The Purse Mania

The summer is finally here in full force, and I just started my holiday! That's the good news. The bad news is, that next week Berlin is going to get a heat wave from Sahara, and guess where I will be then? In Finland. Where we're lucky if it's above +15. Oh well. But at least there will be friends to keep us warm both in body and spirit. So yay for holidays. And yay for gifts! It goes without saying that I cannot go see my friends and family empty handed. So, when in doubt, sew purses. Lots of them. In all colors. Who could resist them? Not me :)

Something weird happened while I was sewing, though. Remember when I told with the last batch that I really didn't need such a big gap there where the purse frame ends and the purse begins? Well, I did remember, and left less space there. But when I'd finished glueing the frames in place, guess what? The gap was even bigger than before! Graah! So more hand-sewing for me. Next time I will add no allowance between the frame hinge and the purse. Let's see how it works then...

I finally got to use the owl fabric that I bought ages ago!

Nom nom feed us!

//

Läjä söpöisiä pussukoita viemisiksi Suomeen <3

With love, Lilje

The Dotted Basket

It's raining, it's raining again. So Her Wonkiness is sewing, sewing again. This time I tried to make this one (in German, sorry). Somehow even though both fabrics had dots, I managed to cut the pieces wonky. Oh well, it doesn't show (too badly) in the end result. Also the basket is a bit too large for the storage of misc items lying around in the living room, but it's still pretty so hey, size isn't everything! The cute iron-on is one of Sukie's again. //

Ompeluhommia jälleen, tällä kertaa säilytyslaatikkoa. Vähän liian isohan siitä tuli mutta vallan söpö, niin palvelee kyllä tarkoitustaan silti (eli siis pikkusälän säilytystä).

 

With love, Lilje

The Zippery Pouch

The sewing mania continues. After the difficulties I had with the owl pillow zipper, I thought it might be a good idea to practice some more. So: a pouch with a zipper. Namely this one. Seems like an easy peasy thing to do, which it was, but I still managed to use several hours for the projects. Well, it was raining, so what else is one to do. And it turned out super cute (with a really prettily sewn zipper *cough*)! In hindsight it would've been better to add the interfacing to the main fabric instead of the lining, but it still looks nice. I have no idea what to put in it yet, but I'm sure I'll figure something out. //

Meni niin hermot vetskarin ompeluun pöllötyynyissä että harjoittelua selvästi tarvittiin. Tässäpä siis harjoituskappaleeksi pussukka. Söötit kankaat ja soma pinkki vetskari (joka vieläkin kettuili mutta kuitenkin asettui lopulta nätisti). Mitäpä sitä ihminen muuta tarttee :)

With love, Lilje

The Owl Pillows

Hi there! How's life treating you these days? Here the weather doesn't seem to be able to make up its mind about whether or not it is summer or not. It seems every other day is super autumny with cold wind and rain and every other nice and sunny. Who knows, maybe we'll get our summer at some point. But while the sun is playing hide and seek, it's a good time to stay indoors and sew, sew, sew!

Remember the cutesy owl fabric I bought a while back? Well, now it's been transformed into two adorable pillow cases. They are 50 x 50 cm and I love them! But oh my god what a PAIN in the ass sewing zippers can be! I think it's been like 10 years since I last sewed in one. And now I remember why. Despite using the proper zipper foot in the sewing machine, it still seems to be nearly impossible to get the zipper hidden so that the fabric covers it. Superblah! Well, I managed it somehow, and you can't really see the zipper in these babies anyway, so problems schmoblems, who cares :D I just loooove the fabric, I can't stop fluffing up the pillows and admiring the print.

How do you like them? And do you have any tips for the madness of zipper sewing? //

Nyt on pöllötyynyt, jee! Ihan hirmu soma printti tuossa kankaassa, en voi lakata hypistelemästä tyynyjä. Mutta vetoketjun ompelu ehkä hidastaa vähän seuraavaa isoa tyynyprojektia. Tsiisus että voi olla ärsyttävää hommaa! Ärräpäiden kera sain vetskarit kuitenkin paikalleen, mutta huomasi että edellisestä yrityksestä oli varmaan kymmenisen vuotta aikaa. Puuh. Ehkä harjoitus tekee mestarin. Vinkkejä otetaan vastaan!

With love, Lilje

The Summer Tote

As I mentioned a few posts before, I've been bitten by the sewing bug. There's no cure; you just have to accept the fact that you will be buzzing all your spare time away with your sewing machine. But I don't mind, as there are still more little gifts I want to make for friends and family before our trip to Finland in a month.

