Ballerina Bags

I've finally started sewing for Christmas!  My wonderful husband kept the kids busy all day Saturday so I could sew, sew, sew.  I had huge plans!  I was going to whip out 6 of these ballerina bags for all of the precious ballerinas in our lives and create a farm house doll for Madeline with a pattern to post.  Yea right!  I finished 3 of these bags.  I'm not sure why it took so long.  Maybe the lifetime television in the background or the distraction of peace and quiet!  The pattern is from California Seaming.  It's an easy to follow pattern.  I added a heavy interfacing to give the bags more stability.  I wanted to make sure they could hold those cute dance shoes. 

The fabric for most of these is Amy Butler.  I believe the lining is Heather Bailey.  I've had these fabrics forever so I'm not even sure anymore.  Now that I see them in the photos I wish I would have lined up the fabric a little better.

The seam ripper got a good workout on this one!  I made it for Madeline.   I thought this would make an adorable diaper bag for church!  I completely lost my mind during this one however.  I'm blaming hormones!  I forgot to add straps, sewed it inside out twice and forgot to add the bow.  I have 2 more of these bags to make but I think I will be taking a break first!

This is one of my favorite Amy Butler fabrics.  At least I think it's Amy Butler.  I bought it on Ebay for $5.00 a yard! 

Every time I look at this door I picture giggling girls dancing on their toes.  What a great mental image!  I'm going to miss these bags when they go.

 

Free Clutch!

I will have to do first come first serve will supplies last!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Ours was great!  Family, fellowship, and food.  It doesn't get better than that!  I was thinking a lot yesterday about all of the blessings in my life and how thankful I am for each of them.  I've had great joy and great loss in my life and yesterday I was thankful for all of it! It's a blessing to know how precious life is.   

That said;  I wanted to say thank you to my followers who took a chance on a new blogger!  I'm so thankful God gave me the desire to create and even more thankful that while I'm home ALL THE TIME with my precious ones, I can still feel connected to women all over the world.  You truly are a blessing and to say thank you I want to give each of you a FREE clutch.  The design you get will be a surprise.  All you have to do is leave me a comment on this post.  Anything you wish.  I will also honer this for any new comers who become followers before December 20th. 

Please e-mail me after you leave a comment if you have your e-mail blocked in your profile.  I can only contact you if your e-mail is open to the public.

Thanks again!  Here are a few new clutches.  You can also check out more here and here

I made this with some Joel Dewberry fabric that I had left over from another project.  It's actually really cute in person.  I wish the ruffle was a little higher however.

This is the back

This was made out of an Anthro placement.  I guess I'm in a ruffle mood.  I really want to keep this one!  It's so feminine and fun!

This is the back and it's lined in an off white linen.

This one is from the rest of the Anthro placement.  The bottom and back are a contrast fabric and it is also lined with an off white linen.

Here is the back.  Really funky!

This one you have seen before.  I just made a new one for a lovely lady who just had a baby.  This one makes a great bridal shower gift and is the clutch I will be sporting to 2 Christmas parties this year.  I love Christmas parties! 



Thank you for being you!

Blast off Rocket Ship Tutorial

Here is a toy for those precious boys in your life!  It is a stuffed rocket with fire that is tucked away until it's time for blast off!  So much fun! 

What you will need:

• 2 fat quarters
• Felt
• Nature-fil or other stuffing choice
• Hand sewing needle
• Pattern found here.

Step 1:  Cut out pattern pieces.  You will be cutting 3 rocket ship body panels, 6 fins, 1 bottom panel, and 3 fire pieces. 


Step 2:  Add any embellishing to fins and rocket body now.



Step 3:  Right sides together pin 2 fins and sew 1/4" seam from top of fin all the way around leaving the straight edge open.  Clip curves and turn right side out.





Clipped curves



right side out

Step 4:  Stuff fins.  Make sure you start with a very small piece of filling and push firmly into the curve of the fin.  You will want to firmly pack the fin so your rocket will stand up when finished.  Leave 1/2" un-stuffed at straight edge.  Sew shut using 1/2" seam allowance.

Step 5:  Pin 2  rocket ship panels right sides together and place a mark 1.5" from bottom of the top facing panel.  Place the fin in between the 2 panels with the bottom of the fin at the 1.5" mark and raw edges together.  Pin in place.  Sew using 1/2" seam allowance. Clip curves.  Fold seam allowance to right.




Mark 1.5" from bottom

Pin fin in between panels at 1.5" mark.

Step 6:  Add last panel:  You will repeat step 4 except you will not fold seam allowance to right.  Put the rocket ship panels right sides together and place a mark 1.5" from bottom of top facing panel.  Place the fin in between the 2 panels with the bottom of the fin at the 1.5" mark and raw edges together.  Pin in place.  Sew using 1/2" seam allowance. 

Step 7:  Attach last 2 panels together:  Mark top facing panel 1/5" from bottom and pin fin to top panel.  Start pinning 2 panels together from the top down.  It will be tight with all 3 fins inside the rocket so you will have to tilt one fin up into the tip and one down.  You may have to move them around a little to get the room you need.  Sew using 1/2" seam allowance.  Turn right side out and stuff until firm.

Pin from top down

Move fins around to make room to finish last seam.

Pin to bottom



Turn right side out


Note:  If you end up with one of the panels a little longer than the other on the bottom edge, don't worry it will be fixed when we finish off the bottom.

One end longer than other?  Don't worry! 

Step 8:  Prepare bottom panel:  With right sides together sew 1/2" seam along side of bottom panel.  Place seam in middle and iron open seam allowance.

Seam in middle pressed open

Step 9:  Stack fire and place inside the bottom panel lining up raw edges.  Sew shut using 1/2" seam allowance.  Flip right side out. 

Fire inside bottom panel.  Raw edges together.

Right side out.

Step 10:  Attach bottom panel to rocket:  With right sides together and raw edges aligned, hand sew all the way around.  I used a simple stitch.  If you are horrible at hand sewing like I am, don't worry this seam will not show!

Step 11:  Tuck bottom panel inside rocket and straighten out bottom edges. 

Step 12:  Take a needle with thread and push it inside the rocket and come out the seam of the fin.  Go back through the fin and inside the rocket.  Repeat several times on 2 sides.  This will keep the lining inside the rocket ship when the fire is pulled out during blast off.

Push needle inside rocket and out fin seam



Push needle back through fin seam and inside rocket. 

  Final step:

 Count down.....10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0,  BLAST OFF!  

Blast Off Rocket Ship

Here is a toy for the boys.  I made two of these awhile back for my little boys and it was so awesome because they actually played with them!  They thought I was the coolest mama for a whole day!  I reworked the pattern a little and will post a tutorial this week.

The fun thing about this toy is there is a secret pocket on the bottom where the fire can be tucked away.  I created it this way because the boys love to simulate blast off after doing the count down.

I embellished it with some felt.  I wish I would have done something a little different.  It's cute but I think it could be better.  I have a friend who is going to make one who is amazing at embellishing so I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

Thanks for stopping by!