Fabulous Free Pattern Friday

We're going in circles today.

We're making a clutch bag from a placemat!

Now this is not your everyday placemat, by no means, but it is a placemat nonetheless. I found it in a specialty shop, not as expensive as you might think. I believe it was around $12.00. You can make this bag out of any placemat though. 

The backing is felt, so it gives me a nice foundation to attach my interior bag.

For the interior bag, you will need a fabric that has some body or you will need to interface the fabric. I used a fairly weighty jacquard.

To begin, measure across your placemat. Let's say your placemat measures 15" across. Cut a circle from your fabric that is exactly the same size as your placemat. When you sew the interior bag together, use 1/2" seam allowances. This will make the interior bag 1/2" smaller on either side than your placemat. This is important because you need some room to sew the bag to the placemat.

Now we need to determine the width and length of the strips that the zipper is sewn to. (By the way, Margy from www.fool4fabric.blogspot.com posted a great link for zippers. You can find it here. Studio Kat has two-way separator purse zippers. The price isn't bad, $5.00 for an 18" zipper). The width of our center strip, 2" seems to be a good width. It gives enough room for all the things we like to put in our bag and keeps the bag nice and straight on the sides once it is zipped up. To determine the length of your strips, fold your circle in half and measure from one side to the other as I have in the picture below.

 When the placemat is folded, it automatically will have a curve in the bottom.

I wanted my bag to be squared at the bottom and it is as you see below.

As you see in the picture above, the zipper stops at a certain point. There is a small strip on either end that measures approximately 6" high by 3" wide. Both of these measurements include seam allowance. The finished measurements would be 5" by 2". If your folded bag measures 25" from one side to the other, then you will subtract 10" from the 25 which will leave 15". Remember, you will want the small strips on both sides of the bag. For the zipper pieces, you will need 2 strips that are 16" long by 2" wide. The 2" will give you a 1/2" seam allowance to sew the strip to your zipper and a 1/2" seam allowance to sew the strip to the bag. Remember to cut a second set of pieces for your lining.
Once all of your pieces are cut, assemble the bag.

To sew the interior bag to the placemat, find the center of the placemat and center your bag over this point. Put in a few pins to hold the interior bag in place for hand sewing.

Hand sew all the way around.

 A side view of the finished bag.

The piece that is on the front of the bag is a pin.

It's made from felt and has a beaded center with feathers all around. The pin is sewn to the back.

As you can see, really simple, but it gives the bag a little added flair.

The bag is nice with out the pin,

but a little more spectacular with it.
As I said, you can make a bag from just about any placemat.

This bag was made from a placemat I found at Target. No one believes me when I tell them that it is a placemat. 

 The interior bag is made from the napkins that were sold to go with the placemat.

So I hope I have opened a whole new world of possibilities. May you never look at a placemat the same way ever again!!
Happy Friday Everyone!

What Have I Been Doing?

Last week there was no Fabulous Free Pattern Friday post and the Sleeves On Saturday post was missing as well. Shame on me!! So what was I doing? I was making a dress. I attended a very special party on Saturday night and I wanted a new dress to wear. Of course I did not need a new dress, but I wanted a new dress.
Back in January I was in Denver and of course I had to visit Denver Fabrics. While I was there I found this wonderful piece of fabric.

The picture really doesn't do it justice. It's a grey metallic and the roses are a mohair wool.
While I was there I also found this piece of embroidered net. Both pieces were in the remnant bin!!! Score!

If you look closely, you can see that there are small black sequins.

Both fabrics are lovely on their own, but when the net was placed on top of the metallic, wow!

I didn't have a lot of time to get the dress finished, so I decided to use a pattern that I've used before, an old Anne Klein pattern.

I thought that the dress on the far right would work best since I did not want too many seams.

I underlined the dress with a china silk. Worked beautifully.

Everything was pinned and then basted together.

I wanted as few seams in the net as possible. In order to not cut into the embroidery, I sewed the side seams up as far as I could before I would need to incorporate the netting and I hemmed the dress

Lots of hand stitching later,

I had a finished dress.

 Here's a little better picture of the embroidery overlay.

I was determined to use what I had on hand, but I really wanted a silk charmeuse lining. The fabric gods were on my side. Buried on the bottom of my lining box was a lovely piece of grey silk charmeuse. Perfect!

The sleeves and the neckline were piped in black velvet.

The dress has already been worn twice, the party on Saturday night and then to the opera on Monday night. It's the perfect little dress to slip on whenever I want something a little special but still a little understated.
Just to let you know, I will be here tomorrow for Fabulous Free Pattern Friday. I have a fun little item to share with you.

Monday Morning Inspiration

Get Your Motors Running

Prada has done an excellent job at branding their line this season.

 All one has to see is the hint of a flame,

 or a roadster emblazoned on a garment,

 and you immediately know....

 it's Prada.

 No label is needed,

 sometimes it's a demure print,

 and other times it's the unmistakable tail lights

firing back at the person who walks behind,

 or the flames that lap back ,

and you immediately know, it's Prada. Highly collectible now, this line is destined to become a museum exhibition.

No flames on the hoods, but a great vintage piece of fabric I've had for quite some time. Perfect, perfect, perfect for this spring season!! Can't wait to make it up.
Wishing you all a wonderful week!