Here's the next project. When I saw the tutorial for this inside out bag I knew that this would SO be the next thing I'd do (over and over). I've never sewn a tote bag before even though they are super easy to make, but this one combined bias tapes with the design, so there was a bit more to do than just sew the seams together.

I am completely in love with the colours! Yes of course there are spots that don't bear looking at too closely and it's not completely straight, but all in all I'm very pleased in how it turned out. The bigger pocket panel on the other side of the bag is a bit floppy as I didn't use interfacing, so I'm thinking I might add a button there just to prevent it from collapsing in use. 

The final touch that makes the tote really pop are the überlovely iron-ons by Sukie that I found as a little book from a crafts shop. Such adorable designs! I guarantee that you'll be seeing more of them later on. //

Lisää viemisiä: aivan supersuloinen kesäkassi! Ja niin helppo tehdä. Piste iin päällä ovat nuo Sukien silitettävät kuvat. Mielettömän söpöjä printtejä, ei mitään järkeä. Hehkutanko vielä lisää vai uskotteko jo? :) Tätä kassia kantsii kyllä kokeilla! Paitsi ehkä jos käyttää taskukankaaksi ohutta kangasta niin kantsii laittaa myös tukikangaskerros. Nyt on isompi tasku vähän liian lerpsu, siihen pitää ehkä laittaa nappi ylälaitaan.

With love, Lilje

The Revenge of the Purse

Yes, you guessed it: there's more. Soooo cute fabrics. I'll just have to remember to fasten the ends of the thread after sewing: even though my sewing machine has a function that's supposed to do the fastening off for me, it apparently doesn't work very well... Had to sew in the gaps under the purse frame hinges by hand this time as the stitches started to come loose. Also there's no need of 1 cm gap there, I think 0,5 cm would be just fine... Just as a note for the next batch (tee hee). //

Pussukat pussukoi menemään. Mental note: päättele langat, älä luota ompelukoneen päättelytoimintoon. Myöskään ei tartte senttiä kehyksen saranan ja ompeleen välissä, puoli senttiä riittänee. Seuraavaa erää odotellessa...

I think they look like fish with their mouths open. Omnomnom feed me, they're saying.

With love, Lilje

The Purse Returns

Hello there, how's things? Here, it seems I'm living in a purse factory. Ok, I might have gone a bit overboard. But when you have purse frames and nice fabric lying around, there really is no choice. They whisper into your ear and won't shut up until you've used them all. Plus my friend was carrying her new mobile phone around in an old mitten. That of course won't do, when you're friends with a DIY person, so the other pouch is for her. I was a bit worried that it'd be too small but it turned out to be just perfect. Yay for pouches! //

Pussukkatehtaasta päivää! Vähän ehkä on vimmaa ilmassa nyt mutta mikäs siinä, on kevät ja kaunista kangasta ja pussukkakehyksiä. Että näitä nyt sit vaan tulee...

With love, Lilje

The First Purse

So, I promised you some crafts as well. Recently I've been daydreaming about sewing and making small, cute things which I could give as presents. On Sunday a small scale web shopping frenzy struck me, and I ordered a bunch of stull that will come very handy indeed for this purpose. Yesterday I received the first package with purse frames and immediately had to rush to the fabric store to get interfacing (Bügeleinlage/tukikangas. You learn new words everyday when you're crafting in a foreign country.)

I got so far as cutting the purse pieces and ironing on the interfacing yesterday, and today (despite I had work to do) I couldn't wait any longer: so out with the sewing machine, and one-two-three-SEW!

And lo and behold, only about half an hour later:

It is soooo pretty! Isn't it? And how easy was that! I dreaded the part of glueing the frame on but it was a total piece of cake as well. The instructions for this lovely purse can be found here in English or here in Finnish. I orderer the purse frames from Dawanda shop Bügel-Kram, but I'm sure you can find them close to where you live as well. 

I am totally hooked onto making these now, so stay tuned for more lovelies. I have just the fabric for it as well... I'll show you later on :) //

Kauhea ompeluvimma on iskenyt, ja pussukoiden tekoa on pitänyt kokeilla jo pitkään. Vihdoin sain tilattua näitä kukkarokehyksiä (vai mikä lie niiden nimi on) ja KATSOKAA MITEN HIENO SIITÄ TULI! Ei vitsi että olen onnessani. Ja niin helppoa! *kevättanssi* Nyt kaikki heti kokeilemaan, linkki ohjeisiin löytyy yläpuolelta jostain.

With love, Lilje