Fairytale Bag

Last night I wanted to make a super cute bag. I think I did!
I got this corduroy fabric at the local thrift shop. I'd been wanting some to play with. The red fairytale print I've had for a while. It was actually my first Etsy purchase. I've been waiting for something cool enough to do with it. (like a dork, don't horde fabrics, just use them.) I did the top stitching with red for fun. I was pleased to discover that the stitch length I used perfectly landed the zig zags on either side of the ribs in the fabric. Looks like I planned that!
Lined with the fairytale fabric and there is a pocket of course.
Here is the back, it's just plain.
This bag is really fun. I think I'm going to make more with some of my other "too good to use on anything" fabrics. I have enough of the tan to make two more I think.

If this bag meets all your medium purse needs you can get it for yourself! Just hop over to my SHOP on etsy and pick it up.

Catch-Up.

I realized I have some stuff I have not shown you. So here we go.

I made these dolls for my good friend Sherri a few weeks ago. The candy corn one was for her sister so I couldn't post until now. I made this little friend to tuck into a gift for my friend Chris.
And this was for Chris too. It's the reverse of the first purse I made.
Inside view.
Today I got this package in the mail:

It's blog candy I won from Lauren Brandy.
It came with those adorable hair thingies. This is the bag:
I participated in a robot swap and this is what I made:
And also this:
I think that's all.

No Cute Monday today. I've been super busy and I looked and I only pulled two cute things this week. It's a shame I know I saw lots more than two cute things. *sigh*

One Monkey, Two Monkey.

I finished making the monkeys. They love them and I'm so happy. Unfortunately the boys are not into posing with their plush today.

But the plush are happy to pose for me, so that's good of them.
I did Stephen's yellow one with pollyfill arms and legs.
And Ethan's green one has weighted fill for arms and legs.
But they both love to hang around.
See, plushy legs and arms. And floppy legs and arms. (looks like he's saying "Hi")
Again, these monkeys are a Bit of Whimsy pattern. And stinking adorable too. :)

WIP and UFO... I hate them

For the longest time I loved quilts. But refused to work on them. Because I, Erin Kellogg, HATE UFO's and WIP's. That's Unfinished Objects and Work In Progress. I like things I can finish in one sitting. Hence cards.

But I really, really, really like quilts. I want to personally own 40 of them and I want all my friends and families to own stacks too. So now I have UFO's and WIP's. BLAH.

But tonight I have some really fun WIP's to share.

Arn't they the cutest? The pattern is a Bit of Whimsy pattern.

Yellow will be for Stephen, green for Ethan. I will finish them up tomorrow. I'm not sure about the blue ears on Ethan's...

But it's too late to finish them today.

Desire

Look. I'm not proud of this. But I had to share.

I'm SICK with desire. For an object. I KNOW I'm going to dream of this product.

LOOK HERE

A bunny. Sewing. Sewing Octopus Softies! And it's a zip pouch.

and it's out of stock. :(

WHAAAAAAAAA

I love it so much I scoured the artist's blog until I found THIS post about when she drew it.

I love bunnies. I love bunnies doing people things. I love sewing. And softies. And octopus stuff. And zipper pouches.

I figure it could only be better if the bunny were wearing clothes and it was vinyl. Otherwise it's the most perfect item ever.

THIS one is pretty hot too. Also out of stock.

I subscribed and so on. We all know I'm gonna buy them as soon as they come in stock.

Well there you have it. It's all I can think about right now.

bunny sewing octopus softies on a zip pouch.
bunny sewing octopus softies on a zip pouch
bunny sewing octopus softies on a zip pouch.

OH you know that bloody mary thing, you say it three times in the mirror and she appears or something. (I don't know what I'm talking about here, something kids said about at parties or some such nonsense) Well if you type "bunny sewing octopus softies on a zip pouch" three times you STILL don't have one. Sigh.

A Ball For Ethan *and some other stuff*

Today I made a cute little ball for Ethan.
It's not perfect, but he likes it.
See.

I got the pattern from a blog. I can't remember... I'll try to figure it out and put a link here. If anyone knows by all means let us know. There was three sizes of them and it was adorable.

The octopus fabric is just me stamping an octopus on canvas. (Thanks Sherri, that octopus is my FAVORITE stamp right now) The rest of the fabrics are from a scrap pack Kim got me. Oh wanna see all of them? Look:

I also made a quick wrist pin cushion with it too. It has an elastic band.

