Saturday, April 30, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Hoo-Ha Pouch Tutorial
Well, it's better than what my husband was calling it.
I've struggled with how to post this tutorial because, honestly, I made this up as I went along. No measurements were involved, the lining had to be redone 4 times and I went through two zippers. It was a bad experience. Translating that into a tutorial has proven difficult. So I decided to assume that if you're reading this you 1) already know how to make a zippered pouch or, 2) know how to google it :) Instead, this is a formula of sorts - with lots of pictures.
*pictures of the finished pouch can be seen in my previous post*
Materials:
Fabric for the outside of your Hoo-Ha
Fabric for the peek-a-boo portion of your Hoo-Ha
Lining fabric
Zipper based on the size pouch you want to make.
1. The hoo-has are made from bias strips of any size. Obviously the wider the bias strips, the bigger the space will be between rows (or the bigger you should make your hoo-has). I used 1" bias strips for my pouch.
2. Decide the width and height of your pouch. Decide the width of the bias strips you want to use. It might be easiest to make your pouch like I did, with one piece of fabric that, when folded in half, forms both sides of the pouch.
3. Get out your calculator or your favourite 7 year old and figure out how many finished bias strips you will need in order to lay them side by side across the width of the pouch. Multiply that number by the length of the pouch. Make that much flat-fold bias tape.
4. If you have never made flat-fold bias tape just cut bias strips that are twice the width of your finish bias tape. Feed the strips through a bias tape doohickey, like the one in my picture (don't mind the trashy ironing board cover). Press down the folds as you pull the bias tape doohickey along and - voila - flat fold bias tape. The doohickey is totally worth the few dollars at Joann's on a sale day.
4. Lay your pressed bias strips, folded side down, over your peek-a-boo fabric.
5. Pin down your strips then draw lines every so often from end to end. My lines are 1.25" apart. If the bottom of you pouch will have a larger/flatter bottom, add more space between the lines at the half-way point.
6. Stitch across all your lines.
7. Stretch those fingers and break out the Ben-Gay because it's time to do some hand-sewing. Lots of hand sewing. The method is just like a cathedral square. Ok, I say that with no prior experience making cathedral squares. But I've seen pictures. It looks similar. So I'm sticking with "same." You're smart, you know if it is or not.
8. Starting at one end, fold back one of the openings to create half a hoo-ha. Stitch that baby down. Since we're using bias tape, a natural curve occurs in the center. Just follow the natural curve from beginning to end, tacking down every so often. I placed a stitch every 1/8 inch. But, if you've read all eight blog posts, you might have noticed that I am not good with eye balling ASE increments. Keep going. And going. And going. Until you reach the other end. Then make your way back down the other side. Continue across every strip.
This is the only progress picture I have because I would sew one segement here or there until it was finished.
9. Woohoo, all done! Trim up your fabric and make youself a throw pillow or a centerpiece. You might want to frame it because you spent so much time on this part that you don't think you can go on. But if you do, go to step 10.
10. Start making the pouch. Measure your fabric. Write it down. Fold the fabric right sides together along the short edge and sew up the sides. Square off the bottom (sorry, I forgot to take a picture).
Sew a leftover bias strip around the top raw edges of the pouch.
11. Fold up the edge and press flat.
12. Fold over and pin down. At this point, things started to fall apart. I stitched down the binding. Nothing fancy, just top stitch. But, the lining also had to be top stitched into the bag so it looked a little sloppy. Next time I won't top stitch at this point . But it's totally up to you.
13. Cut a piece of lining fabric slightly smaller than the outside (hopefully you wrote down the size in step 9). Cut in half width-wise. The zipper is going to be inset in the pouch, which requires sewing the lining to the wrong side of the zipper.
14. Sew the sides of the lining together (I hope you opened the zipper first). Sew across the bottom.
15. Square off the bottom, with the same amount you used on the outside of the pouch.
16. The following pictures have a different lining than the previous pictures. Remember I said I had to redo it? Don't be confused. It's the same pouch.
17. Place your lining inside the pouch, matching the zipper head to one side of the pouch and the tail to the other side. Then top stitch around to hold it in place (I stitched on the outside binding). I didn't take any photos at this point because it's hard to do when your middle finger is busy.
But this photo shows how it sits inside the pouch and where I stitched.
The stitching ends up just below the edge where the zipper meets the lining fabric. Much like where you would top stitch when you are making a zippered pouch the normal way.
