Pink and Brown Buttercup Bag

Hi everyone!  Here's a Buttercup Bag that I made last month for my sister Rebecca's friend Rachel.  This was my 2nd custom order (my first being this bag Rebecca ordered for another friend's birthday). 

 

 Rachel like big purses, so this is the larger version plus 3 inches added to the length.  It makes for a very roomy purse! 

Rachel picked out the fabric.  I like pink and brown together.

Thanks for looking!

~Christina

1 Buttercup Bag + 2 Works in Progress (WIP) =Fancy!

Just to warn you, this is a picture heavy post!

Will you be upset with me if I don't use the word Fancy in every title post? I almost didn't but I caved. I have discovered that WIP stands for Work in Progress in the blogging world, and maybe in real world too! It took me a bit to figure that out. I updated my blog layout! It has a header now. I used a program that I wasn't that familiar with and I was having trouble moving the buttons, so I stopped. I'll probably change it when I have more patience to mess around with it. Rick is working on some logos for me. I would love to get some tags made up to put in my projects. I'm trying to decide if I should keep it as Thread Fancy of if I should use something else. Any suggestions?? I like Thread Fancy, as I am the original Fancy Girl, but I don't know. Okay, maybe I should move on to my WIPs...

I finished my cousin Carlie's Buttercup Bag last night. It's speckled and blue! The lining fabric was a little thinner than what I am used to, but I think it worked out, I just had to adjust the tension. I top-stitched twice on the top edge because for some reason the insides were being fussy and didn't want to do what I wanted them to do. I like the look of the double line, so it's all good! (yeah, I said it)

First here's the zipper with a fancy purple zipper pull and the interior:

And here's the bag (click for a larger image if you want to see the double top-stitching)!

I mentioned that I was working on a wrap around skirt in an earlier post. The pattern is called the Yard-Sale Skirt. It is in the book Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. I haven't done any more with it since I mentioned it. To fix the lack of an overlap in the back, I either need to add another panel or 2 OR make it shorter by removing the waistband, hacking off the top portion of floral material and reattaching the waistband. Here's some pictures to show the two options (oh, please note, I have not hemmed it yet, so the bottom edge is still rough)

Here it is as it is now. I took pictures with my shirt tucked in to show off the waist band and my shirt not tucked because I never tuck shirts in:

And here it is if I were to make it shorter (I rolled it up under my shirt). The second picture is me being sassy! Please ignore my white white legs!:

So what do you think? Long or short? I have time to decide as this is definitely a summer skirt!

I have another WIP. This one will probably take me forever to complete as I haven't decided on a definite pattern. What is it you ask? I am going to make another denim quilt! I made one back in high school, and it is falling apart (I should really fix it). I have been cutting out 3 inch strips out of old blue jeans when I feel like it. Some day I will make it into an awesome quilt.

Here's what I have so far:

If you are still reading, I got my 2 new sewing books in the mail a few days ago! And I bought some new fabric. I have some projects a churning in my head. I'm thinking Spring! Some picnic place mats out of some blue/green material I got out of the clearance bin and some spring tops of of floral material! I want to participate in Made by Rae's Spring Top Week this year. I'm excited. I'll put a button in my sidebar. Okay, I think that is enough for now. Here's one last picture before I sign off...

Twirling FUN! Weeeee!

That made me dizzy!! Thanks for looking!!!

Fancy Shining Star Purse!

I completed my first custom order! My sister had me make a Buttercup Bag for her friend's birthday. I think she is giving it to her today or tomorrow. It's the larger, longer version of the buttercup bag. She liked it so much that she wanted to keep it.

Here it is!!:

Here's a detail shot. Awesome button choice, Rebbie!:

The inside:

Another view of the bag (I'm really pleased with the top-stitching in the strap!):

I have another custom order in the works, my cousin Carlie picked out fabric for a bag. I hope to get started on it tonight. I ordered 2 sewing books from Amazon that I am really excited about. I have them checked out from the library, but I want to own them. I ordered Weekend Sewing: More Than 40 Projects and Ideas for Inspired Stitching by Heather Ross and One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Fabric Projects; Look How Much You Can Make with Just One Yard of Fabric!.

 
They should be here soon. Oh, yeah I made a wrap around skirt, but I think my seams were too big, so there isn't much wrap around. I will post it as soon as it is wearable. It's very summery, so I'm not feeling the fabric choice right now, maybe I will soon. OK, I'm rambling now. Thanks for looking. :-)

Fancy new Buttercup Bag for me!!

