Sunday, April 18, 2010

Haberdashery...just because I like that word

As the work piles up I find myself avoiding it like the plague, as though some helpful little elves will sneak in at night and transform my piles of fabric into piles of completed bags.  I'm not sure why I do this as I thoroughly enjoy what I do, and would gladly give up my day job if this sewing thing were lucrative enough.  So instead of crossing things off the list what I find myself doing is acquiring additions to my already sizable stash and creating another list of to-dos for after this list is finished.  But my feeling is that when things are on sale and you're going to get them at some point anyway why not save the money?  So here's my haul:

Some of the fabric, trims and buttons I decided I needed...I love the colors of these.

The fabric is a sage green satin that my camera decided against capturing, and some buttons I got crazy cheap (there's a whole bagful of them on my sewing table right now).

On a high note, I finished one set of bags for a July wedding I am in and just have to attach the buttons (I am going to use the ones in the center of the photo above).  Once I get approval on the satin color above I can knock out another set of bags for another wedding in June in no time (I want to use the heart buttons on the left). My mother and I stopped in a store that had huge containers of buttons for rock-bottom prices.  So we sifted through them for about half an hour to find as many of the above as we could (I'm sure other shoppers were thrilled with the noise we were making). 

And, because I realized that I haven't made anything for myself in a long time, I decided to put me first this weekend and put together my eyeglass wristlet kit.  I. Love. It.

The fabric makes me smile--it's part of the reason I wanted the kit.

I can't even put into words how easy this was (but I guess I just did).  It uses minimal fabric (not even a whole fat quarter) and interfacing, there is minimal sewing, and the frame makes it look like a store-bought item.  I have never glued fabric before (intentionally) so applying the glue to the frame and then the fabric and wiggling them together made me a little nervous, but I took my time and followed the superb directions I had and all went well.  I have a few minor things I might do differently on the next one but overall I'm pleased--I didn't think my first attempt would be acceptable. Of course, I think I am still high from the glue fumes, but if the strength of the odor is directly related to the strength of the bond of the glue, then I think I can put together a house from this stuff with no worries.  I love the new sunglasses I bought, and now they have a home so they don't get crushed and scratched in the bottom of my handbag.  I ordered a few more of the heart-shaped frames as well as the standard rectangular kind.  I'm going to try to put some for sale in my shop, but when I make something new everyone seems to want one and I don't get the chance to post anything (fine by me--I don't have to package and ship them).

And before I go make popcorn and play Jenga with a certain favorite little boy, I leave you with this close-up of my roll of pink fabric fat-eights I bought:


...which makes me want strawberry shortcake. So much for the diet.

2 comments:

  1. I am jealous that you get to buy kits from U-Handbag. If I do buy them, they'd get here several months later and I will no longer be interested in making the bag/purse. Haha

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  2. I almost made myself sick I was so excited for that kit to come, and it was only a week! I don't know WHAT would happen to me if I had to wait months!

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