sewing

All posts tagged sewing

Fairy Tale Handbags in Shop

Published January 21, 2015 by kurolace

Sorry sweet strangelings, I’ve been away for a long time 😦  Well, a lot has been happening here, first there were the holidays, and then my grandma fell ill and died. So, the next month or two I may still be rather preoccupied, as we have yet to hold her memorial service or settle her estate.

On a far brighter note, I have add several of the totes that I made to my Etsy shop… I made these bags back in October/November. I was heart broken that no one bought one at either of the holiday craft fairs I attended, but hopefully they’ll catch someone’s eye online.

Several bags available in my Etsy store Kurolace

Several bags available in my Etsy store Kurolace

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Round Alice Bag

Published August 21, 2014 by kurolace

Hi there! Well, it’s been a while again… Lately life hasn’t been too much fun. Just a lot of stuff isn’t the way I’d like it to be and I often have trouble imagining that I’ll ever be free to live my own life….   Well, to escape from all that drama, I usually make stuff. Lately I discovered a Chinese book on handbags which all have fairy tale themes. I don’t read Chinese, but I was able to combine the images with my own sewing know-how to make a very cute Alice in Wonderland themed bag. My mom wanted to know how much I’d sell it for, but this first one I’ll probably keep (its not as professionally finished as I’d like it to be). If I do make another to sell, I think it would be in the $50 range. Does that seem too expensive? Keep in mind, all the applique has to be done by hand!

There wasn’t a pattern for the actual bag, so I had to make it up myself, and I’ve never sewn in-the-round like this before. I had to do the bag twice actually, because the first time I somehow messed up my circumference measurements.

The bag is 10.5″ in diameter, made from faux suede with interfacing (to stiffen it) and a cotton lining. The strap is long enough to be worn cross the body (my preferred arrangement), or can be adjusted to be shorter. The applique are done with a lovely 60% wool, 40% rayon felt (a Japanese brand). There’s gold colored beads, key-chain rings, and gold embroidery thread for the charm-bracelet design.

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There are a few things I’ll fix for next time. I meant for the tabs which attach the D-rings to the bag to be in the seam, not sewn on the outside of the bag, but I forgot to do it, and then having done the bag twice, I got lazy and just put them on the outside. The strap could stand to be about 3 inches longer, really. And on the applique I think that I’ll do the embroidered chain (on the watch) for the top chain part of the charms bracelet (the little row of beads leading towards the upper corner of the bag).

I wanted to add a fur ball pom pom key-chain (they show it with one in the design book), but I’ve been frustrated by the fact that I can only find real-fur ones, not faux ones. Idk… I’m not strictly against fur, but since I used faux-suede, I think adding a real-fur accessory would be rather odd.

What do you think?

New Embroidery Machine

Published June 28, 2012 by kurolace

This cat arrived packed perfectly – complete with Styrofoam bumpers. 😛

Hello 🙂 …

I’m afraid I’ve been absent for a while, haven’t I? Worry not, sweetlings, I still exist! Its just that the summer heat has hit in full here… and I am busy wilting most of the day 😛

Its been a bit over a week since my 25th birthday… which was back on the 15th. I feel so old saying that… What ever happened to 20? or 17 for that matter? …. Well, besides thinking depressing thoughts about how my life isn’t nearly what I hoped it would be by 25… I did have a nice day. We didn’t make much of a big deal out of it. My mom baked a delicious pineapple-upside-down cake, and we went out to a Japanese restaurant for sushi. Seeing as I don’t really have many friends here in my hometown, I didn’t do anything besides hang out with my family.  This year I completely failed to think of gifts that people could give me, so I ended up with all monetary gifts, which was just fine by me. After a lot of consideration, I finally decided to buy an embroidery machine.

Actually its a sewing-embroidery combo machine. The Brother SE-400. It only can do small (4x4in) embroidery, but that’s fine. The larger machines are significantly more expensive (like $2,000 plus), so I figured I’d start small and see if I even like machine embroidery enough to someday invest in a larger machine. So far I haven’t had much luck with using the machine… I am completely new to machine embroidery, so I’ve run into my fair share of newbie-errors. Also, accumulating all the necessary accessories has taken some time and an additional few hundred (the machine was $300).

I’ve already indulged in buying some cool goth-y embroidery patterns … so once I finally successfully complete one, I’ll post a few pics!

I’ve also been working on some sewing projects lately, including a tiered skirt and a flannel children’s blanket (shaped like a flower). I went on a bit of a fabric buying splurge and now my room is stuffed with bags of supplies again XD … If only I could have a little studio or craft room!

“Foolish Human, this is MY sewing project”

 

Other exciting news: I’ve finally decided to open an Etsy store! It will have the same name as my blog…. and I ordered some business cards yesterday! 🙂 In the next few days I need to get my act together and photograph some of my items.