After finishing my purses and wallets, I got to browsing around and found the tampon cozies.  Well, I saw them on one etsy shop for $31 each... thought, I bet there's only $2 in materials there... and 40 minutes later... here's my tampon cozy!

I am so cheap! I absolutely refuse to buy/hire something when I know I can do it/ make it myself.

Open: Holds 4 tampons & 2 pads


Folded up:


Folded up top view:

I was looking through the archives of finished swaps and came across the fill a purse swap.  I was so bummed that I missed that one, but was wondering if there was any interest in another one?  I would be more than willing to be the organizer, I just want to make sure there is enough of an interest. 

here's the link to the previous round's gallery
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=239195.new#new

I've been stumped for ideas for christmas presents for my sister-in-laws.  Well, last week I overheard one of them complaining about their old purse etc...  so I thought "that's what I'll make!"  Then I decided they needed matching wallets.... and then thought "hey! I'll make them journals too!"  so, here they are... journals (only have one done, the rest are drying..), purses, and wallets.

The purses are patterned after another craftster who posted her messenger style diaper bag here.  And the wallets are my own concoction.  The journals are done from a Youtube tutorial.

PICS!!!
Completed set


Close-up of the Wallet








Pockets on the inside front of bag


Zipper on the inside of the bag


Cell phone holder on the side of the bag


pocket on the back of the bag

I had fun with this one.   I decided to make a couple child size messenger bags.  My daughter is the same age as the girl I am making the bag for, and she insisted that I get the pink leopard print.  I have to say I love the way the bag came out.  I still have to finish the straps though.  Finished measurements are 9 x 6 x 2.5 inches.

Front closed:

Front: Has divided pocket for small notebook/pens

Back:  Has a pocket

Inside:  Has divided pocket

First off, this is my first professional looking book that I have ever made.  I found a tute a long time ago and made a different style one, but it didn't look anywhere near this nice.  I went to Youtube and found the following video tutorial that is AWESOME!! and very easy to understand.  I love this book!

Anyway,  I used fabric instead of the craft paper to cover the book, but I fused a relatively thin interfacing to the back side of the fabric first to help prevent the glue from coming through.









And the links to the youtube tutorial (there are 6 separate videos to complete the tutorial):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_EcRtRxVXI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxnDPRP-GAU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZTXeghn-F8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGfJXVmVIf0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWx84LJKY7k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHph2VYJYz4

These are some dresses I made for my dad's upcoming wedding.  My sis and I are the bridesmaids, and my daughters are the flowergirls.  We decided to go with red for the flowergirl dresses too.  I could only get one daughter to pose (and it was difficult as she was wiggling around) but both dresses are the same.

  Still needs to be hemmed and have the sleeves finished, so ignore the stray strings hanging.




still needs to be hemmed

I've been wanting to make some retro styled bowling shirts for some time now, but have been unable to find a pattern for them.  Well, I finally just picked out a regular shirt pattern McCalls 4399 and altered it to get the look I wanted.  Since this is a man's shirt pattern I knew it was going to be large, and looking at the pattern pieces, decided that I needed to take some of the length off of it.  Well, I got a bit scissor happy and took too much off.  But it came out very nice.  I used broadcloth at $2 per yard, and with buttons, it only cost $6 to make.  If my bowling team is interested, I will be making more.  Anyway, here it is.

I need some help drafting a bodice pattern for a dress for my sister.  I found the site that explains how to draft a block and entered all the measurements and have it all drawn out on paper.  My trouble is knowing how to divide that up into pattern pieces.  My sister needs a dress with an empire waist, square neckline, and short sleeves.  I can handle the skirt on my own, I am just unsure how to go about working the front.


I am working with the red line on up.  Would I cut it roughly where I inserted the curved red lines?  And would the back pieces be similar?

Again, not my design...  I saw one similar to this online somewhere awhile back, but I can't find it now.  I remembered what it looked like and decided to try and re-create it.  This was just a rough first draft, the pattern still needs tweaking.  I need to make it a bit wider so the phone doesn't show through in the middle, and I forgot to add velcro to the closure flap, and forgot to add a little loop in the back for a keyring or belt to fit through, and I sort of went a little grommet happy, need to reduce the number of grommets on the final product.  But I love this, or at least, I love what the final product will look like.  Like I said, this was my trial run to work out the bugs....




see that gap at the top where the phone is coming out?  that gap shouldn't be there...like I said, work in progress....on the final product, there will be velcro, or a snap there and the center seam will most likely be hand sewn closed...

I'm still amazed that I was able to do this.  This was the hardest clothing project I have attempted yet.   I hate buying coats from the store.  The sleeves are never long enough for me.  So I decided to make one (or at least I told myself I would attempt to make one).  I wanted black wool, but they don't have that around here, so I settled for a khaki colored courderoy.  Big difference from the original plan, but oh well.  I used McCalls's 5525 View E, but I shortened it about 5 inches.  I was short 3 buttons, there are supposed to be 6 on the front, but I only have the 3 on the right side right now.  I will get the remaining 3 and put them on later.  It is lined with this slick fabric that was pre-quilted, so it will be nice and warm for me during the winter months.

Front


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comments, criticisms, always welcome!