Simple Device Sleeve

My daughter is 9. She knows what she likes, and she knows what she wants. She frequently buzzes through my sewing room, spies a new fabric, and asks me to make her something. From time-to-time I judge her enthusiasm to be more than fleeting, and so I follow through on her request and sew a custom something for her. Yesterday a fresh piece of fabric from Marimekko arrived. My daughter saw it and asked me to make a cover for her mini i-Pad. The project is simple and satisfying. Here are the steps:

Choose fabrics for the outside and lining of the pouch. Track down a little piece of elastic that will fold over the corner of the pouch and keep what's inside from slipping out if you pick up the pouch upside down. I use Pellon 987F fusible fleece as a layer of padding; sometimes I also interface the outer fabric with Pellon shape-flex 101 if the outer fabric is a little thin and needs beefing up. For my daughter, I omitted the interfacing. Cut two pieces of outer fabric and two for the lining. I generally look up online the dimensions of whatever electronic device needs a pouch. I cut pieces that are: width of device + depth of device + 1/2 inch (quarter inch seam allowance times 2) + 1/2 inch wiggle (could go more snug with 3/8 inch) = width of fabric. Length of device + depth of device + 1/2 inch seam allowance + 1/4 inch wiggle = height of fabric Cut the fusible fleece smaller on all sides so that the fleece will mostly catch in the seams, but not add bulk. Fuse the fleece to the back of each outer fabric piece.

Sew the elastic across the upper right corner of what will be the back of your pouch. Leave a little play in the elastic so when it wraps around to the front of the pouch everything will stay smooth.

With right sides together, sew the top of each outer piece to the top of each lining piece. Press the seams toward the outer piece, taking care not to melt the elastic with a hot iron. You will catch some of the fleece in the seam. Pin the two long rectangles right sides together. Match the seams where the outer fabric meets the lining fabric carefully. Sew around the rectangle, leaving an opening for turning in the bottom short end of the lining rectangles.

Trim the four corners and turn the pouch right-side-out through the opening left in the lining.

Iron the entire piece, including the open seam to prepare to top stitch the opening close to the edge. Push the lining inside the pouch for a final pressing. Insert your device. Done!

Market Time for Me

Though Urbana's Market at the Square has been running full-force since the first Saturday in May, I will have a booth for the first time this season this upcoming Saturday. It has been a long, cold winter. I entertained myself collecting new fabric and sewing new items. Please look for me when you're at the market June 21 or 28, July 5, August 9 or 23 and September 6.

Super Tote

I'm excited to play with a new purse pattern from Noodlehead called the Super Tote. This large, zippered-top, purse/tote bag features an outside pocket, inside pockets I made to my own specifications and a pretty pleat on the sides. I trolled the Flickr photo group for Noodlehead patterns to see what other sewers had done with the project, and so leap-frogged over more basic choices I might have made on my own when first trying a pattern. Instead of heavy weight stabilizer, I used canvas to make the bag more hefty. I noted several people used Essex linen for the neutral sides and handles, and one lady quilted her linen to the canvas layer to create a look of textured sturdiness. I love this idea, and will definitely use it again; imagine a colored thread line quilted over yarn-dyed linen next to some pretty print fabric.

For my own Super Tote, I went with Marimekko on the outside and an IKEA canvas stripe inside the bag and behind the various pockets. A sport zipper highlighted with an extra strip of orange can either seal the whole bag up or fold into the open tote. The pattern is certainly not quick to assemble and the bag uses lots and lots of fabric, but I'm still hoping to make 4 or 5 this year for the fun of exploring color and feature options.

This Is My Point

I pledged at the beginning of 2014 to emphasize quality of materials over volume and expense. This is not to say I plan to spend more money on supplies than I can recoup in a finished item, but sometimes the narrow margin is worth it. Marimekko fabric is one example. This Marimekko laminate print is easily-recognizable to many people. It's priced accordingly. And yet, the soft and luxe feel of the fabric is worth it. Though the Marimekko cotton prints can feel a little coarse, the laminates from the company are a stem-to-stern pleasure to work with. Items made from the laminate usually sell early, so the fabric must be "worth it".

