Private collection

We’re off on our holidays soon and as usual it’s a cruise. I wouldn’t say we like them but this will be our eighth and we’ve got another three booked... Instead of the usual cruising the Mediterranean we’re heading north – a round trip starting in Copenhagen and sailing to the land of the Midnight Sun.

I usually like to try and make a new dress for one of the formal evening. However with my back not being very good I haven’t been able to.

What I have made though are a couple of bags for my private collection (it’s basically bags I made just for me but ‘private collection’ sounds much better).

I wanted a bag that I could use for when we went ashore. As I would be in Wizzy* it needed to be small enough to lie between me and his arm rest, have plenty of room inside, yet not be too big that it impedes me when I’m wheeling him.

A couple of years ago my mam bought me a lovely suede shoulder bag which fitted the above criteria except it’s getting on a bit. I made a note of its vital statistics and designed a new bag from that.

 As I had some black leatherette lying around in my fabric box I used that for the main part of the bag and some light blue cotton fabric for the lining.

You can never have enough pockets in bags so there's one both front and back and each compartment has an internal zip pocket.

One of the problems of walking with Stickies is you can't carry a clutch bag as your hands are otherwise engaged, so I also decided to make two formal drawstring evening bags that I could slip over my wrist.   

The bags were very easy to make and as I had plenty of leftover fabric from previous evening dresses I made them out of that.

Till the next time.

Gertie xx

*Wizzy is the name of my wheelchair

The Jenny bag

Two years ago I made a rucksack for my friend Jenny. She asked if it could be similar to her favourite bag that was getting a little old and worn.  With paper, pen and a tape measure I came up with a design.

Rucksacks and backpacks are very much in vogue (I’ve been using them for years so yeah I’m trendy!!!!!) so I thought I’d put one into production for ‘Gertie’s Bags’.

I didn’t want it make it too big so slightly tweaked the bag pattern that I made for Jenny. The front pocket was made wider and deeper, more internal pockets added and the straps were made longer.

Pattern sorted, now the fabric. I wanted something that would appeal to both young and old. Having bought rather a lot of fabric recently (think credit card yelping!!) I couldn’t justify buying any more. Well, I could, but there would be lots of tutting from Mr Gertie...

I chose something that came from a fabulous shop in Stratford upon Avon. It’s only little, but boy, do they pack a lot of fabric in. It was so good that I went back the following day for more.

I now need to decide where to sell it from. Because Folksy has been pretty disappointing I’m giving Etsy a try so am moving my Folksy stock over to there.  However my first sale came from eBay. I think the only solution is to make another then each will have one.

That still doesn’t solve the problem of which one first so I suspect it’ll be heads or tails !!!!

Have a great week.

Gertie xx

PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.

Three little maids

Update: I was doing a little housekeeping on some of my blog posts and instead of updating this entry blogger has republish it as today's date.  Opps.!!!

After my attempt at making a cosmetic bag I decided to try again.

The first one turned out fine so I made another, only slightly bigger.

Why stop at two when you can have three!!! Unfortunately I didn’t have enough fabric left so gathered up all the scrap bits and made a patchwork version instead.

The fabric belonged to an old pair of shorts which used to trousers, bought in 1988... The lining for the two smaller bags came from cream bed linen my mam was getting rid of. The lining for the large bag was a white shower curtain.

Gertie xx

PS pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.

Going, going, gone

I’ve sold my first bag !!!!!

It happened shortly before Christmas via eBay. I must admit that I did have my doubts about selling on eBay. It’s such a huge site and I was concerned that my bags would get lost amongst the thousands of other bags.

However I’m receiving more viewers than I am on Folksy so it’s making me think that Folksy isn’t the site for me. It was a toss-up between Folksy and Etsy which one I used so when my listings on Folksy run out I’ll try Etsy.

Mr Gertie found me a great book on social networking so hopefully that and the lovely advice I received following my recent posting I’ll be able to conquer my social network fear....

Have a great week.

Gertie xx

The wanderer returns

I really didn’t think I’d be away so long. When I last blogged it was summer and now it’s nearly Halloween!!!!!

So what have I been up to?

I managed to fulfil (nearly) all the things I’d mentioned my last post – my recipes and cross stitch patterns are all trimmed, sorted and filed away in their various folders; the ‘spaghetti’ of cross stitch thread is now neat shade cards; as for the model of the Queen Mary II that I’m working on, I only managed to get the white parts of the balconies painted. In my defence my eyes kept crossing.....

Mr Gertie and I had another short break away, this time Stratford upon Avon. We love that part of the country so try and get down there every year. There’s two great places in Stratford to buy fabric so I came away with bulging bags and a worn out credit card.

Once my batteries had been recharged I felt ready to get back to all things fabric. First on the list of things to make were another cushion cover and a back cover for Wizzy (my wheelchair). 

I was fed up with always having a wet back whenever I sat in Wizzy as his back rest is vinyl so between Mr Gertie and me we came up with a tabard type back cover. It also has two pockets at the back, perfect for holding a bottle of water (or two) whenever we go out for a walk.

Apologies to Wizzy for cutting part of him off the photo, only it was starting to rain (the big drops kind) and Mr Gertie was getting wet....

