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Patchwork Buttons + Scrap Bags

Here are some patchwork button tops with a flat back that I made today. I like em!

I have a button press to make buttons and flat backs, and have made them from two prints sewn together before, but this is the first time with three fabrics.  They turned out nice, and I wanted to share some info on how I make them in case you want to make some too.

You'll need a kit with the pressing tool and button parts for 1.25" or larger buttons.  This kit is 1.5" buttons and it would be perfect. 

Sew some of your tiny fabric scraps together to make a patchwork piece slightly larger than the round template for the button.  The seams need to be pressed, so using the bottom button in the image above as an example, I press the turquoise floral and red floral seam open, then press the red polka dot seam to the polka dot side. This is important because if you press both seams open, or to the side, some weird lumpiness is going to happen on your button top. 

Apply a scrap of interfacing (Pellon SF101) to the fabric.  This is important because pressing the button parts together stretches the fabric and without interfacing the seams can end up stretching and look wobbly. 

Then you can stitch the seams, but it's optional.

Cut the fabric out and press your button! 

If you need some tiny scraps here are some now:

There's also one bag of larger pieces available here:

 

 

 

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New Pattern - Improv Zip Wristlet

Ok, the new pattern is here!  The two previous blog posts (here and here) talked about it, so don't have much to say other than letting you know it's ready for you to sew, and I hope you enjoy making this bag in this sort of offbeat way of sewing.  I'll be sharing some of the sizes I make, and give the dimensions and where the guidelines go, so watch for those in the future. 

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New Pattern Coming Soon - Part 2

The pattern coming up has a zipper installation technique I haven't used in a pattern before, but many of you have probably already used it in your projects because it's in a number of other patterns, and there is also a popular free tutorial by Anna at Noodlehead. 

It allows the zipper to open wider than other ways of installing them, which is very cool and super useful.  But I wasn't fond of the technique because my finished results weren't very good. After using it 3 times I realized it wasn't a practice issue, but more of it needed a few slight mods to make it work better for me. 

I thought about it for a while (ok, a few years), and realized the three things I wanted to change were to be able to make the zipper end shorter, to make it easier to cover the end while also getting better sewing results, and to ensure that the end doesn't end up slightly twisted as it comes out of the seam.

So in the pattern coming up I added some steps to take care of these things and now I'm very excited to use it on lots and lots of pouches!  

 

 

New Pattern Coming Soon!

A new pattern is coming soon, and I wanted to start talking about it because besides creating the pattern document, there's a lot of admin stuff that goes into having these available and by the time I'm done with those tasks, I'm venturing into the burn out zone!  So I'll try writing some about the pattern now before I overdose on words.

This is another of what I think of as "improvisational sewing" and is like the Intro to Improv Zip Pouches pattern in that there's only one main pattern piece. 

I sew a lot of things like this behind the scenes because it's fast, and it is liberating to not have a bunch of fiddly little pattern pieces to round up and keep track of while sewing. 

The Intro to Improv Zip Pouches pattern is also a one of my more popular patterns and someone left nice feedback about it recently that made me remember another reason why this method works so well--you end up with excellent finished results.  So I felt like it was time to take this method one step further. 

The new pattern comes with the pattern piece to make the pouch above and then on the last page there is info and a diagram to help you figure out how to make this to fit things like phones, tablets, laptops, journals, or day planners.  I think this is best suited to items with 2" (51mm) or less of depth, so it will be perfect for a lot of our modern day gadgets.

All you'll need is the width, height, and depth dimensions.  These go into two super simple equations and then there are guidelines for dividing up the pattern piece.

The size included is a phone wallet size and will hold a phone up to 3.5" wide x 5.25" high.  It also holds a hardcover Pocket Moleskine journal because these journals are well loved, and I wanted the finished pouch to hold at least one specific item! 

Phones are all over the place with sizing, but this size will fit some of them and then if you need more room, it will be easy to add some on to the included pattern piece (the paper will have room left over).  The front pocket of this size is pretty perfect for cards, so I'd say if you need more room for your phone, leave the width and height of that section as it is in the existing pattern piece.

The last thing I'll say today is you might notice the strap in the photo above is two fabrics. It turned out amazing!  The pattern has instructions for a wristlet strap from one fabric, but here is how to prepare the fabric for the strap using two fabrics:

• sew two lengths of fabric together - you want them to equal close to the finished strap dimensions, but with room for trimming
• interface to within 1/8" (3mm) of the seam on each piece of fabric - this doesn't need to be perfect, so just try not to get right up on the stitching. 
• press the seam open flat
• trim the fabric to the strap dimensions with the seam down the middle

- - Read about the zipper in this pattern here. - -

 

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Making Coin Purses

Here's something I whipped up this morning--a tiny coin purse.  If I hadn't been attempting to multi-task, this would have taken maybe 30-minutes to complete. These are just about as close to instant gratification sewing as you can get!

I make these using the Size 1 Card Wallet pattern pieces printed at 85%. 

If you're printing out your pattern pieces at different sizes, don't forget to mark them!  You don't want to get the different sizes mixed up or you might be in for an unpleasant surprise later when you cut mismatched fabric pieces.

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Cord Keepers

Cord Keeper

The Intro to Improv Zip Pouches pattern includes a pattern piece and instructions for making a fabric zip pull, and that same idea can be used to make these cute and useful cord keepers. 

The dimensions of the piece are slightly different than the zip pull, so for the cord keeper use 6.25" x 1.75" (17 x 4.5cm). 

I also added a strip of interfacing (Pellon SF101) down the center.  You can add that to the pulls too, but I personally don't think it's necessary for the pulls.  Any interfacing needs to be within the seam allowance and folds, or you might have issues with this turning out neatly. 

The snaps are Snap Source Long-Prong snaps in size 24. 

These are super fast to make and people are interested in them because most of us have a lot of cords that need some keeping!  I made one on a lark and added it to my etsy shop to see if there was any interest in them, and this one below sold pretty quickly. 

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