Holiday Market 2013

The Lincoln Square Holiday Market opens this Saturday (8am-1pm) and runs for 7 weeks. Vendors of all types will sell gifts, food and plants. I will have these folded fabric ornaments along with pouches, baskets and do-dads for organizing, gift-giving and display. Come visit!

Pieced Playing

I have spent time recently revisiting my construction methods for various items I've sold before at the Market at the Square and elsewhere. As an example, I am now stabilizing the larger fabric baskets good for stashing toys or mittens or dog leashes or whatnot with two layers of craft fuse instead of one. This way the baskets stand stiffer, but the top can still be folded down for a cuffed look. Piecing a strip of patterned fabric into a longer length of canvas on the outside of a basket still looks patterned, but requires less focus fabric and helps a basket blend in to a room filled with other colors and patterns. Then again, a pieced-in panel could be pieced itself. These baskets showcase coordinating fabrics in a quilt-block style. I like the results and will think about what other pieced inserts could complement existing products.

But Wait, There's More

I just couldn't resist. The Urbana Market at the Square runs into November each year. Typically, I commit to the summer Saturdays I will have a booth there during the winter. This year, I'm ready for a little more. I have registered for another Saturday market, this coming Saturday. Expect to see some of my new fabric made into new baskets, pouches, purses and key fobs. I will also have small Halloween-themed baskets for holding the prime candy of the upcoming season.

Sewing and Minecraft

Over the long, very hot summer, the go-to activity at my house has been playing Minecraft. All my kids (and my husband, too) have created elaborate worlds, filled with houses, railroads to nowhere, bottomless swimming pools with diving boards and vast farms of wheat, red and yellow flowers and sheep. They have learned that if you put two adult sheep together you will get a lamb. The baby will be the color of one of the parents. My son performed a vast, virtual Mendelssohn pea experiment with Minecraft sheep, all housed in separate pens and sorted by color to prove that traits are passed down through the generations. Lately, my sewing has been working the same way. My so-called large essentials bag is designed to look big enough to be a gift. It can contain bathroom supplies, home office bric-a-brac, or cords and chargers for travel. My sister gives large essential bags filled with baby items as shower gifts.

One of my customers, W, asked for a slightly taller and deeper bag to be made out of oil cloth and laminated cotton to serve as a toiletries bag. (in back of photo) At a recent farmers' market, A asked me to put a handle on a large essentials bag. She saw the shape and size as purse.

Tweaking my standard pattern, these projects push me to move to a new generation of sewing items.

Moms Day Craft Fair

Meet me this Saturday at the U of I's Moms Day Craft Fair. From 10am to 5pm, over one hundred vendors will display their wares in the ballrooms of the Illini Union. Since it has been awhile since I had a booth at a craft fair or farmers' market, I stuck tape to the floor of my house in the appropriate dimensions and installed a mock booth. I still have a few tweaks to make to the booth, including new matching tablecloths, and then I can load up. I plan to have a good time Saturday.

Pot Basket

I have taken the first fabric pot baskets down to the Shared Space Coop on Main Street in Urbana. In one of the upstairs galleries, I have several shelves of pouches and purses for sale. It's very motivating to have a place to stash projects as I finish them year-round, and not only sew to prepare for the fair-weather farmers' market. I am experimenting with more explicit labeling on my items. So, these baskets have tags detailing not only the price, but also thumbnail photos of potential uses for a basket with a pot inside it.

Got Around To It

I am one of the many spending just a little too much time every day surfing the lovely pictures of Pinterest.com. Here's a time I used the inspiration of someone else's cute idea and finished a project. After gathering used embroidery hoops in various sizes from the I.D.E.A. Store (a local "garage sale for crafters" venture which turns donations into extra money for the Champaign Schools Foundation), I have decorated a wall of my sewing room with snippets of some of my favorite fabrics. A bead of glue on the backside of the frame allows the fabric overage to lie flat. The project was super-easy, and I can see cute applications in the kitchen, a bathroom or a kid's bedroom. How many circular frames does one person need in a house? I'll let you know.

