Lorelei Eurto's Blog, page 15

New Postings from last week

all available on my website www.loreleieurto.com

Sewing might be the PERFECT summer craft

I am becoming braver in my sewing! I recently picked up a copy of Haute Handbags by Stampington, and fell in love with 2 small details of one of the projects in the bag. 1. That lobster clasp hanging on the outside of the bag. And 2. The adjustable strap. 



 So I headed over to Joann's and $35 later, because I can't seem to go in that store without spending over $30 at a time, came out with 3 different color straps, some hardware for the adjustable strap, a lobster clasp  and some extra sewing machine needles, (just in case).



The overall design of the bag was my own, no pattern needed. I picked out a few exterior fabrics, 2 Home decor heavy weight cottons, and picked out an interior lining color. Which is just a quilting cotton, navy and white cross hatch pattern.

 
I am not sure why i made the bag so long, I think I was thinking in my head that I would box up the bottom and I wanted to have enough fabric to do so, but then when I did the boxed bottom,  it didn't require as much fabric as I initially thought. So it's a bit longer. To combat that, i made the lining fabric interior, shorter by about 2-3 inches. So in order to dig for your wallet, it's within arms reach- you don't have to reach too far to get at it. 
One challenge was the woven strap- unraveling. I was wishing I had some electrical tape but not sure if that's a good way to finish off ends.... I added some super glue to the edges of the strap and am wondering how it will hold up.
 
Overall, I am impressed that with the little knowledge that I have so far in bag making, I was able to figure out how to construct the bag with the lining and I couldn't be more pleased with the finished result.

Have you dug out your sewing machine yet??

Layered Necklaces

Zippered Bags

I sat down yesterday morning to sew a few more zippered bags, using some vintage table linens. You may notice this pink  style was one I just bought recently and showed on the blog a few posts ago. I really love how they all turned out! I am getting much better at sewing the zippers in. I have better luck using my regular presser foot v.s. the zipper foot.


These could be used as knitting project bags, OR you could use them as a travel bag, for toiletries, make up, lingerie, and the larger ones you could use to carry a nice pair of shoes or put whatever you want in them. I believe everyone can utilize a zippered bag in some way.


These have all been listed in my webstore, www.loreleieurto.com 

I am going to be testing out my mom's sewing machine this week. I drove down to pick it up this past weekend because she was having some issues with the needles breaking when she was switching the machine to do different stitches. I took it back to Joann's and of course it didn't act up at all while the lady was sewing with it.  I bought her the Singer Simple model in teal green. I am anxious to see how it compares to my Singer Heavy Duty.  Hers has a lot of fancier stitch styles to choose from, than mine does. So I'll be having fun playing around with that. Who knows, I may have a hard time giving it back to her!


sold      

Branching Out

Take risks.Be Brave and follow those first instincts.

Weekend Sewing

Had a fun time this weekend searching my local antique mall for some vintage linens that I could use in some bags. I came back home and got right to sewing!

Out of this bunch of fabrics above, I only used the Horse linen dishtowel and created this very sweet Tote bag! I love how it turned out, and it's HUGE! The zipper across the top will keep everything safe inside. I am offering this bag for sale on my website.


I used some fun teal and white polka dotted cotton fabric from Joann's as the bottom panel, lining and on the straps.

I also created a few boxy bags- great for knitting and crochet projects, or a travel bag or toiletry bag.

 They have a nice fleece interfacing too which makes them extra squishy. These are also available for sale on my website.

Large Size Zippered Bag, Perfect for Anything. Really

 Cotton fabrics: navy and white cross hatch, Arrows, and solid chartreuse lining
Brass world zipper pull
Woven handle
Fleece interfacing gives this bag a nice squishiness.

Perfect for a large knitting project- easily holds 4 skeins of yarn, needles and your work in progrss. But you could also use it for travel, as a bag for your favorite books, or throw a nice pair of shoes to protect them. You could keep electronics like an tablet, and your chargers. The possibilities are endless really. 
SIze: 11 x 13.5 x 4 inch boxed bottom





Available HERE

episode 18

Sew Cute!

I am OBSESSED with www.noodle-head.com.  Anna Graham is one talented lady, that is for sure. I have fallen head over heels for every pattern in her recent book, called Handmade Style.

'
I have the book, but when I dug around her website yesterday I came across a whole bunch of additional patterns available for purchase in the Shop section. I decided on the 241 Tote. And after a little trip to Joann's to get more Pellon fuseable interfacing, and some more fabric for my ever-growing stash.... I got right to work around lunch time and finished my bag by 3:30. Not too bad!

Before I had left for the store, I cut out a lot of the pieces from fabric I already had in stash. I made a project bag out of that owl fabric, and my little Astrid cross body bag from that teal medium weight cotton, and I had a plethora of linen. so even though I bought more fabric to make the bag, I decided to just go with this combo for my initial test run.


It turned out very well! Construction of the bag was very straightforward, but I did have a little bit of a struggle with some of the top stitching after the bag was all assembled. I have to admit why. I forgot about the free arm on my sewing machine. GAH! That would have made that task so much easier so now I'm excited to start the second one because it will probably go a lot quicker.

Love these little side pockets but I wish that they were just a tad bigger to house my iPhone6.


I even put in a pocket! And a magnetic clasp! Which the instructions are on Anna's website under the Tutorials Tab -  brilliant and very helpful!


Very happy with the outcome of this project! I am excited to show it on my podcast this week! I can't wait to find my next sewing project- ten to one it will be from Noodle-head.com

New Necklaces

available here.