Baby bibs

Today I was mostly... finishing sewing baby bibs

11 bibs made and no two the same
Thanks to nanacompany.typepad.com for the pattern

Fasteners

The Eleven Bibs - back and front

A tie shape appliqué for a little man.

Plain and simple. Bright orange! With tie fastener.

A simple dickie bow for a boy. And matching blue on the reverse.

It's harder to find ideas for girls! I appliquéd one of the circular shapes from the oilcloth pattern on to the orange fabric.

This one features an appliqué boat on one side, and blue watery colour fabric at the rear.

Same as the first one - tie with blue on reverse.

Black and white fabric with orange on reverse (using up fabric scraps from my stash!)

Blue/orange combo

Orange/ B&W combo:

A lovely oilcloth pattern with orange on reverse:

(I think there's only ten there!) They will be gifts for friends and family.

Onion Bag

I bought a bag for storing onions. Like this one:

And it's been a really useful, tidy, functional addition to my kitchen.
When Derrybeg Farm needed to make up a hamper of goods to promote Community Supported Agriculture, I thought to contribute an onion bag. I had bought just the fabric for the job!

Bought on sale from The Eternal Maker: Abstract Onions by Kobayashi

It's a simple drawstring bag pattern. I think I used shoelaces for the drawstrings.

The shape/size/dimensions of my bag were influenced by the scrap of fabric which I had.

The professional bag which was my inspiration does have a zip in the size for easy access of onions if the bag is hanging, I didn't trouble myself with this. I wonder if the winner of the hamper minds! And if the bag gets used!

Minoru jacket

This jacket was sewn over a year ago by me. I really liked the pattern and absolutely recommend it.

 It was surprisingly easy to sew a jacket.

 The fabric is maybe a light denim. Bought in Wexford at Colman Doyle's shop. It's interesting because it's got these lines through it, ready-sewn grooves in the fabric.
I remember the zip purchasing being a bit of a challenge- it's open ended.

 For the lining, I used a red satiny lining fabric for collar and sleeves and a floral cotton fabric (used to be a curtain) for the main body - I mustn't have had enough of either fabric so I mixed and matched! Actually it works really well, because the silkiness feels nice at my neck but there's more warmth in the body.

 There's an elastic casing at the back which was easy to make and makes the fit of the coat really work for me.

5 stars to Tasia at Sewaholic - whose website and pattern collection has come on sooo much since I last checked it out. Great work! I think she started out as an independent pattern drafter in Canada only a few short years ago.

Operatic Costumes

I've had my debut as Costume Designer for Lyric Opera Productions! I've worked in Wardrobe with them for a year and a half and now I've been entrusted the bigger job of creating the "vision" of who wears what. Not only that, the programme notes that I am also Wardrobe Supervisor. My skill levels are being tested to the maximum!
The opera is Tosca. Not a difficult one to costume. In the National Concert Hall. Two shows done, one show to go on Tuesday, 20th May 2014.

Act one: Congregation (chorus)

 Act I: Ecclesiastical procession

Act II & III: Tosca

Spoletta, Sciarrone, Jailer

Clasp purses

Moving on from my experiments with zipped and boxed pouches, I finally wanted to grapple with clasp purses. You know those ready made purse handles that can be bought in haberdasherys?

I had saved a tutorial from the Village Haberdashery for this project: Emily's frame purse tutorial. I now see that it was written over two years ago! This is how long it takes sometimes to get around to doing projects!!!

I can't remember exactly where I bought the clasp I have, but I quickly realised it was a different style to the one Emily uses in her tutorial :(

See? Mine has holes in it whereas the other clasp has a groove where I assume the fabric gets squeezed in. I think I remember at the time I was buying it, that I had a notion it was more "authentic" to sew a purse on to the clasp than to "squeeze" the fabric in between the grips... sigh.

Ok, so now I don't have a tutorial to follow, but there was a sheet of directions with the clasp. Multilingual directions.

The English is translated from German by someone who doesn't sew, for example "stitch the left edges of both bag pouches together" - they mean "wrong sides of fabrics facing". Also the English says "Layout has a 1cm seam allowance all around", again, from reading the German, and also the French, I conclude that the pattern doesn't include this allowance but that it must be added!!!

So I get some beautiful velvet and some beautifuller satin and I set about cutting it as per the pattern instructions on the sheet.

I don't succeed with the purse. The fabrics are too unmanageable, especially considering this is my first time grappling with this purse clasp :(
Also, it appears that the clasp would be visible on the inside of the purse, that the lining wouldn't conceal it.
I decide I need to use fabrics that don't fray so I'm not dealing with turning inside out etc... This is a new thing I'm exploring in my sewing-life... fabrics that don't fray! I'm planning on making more babies bibs and they would be made much easier if I could avoid turning inside-out etc, but that's a different project!
So I go to my stash and find some oilcloth and some fleece. Oilcloth for the outside and fleece for the lining.
And I try to sew these shapes on to the metal clasp, threading through the holes.

Can you sense my frustration with this? Ok, so the thread I have looks flimsy, but when I tried to use a thicker thread (it was wool actually), the larger needle I had to use didn't fit through all the holes - the holes at the bend of the metal are squidged and misformed and smaller :(

But I persevere... and end up with this... (yes, I know it's turned inside out around the body of the purse, the non-fray concept comes into its own at the point where the fabrics touch the clasp)

The pattern cutting instructions were just not helpful, they should have addressed something about the section around the hinge. There was no help for cutting the fabric to take account of the hinge, what they said was "complete the bag pouch at the line ends as required".
So I think I need to go back to the Emily tutorial, and follow her steps for drafting the purse shape and hope that it will then fit in with the different metal clasp that I have.

Why is it so difficult?! Should the clasp manufacturer not provide an instruction booklet if it proves to be so useless? This is why we need to go to classes, to learn from each other, to share experience and avoid all this frustration.

Box zipper pouch

Following on from my experiments in zipped pouch making, I wanted to follow a tutorial posted by Pretty Modern for a fully lined zippered box pouch.

The fabric is black and glittery and was bought in Pivitsheide in Germany, the shop is called Alles Besonders Gut. I've mentioned them before. It's near where my brother lives and the woman of the shop knows myself and my sister-in-law now and jokes to other customers that her shop is so well renowned she has people flying over from Ireland especially to make purchases! And she's not wrong! We love visiting the shop together when I'm over. The fabric is an oilcloth, though I don't think it would ever be intended as a table covering. I think it is a crafting oilcloth.

I didn't copy Pretty Modern's instructions exactly, in that I only put the puller/tag on one side... I'd recommend putting one on both ends as she instructs!
I like the box shape but for my immediate need (a few nights abroad) the size of the large pouch using a 30cm/12" zip with the boxed bottom is the most appropriate because it will carry my toothbrush, hairbrush and other bathroom essentials and can stand up on a sink. In fact, it might be a bit deep/large considering I can't transport containers larger than 100ml and my hand luggage is limited.