Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to all the boys and ghouls. Enjoy your day and tricks or treats. I'll see you later this week. Fionna and I have some houses to visit and some candy to bring home.

Fiona - Part 3 - The Backpack

Now we are on to our third and final installment of the Fionna costume. If you missed the previous posts, you can see the skirt tutorial (Part 1) and hat tutorial (Part 2). With 2 of the 3 major parts of the costume complete, I set off to make the Backpack. Having learned something from making the hat, I looked on line for a tutorial first. I saw several, but none that I liked. So, I decided to make the pattern from scratch.

Materials:

dark green felt

light green felt

*I bought a yard of each but had WAY too much left over. A half a yard would probably be enough

Foam coated floral wire

thread in coordinating color

sewing machine

lots of pins

pattern paper (I used some construction paper I had on hand)

I used a large bowl (but not the largest one I had) to make the pattern. I cut the approriate pieces from the light green and dark green felt.

Here you can see what I cut out:

2 halves of a circle in dark green (bottom of bag)

2 halves of a circle in light green (top of bag)

4 narrow rectangles for the bag's straps in dark green

4 narrow rectangles for the bag's straps in light green

1 wide rectangle for the bag's mid section in dark green

1 wide rectangle for the bag's mid section in light green

I ended up modifiying one half light green circle because I decided to make a flap. So I cut an extra light green half circle for the flap.

After I cut these pieces, I pinned them together. I pinned one light green and 1 dark green half circle together along the center (to make back of the bag). I pinned the rectangles for the straps together at the center too (1 dark green to 1 light green, 2 times). The other dark green half circle to the 1/4 light green circle along the center to form the front of the bag (minus the flap). I also pinned the two large rectangles together along the short end (center of bag).

Next I sewed these in place. After stitching the short edge of the straps together (only 1 short edge, the other should remain unsewn), with wrong sides facing out, I pinned two sets of each strap to one another (made 2 sets) making sure to line the greens up. Then I stitched both long ends together for each set.
 

Long edge of bag straps being stitched together



Long edge of straps being stitched together



Straps all sewn together turned with right sides out.

Turn straps right side out once long edges are sewn. The ends on both side should be open. These will be tucked into your bag.


Next I stitched both short edges of the larger rectangles (bag center together). Be sure that both sides of the rectangle are sewn closed. You will end up with a big circle once complete.


Next sew the long edge of the light and dark green half circles together. For the other half circle of dark green and quarter circle, I stitched their long edges together (not sure why I didn't photo that step).

Next was the hard part. I had to pin all of the pieces together. I started with the back and the middle pieces. About 3/4 of the way around that circle I began to wonder if I had cut the middle rectangles long enough or if I had cut them too long. Fortunatley they were the right length. But I did manage to pin the pieces together wrong (one was right side out and one was right side in - ugh). It took me 3 attemps and a good night's rest to finally get the back and middle pinned together. Next I pinned the front to it (making sure it was right side in). And then I pinned the flap in place (after pinning I realized I didn't like the way it looked so I shaped it up some). I tried to find a good spot to put the straps, removed a few pins, inserted the strap and pinned them in place too.



Rear of bag with straps pinned in place.

 Once you pin the straps, the straps will be right side out and they will be inside the bag. The raw edges will extrude through the pinned sides of the bag.



Side of the bag with everything pinned in place.



Close up of the straps pinned in place

After I pinned it all together, I turned the bag (CAREFULLY) inside out to see if it looked like I wanted it too or not.

I also made my daughter try it on to make sure the straps were in the right spot and not too long. Once I was sure everything was where I wanted it to be, I carefully turned it with the right side in. Then I sewed it together starting with the back to the middle (this secured both straps too which I stitched over a few times to make sure they were securely held in place. Then I stitched the bottom of the front to the middle. Last I stitched the flap in place leaving just the very ends free.

When I turned it right side out, I noticed it flopped a bit. So I decided to add some support using the floral wiring I used on the ears. I added a piece along the opening (not on the flap). This added much needed support. And Viola! One Fionna bag.








WARNING!

The Sewing Ninja is temporarily on hiatist as we relocate to a new location. I will be back very soon with more posts.

Fiona - part 2A - The Hat revisited

As you may recall, I posted my hat Fiona hat tutorial the other week (see post here). As part of my initial run on the hat, the ears decided to be rebellious and not stand up. I couldn't leave the hat with the ears not standing. When I looked at the hat it was almost like the ears were mocking me. So, I ripped the stitch that I had hand stitched shut on the bottom edge of the hat (one I used to turn the entire hat right side out). I turned the hat inside out again. I ripped the stitches holding the ears in place. This time inside of stitching the ears closed, I stitched around the edge of them to the edge of the opening, thus leaving the bottom of the ears open.

