I have a long 'to do' list before I work on something for myself, but I am making progress! I am seeing my great nieces and nephew on Wednesday, and I don't get to see the girls very often as they live in Pittsburgh, so, of course, it was time to come up with something special. And, I couldn't have something for the girls without including Dan.
The bags are small wrist purses with pleated fronts and their initials on the bands (Molly and Hannah). The flowers are two yo-yo's sewn on top of each other and joined with a vintage black button. They're attached to pin backs so they can take them off the purse if they want.
I have a new favorite construction for zippers and lining. The zippers are done using a zipper 'sandwich' - lay the lining down right side up, place the zipper down next also right side up and place the outer fabric down last, wrong side up. Stitch. You then fold the lining down and you have a complete side. Most instructions will call for you to topstitch, but I am not always a fan of top stitching, especially on a dressier bag. So, in order to keep the fabric from catching in the zipper, I press well away from the zipper and I understitch the lining side only.
Do the same with the other side. Then open it all out and stitch the bag pieces together and the lining pieces together, leaving an opening in the lining to turn. (Make sure you open the zipper before you start stitching!)
Dan has a special pencil case (lining is plastic). The embroidery design is from Embroidery Library and I thought their digitizing was beautiful, right down to the faded paper look of the crayon wrappers.
I have about 4 more things to plow through and then I get to sew for me!
Slan
