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 Lickety-Split Birthday Presents

I had to wait until this past weekend was over to post these bags, because the were birthday presents! These are both made with Made by Rae's Lickety Split bag pattern. This first one was made for my friend Shannon. I was trying for a patch-work/hippie look with this bag. I used 8 fat quarters for this bag that I got from Wal-mart. I knew right away that I wanted to use the red batik material. I'm pleased with the result.

Here's a pic of the fabric laid out as I was trying to figure out which fabrics to pair up:

And here's the final bag, both views because it's reversible!:

Here's my final birthday bag for this month. This one was for my mom! After I made my first one I was showing it to my sister, she came over and started looking in to see how may pockets it had. She seemed to really like it. I knew that I had to make her one. I found the fabric at Jo-Ann's.

Here's both views of the bag:

Here's a close up of the pockets and the buttons I found in my Grandma's collection of buttons:

I have another project to post soon. Maybe tonight if my internet doesn't hate me. :-) Thanks for looking!!

Some Fancy Finished Bags

It's been snowing like crazy here. The third snow storm of February hit today. I finished up two projects in the past few days. The first bag is another Lickety Split bag (again pattern created by Made by Rae). The flap and buttons are not part of the original pattern. This is one is made from the pretty fabric I bought last week at Joann's when I was finally able to get out after the second snow storm. I really love this fabric! I gave this one to my sister-in-law Katie for her birthday. I was tempted to keep it for myself! Did I mention I really love this fabric?

Here's one side:

and here is the reverse:

In the last post I posted some progress show of the Everything Tote I was working on. I finished it this evening. I love it! It's so big and roomy! The pattern comes from Weekend Sewing: More Than 40 Projects and Ideas for Inspired Stitching by Heather Ross.

 

The pattern suggested that canvas or denim be used for the outer fabric. I used corderoy because I had some. I had to modify the pattern a bit because of the added bulk. The "bias tape" style binding/straps are supposed 4 layers thick like regular bias tape, but mine ended up being 3 layers thick. It's double in the front, like bias tape, but when I folded it over the top of the bag, I left the strip flat against the lined, and not folded up. I hope makes sense. I should have taken pictures of this process. Maybe next time. Anyways, since I did it this way, I only broke one needle. Yay! Oh, I also stitched the front and back straps together before attaching them to the bag so I wouldn't have to do any hand stitching.

I also did some applique on the front of the bag. It's a pretty, hippy flower. I was going to hand stitch it, but I ended up using a small zig-zag stitch. I'm happy with the results.

Here's my new Everything Tote:

Here's the nice roomy inside:Here's a close-up of the pocket. I used a fancy decorative stitch on my machine:

Here's a picture of me holding it like in the book:

Fancy Works in Progress

It's been snowing like crazy here. Yesterday was the first time we were able to get out of the house. Rick took me to Joann's so I could get some pretty fabric that is on sale. I think I want to go back and get more of the top one. I think It would make a fun sun dress (I know, I was just talking about snow, but I can dream about nice weather, right?)

Here's what I got:

Here's one of my current works in progress. It's called the Everything Tote. The pattern comes from the book Weekend Sewing: More Than 40 Projects and Ideas for Inspired Stitching by Heather Ross. I'm seeing how corduroy works with this pattern as I already had some. It's going to be a very girly looking bag. I'm trying out applique on this project. This bag is going to be a nice big one, probably big enough to hold my sewing machine!

Here's all the pieces waiting to be put together and the applique pieces waiting to be attached:

Here's a picture of it in the book:

One last picture for this post. I cleaned out the under part of my sewing table so I can open it up and sit a bit more comfortably. I'm posting this for you, Alexis, since you were worried about my comfort. Yay!

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 Bible Box!

That's right, the post is titled Fancy Bible Box! I got the box at work, it had a bargain bible in it. I knew that it would be useful for me, but I needed to fancy it up a bit. I promise that this is sewing related.

Here's the Bible Box:

First things first, I filled in the engraving with some stuff called "sculpt or coat" I got at as a sample at USITT (a tech theatre expo thingy for the non-theatre type people). I was glad to see that it was still good, and not all dried up. I thought it would be fun if the box had some texture. Well, after all the coats of paint I put on it, there wasn't much texture left, but that's OK. next I painted the box bright pink and then I painted stripes on it using masking tape to guide me.

This what the box looked like at that point:

Then I put strips of masking tape going in the other direction:

I painted more pretty colors. I wonder how it's going to turn out??

Pretty!! I finished with some varnish. What will I use this pretty box for??It's a thread box!! See, this was a sewing project!