I happened to glance downward. Under a rack of pants I saw a tub of belts. I pulled it to a spot out of traffic and pawed through that instead.

I like the webbing belts for straps, and the bonus of two D rings is very helpful. I scored these 4 belts for $2. The chain with the scarf woven through it was just what I imagined.

This is what I had when I quit working yesterday.

This photo shows how well the chain and scarf go with the book cover. I decided to use it as is, and not replace the scarf inside the chain.

In this case, I glued the ends of the scarf to the inside of the spine of the book, then I glued the rest of the book purse over it. After the glue dried, I tied a knot to the end link of the chain using each end of the scarf. I think it’s gorgeous!

Moving on, I wanted to get another book purse complete. I thought the lavender/teal paisly web belt would go great with this book cover:

I can see in my imagination that the purse part needs a great design on the fabric, such as burgers and shakes, or maybe something similar to Steak-N-Shake decor that patrons would immediately recognize. I set it aside to work on another time.

I pulled out the Labrador book. This has been a favorite of mine, and I am finally ready to work on it. I found a few belts that I thought would make great straps for this one, and I decided on the narrowest, tooled leather one. Looked like a leash or collar to me.

The chocolate brown fabric behind makes up the box portion of the purse, and I got so “into” the working of it, that I forgot to take a photo showing the inside cover fabric. It’s a great tan color, rescued from a man’s shirt. Here’s the book purse after concentrated work (and a little bit of sweat!).

Needless to say, these purses will both be listed on Etsy and also for sale at a boutique in Kansas City. I did a great day’s work today!

DAY 22 OF MY 50-DAY CHALLENGE

Etsy success!

I just made my first sale on Etsy today. I love that I have to learn the whole process of acknowledging the sale, sending out the product, confirming payment, and all that. It’s a great feeling, and makes me want to make more and list it all.

Today I worked a bit on this book purse.

I chose a burgundy/gold upholstery fabric for the inside cover of the book, and a silky burgundy fabric for the box part of the purse. I edged the top of the purse in gold trim and lined it with white cotton. I added a magnet catch to the top of the inside cover and the very bottom of the purse, so it’ll stay closed. Sewing stalled when I wasn’t happy with any strap choices I had on hand, and could not easily come up with what I want to use. When I get back to working on it, all that is left to do is attach the strap and glue down the fabric to the covers.

DAY 21 OF MY 50-DAY CHALLENGE

Free for a limited time!

A tutorial for my book purses (my own design) has been requested, and those of you waiting for it have been rewarded. For a limited time, you can download a FREE copy of the pattern for my top-opening, box-style book purses. Click the link below to open a window and you can then save to your computer or print yourself a copy. Please note that the pattern gives you permission to create these purses for yourself or to give as gifts, but not to sell.

Book Purses

If the link no longer works, you may go here to purchase the pattern in my Etsy store.

When the room gets messy…

When the sewing room becomes a mess, it means I have been working hard. It also means I’m not paying attention to my environment. I know that organization makes the sewing go so much faster. Take, for example, my search for a zipper for the pillow I made last week. I knew I had a small box with several zippers in it, hoping to find one long enough to use for the pillow cover. I ended up making it a fold-over instead of a zipper closure. Sure enough, the next thing I did was to come across the zipper collection.

I spent about an hour to begin with today, moving, sorting and putting supplies away. I have a great start to fantastic organization, but somehow I just don’t keep up with it by putting everything away between projects. Not cool.

Afterward, I got the urge to complete the seashell evening bag I started yesterday. I had glued the side gussets to the book cover, and needed to figure out what I was going to do about the handles. I finally came up with three holes in the book cover. I threaded gold-covered thread through the hole twice, and dangled a gold-tone teardrop bead at each site. The thread then looped over the wooden handle and tied near the hole in the back, to be covered by the final fabric part of the purse. With all the wet glue that needs to set, I found an appropriate sized book to insert in the purse, closed the cover, and laid heavy books on top. Now set, here is how it looks, for sale in my Etsy store.

Seaside Date Evening Bag

I wanted to start another book purse, and got this lovely specimen out.

I adore the patterns and colors on the cover. I started cutting away the pages and I lost all interest in continuing. I will, another day, but today I was already done for.

I have an appointment with a boutique owner in a little over a week, and I hope to have plenty of lovely book purses for her to stock her shelves with. Can you imagine coming across the collection in a retail center? I have about 12 purses at this time, and hope to have at least 4 more by then.

DAY 20 OF MY 50-DAY CHALLENGE