The Simona Bow Clutch

This has got to be one of the prettiest clutches I've made yet. This beautiful design is by Maria at DelindaBoutique. Maria's patterns are excellent with loads of photos and good clear instructions making it very easy to make any of her lovely desings.

This clutch can look good for an evening out, to a wedding and with casual fabrics is a fun clutch to take out during the day as you will see in the photo below of the clutches made by the other testers. I was short on time so I pinched borrowed that photo from Liz's blog Moments who was also a tester for Simona and made a lovely denim clutch.

I used a black satin for the body of the bag and the bow I used curtain fabric becasue it was nice and stiff and and held the shape of the bow well. I've been using alot of burgundy in my bag making lately as that's the in colour this year here.

Simona is perfect if you don't want to carry the kitchen sink with you. Big enough for a few essentials, measures approx  11" (28 cm) wide 5 1/2" (14 cm) high.

 Looking at it you may think its complicated to sew but it is really easy and very quick to put together.

 I added a little zipper pull to make it easier to to open the zip.

And here are the other testers clutches. Aren't they all just fabulous.

To buy the Simona Bow Clutch pattern you can go to Craftsy HERE, Etsy HERE or from DelindaBoutique HERE.

Happy Sewing

~ Maria ~

The Bay Boho Bag

Before I tell you about the Bay Boho Bag I need to apologize to Kylie for doing this blog post so late after the release of the pattern. I thought I had posted it already, these days I don't know if I'm coming or going.

So here we have it, the wonderful Bay Boho Bag by Kylie of Little Moo Designs.

This pattern is perfect for a beginner, there's only one outer zipper and if you aren't too great at doing zippers then just leave it out.

The main closure on this bag in the pattern was a magnetic button but I got Kylie's approval to add a zipper to my main closure. I was happy with it at the time but looking at it now I should have made it longer.

Something else I did that wasn't in the pattern and can't really be seen in these photos is an adjustable cross body strap. That's whats so nice about this pattern, you can just make it as is in the pattern or you can personalize it by adding more pockets to suit your needs.

Inside the pattern has two slip pockets which are always good for cell phones. Again if you are confident enough you can add a zippered pocket to the inside of the bag.

I used upholstery fabric but you can choose any kind of fabric you like. Its a perfect size measuring

Finished Size: 18" W x 10" H (Base to top seam)/45 cms x 26 cms.

You can buy the pattern HERE and also check out the other testers bags. They look great.

Thanks for stopping by and happy sewing to you.

~ Maria ~

 

And The Winner Is!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is the day I announce the winner of the Stand Up & Tote Notice Bag designed by Lisa of two pretty poppets but first I want to say a big thank you to each and every one of you for stopping by and taking part. Out of all the giveaways I've done this has been the most commented on which goes to show what a popular bag this is. Its a shame everyone can't be a winner but the pattern isn't expensive and you are getting three sizes in one pattern so excellent value. You can find the pattern HERE on Craftsy, HERE on Etsy or HERE on two pretty poppets site.

A big thank you to Lisa for letting me do this giveaway and for letting me test her gorgeous bag.

Ok if you haven't already looked down at the winning number the winner is comment #62

Selene HillSeptember 18, 2015 at 6:18 AM

Hmmmm...try this again (first post didn't take?).....I LOVE the Stand Up & Tote Notice bag!! Large size for me....I carry way too much junk! LOL!!! I love your quilting! Even if I don't win, I will have to buy it. :)

CONTRATULATIONS Selene looks like you won't have to buy it now. 

Thanks again to all of you and happy sewing

~ Maria ~

The Layla Bag

What a wonderful bag designed by Sarah Gido of Cosy Nest Designs, the Layla Bag is just gorgeous with those lovely shiny handles.

Every time I test a bag for Sarah I am amazed at how her mind works. Not only are her designs beautiful and unique but the way she puts them together I just can't put into words, she's amazing.

Here's mine.
Sarah sent her testers these lovely metal handles, just waiting for them to arrive was so exciting.
This wasn't a difficult bag to make it's just that it involved some new techniques I hadn't done before. Once you've made one the rest will be much easier.
The places I did get stuck Sarah was wonderful at helping me out.

 Aren't these handles just gorgeous and if you want free hands then Layla has a removable shoulder strap.

This is one of my mistakes and a silly one too. For some reason I cut my gusset too short so instead of cutting out another one I decided to add a piece of red like the lining to the bottom and turned it into a feature.

This is the inside of the bag. Terrible photo I know. It's surprisingly roomy, perfect for the essentials you need for a shopping trip.

Layla measures approx  14 1/2 W x 6 3/4 H (not incl. handles) x 3 1/2"D. Inside is a zipper pocket and the main closure has a zipper too so everything is nice and secure.

All the testers did an amazing job and the results were just gorgeous. You can see their bags HERE I have to say though that out of all the bags everyone made Sarah's were the nicest.

Even if you only ever make this bag once you have to try it but I'm sure you'll want to make more after the first. You can find the pattern HERE on Craftsy and Janelle from Emmaline Bags is supplying the handles which you can find HERE.

It was a pleasure to test this bag and I look forward to finding some time to make another. I guess in the end the most difficult part is deciding which fabrics to use.

Thanks for stopping by
Happy Sewing.

~ Maria ~

Stand Up & Tote Notice Bag Pattern Giveaway.

It's been ages since I had a giveaway on my blog so here is a chance to win a copy of this wonderful pattern by Lisa from two pretty poppets but before I tell you about the giveaway let me show you the bag.

When I offered to test this one I thought it would just be an ordinary tote made up in patchwork which really appealed to me but was I wrong. This is no ordinary tote. The pattern has three sizes to choose from and I chose the largest one, what I didn't realize is just how LARGE it really is. Now you all know they say size isn't important but they're lying size is important LOLLLLL well at least in a bag.

Here's my Stand Up & Tote Notice Bag.

Sizing / Finished Measurements:

• SMALL: Width at base - 8" (20cm), Depth - 5" (13cm), Height to handles - 12" (30cm), Strap drop - 11" (28cm)
• MEDIUM: Width at base - 10"(25cm), Depth - 6"(15cm), Height to handles - 15" (38cm), Strap drop - 111/2" (29cm)
• LARGE: Width at base - 12" (30cm), Depth - 7" (18cm), Height to handles - 18"(46cm), Strap drop - 12" (30cm)

Mine is the largest one and no kidding it's enormous. This pattern is suitable for an advanced beginner. No hardware to fiddle with or zippers to add if you're not too experienced on adding zippers just a magnetic button as the main closure. After making it I did find that this size is perfect as an overnight bag so I will be making more and possibly insert a zipper to use it as an overnight bag but I really do love the simplicity of this tote.

When I first saw a photo of it for testing I thought it was a plain patchwork tote but it isn't. The front and back has two large slip pockets perfect for keeping keys and cell phone handy without having to search through your bag for them. 

 From this view you can see the two outer pockets better and the main magnetic closure.

See how much room there is in side and also four slip pockets to help keep your contents organized. There is so much room this bag will cope with all your needs whatever you need it for.
The pattern contains over 70 full colour photographs and 11 pages of clear, detailed instructions which flow really nicely and is very easy to follow.

The pattern requires you to use Soft & Stable but I can't get it where I am so chose to use fleece. Remember this bag needs to stand up so I fused a medium interfacing to my fabric then fused a fairly firm fleece, I didn't have fusible fleece so fused it on with wonder under then I fused yet another piece of interfacing but this time a light one. The result was perfect but as there were so many layers I was worried about them coming apart with time so solved that problem by quilting all the pieces in a kind of QAYG method.

The only pieces I didn't quilt were the outer pockets.

To give you an idea of the size her it is next to my heavy duty industrial sewing machine.

And there she is. I know you want one too so before you go running off to buy the pattern lets have a giveaway.

All you have to do is leave me a comment here on this post. Tell me anything you like but I'd love to hear which size you'd make. That's it. The giveaway will run until Sunday 20th September 2015.

Please Please Please leave your email with your comment so I can bet back to you if you win. A lot of people are on 'no reply' and aren't aware of it so if you don't leave your email and you are picked I may not be able to get in touch with you and will have to choose someone else. 

I reply to all comments left via email so if you don't get a reply from me then you know I can't get in touch with you.

If you can't wait a week to see if you are the lucky winner then go over to Craftsy or Etsy or Lisa's site two pretty poppets where you can buy a copy of the pattern. 

Thanks for stopping by and best of luck to you all.

~ Maria ~ 

Rosie Patchwork Bag

Three years ago I tested the Rosie Patchwork Bag for Samantha from At Home With MrsH. It was a lovely pattern, easy and quick to make. I had wanted to make it again but never seemed to have the time.
So when some free time came my way I made four of them.

This first one is patchwork. I used two fabrics that were the same design but with the colours switched round.

The pattern had a magnetic button and as I was making these to sell had to sew a zipper and the recessed zipper is perfect for almost any bag.

I left out the internal zipper pocket that was in the pattern and just added the slip pockets.

These were the next two I made. This time I used just one piece of fabric. The patchwork one is a cheater fabric, all one piece. The Rosie Patchwork bag measures approx 12 1/2" x 13" (32cm x 34cm)

 I love the recessed zipper on this one.

 Then to go with the bags I wanted to make matching pouches so made up a pattern and came up with these.

These bags have since been sold so now I have the perfect excuse to make some more. I'm hoping its not going to take 3 years before I get back to it.

If you'd like to buy the pattern you can do so HERE.

Thanks for stopping by

~ Maria ~