Leather Sketchbook Cover, with Pocket

Front

 A recent whimseybox contained a piece of soft leather (approximately 8.5 x 11"), and some metal studs.

I have looked at the box contents pretty regularly, but was undecided on what to do. I knew I wanted to paint on it—but on what?

Back

 After rejecting a variety of ideas (maybe purse straps for a sewn purse? or a purse bottom? but this leather is so soft it's almost suede, and will get filthy fast; maybe I would use a clutch? nope...; a bracelet or 4? no, this soft leather doesn't have the body of a stamped leather bracelet) and some pinterest searches, I settled on a basic wallet and/or sketchbook cover. And, I would use every piece of the leather!

Cutting guide

First, I squared up my piece of leather. Then, I cut the piece in half, so I had two 8.5 x 5.5 pieces. One of these became the main body piece. The other I cut into three pieces, each 5.5" wide—one 2.5" long, one 3" long, and the rest became the pocket flap.

 I first sewed on the sketchbook-holding flap, using binder clips to hold it in place, and the teflon foot on my sewing machine (and a size 90 stretch needle, as specified by my machine). Then came the pocket body, and then the pocket flap. Then I hand sewed the snap in place (a vintage snap from my grandmother's sewing basket).

Inside, with notebook and pencil

Next up was the painting, which was much more difficult than I expected—it took so much paint for the paint to show. I don't know if it is the soft texture of the leather, the acrylic paints, the brush I chose, or operator incompetence. I did the outside, waited an hour or so, and then the inside. Then I let both sides dry completely overnight.

Pocket snap and inside painting

The next morning I chose a piece of ribbon for the tie (part of the whimseybox packaging!). I then cut two slits for the ribbon to go through, and where a pencil can go.  After threading the ribbon through, I "painted" the ends with fraycheck.

Supplies and finished project

I want to put a small sketchbook in this, but all I could find was the small composition notebook at CVS (and all they had was red or blue!). An eraser, colored pencils, or cash and ID can fit into the pocket.

Thanks to the following sites for inspiration:
Vintage Craft Studio on flickr
the Kenton Sorenson wallet
World of Pineapple leather tips and tricks
Martha Stewart's leather crafts

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Winter Coasters

Winter-themed coasters

 A recent Whimseybox included 2 unfinished tiles, a small bottle of modpodge, and a foam brush.

I have been thinking about making coasters, but finally pulled together my idea. Winter! Now that I have finally had to wear a scarf a couple of times, it finally feels wintery around here.Which means tea! And hot apple cider!

First, I painted the coasters with blue water color (of the cheap-o kid variety, it's what I had). I wanted this to look uneven, like the sky. I also painted part of a card, for cutting shapes.

Painted coasters, and a card for cutting.

What shapes? Snowflakes!

Snowflakes, mid-modpodge.

I cut some snowflakes, modpodged the coasters, and stuck a few on. Then modpodged over them.

Next, I cut 2 pieces of blue tulle that came in a past whimseybox. I wanted to add some texture—but not too much, because coasters and texture don't really mix. I put the layer down, added more modpodge, and then added a few more cut shapes, and more modpodge. And then a sprinkling of Crystal Snow superfine white glitter. My coasters need sparkle!

Paint, shapes, tulle, more shapes, glitter, beginning to dry.

After leaving them overnight to dry, I turned them upside down and trimmed the tulle—the coaster itself was the straightedge.

 The next day, I cut some oversized pieces of light blue felt I had on hand, modpodged the bottom of the tiles, and stuck the felt on. Then, I felt like they needed something else. I found 2 different snowflake stamps in my drawer, and silver and platinum ink pads. The coaster on the left has platinum, the right one has silver. (Tip: when using cheap-o kids foam stamps, don't press too hard! They collapse. Oops.)

Stamped!

I left them overnight again, to dry completely. On day 3, I trimmed the felt, and then sprayed the tops with 2 coats of acrylic sealer.

Done! With all supplies (except for tulle and felt).

Now I need a cup of tea!

What I Want to Be Doing...and What I Have Been Doing

What I want to be working on:

Looptastic Mini Quilt from class with Elizabeth Hartman

What I have been working on:

4th grader's uniform pants—4 of these!

Cut

Hemmed

Last August I bought E-man 5 pair of uniform pants and 1 pair of shorts. He never touched the shorts, and then in March I had to get 3 more pair of pants because of the ripped knees (and it is always the left knee). I believe I cut off the others and gave them to Goodwill (since E refused to wear shorts.

It has been so hot since school started. (I mean so hot—at 6:40 this morning it was 80° inside.) At least he and his brother gets to sit in classrooms with a/c, while I broil at home. So, he finally tried his shorts, which thanks to the adjustable waist fit just fine. He now only wants shorts, so I got his 3 ripped pair out of the drawer. Finished them (there are only 2 in the bottom picture because he was wearing the other pair at school.) Then he found another pair of pants in some drawer that would last maybe 1 or 2 more wearings before being ripped too. So, now I have done 4 pair. I can now do 1 pair in 15 minutes, yay me.

Linked to: Sew Darn Crafty Week 82

A Sewing Finish

In spite of the directions, I managed to finish my teddy bear today.