Next I took some of the foam floral wire I had (man there sure is a lot on a roll) and created larger shaping for the ears. Large enough that the wire stuck out through the bottom of the ears. I bend the ends up. and hand stitched these in place.

Viola! The ears finally stood. I ran the wire down the sides of the ears along the ear seams. Looking back on it, it would probably be better to run the wire in the front and back (not on the seams). But oh well, they stand up now. :)

What I made with 2 fat quarters of material

With material not being so cheap (at least if you are furiously sewing away), I thought I'd show you all what I made out of 2 fat quarters (18" x 21") of material plus a few zippers and some craft fuse.  First up, I made a utility apron.

I had enough material that I lined the pocket. The material you see on the inside of the pocket is also the same material I used for the straps. I have a tutorial I'll post later on so you can make your own apron out of 1 fat quarter.

Next I made myself a boxed cosmetic bag from the same materials and a 9" zipper. I added craft fuse to both layers to make the bag sturdier.

It is lined with the same material as the inside of the apron pocket.
The last think I made was a small zippered bag. I used the left overs from both materials to make it along with a black zipper. I lined both materials with craft fuse (Pellon 808). I should have used a lighter interface for the pocket as two layers of material + craft fuse through a small opening = grrrrr....Fortunately the bag turned out cute though.

Sewing Basics - Wovens versus Knits

Fabrics are a bit of a mystery to me. Which is rather funny since the job I work in is highly related to textiles and many of the individuals in my group have a textile degree of some sort.  But I am guessing that aside from this group of persons I work with, many others out there are trying to learn the basics about fabrics that they use in their own sewing projects (or maybe I'm the only nerd out here).

Most of the fabrics I've encountered are either woven or knit (as opposed to crocheted or spread, etc).  Woven materials are woven on a loom. They have threads that run the entire length of the material roll (this is the warp) and then there are other threads that are woven through/across the warp threads (weft).  Generally these materials will have an edging down the two of the sides. This is called selvage and it runs in the direction of the warp (thank you work friends for teaching me these items). Wovens are generally not stretchy and wrinkle like crazy (this is why I have to iron so many fabrics for my projects)!!. And the unsewn edges seem to fray terribly unless measures are taken to prevent fraying (eg. cutting with pinking shears).

Wovens include material like:  Silk, Satin, Canvas, Corduroy, Linen, Muslin, Cashmere

Knit materials are a bit different though. Instead of being woven on a loom, they are knitted on a machine just like one would knit by hand. Knit materials are generally stretchy unlike woven materials. These materials are also wrinkle resistant. These materials are broken into two types of knits: warp-knitted and weft knitted . 

Weft knitted fabrics will run (or can run) when they are cut. These type of materials are used in things like lingerie. A hand knitted sweater would also be considered weft knitted. Warp knitted fabrics typically don't run. Warp knitting is not done by machine only.

Knits include: jersey, felt, mesh

There is a great article at Threads Magazine that tells you how to determine if a material woven or knit when you are in the store. See that article here.

In the article they tell you to (1) look for the grain, (2) stretch the material, (3) test for wrinkles and (4) look at the edge of the material.

 So good luck on your next trip and I hope you now know a little more than you did 5 minutes ago. ;)

Small Bag with Velcro closure

So I have this bag that came with a tote I bought several years ago. I use it to carry around my flash drive as I needed some place to carry it. The other day I was studying it and realized how simple it was to make. I mean why I hadn't I thought to make one of these before. So I set off to make a similar bag. Of course, the day I did, I had no zippers. So I decided to make it with a Velcro closure.  

This all seemed simple enough. Press the fusible interfacing to my material, fold up the edges for the seam allowances, press and sew. WRONG! I sewed down the top and bottom edges with a nice zig-zag, no problem. Then I turned the fabric with the wrong sides facing out and folded it up just like I envisioned in my mind. After an hour of fighting with my machine (it kept jamming...) I finally had all the edges sewn. I turned it with the right sides out and doh. I had sewed it not so that the top would be a flap closed by velcro but as a bag I'd have to try and cram my fat hand into. ARGH!!! So, I ripped the sides stitches and folded the top to the other side. Of course that gave me the same problem but with the top on the outside instead of the inside. Another ripped seam or two and I finally figured it out. I hand stitched the velcro to the bag.  And below is what I ended up with.

Next go around I'm adding a liner and not restitching 100 times. On a positive note, I did find a very useful site for caring for my machine and how to prevent jams.