Sunday Night Reflections

The Artist's Way
Week 8
Each week as I've come to the weekly check in, I've been aware that there are those who read, but I wondered if anyone was actually following along. Last Sunday night, I came home from mass with an incredible headache and decided that my rest was more important, besides, would anyone really miss my not checking in? As it turns out, yes. Thank you.
I had thought that I would combine two weeks, but as the days went by, I felt that I needed to pause and spend a bit more time on this chapter. So often we rush so quickly through every bit of our life that we miss the small cues that are there, trying to encourage us to go a little more slowly. So that is what I have done, I've lingered a little while longer on a chapter that ironically talks about recovering strength.
The first week, my husband was away on a ski trip. It really couldn't have come at a better time. It gave him a chance to meet with friends and focus on fellowship and fun rather than the stitches that were all over the top of his head. We have been separated many times in the past when he or I would need to be away, but for some reason, this time was very different for me. Yes, I missed him terribly as I always do, but I saw something so much more. There is a scripture that says, "the two shall become one." It says, shall become, meaning, it's a process, not something that happens automatically. Without him here, I realized that so much of what I do relies on the help that he gives me. As we move through our day, he picks up the loose ends and together we make it all work. We are truly becoming one, where one lacks, the other is there to pull it all together.
This has been a very different week. A friend was here visiting for a few days. During one of our conversations she asked me if I liked one group that I am involved with over another. My response with fast and very much to the point. Why, I don't know, but I find that within the one group there is a need to protect the small world that they have built for themselves, to the point of being vicious at times . I explained that what I don't understand is that they don't seem to realize that there is room for all, we all have our unique gifts and the ability to raise each other up and in turn make more opportunities available for everyone. On the other hand, the other group seems to understand the premise of being a part of something so much larger than what one can do on their own. By combining out efforts, we all have a stake in the future of so many. As it turns out, my two weeks both brought about the same message, we need each other, be it a spouse, a close friend or like minded people who work together to build something that is greater than one can do on their own.
If you are following along with me and have already moved on to week 9, very good. Maybe this can be your week to pause, linger a bit before you move on to week 10. I encourage you to re-read the Creative U-Turn section. It talks about how we actually sabotage ourselves. What excuses do we make when opportunity is standing at our door? There is a wonderful quote in the margin, "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." What opportunities have we missed out on because we were too afraid that we would fail? Life is all about attitude and timing.
Have a wonderful week. Take a chance this week and do something that seems a little crazy. Maybe buy a package of crayolas or a set of brightly colored magic markers(I love the name, magic markers. It's all in the name, you pick one up and magic happens!) or a package of  crazy stickers and use them to decorate your morning pages notebook. You know what will feel right for you. Really allow yourself the room to do some playing. Remember, when we play, it's all about fun, not about winning, losing, success or failure.     

Fabulous Free Pattern Friday

This week has been just a bit too busy. I had promised to do a Fabulous Free Pattern Friday post yesterday, but the day got away from me and before I knew it, I was exhausted and fell into bed. I will do the Wednesday Showcase later this afternoon. Two fantastic ladies are coming up that I'm sure you will enjoy getting to know!

You probably remember the dressing gown I shared with you a few weeks ago,

this is the negligee that goes underneath.

I am so happy with how it turned out. So easy to do, just 3 rectangles. Just a little side note. A friend brought a piece to show me last weekend and she said, "it's just rectangles!" I love it. Hopefully we are all beginning to look at garments with a little different eye and see their simplicity.

A side view.

The back view.

A close up of the back. I decided to add the little bows as a nice little added touch. They are just tacked on.

The negligee and dressing gown together.
Okay, so how did I do it?
After I cut the dressing gown, I realized that I had just enough of the fabric left to do the negligee, and it's always a treat when I can use all of my fabric!

You will need your hip measurement, plus ease. Remember that you will be sleeping in this garment and there is nothing worse than trying to sleep in something that is tight. I also made mine quite long, so keep this in mind when you add your ease. You will also want to be able to walk in the garment. 10" of ease will allow you the ability to walk, but add more if you feel that more is better for you. So cut a rectangle the desired length by your desired width. The length is measured from just under the bust to whatever length you choose. I only have a center back seam in mine.   

The 2 rectangles that go over the bust are determined by measuring across your bust. You will want the rectangle to be wide enough to comfortably fit over your entire breast, plus a little ease, at least 2". The length is from under your breast to however high you would like the piece to be. I added an 1 1/2" for my casing. The casing is what holds the straps that go over the shoulder.

The rectangle pieces that go over the bust were sewn on with the seams facing out. Once they were sewn on, I attached a contrasting bias tape that is sewn to the outside of the garment. You will thread your elastic through the bias casing. As for the straps, I folded my bias tape in half and sewed it together. I then threaded it through the casing I made for the front rectangles. You may need some help to determine the back length of you shoulder straps. Once you have determined the length of your straps, sew them to your casing in the back. If you like, tie little bows and tack them to the casing over the straps. And that's it, a negligee that even Natori would be proud of!  

As always, if you have any questions, please email me, sewbussted@yahoo.com and I will do my best to help.
Have a wonderful day!