Yesterday's post addressed the issues I had with the directions for the front of the bear (ears, hands, 2 front body pieces, and embroidering the face).

Last night I worked on the back—the two back pieces, and the leg paws. Then I redid the leg paws today. I'm still not happy, but am not enough of a sewer to know a better way to do this.

So, those legs. The directions simply state "Sew the feet paw accent pieces onto each leg following step 2c instructions." Step 2c refers to the ears, "Fold the bottom of the ear accent pieces under 1/4" and press. Position the ear accent pieces right-side-up over the ears on the right side of the bear front. Topstitch in place to close the fold."

This was how I did the ears. The bottom if topstitched down, the rounded top was topstitched, which was then sewn into the hem when the front and back were attached.

But this made no sense for the feet. Topstitch down when the leg seams are already sewn? How is that physically possible, unless sewing by hand? ON top of it, the foot paw accent pieces are huge.

First, I tried sewing them on, trimming the excess fabric that did not fit into the smallish foot opening. This resulted in two very different sized paw accents. Oops!

I ripped, and re-cut the foot accent. This time I basted around the paw accent, tightening up the piece. I then pinned it in, intentionally creating puckers. Which worked, but resulted in these puffy feet.

Interestingly, the photo in the book shows no topstitching on the ears or the foot accents. It must have been sewn an earlier version of the pattern. Apparently the text was not updated.

This was intended to be a Christmas present for my aunt. I am a little frustrated by the ugly puffy feet, but have a few months to sit on this idea.

Bear back

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Plodding through a difficult pattern...

Well, in spite of a day and a half of frustration, he is looking cute. The pattern is Teddy Bear from Joel Dewberry's Sewn Spaces.

I cannot find any errata online for this book. None of the patterns even show up in a search on Pattern Review!

So far:
• The pattern calls for 3/4 yard of the main fabric. I had a yard (the minimum purchase at Sew Modern for a 40% off fabric), and I still could not get my pieces on at the same angle for the pattern—but it is pretty close. The book example shows a directional print, so obviously someone took the time to line it up right—but they had more than 3/4 yard!
• There are no grain lines shown on the pattern
• Front and back pieces are both labelled back
• The pocket pattern piece shows a dart. Which is not mentioned in the directions. Now that I have the pocket on, I see the point of the dart. I have already ripped this off once though, because the directions' idea of "bottom" and my idea were different. I am not sure the pieces would survive another taking apart. See bullets 1 and 2 above.
• There are no hints as to where the face should be embroidered. I am really bad at this sort of thing. I think my eyes might not be in the same place

I am finished with the front. And am proceeding very slowly.

Owl Eyes Mini Quilt

Last weekend (August 5) I took an all-day workshop with Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Fransson! at Sew Modern. I have been so excited for this class--I actually called and signed up as soon as I got the email announcement. And then made various piles of my scraps. And moved them around. And started over. And changed my mind again. And so forth.

Owl Eyes mini quilt

In the class we started two mini versions of quilts from Elizabeth's book Modern Patchwork: Owl Eyes and Looptastic. These two quilts use very different methods of applique. I prefer the method used in Owl Eyes (at least for constructing the quilt top—the quilting was difficult!). So I also managed to get that mini finished up today.

Backing/binding fabric

I ended up using Insul-Bright as the batting in this quilt, because I am going to use it as a hot pad on my kitchen counter. I have been thinking of making something like this for months, as when the 12-year-old makes cookies and I am making dinner, I always end up with too many hot things for my stovetop, and my poor formica counter can't take anything. Which means I end up making a mishmash of cork trivets and potholders to handle the bar cookie pan or whatever i think might be the coolest of the hot things.

For the quilting I did a simple random free motion loop. Which got to be a bit messy, because every time I stitched up onto the appliques, the machine would slow down. I don't know if this is because of the applique layers, or the zigzag applique stitch itself, or the Insul-Bright. But I chose to not stress about the resulting large stitches. If I had, I would still be working on this.

My quilting needs more practice—an ongoing theme

There is not much cooking going on these days, however. It has been 85° in the kitchen every afternoon lately. Not that that stopped me from having the iron on....

Around the shoot

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Elizabeth Hartman Workshop

Last weekend I took a workshop with Elizabeth Hartman , from Oh, Fransson! In one day we started two mini quilts of two designs (Owl Eyes and Looptastic) from her Modern Patchwork book.

It was a great day--nice people, fabric-y goodness, awesome irons at Sew Modern (for those of us using an iron with no steam while waiting for a Bed Bath and Beyond coupon to show up...yup that's me), and no kids begging for food.

Me with my Owl Eyes mini and Elizabeth!

These two quilts use very different methods for the applique. I prefer Owl Eyes myself, thus it will definitely be finished. I have actually promised at Amy's One Week One Thing Challenge.

I even know what this mini is going to be! I have been meaning to make an insulated mat to sit on my (formica) counter. I don't have enough space on my cooktop to cook and have cookies and a roast sitting there too, cooling. So, this is it. Perfect size, and I thought of it in time to put Insul-Bright in as the batting. Yay!