Vinyl Stripe Stamped Bag Tutorial.

Today is a special treat. I'm doing a Start To Finish tutorial that combines stamping, sewing, zippers AND iron on vinyl. I'm a little giddy!



Here are some supplies to grab out first. You don't HAVE to use the stazon ink, you can use what you like. The vinyl will seal whatever you use. I'm going to take us through the kitty cat bag, but I made a robot one at the same time. I cut some fabric into strips to stamp on. I ironed a center crease in the fabric then pressed it back flat. This helped me keep things straight when I stamped.
Then color the images with markers. I used tombow and impress waterbased markers. Next iron the vinyl strips onto the fronts. You should really read the directions on the vinyl you buy. For mine I stick the vinyl on, then put the release paper back on shiny side down. Then press with medium heat 8 seconds per section on the front, flip and do 4 seconds on the back. It gets HOT be careful.
Next pull two prints that you'd like to use for your bag. One for the lining one for the outside.
Applique the vinyl strip to one of your outside fabrics. This is a smidge tricky, you can't really pin the vinyl because the holes will show. I guess you could on the VERY edge. I didn't bother. I used a zig zag stitch and a teensy sitch length so it would be close together. (on the robot bag I did a smaller one then went over twice for a really bold line.)

You can sorta see here. The needle goes just to the outside of your stripe piece.
And here it is out. If you need to press it remember to use medium heat and replace the release paper before letting the iron touch the vinyl. Don't iron it too many times it will get dull and icky if you do.
close up of the vinyl.
Now I'm going to direct you to a DIFFERENT tutorial. If you know how to sew up a zipper bag do that. If not THIS tutorial is how I learned and it's tops. It will give you a lined bag with all the edges hidden.

Here is the finished bag! (I get my zippers at the thrift store so they rarely match)

Here is the inside.
And here is the robot one. I did it at the same time.
Inside of robot bag: (not super straight on those robots, but whatever)

And there you have it. A super cute totally original bag for you. Another good thing, if you are already an iron on vinyl fan, this uses just those little left over strips of vinyl from when you cut it for othe stuff.

Oh and for what it's worth, I'm not sure I'd machine wash these. Might be ok, might not.

Stamp credits: The adorable kitty is Eat Cake Graphics. The robot is Odd Bird Planet.

Oh and the Robot bag is avaliable for you to purchase in MY SHOP. The kitty bag already has a home, but if there is nothing in this world you want more than a kitty bag let me know, we might can work something out.

I love Iron on Vinyl

Oh how I love iron on vinyl.

First of all. You can stamp on fabric with ANY ink you like. Not just stazon. Stamp away. You can color with whatever you like too. No need to be non water soluable. Then iron on some vinyl over it. I wouldn't wash it in the machine, but it's great for light wear and such.

Here is an example. This is a pencil bag for a friend of mine who recently started Kindergarden.
I lined it with cheerful yellow because everyone loves cheerful yellow.
This next one looks even more cool! I ironed the vinyl over both sides of a sheet of paper. Yes, double sided patern paper. About this I will tell you it was WICKED hard to turn. No flexability at all in paper. But I got it. And a tip. you CAN iron the vinly. You must replace the release paper and only iron it a bit and on medium heat. AND if your bag has vinyl on the inside too you MUST fold up some of the release paper and put it in there. Or you will glue your bag shut.
The inside is just the red that's on the reverse side of this paper.
This bag is for the brother of the kindergardner. Unless they decide to trade. Then, you know, the other way around. Oh and the paper with vinyl is REALLY strong feeling. I tested it pretty good and it held up.

Of course the obvious extrapolation: You could stamp on paper, color with your favorite medium, then put the iron on vinyl on, then make something out of that! I know, you are getting all panty just thinking about it like me arn't you?

In other news:

I'm feeling tons better today.
Sue is out of the hospital. Let's hope that's the end of that.
I'm almost out of zippers! It's tragic.

Squared bag.

What's this ugly mess you ask? Why it's this bag:
Lined with canvas that has been fused with iron on vinyl.
It's a travel bag. For makeup and hair brushes and stuff like that. I guess I made it too square. I'm not totally thrilled with the shape. But it's roomy and fun. It's for my mom who loved this fabric when I got it at a thrift store for 50 cents. So we thought and thought until I came up with something useful to make. She travels a lot. :)