18. All Done! Zip it up, hope that it doesn't twist because your zipper ends were slightly off, and stuff with fabric.
I've struggled with how to post this tutorial because, honestly, I made this up as I went along. No measurements were involved, the lining had to be redone 4 times and I went through two zippers. It was a bad experience. Translating that into a tutorial has proven difficult. So I decided to assume that if you're reading this you 1) already know how to make a zippered pouch or, 2) know how to google it :) Instead, this is a formula of sorts - with lots of pictures.
*pictures of the finished pouch can be seen in my previous post*
Materials:
Fabric for the outside of your Hoo-Ha
Fabric for the peek-a-boo portion of your Hoo-Ha
Lining fabric
Zipper based on the size pouch you want to make.
1. The hoo-has are made from bias strips of any size. Obviously the wider the bias strips, the bigger the space will be between rows (or the bigger you should make your hoo-has). I used 1" bias strips for my pouch.
2. Decide the width and height of your pouch. Decide the width of the bias strips you want to use. It might be easiest to make your pouch like I did, with one piece of fabric that, when folded in half, forms both sides of the pouch.
3. Get out your calculator or your favourite 7 year old and figure out how many finished bias strips you will need in order to lay them side by side across the width of the pouch. Multiply that number by the length of the pouch. Make that much flat-fold bias tape.
4. If you have never made flat-fold bias tape just cut bias strips that are twice the width of your finish bias tape. Feed the strips through a bias tape doohickey, like the one in my picture (don't mind the trashy ironing board cover). Press down the folds as you pull the bias tape doohickey along and - voila - flat fold bias tape. The doohickey is totally worth the few dollars at Joann's on a sale day.
4. Lay your pressed bias strips, folded side down, over your peek-a-boo fabric.
5. Pin down your strips then draw lines every so often from end to end. My lines are 1.25" apart. If the bottom of you pouch will have a larger/flatter bottom, add more space between the lines at the half-way point.
6. Stitch across all your lines.
7. Stretch those fingers and break out the Ben-Gay because it's time to do some hand-sewing. Lots of hand sewing. The method is just like a cathedral square. Ok, I say that with no prior experience making cathedral squares. But I've seen pictures. It looks similar. So I'm sticking with "same." You're smart, you know if it is or not.
8. Starting at one end, fold back one of the openings to create half a hoo-ha. Stitch that baby down. Since we're using bias tape, a natural curve occurs in the center. Just follow the natural curve from beginning to end, tacking down every so often. I placed a stitch every 1/8 inch. But, if you've read all eight blog posts, you might have noticed that I am not good with eye balling ASE increments. Keep going. And going. And going. Until you reach the other end. Then make your way back down the other side. Continue across every strip.
This is the only progress picture I have because I would sew one segement here or there until it was finished.
9. Woohoo, all done! Trim up your fabric and make youself a throw pillow or a centerpiece. You might want to frame it because you spent so much time on this part that you don't think you can go on. But if you do, go to step 10.
10. Start making the pouch. Measure your fabric. Write it down. Fold the fabric right sides together along the short edge and sew up the sides. Square off the bottom (sorry, I forgot to take a picture).
Sew a leftover bias strip around the top raw edges of the pouch.
11. Fold up the edge and press flat.
12. Fold over and pin down. At this point, things started to fall apart. I stitched down the binding. Nothing fancy, just top stitch. But, the lining also had to be top stitched into the bag so it looked a little sloppy. Next time I won't top stitch at this point . But it's totally up to you.
13. Cut a piece of lining fabric slightly smaller than the outside (hopefully you wrote down the size in step 9). Cut in half width-wise. The zipper is going to be inset in the pouch, which requires sewing the lining to the wrong side of the zipper.
14. Sew the sides of the lining together (I hope you opened the zipper first). Sew across the bottom.
15. Square off the bottom, with the same amount you used on the outside of the pouch.
16. The following pictures have a different lining than the previous pictures. Remember I said I had to redo it? Don't be confused. It's the same pouch.
17. Place your lining inside the pouch, matching the zipper head to one side of the pouch and the tail to the other side. Then top stitch around to hold it in place (I stitched on the outside binding). I didn't take any photos at this point because it's hard to do when your middle finger is busy.
But this photo shows how it sits inside the pouch and where I stitched.
The stitching ends up just below the edge where the zipper meets the lining fabric. Much like where you would top stitch when you are making a zippered pouch the normal way.
