Package!

I've been waiting patiently for several weeks to receive juicy fabric from Japan. One yard of the cutest linen robot fabric every made (and I've spent some time comparing linen robot fabric) and a half yard of green lion fabric (because R's favorite animal is the lion and his favorite color is green) arrived today. How marvelous to have the technology in my own house to prowl the planet for perfect craft supplies. But even after emails around the world and money exchanged through secure second parties, I still wait to hear the distinctive rumble of my mail carrier's car coming around the bend with my well-traveled parcel.

Pro-type

I'm playing with the design of a zippered pouch that is more wallet in nature. Somewhat larger than the smaller of the two pouches I currently make by the dozen, this pouch sports an outside pocket for storing important scraps of paper and a d-ring for attaching keys or clipping the whole wallet securely in a larger purse or bag. Accent binding on the pocket and along the pouch edge pumps up the main fabric.

Now I debate: should I use a wallet for awhile and see how I like it day-to-day, or just set to work making a bunch of them for a future farmers' market?

Scooter Purse

I have completed a commission of a scooter clutch purse, made with delicious Japanese cotton-linen fabric. Lined in linen, the purse sports a fabric-covered button. The back of the purse is more of the pink and green scooter linen. K wandered into my sewing room while I was finishing up the purse and observed that if I wasn't going to make her a dress out of the scooter fabric (and I'm not), maybe I could sew a small square of it onto something as a pocket. For 3-and-a-half, she has an eye for cute design. Watch for her this fall in Target jeans embellished with a pink scooter pocket.

Kindle Pouch

While I don't own a Kindle, the people I know who have one are enjoying the technology of having oodles of books at their fingertips. My friend C saw my zippered pouches at the farmers' market and wondered whether I could make a fabric carrier for her Kindle. Here is the result. It is padded on the inside with quilted fabric, and the outer fabric is also bonded with fleece. A swivel hook on the end of a short strap allows you to tote the pouch as a sort of purse or hook it through the handles of a bike or larger bag for carrying around. A sport zipper gives a sturdy finish to the pouch. Thanks to M for making a life-sized Kindle blank with scrap wood in the garage so I could be assured that a real Kindle would fit in this pouch. C has assured me she will field test the design and let me know what to change for next time.

Raw Materials

Emboldened to try a craft booth again, I am collecting fabric, beads and zippers that I think would make cute zippered pouches. I am enjoying the process of collecting, buying and matching materials. It's a summer for sewing.

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.

To Market, To Market

I've been gearing up to explore whether I'd enjoy selling my crafts from time to time. I have reserved a booth space at the Urbana Market at the Square for this Saturday. I figured a display easel of some sort would lift my rather small pouches and purses up enough to catch the eye. M got to work putting together such a display rack, largely using items laying around our garage. I guess in an unintended way, we've shown we really do need all the random pvc pipe, scraps of wood and whatnot that has collected in our house. At the moment my youngest assistant is enjoying reorganizing items on the shelves. She is a very thorough field-tester.

Oxidized Earrings

Branching out, I acquired oxidized copper earwires and headpins to make more vintage-looking earrings. The first pair is finished with vintage white bicone beads. I think they turned out well and will be wearable more often than something brighter or larger.

It's Like I'm 2 Years Old

These hollow glass striped beads are so yummy looking, I'm tempted to pop one in my mouth. I know I shouldn't. I should instead stick to my original plan for them--to make them into periodic links in an over-sized silver chain necklace. The overall impression I'd like to achieve is something wispy, vaguely reminiscent of a necklace I couldn't have made myself (2 years old, or not).

Signed Up

I have completed an application for a booth at the local farmer's market. Clearly, I make more things than I have use for by myself or could reasonably give as gifts. Maybe, I think to myself, I could try selling something that I enjoy making anyway.

I requested a space at the market on a Saturday morning at the end of July. If it goes well, I have recouped my materials expense and dispersed small projects over my town. If it goes poorly, I have at least been entertained by the exercise of accumulating stock, devising a display and obtaining a tax i.d. number.

I'm selling zippered pouches, fabric box wallets and clutch purses. Interested?

So I Made a Bunch

I've been playing around making smaller purses and pouches of late. My sister suggested lengthening a pattern for a mini-clutch project so the purse would be large enough to carry out to dinner or to a play or some other exotic evening. That led to experimenting to find the right combination of stabilizers so I could use cotton or drapery-weight fabrics for the outside of the purse. Then I wondered how long it would take to make if I cut and sewed as efficiently as possible. The result is a large number of purses.

Single Bead

I would like to learn how to wire-wrap beads so I can very securely link beads together on a necklace or bracelet. However, when I tried the technique for this project, it didn't work. I had to start again with a second green star bead. Thus, this necklace is not that strong. If it breaks, I'll only be out one bead.