Marimekko baskets

I am wild for Marimekko fabrics. Usually, I am drawn to the reds, but the tone-on-tone combinations are also wonderful. This pattern in reds is great; I like it in greens; even the purple variety appeals.
If you are related to me, you likely got one of these baskets for Christmas. They are a good size for videos, books, stacks of Wii games and the like. I also bet this size would work to contain hats and gloves by the front door or dog leashes. I am mulling over making a smaller version of a fabric basket that could sit on a desk or dresser top.

Candy Cane Basket

Ebay is a fantastic source for special fabric; I have recently been treating myself to pieces of Marimekko fabric in shades of red, purple and green. I used a delightful pattern of red and green dot fabric to make holiday candy cane baskets. A little larger than a drinking glass, this basket would also work as a vase cover.
I sold a few of the baskets last week at the Lincoln Square Holiday Market, and I'll bring them again this Saturday to my booth next to the huge mall Christmas tree. Of course, any leftover baskets can be put to use on my own holiday table.

Lincoln Square Village Holiday Market

The boxes are out, and I'm dusting off the display tables in the garage to prepare for the opening weekend of the Lincoln Square Village Holiday Market in Urbana. It begins this Saturday and runs Saturdays from 8am to 1pm through December 17th. I will have a booth there all 6 dates this year. I'll have a few holiday-themed fabric baskets, clips, and gift card pouches added to the "all season" pouches and bags I make for the outdoor farmers' market. All are invited!

To Market Again

I'm booked for this Saturday's Lincoln Square Holiday Market. Bags and pouches are finished and arranged. Since this summer and the last market I attended I've:

-changed the clutch purse closure from a loop and button to a magnetic snap

-added zippered pouches with silk-screened words on them ("mad money", "gadgets", "misc.")

-devised a zippered pencil pouch

Otherwise, it's more of the same. I know my smaller pouches fit gift cards for holiday gift giving. I know, having been a teacher myself, that fabric pouches would make a welcome teacher gift. I've been to the Holiday Market to double-check that no one else is making small fabric items. I'm set. Maybe I'll see you there.

Saturday Sales

A breezy and delightfully cool morning brought out the shoppers at the weekly Market at the Square, site of my first attempt to sell zippered pouches and small purses. I manned my booth at the edge of the food and craft vendor rows facing the fire station all morning and learned two things: 1. Fire fighters will use the fire station pole to come down from upstairs even when there is no emergency, and 2. The manual dexterity of Saturday morning shoppers in Urbana is a-okay. People unzipped and zipped pouches, touched and squished pouches and bought them, too. Folks made suggestions for adding pockets, key fobs and fabric that had cherries on it. Shoppers pointed me to their favorite fabric and special bead shopping sites online.

Thanks to the friends and family who came by to see my personal lemonade stand. The photo features my mother-in-law making a purchase. She didn't even ask for a discount.

Purse Invention

My latest purse is my own design, an envelope-style shoulder bag with an adjustable short strap and a lined pleat on the front to show off a little color. Inside is a zippered pocket lined in black and white fabric. Next time I'll round off the corners more and make the top band taller. I think a little yellow or bright green fabric peeking out of a pleat on another remnant denim purse would be really cute.

Frame Purses

My prototype change purses are now complete. It turns out not to be at all difficult to draw a pattern to fit each frame. The difficult part is mating the fabric purse to the metal closure. Various Google hits advise working a toxic metal and fabric glue up into the groove of the frame and then wedging the fabric in. They all say to take care not to ooze. I figure if I'm fretting over proper ventilation, I won't have care left to keep glue off the fabric. Instead, I tried working the metal frame closed with pliers and a piece of scrap fabric to prevent scratching. So far one purse has stayed together, but the other has not. I am forced to try glue next time.

Padding the Blog

It's early to resort to this, but it's my blog, and if I want to share a collage of projects past, I will. Here are purses and bags from the last year or so. Each one has a gimmick. One is made from a placemat, one from remnant fabric, one folds to be a portable market bag. I would share that I have installed hooks in my closet to display purses that aren't currently in use, but that would be over the top.

Peek Pouch

I have a new hand-held email-checking gadget so I can see if anyone has written me and then respond from anywhere. Of course this necessitates making a pouch for it. Marimekko remnant fabric, a little velcro closure and a vintage stencil bird button combine to give my little Peek a comfortable home.