Quick and Simple Snack Bag Tutorial

So here is a project that is supposed to be super quick and easy to satisfy a need. What need? Well! I like to buy the larger packs of snack etc because it's cheaper than lots of single helpings. However, these packs are not very easy to handle- trying to reseal a large pack of biscuits with an elastic band in a moving car on a road trip is not fun! The second need is very simple. If you give me a new packet of biscuits in a car I won't stop and will eat them all! This way I can portion out only a few and car trips can cease being a weight-gain fest...

These bags are easy to squeeze into the small spaces left when we've crammed the car for holiday and are wipe clean (but can be turned inside out and really washed if required). They also satisfy me eco-conscience because I'm not constantly buying plastic bags and containers.

I  made some of these for an expectant mum and they went down really well! She has plans to use them for damp flannels to wipe dirty faces, sterilized pacifiers etc.

To begin:

We will need 

• Fabric- 1 window piece 20cm (8inches) by 24cm (9 and a half inches) and 1 back piece 20cm (8inches) by 20cm (8inches).
• Clear plastic 2 pieces to the same dimensions as the fabric. (A note: I had the plastic left over from a clear plastic table cloth protector but you can buy this type of plastic in smaller amounts too. If you're willing to sacrifice the display window you can even fuse some plastic bags together to create the lining)
• Hook and loop tape (velcro) about 8cm (3inches)
• Bias binding (this can be avoided if you serge/overlock the edges instead)
• Scissors
• Thread

 First, let's cut the window. Take the larger piece and cut a hole in the bottom half of about 8x8cm (3x3inches). Try and centre the window with and equal amount of space on the sides and the bottom. NOTE: Do not do like I did and get so excited about cutting the window that I cut it so the pattern is facing the wrong way! Doh! now my skull pirates are upside down :(
Next cut a 1.5cm (half inch) diagonal at the corners of your window like in the photo below:

 At this point you could iron the folds inwards - but this project is DO EASY. So it's not necessary if you don't want to crack out the iron and speed and instantaneous gratification are more your thing!

Here's is a close up of the corners for clarity:

 Next, sew the smaller back fabric piece to it's corresponding plastic backing with the right side of the fabric facing away from the plastic. It can be helpful to sew with the fabric side on your feed dogs (the little feet that move the fabric forward under your presser foot.) The plastic can get stuck on these whereas I found the plastic slid happily under my presser foot.

 Again- this project is about speed and ease. Don't worry if it's not too straight (see below), I include a chop off your mistakes step!

 Now, on one of the short 20cm (8inch) sides fold the fabric-plastic sandwich over twice to make a finished edge. Like this:

 On the same edge, sew one of the pieces of velcro:

That's the small back piece done! tea time!

OK. Now take the larger front fabric piece and sew to it's plastic counterpart with the right side of the fabric facing away from the plastic. Once this is done it is easy to fold back the window flaps under the fabric outer and sew down (I used a zigzag stitch).

 Close up:

 The inside now looks like this:

 Take the small back piece and the front piece and sew together with wrong (plastic) sides facing. See the yellow stitching below. Remember the top of the back piece will take extra strain at the seams so sew further than the edge.

 Your bag should now look something like this:

Trim off the pesky not-lining-up bits! This also makes adding the binding easier since it removes the bulk inside the binding's fold.

Sew around the whole outside with the binding. There are many tutorials online for sewing on the binding (from the easy fold in half, set machine to massive zigzag and go for it! to the sew one side then the other. Do whichever suits you)

 At this point sew on the other bit of velcro to the plastic side, on the flap of the front piece.

 That's it! Admire your work

 Fill with treats (optional: munch treats immediately after sewing bag!)

 Make more!

Leave a comment below and tell me how you used your bag or point me to photo's of yours!

Stuffed Dinosaur

So one of my best friends is having a baby half way around the world from me. I think this is very inconsiderate. Obviously I'll be crafting like mad, but now I'll have to pay for my makings not only in sweat and blood (hand sewing is torture) but also in postal costs! The agony!

Anyhoo. Here is one of many baby related crafts I've been sinking into:

 A baby stuffed dinosaur! A green spotted, blue spiked baby dinosaur!
(Note: I BRIEFLY called him a brontosaur but after the ensuing wikipedia battle with my husband I came to realize it is only correct to call him a diplodocus. Who knew brontosaurus is no longer acceptable?- since about the turn of the century?!)

 I was incredibly surprised at how well he turned out (I freely admit he is not my first dino, but the last one was tried about a year ago and I still haven't emptied the bag that the resulting demented half-creature lives...)
I made him with some super cheap bits of cotton that I already had in my stash and I used shrink plastic for his eyes. I'm a bit amazed at how much I like his eyes- they even follow you around!

So! Do you think I should make a tutorial and a pattern for everyone to have their own precious dino? I'm sure my construction could be figured out from my photos but its sometimes nice to have some help at 2am!
Let me know in the comments below.

Reworked for Oxfam III

Can't believe its taken me so long to bounce back from the Christmas crafty madness! I felt so drained of creative energy. To get back in the swing of things here's a peek at some of the projects from the Reworked for Oxfam shop I volunteer at:

This was just a black heavy skirt that needed some creativity.
First- a crusty shot with flash: 

And a close up of one of the teapots:

Then one of my absolute favourites! A messenger bag made from men's neck ties.

 The cutest button in the world to close it:

 I even lined the magnificent thing :), so super proud of myself.

 Another shot for fun and adoration:

The rest are not things I made for Oxfam but they aren't important enough to get their own post. I made about a million (it felt like) zippered pouches for presents and for my shop. Each of these beauties is lined and has pleats and a lobster claw closure.

Shew! Time to work on a tutorial for the next installment! See you then :)

Super Hero Ninja Cape

My first commission! An adult sized super hero cape with a ninja logo and eye mask.
Look how tiny my satin stitch had to be to keep the detail on the ninja. 

You can't see them?- that's right! I think the width of his sword is only about 5ml so it was eye straining work. I should also add that I love interfacing to stabilize the fabric so it won't fray and also wonderful hem tape which I cut into tiny tiny bits to hold all of it together whilst sewing.
But even with all this help I could not do the letters, so I used the freezer paper method to make a stencil and paint them on.
The mask is made of cotton and rimmed in bias binding tape, mostly by hand.

I like how this turned out and I hope the buyer is happy, but most especially I hope they help a young hero kick some bad guy ass. :)