Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! so much for this tutorial!  I've been deathly afraid of zippers for the longest time, plus I lost my zipper foot (I blame it on letting my kids get into my craft stuff).  The directions were super easy and I'm in love with my new zippy pouch.

This here is my baby.  It was an Ebay purchase after my $70 Wally World Brother machine pissed me off one too many times.  Funny thing is that (including shipping) this baby here cost less than my first one.



It's a Singer 5528 that was made from 1982-1984.

After the birth of my youngest daughter, she left pounds on me, that 4 years later I just can't get rid of.  Eh!

So when I was cleaning out the closet, I found a pair of jeans that I loved wearing pre-her.  They had a little stretch, made my bum look good, and had flocked butterflies on them.

So, since I've been wanting a new bag, I decided I would use the jeans as my material.



I used both pant legs, cut them opened, then free handed a purse shape as to not cut into the butterflies.  The back jean pockets were carefully cut off and re-used as the pocket on the front (for my cell phone) as well as for the button flap.  The button is from a mason jar I picked up from an antique shop. 





As far as the handle, I didn't want to use the lining fabric because I was afraid it would look tacky.  Plus, being that the jeans had stretch to them, I was afraid that any handle I made out of the remaining fabric would just come out wonky and ugly looking.  So I hacked off the waistband from the jeans, cut off the belt loops and used it.  It's actually the perfect length for me.



  Thanks for looking! 

It is going to get stitched onto a pillow for my daughter.  She knows that I've been working on this, but she doesn't know it's going to be for her. 



Pattern for it can be found here from shelsta78 (she has a ton of other ones on her account).

So I got this stitchery kit from Goodwill for $2.00.  Awesome!  I've worked on it on and off for about 2 weeks now.  Eventually it got completed and I wasn't sure what to do with it until some people commented on my blog that I should make it into a pillow.

Stitchery all complete


Turned into a pillow


All fabric used was from my stash.  I played and played with many different fabrics until I remember that I had some mushroom fabric I purchased last year.

Also, this was my first time doing any type of piecework and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Seriously happy!   

Back of pillow


Originally it was suppose to be the size of a 16"x16" pillow form that I had but somehow in the making I cut it waaaay to small so had to stuff it with polyfill (yuk!)

Just for fun, a WIP photo

Sorry for the cheesy title but it's Friday, I'm ready for the weekend, and I've only had 1 out my of daily 10 cups of coffee.

Ok, so last year my Mom gave me 5 (or so) yds of this ladybug fabric that she's had for who knows how long.  So now I guess my youngest daughter's summer wardrobe is going to be ladybug fabric.  Good thing she like's ladybugs.

Patterns I used were Simplicity 4336 and Butterick 4910 which are both actually pj patterns but really to me they are just staple patterns (pant pattern and a peasant top pattern).


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Her cute little scrunchy face

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Another view of her capris as well as her new cherry shoes that I found at the Dollar Store.  She loves them!

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The fabric for the capris is red linen.  I would've added ric rac or some ladybug fabric to them but she has a few other tops that would match these.  I know, way to be cheap Mom  , but I really do try to get the most out of my kids clothes.  If I can find some more plain red fabric (that is not broadcloth) I'll make her another pair of capris for the peasant top and beautify them.

Thanks for looking! 

Let's face it, it seems like kids grow about a mile a minute and clothes that do still fit them, they end up getting a chocolate milk stain on them or they just plain out grow them.

With Spring here and Summer right around the corner (and hubby not back to his full hours of work) I decided that I would raid my kids closets and pull out anything that a. didn't fit them anymore and b. had some sort of stain on it.

So, with that in mind and being that both my girls looooove to wear dresses, I pulled out a few shirts, hacked them up, and made them into dresses.

First dress
Before (this onesie still fit my youngest in the chest and arm area but she outgrew the snap area):


After:


Another after (I call this one her "jumping for joy" picture):


Second dress (also for my youngest)
Before (a nice white shirt that she had outgrown the sleeves and also has a chocolate milk stain on it)


After:


Third dress (for my oldest daughter, still going to do a few more for her)
Before (and yes, it is a Valentines shirt and fabric but that's what she picked out that she wanted)


After


Oh, and total cost of project, FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    The shirts were already in their closets and the fabric is all what I've had on hand that I've been trying to think of something to do with.  woohoo!

For some reason I got it in my head that both my girls needed new jammies for Spring  .  One down and one to go.  I used Butterick 4910 View D and the sleeves are view A.  (My daughter picked out the fabric and View D).

I swear, it took me more time to get the sleeves just right than making the whole pj's (including cutting out the fabric).



She is so happy and has made today "jammie day".




I'm definetly going to use this pattern again for more jammies for her.  Also, I'm thinking of changing up the fabric with some contrasting sleeves and band to go around the bottom and make some summer dresses for her.

Thanks for looking! 

I completely feel your pain.  Our old house had absolutely NO room for a sewing anything for me.  I managed though and used my daughters changing table (that she had outgrown) to hold all my fabric and what nots in our bedroom.  Then I took a bookshelf (bought at Walmart years ago) that we had and put that in the dining room to hold my sewing machine, buttons, and any project that I was working on.  When it was time for me to sew, I used my dining room as my "sewing room".  It sucked because it meant that I couldn't leave any project lay out because, well, it was our dining room.

Now that we have moved, I have my own sewing room (which strangely I'm still trying to organize).

My suggestion is to keep your stash and stuff to a minimum.  That way you don't have hoards of fabric and ribbon to worry about organizing and finding a place for. Another thing that I have in my craft room is a clothes line that I use for my patterns that I'm working on.  They aren't all over the floor for my girls (or myself for that matter) to trample on and when I'm done with my pattern, everything goes back into the envelope and put away.

Here's a picture of what I'm talking about.

I just took clothes line (got at the dollar store) and nails and attached it that way.  It's actually very useful and I love having it.

Browsing around looking for a handbag pattern/tutorial, I stumbled across the 1 hour bag tutorial from Vintage Ric-Rac.

I absolutely loved the shape of it and it just screamed "new Spring handbag" for me.



I modified the pattern just a little bit by adding some d-rings, and a little button flap because I didn't have any magnetic snaps (trying to use up what I have in my stash and make "no-cost" projects)  The fabric is left over from other projects (both the outer and the lining) and the button is from my Grandma's button stash.


I'm in love with how the d-rings for the handles came out because I've never done that before (not that it was hard or anything, just first timer).

Also, I loved the detail for the two lines of stitching for the inner pocket that I put it around the top of the purse as well.


Thanks for looking!