Day 224-turning a t-shirt into a bag

Today I had the best intentions of getting up early and making a good head start on the next week of craft projects........  but in reality
I got up at 11.30am
Started sewing by 1pm
and continued working on two bags from 1pm-7.30pm.... and they are still not finished!
They are looking good though! I just kept deciding to add things like appliques, lining, interfacing etc...
ughhhh the earlier enthusiasm has worn off!
So below are the two bags so far, I will hopefully complete them tomorrow!

I started with some black drill fabric and an old tote bag of mine which is a great shape

I made a pattern using newspaper (as I have run out of my roll of craft paper)

 me cutting out the pattern

 I wanted to use the prints from these two "hello kitty" t-shirts as the front feature on the bags

 these are samples I purchased from work earlier in the year which have cuts in them

from here I cut out the bag shape from the drill

and then cut the front print out of the t-shirt

I had two different applique techniques I wanted to try out

the first one is as follows...

cut iron on interfacing to help support the print

iron the interfacing on

then position the print where you want it to sit on the bag (on the wrong side of the bag)

use my trusty Brother machine to zig zag stitch the edges

 zig zag stitch to the wrong side of the bag (print facing out to the right side)

 flip over to the right side where you are left with a picture frame view of the zig zag stitching

and then carefully cut the middle out revealing the print inside the zig zag frame

I ended up zig zag stitching around the edge again just to ensure it would not fray

for the side seams I have matched up some stripey fabric that works well with the print colours

 its starting to take shape

then I decided... well Ive gone to THIS much effort, I may as well interface the lining to make the bag more sturdy

 see the lining can stand by itself with the facing attached

 insert the lining

the other bag is at the same point

I will have to finish them both off tomorrow as its turned out to take alot longer than i expected!

red hello kitty t-shirt

 for this applique i just interfaced it and placed it on top of the fabric before zig zag stitching around it

it was much quicker and easier like this

 red sides

 the bag so far!!

MEEEOOOOOWWWWW OUT

crafty cats

xxoo

Day 223-A busy day for 365 days of craft

Today I met up with the Knox Council again to discuss running creative workshops in our local area. I will keep you all posted about the upcoming events!!!
After the meeting I was given a tour of the Bayswater community costume department and had some fun rummaging thru old costumes and fabrics.

The costume room

 it was fun rummaging thru all these old props and costumes and imagining all the fun they had created in the past

 I felt like aladdin in her cave!

or perhaps an overgrown flower pot

there were even these crazy gloves

 hmmm i wonder what they were used for?

anyways... back to todays craft

...........

..........

Today I am upcycling an old table cloth

 I love the bright orange colour and the tassled edge

first I thought of turning it into a skirt

but after i cut the hole in the middle i thought it looked quite good as a top

 What's your thoughts? 

skirt?

or top?

let me know....

craft out

xxoo

Day 222 fabric necklace

Tonight's craft is a fabric necklace,
ingredients include
-fabric
-small foam balls
-sewing machine

cut one long strip, stitch together and bag it out
insert the foam balls
tie little ripped pieces of fabric in between the balls to separate them
Walah! fabric necklace!

craft out

xxoo

Day 221 Happy Birthday Elisha

Today's craft is for my beautiful friend Elisha!
Elisha and I have known each other since we were 12! yep we have been friends for 16 years! We met in year 5 at Bega Primary School and since then have shared many memorable milestones, ups and downs, laughs and crazy adventures. Elisha now lives in Melbourne with her lovely partner Brett and their fluffy hound Milly. Happy 28th Elisha!

miss elisha and I back in year 7, with our matching red tops

 getting ready for our year 10 formal at elisha's house

all grown up, us with our partners and Elisha's baby Milly

 Elisha's present starts with this great doggy print fabric

 which I decided would make a great pair of PJ pants

 my trusty brother overlocker whips it up in no time!

 Walah! doggy pj's

See you on the weekend Elisha!

I hope these fit!

xxoo

Craft out!

Day 220-paper wheel lives on

The other day my fiancee was talking about the possibility of us seeing the extinction of books, magazines and newspaper's within our lifetime. His arguement went along the lines of the expanding use of computers and "E" readers, massive chains such as "Borders" closing down.... blah blah blah..... I of course don't want to believe it (even though I know he is probably right). So for now I will continue to mull over my copies of "Frankie" magazine's again and again with many cups of tea and when I am done I will love them all over again and re-invent them into creations like below.....

Pages from frankie

 initially I had this idea of using a foam ball as a base 

 and to then cover it in paper spikes (or mini trumpets if you like)

 I soon realized that would take a hell of alot of trumpets

 then I got distracted by how cool it looked when my trumpet's were colour coded

yep I got really distracted, but how cool does it look!

 so now I am trying to decide what to do with them all? should I join them to a backing to hang on a door or wall? 

or should I join them to a stick like a GIANT flower?

What do you think?

have you made any interesting creations out of paper recently?

email me to share your paper crafts at broncobowerman@hotmail.com

craft out

xxoo

Guest Blogger Monday's! Caroline is back!

Caroline is sharing another crafty creation tonight, she certainly is one multi tasking mother of super cute twins!! Thanks for sharing Caz! Mwah!

Step 1 - choose adorable kids fabric

Step 2 - Cut out pattern for smock top (taken from Making Children's Clothes, Author: Emma Hardy Cico Books, 2009)

Step 3 - overlock edges

Step 4 - join seams and press open

Step 5 - hem the bottom, neckline and sleeves.  insert elastic into sleeves and neckline, then tighten to give gathered effect. 

Step 6 - try and get your 2 year old to stand still whilst you take a photo.....

awwwwww

sooooo cute! love u both penny and caz!

If you would like to share your crafty creation on "Guest blogger Mondays" then email me at broncobowerman@hotmail.com

Craft out

xxoo