18. All Done! Zip it up, hope that it doesn't twist because your zipper ends were slightly off, and stuff with fabric.
Then go out and show everyone your Hoo-ha!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Long Overdue
I know that I owe you a tutorial and it is coming. But first, I have some long overdue thanks.
Over a week ago I was flattered to learn that Ali and Bry both nominated me for a stylish blogger award. I'll be honest, I don't know what the award is but who cares - Ali and Bry and totally sweet and talented flickr friends and bloggers and I'm totally flattered that they would think of my blog when asked to pay it forward. Check them out - the girls can create!
As part of the award I am supposed share seven things about myself and pay it forward to six recently discovered bloggers. Here goes nothing.
About me.
1) I am Canadian but have been living in the US for the past 8 years.
2) I have an uncanny ability to block out all noise/light/movement/people around me at any time. A juicy conversation could be going on in the seat next to me and I'd have no idea what so ever.
3) Except if the noise is the sound of someone eating. I can hear that two or three cubicles away and can't finish any work until the person stops eating.
4) I doddle. I could wake up an hour earlier than usual and still arrive an hour later than usual to work.
5) I'm lucky to have a very flexible schedule.
6) I'm the reason the man down the street nails a "no trespassing" sign to his orange tree every year.
7) I've asked my husband for a second cat every Sunday for the past 4 years.
Six recently discovered bloggers. Boy that's a lot!
1) Mand-a-lin
2) This Portlander
3) Providence Handmade
4) Maggie Makes
5) Lulubloom
6) Jaceycraft
Over a week ago I was flattered to learn that Ali and Bry both nominated me for a stylish blogger award. I'll be honest, I don't know what the award is but who cares - Ali and Bry and totally sweet and talented flickr friends and bloggers and I'm totally flattered that they would think of my blog when asked to pay it forward. Check them out - the girls can create!
As part of the award I am supposed share seven things about myself and pay it forward to six recently discovered bloggers. Here goes nothing.
About me.
1) I am Canadian but have been living in the US for the past 8 years.
2) I have an uncanny ability to block out all noise/light/movement/people around me at any time. A juicy conversation could be going on in the seat next to me and I'd have no idea what so ever.
3) Except if the noise is the sound of someone eating. I can hear that two or three cubicles away and can't finish any work until the person stops eating.
4) I doddle. I could wake up an hour earlier than usual and still arrive an hour later than usual to work.
5) I'm lucky to have a very flexible schedule.
6) I'm the reason the man down the street nails a "no trespassing" sign to his orange tree every year.
7) I've asked my husband for a second cat every Sunday for the past 4 years.
Six recently discovered bloggers. Boy that's a lot!
1) Mand-a-lin
2) This Portlander
3) Providence Handmade
4) Maggie Makes
5) Lulubloom
6) Jaceycraft
Monday, April 4, 2011
deadlines deadlines deadlines
Deadlines are good. They get the blood pumping. They give you a reason to buckle down and accomplish some work. They also approach Way. Too. Fast. The Make Mine Modern swap deadline will be here next week (eek!). Luckily I managed to muster enough energy to finish an item for my partner - something to let her know that I didn't forget about her, while I try to finish her main item. Boy do I hope I finish that main item.
My partner and I have very different tastes in fabric and colour but I tried to find a happy medium that I would be comfortable with and that she would love. I really hope she loves this pouch.
Here's what it looks like with a couple of Parisville FQ's inside (those are headed your way too!).
Okey dokey pokey. I hope this is enough eye candy for now because I'll be working until the last moment to finish item #1.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Finally - A winner!
I know I said I would raffle the FQ of fmf gray seeds on March 30 but I just haven't had the time to do anything but work and sleep, with the odd Flickr check in while I have moment at work. Thank you for your patience!
This was my first time having a giveaway and I didn't think it through in advance. I should have had everyone leave a comment here but, since I didn't, I just made a list and gave each person a number for every $10 spent and called it good. Lesson learned.
And now what you've all been waiting for. The winner is #34, Bethany G! Your gray seeds will go out in the mail tomorrow. I hope you use and enjoy them!
Thanks so much everyone - good fabric karma to all!
This was my first time having a giveaway and I didn't think it through in advance. I should have had everyone leave a comment here but, since I didn't, I just made a list and gave each person a number for every $10 spent and called it good. Lesson learned.
And now what you've all been waiting for. The winner is #34, Bethany G! Your gray seeds will go out in the mail tomorrow. I hope you use and enjoy them!
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