I have had a few projects going on here. I finished a bag for a friend that I will post later and a new Buttercup Bag for me. I wanted to try out a flap closure and a sturdier top and strap. I'm happy with the results. But before that, I have something exciting to share!! I can't believe I haven't posted this yet! Remember those PJ pants? Our entry is finally on the Janome website for the world to see!! I still need to enter in their first contest. I just need to write about how I learned to sew. Both contests end 3/31/10.

On to the project of the post. I finished up a new Buttercup Bag today. I made the larger version that is 129% of the original pattern from Made by Rae plus 2 inches added to the length. It's the same size as the one I made for my mom for Christmas. I thought I would include some pics of the process.

Here's the lining pieces and a pretty pretty zipper:

Here's all the pieces waiting to be assembled!:

Here it is right after I turned it right side out:

And here is the final bag:

This bag included a flap with a magnetic snap. Isn't it pretty??:

Here it is with the matching Lickety Split Bag(also from Made By Rae...did I mention I love her patterns??):
Thanks for looking!! :-)

Fancy Accessories!

Here's a few random small things I have made. These are in no particular order. Most of them live inside my purse.

First a shot of some ric-rac because it is awesome:

Somewhere between making the messenger bag and all of those Buttercup bags, I attempted make a wallet. it's is far from perfect, but it works for me. I hammered on the top snap piece before I was supposed to, but it turned out ok. I burnt it a little bit when I ironed it. Hey, it's a learning process. :-) You can tell it has been well used, it has started to take on the shape of the stuff it was holding. I do have to say pounding on the snap was quite fun!!

Here's some more recent things I made. A little zipper pouch and a Garmin cozy!!

Here they are open:

Look, the garmin cozy is reversible!!

And here's another Buttercup Bag. This is one I made for me from some fat quarters I got at Wal*mart for $1 each. In fact, all of these projects were made from fat quarters from Wal*mart.

I am almost caught up with posting everything I have made since I started this adventure a few months ago. Thanks for looking!!

Last of the Fancy Christmas/Birthday Presents

Okay, I'm trying to get all of these Buttercup Bags on here just so I can keep a record of things that I have made. I hope that my *millions* of readers aren't getting bored of them. I promise that I'll start posting different projects soon. I have one other Buttercup Bag to post, but I have to take a picture of it first. I also have a bag that I made for myself that has my first machine made buttonhole!! (hey, I was excited!)

The fist bag here is the one that I made for my sister-in-law Cherie for her birthday. The tote bags I made were for her kids. Oh, I feel I should mentions that Rick helped picked out the fabric for both bags in this post! I had wanted to make the top piece blue, but I learned that blues are hard to match... there are so many of them. I'm happy with how the brown turned out.

First, here's the pretty zipper, complete with a matching pull tab!

And here's the whole bag:I made one for my bro-in-law Mikey to take back to his wife Aya in Japan. I really liked how it turned out.

Here's the cute button I made for it:

Here's the inside:

And here's the whole bag!

Thanks for looking!!

Fancy Mom and Grandma Buttercup Bags

Here's the purses I made for my mom and Grandma. I had intended to design purses for everyone. I started with my mom, but the purse ended up too small and it took forever. I didn't like how stiff the iron on stabilizer was or how it kinda wrinkled the fabric. it was at this point I decided I was going to make Buttercup Bags for everyone. And they turned out great, if I do say so myself! I decided to make one for my mom too, even though I already made a purse for her. I decided to make hers 2 inches longer and experiment with an outer pocket with snaps. I like how it turned out.

Here's Mom's Buttercup Bag:

And here it is with the first purse. You can see the outer pocket on the Buttercup Bag:

Here's the purse I made for my grandma. I made hers 2 inches narrower. Here's the inside with pockets:

And here's the whole purse. She also got an outer pocket. I handmade the piping for both this purse and my mom's above.

Fancy matching Buttercup Bags

You guessed it, more buttercup bags!! First, I have a Mommy & Me set that I made for my sister-in-law Katie and her daughter/my cute sweet niece, Cecilia. Katie's purse has 2 straps and my first attempt at handmade piping. Cecilia's has store bought piping. They both feature fabric covered buttons. I love the large paisley one on the small on.

Here's one view:


Here's a second view of them:

Here's some close up shots of the Mommy & Me purses:

Next, here's the purses I made for my older sister Stephanie and my mother-in-law Joy. The brown and blue paisley worked for both of them, so I figured it would be okay if they matched. It's not likely that the purses will ever be seen together, except for here. :-)

Here's a detail shot of Joy's purse:

I made little birdies for Stephanie's. She love birds.
Here's a full shot of both of them: