Gingercake

Waste Free Lunch Bag is BACK!!!

I am so happy to finally bring back the waste free lunch bag.  It is fun to make with the center divider and great for packing lunch.  Both the girls wanted this style for the new school year coming up!  That must be good news, right?

The pattern includes 34 pictures that are bright and clear (old version had 4 pictures!) and it is 13 pages long.  There are no pattern pieces to print out since it is just rectangles, but there is a quick reference guide on the last page to help keep your fabric cutting in good order.  

It is roomier than my Love Your Lunch Box pattern but not quite as roomy as the Hobo Style Lunch Sak.  I am going to get smaller water bottles this year to free up some space for sure!  The girls only drink a little.  Any good recommendations for 8 or 10 ounce water bottles?  16 ounce is just too big for little girls!

I also changed the closure to a flap to create more room and because flaps are just cute, right?  The pattern is now available in the shop if you are ready to make one (or 5 like I did!).

Perfecting the Old Lunch Bag

This old lunchbag was my 3rd pattern that I made back in 2010.  About a year ago I took it out of my shop since I felt like it needed new pictures and easier instructions.  Over the last week, I made 5 lunch bags and have written the instructions again with lots of new, clear pictures.  All that is needed now is some more proofreading and making a cute cover photo in PSE!  Hoping to have it done by tomorrow or the next day!!!  Just in time for making school lunch bags...

 

Beachy Tunic in Voile

Remember when I made this pretty golden tunic for Anne?  While I was at the beach a few weeks ago, I got some pictures of her wearing it.  I love the color on her and she looked so pretty with all her sun kissed freckles (you wouldn't believe the sunscreen we go though with her!)

We had a lovely time in South Carolina.  Lots of time in the pool and just exploring the beach.  We went into Charleston once during the week but it was the rainy day and I didn't get much time to explore.  The beach was much easier for the kids to play in than the Outer Banks, NC beaches we usually go to although not quite as pretty.

While on the beach we found some treasures...

How is your summer vacation?  Hard to believe it is half way over!!  Although I admit the adjustment to summer vacation is hard for me at first, at this point I love having all the kids home and just relaxing into our easy schedule.  The pregnancy is making me less productive but we all seem to like our slow pace!  

Lola Owl with pom poms

My sweet neice Avery just had her 7th birthday.  I have been wanting to make her an owl bag since she loves to accessorize.  I bought a bunch of pom poms from Pick your Plum a few weeks ago.  This was my first time working with poms poms!

I used vintage modern fabric by Bonnie & Camille and a pink duck cloth for the body.  I found the pom poms a little more challenging than I thought they would be but worth the extra effort since they add such a cute frame for the owl.

Another Playsuit/ Romper

Before we left for our last trip, I made Anne another playsuit.  I loved that one last year but it was now too small!  This is loosely based on this tutorial by crafterhours.  The fabric I used is from Amy's shop.  

Making shorts is so fun and easy!  Have you all seen this series happening?  Lots of cut ideas there.  To make a romper you just make shorts and then add the top.  Super easy and she likes it (honestly, she likes everything!).

It also works for playing basketball with Dad in the driveway!

A Shared Nursery by AnnKelle

A few months ago, Kelle Boyd asked me to sew up a couple of my pillows for a shared sibling nursery she was doing for chic & cheap nurseries.  She chose the farbics and sent them to me.  Angela Crutcher took these beautiful pictures for Kelle.

I love the grey walls and all the mix of textures.  Didn't she do a beautiful job??  Head over to her blog to see all the links for the linens and decor she used.  I made the orange and yellow bird and also a Lola Owl and a coordinating Max Owl. 

The room is shared between a 9 year girl and a baby.  A real challenge to design something fitting for both!  Thanks to Kelle for thinking of me and my pillows to include in the design.  

Beautiful photographs Angela!  

 

Drapey Knit Cardigan

hi again!!  How exciting that I am posting twice in 2 days!  I am getting bigger in the belly and I have been needing some clothes.  I can't believe I am only half way through this pregancy so I am resisting buying a bunch of ill fitting summer maternity clothes.  I saw this tutorial and thought it might be a great piece that I can wear now AND when I am no longer PG.

It's a nice tutorial.  This knit is extra drapey and I did a lot of ironing to get my seams together nicely but I was able to make it in one afternoon and I'm sure I'll be wearing it a bunch since it is so versatile.  BTW, I converted these jeans to maternity myself by cutting off the waist and adding really wide elastic.  I also did those knee patches which was questionable style judgement but I still think are pretty cute!

There is the belly!  It was a happy surprise that the stripes on the fabric made a nice design when tied this way.  The sleeves could be better but I love how soft and flowy the whole piece is.

Wow!  More belly. Sheesh- you don't really realize how pregnant you look until you see these kind of pictures of yourself.  

The fabric was from Joanns- back in the red tag section and was 50% off which came to about $5 a yard.  I used 2 yards.  I used my serger for all my seams but you could easily use a ball point needle on your regular machine.  Some spray starch would have been helpful to get the fabric to lay flat while sewing my seams but I keep forgeting to pick some up at the store!

Thank you to Jamie from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom for the inspiration.  I'm sure I'll be using this summer cardigan a bunch!  If you have a good (and easy!) tutorial for some maternity clothes, I would love to hear about it!  I have some more of this type knit in solids that I need to use up this summer!

A new Patchwork Duffle

While on our beach vaction last week, the zipper on Elsie's duffel bag broke.  I knew it was only a matter time since it was a cheapy zipper.  The bag was one of my trials from when I created the pattern and instead of trying to replace the zipper, I thought it would be more fun to create a new bag!

I used my bag of yellow scraps and cut all pieces (that were big enough) to a 6" width.  This meant that the piece were all different heights but all were the same width.  This made for a more random and casual patchwork but made putting them together easier than having all completely different sizes.

Elsie and I both like how it turned out.  Yellow is a new favorite!  Happily, the chosen 6" width worked great for the side panels and the zipper section.  I made my own piping (more about that in the piped pot holders tutorial) and matched the handles with the same solid yellow.

The only troubles I had with this bag was my choice to use duck cloth for the lining.  I am having a love affair with duck cloth but this time I may have gone too far!  It was too thick at the zipper section and gave me fits.  If I were to do it again, I may do duck cloth for the nice shape it gives the bag but do the zipper section lining in a cotton.  

I did add a layer of cotton fusible interfacing to the main panels behind the patchwork.  I think it gave me a boost of confidence but wasn't really neccesary- i just felt like the patchowrk might be sturdier with it back there holding things together.

We are going to the beach again this coming week and then to my parents in Atlanta for the 4th of July.  I have to fit in all this travel before the new addition (a girl!!! due in Novemember) comes and makes getting around a challenge again.  I will probably be sticking close to home for the next couple of years!

The Make Your Getaway Duffel is on sale for only $4.50 until midnight tonight!  Remember to enter the discount code summer to get the deal.

Piped Pot Holders Tutorial

We have some picnics to go to this weekend and although I may make box brownies as my contribution, I decided to make handmade cute pot holders to go with my dish to give to the hostess.  This may be my summer staple since I had fun making these and they look really cute!

I love a nice potholder.  But my issues with doing a nice binding keep getting in my way!  I don't want to take the time to hand sew it and I can't seem to get a nice machine stitched binding.  It may look great on the front but messy on the back.  

On the other hand, piping and I are great friends.  I realized maybe my pot holders just needed piping instead of that traditional binding.  They turned out great!

Here is how you can make one too~

~You need to find a 8.5" circle to trace.  I used an embroidery hoop but a plate or whatever will work too.  9" is fine too and 8" is OK but getting a little small.

~cut 2 pieces of 100% cotton fabric (i used quilting weight) and 2 pieces of insulbrite- all 4 pieces need to be 8.5" round.

~ 30" of piping rope.  Mine is about 1/4" thick (or sometimes I just cheat and cover a store bought binding if I don't have any rope but the store bought is a little skinny for this project.)

~32" strip of 1.5" cordinating fabric cut on the bias

~ 6" strip of 1.5" fabric that is the same fabric as the circles.  This will be your loop.  Fold this piece in binding and iron flat.  It can be on the bias or just with the grain of the fabric.

~You will also need a sewing machine, scissors. pins, cordinating thread, an iron and ironing board.

Fold the 32" fabric strip over the 30" of piping rope.  Pin every 6".   Sew down along the strip to enclose the rope and make piping.  See the photo above.

Next, take one of your fabric circles, and sew the piping around the edge of the circles.  Have your rope facing in toward the middle of the circle.  I don't use pins here since I find it easier to sew a little, adjust, sew a little, adjust, etc.  But you can do whatever feels comfortable.  Sew along the line you made to enclose the rope in the last step.

Once you sew all the way around the circle, overlap the piping and sew through the layers.  See the picture above.  Trim off the excess piping and set this piece aside.

Take that 6" piece of binding and sew it closed.  This will be your loop to hang your pot holder.  

Cross the loop over and pin it to the top of the circle without the piping on it.  Layer the 2 circles of insulbrite beneath the circle of fabric.  Sew the loop on and trim the extra binding off to match the edge of the circles.  6" will give you enough length to make the loop small or a little longer.  See the picture above as reference.

Now pin together the 2 sides- one with the loop and 2 layers of insulbrite and the other with the piping sewn on.  Right sides of the fabric should be facing each other.  The side with the piping should be facing up.  The line of stitches you made to attach the piping will guide you to sew the 2 sides together.  This way, your piping will be perfectly even all around your pot holder.  See the above picture as your guide for how your project should look at this point.  There needs to be an openning of about 3" to turn the pot holder right sides out.  Backstitch at both edges of the opening.

Now trim all your seams down a little smaller than 1/4" except at the opening.  See the picture above.

Turn your piece right sides out through the opening.  Iron nice and flat and fold under the opening to match your edges.  See picture above.

At this point you have lots of options to finish up your pot holder.  You can just sew a seam around the edge to close up the opening and flatten the edges or you can do a little quilting design like I did.  I did this by marking the center and 4 even sections with pins.  Then I just free quilted some loops that crossed over each other to close up the opening.

That is some wonky quilting but it was fun!  With some practice and planning, you could make this part really pretty!  I did loops, circles, and ups and downs.  Lots of possibilites to have fun with your quilting designs!

Hostess gifts for the weekend complete!  I plan on making more for myself too and finally throw out those old ugly ones!  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.  Please do not sell pot holders you make from this tutorial.  Contact me if you want to do them for a fundraiser or something like that.  If you do make one, I would love to see it in my Gingercake Tutorials Flickr group.  Thanks!!  

Have a happy holiday weekend!

 

 

 

Gifts and a Resurrected Project

Last week Cal finished preschool for the year.  We had performances and picnics.  I love preschool so much.  What's not totally adorable about 3 and 4 year olds singing (it's even adorable when they choose not to sing) the itsy bitsy spider?  Cal has 2 teachers.  His main teacher is my good friend Karen who has received so MANY of my handmade gifts that I decided to give her a gift card instead.  The assistant is new though and she asked Karen to tell me that she wanted something I made- that was really nice since I sometimes wonder if people would just prefer something from the store!

I bought several half yards of Sandi Henderson's secret garden when it came out in the fall.  I thought it was pretty but when it arrived I found it too girly for my personal tastes.  I kept trying to use it but have ended up just using it as gifts to people I know are more into this look than me.  It's lovely but I can't get excited about it for myself.  I find it a safe and sweet fabric to make teacher gifts though!

The assistant preschool teacher is very sweet and talks to me a bunch her love of Vera Bradley.  I hoped that she would like this quilted cover on the On the Go Organizer since it is kinda like Vera Bradley- right?  I just made simple loops which was fun and easy.

The interior is more Secret Garden and I used my favorite duck cloth for the pocket to give some extra weight.  This took me less than an hour to make! 

I also made my good friend Anna a 3 Layer Clutch for her birthday.  We have been friends since we were 13 and I have neglected her birthday for years since we got out of college and I moved away from Atlanta.  She is not really the Vera type so I went a little more funky on the fabric.

The fabric is Soul Blossoms from Amy Butler and I used vintage trim and onasburg for the flap.  Hopefully she has gotten her package by today and I am not ruining her surprise here!  

Back in march I ordered some beautiful Heather Ross fabric to make another more spring themed 3 layer clutch.  I made the clutch but ended up cutting the main outside piece too small.  I felt irrated and abandoned the clutch to work on my Bunny where I used up the rest of that adorable fabric.  After I finished up Anna's clutch, I looked at that abandoned one from March and felt newly inspired to start in with my seam ripper, make a whole new outside piece, rework the interior (since I had cut all that down to try to fix up the shortened outside piece) and finish up the clutch finally.

Somehow the flap turned out a little short but it worked out nicely since you can see the words on the Snow White fabric.

Then when you open the flap...

Pretty and whimsical but not cutesy.  Isn't that what Heather Ross is a genius at creating?   Then the wallet opens to look great too and you can see a bit of the 7 dwarfs.

I am so glad I took the time to rip out all those seams and replace those pieces!  My next few posts may be about my veggie garden so I wanted to make sure you got your fill of sewing projects with this one!  Hope you are having a wonderful spring and enjoying beautiful weather like we are!