Both the cushion and back covers were made from Laura Ashley sample upholstery fabric (I inherited them from my mam and I’ve no idea where she got them from!!!) and I simply stitched the pieces together.

In the ‘a new beginning’ post I mentioned about my ‘new life’ and some of the things we were planning to do. One of them we did during the summer when Mr Gertie and I renewed our wedding vows. The other was starting up a business designing and making one-off bags and other handmade items.

It’s been quite a journey getting everything sorted (bags to make, setting up various accounts, etc, etc). Poor Mr Gertie must be sick of me talking ‘shop’ but I’m hopeful that at the end of the month ‘Gertie’s Bags’ will be open for business. Scary !!!

Have a great week.

Gertie xx

PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.

Busy, busy, busy...

Sorry I’ve been AWOL for several weeks only it’s been all go in the Gertie household!!!!

Our good friends who live in Nottingham and Derby came ‘up north’ for the weekend to help celebrate Mr Gertie’s significant birthday and also his retirement. We hadn’t seen them for a while so it was great to catch up.

Even though we’ve just come back from holiday we’ve been away again – twice. In my defence both were for hospital appointments. The first was in Manchester, and as it was a 9am appointment we had to travel down the day before.

The second one was to see the Professor (the wonderful man who performed his magic on my hip) in London. Again we decided to travel down before hand or in this case a few days before. It seemed such a wasted opportunity not to.

I’ve also been frantically sewing. A friend of a friend loved the bag I made as a birthday present and asked if I could make something similar.

The brief was:
•    a rucksack big enough to hold her knitting when she goes to her knitting classes
•    a pocket at the front to keep scissors, tape measure etc
•    adjustable straps
•    the fabric must have dogs on it and not be of boring colours

 

We’re off down to Nottingham soon for Jenny’s birthday so I asked the birthday girl if she would like a ‘Gertie creation’ as a present. I’d love a couple of make-up bags she replied as I can’t find the right size. No problem.

The brief was simple:  if possible a waterproof lining and any kind of cat fabric.
 

As Jenny asked for a make-up bag that could hold large items I decided to change the way I made the bags. Instead of constructing them where the top is larger than the bottom, I made them using Pythagoras Theorem....

I am rubbish at maths so had to ask Mr Gertie for help. However once it was explained it’s so easy to work out. If you want to give it a go check out this blog (it explains it so much better than I could.).

And finally a belated birthday present. Last November our friend Jan was having a party to celebrated a significant birthday (21 again....). As I was convalescing from my hip surgery (or more importantly banned from my sewing room) I couldn’t make a anything for her so had to give an IOU birthday bag voucher instead.

When she was up for the weekend she redeemed her voucher by asking if I could make her another jewellery tool bag. I’d like it a bit bigger than the last one, she asked, say tray size....

The brief was:
•    a bag about 16 inches by 13 inches
•    lilac fabric
•    two pockets in the lid – one elastic and the other zipped
•    elastic pockets of various sizes all around the edge of the bag
•    a handle on the lid

If I’m honest my heart sank when she asked for another tool bag – especially one the size of a tray. When I made the original one it took a couple of attempts to make it strong enough. Eventually I had to reinforce the lid and base with heavy weight interfacing. That certainly wouldn’t work this time.

Following advice from Mr Gertie on how to strengthen the bag I bought a roll of corrugated cardboard. The idea being I sandwich three layers of cardboard together, the two outer layers having the corrugated lines running one way and running the opposite for the inner layer. Ideally they would have been secured using staplers but as I’ve only got a tiny stapler, sellotape had to do. For extra strength Mr Gertie suggested I put a couple of stitches in the centre to hold them all together.

Unlike the lid and base I needed both strength and bend-ability for the sides so had to leave out the middle cardboard ‘sandwich’ layer.

I know you’re not supposed to use cardboard in bags, unless it can be removed, as it turns to mush when washed. However we were at a loss as to how to make it stable so this bag is ‘dry clean only’....

As you can see from the photo the inside pockets aren’t elasticated. Having battled to attach what seemed like a six foot elastic snake, the sides simply weren’t strong enough to cope with the elastic pockets. No amount of extra cardboard around the sides would stabilise it, so reluctantly I had to take out the elastic and make them pleated pockets instead.

Due to the cardboard providing stiffness to the bag it wasn’t possible to use a sewing machine so a lot of the stitching had to be done by hand - my poor fingers were covered in blisters....

Whilst it may not look much this bag has gone down in history as the most time consuming thing I’ve ever made. It took over 74 hours to make, and boy was I pleased when it was finished!!!!!

Have a great week.

Gertie xx

PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to. 

Oilcloth tote tutorial

After my post about ‘not fearing the vinyl’ I thought I’d show you how easy it is to make something using ‘the dreaded beast’ !!!!

The oilcloth I used for the bag was an impulse buy. We were in our local haberdashery shop looking for some vinyl to make ‘Wizzy’s bag and I stumbled across it. I had no idea what I was going to make with it. We had no need for a table cover and given the size of the pattern, I couldn’t make anything small out of it (decapitated teddies on a make-up bag just doesn’t do it for me !!!). That didn’t matter. I still had to have it.

When I finally decided to make something, a large tote bag, I took some photos of the process so I’ve put together a tutorial on how to make a tote bag using oilcloth. Unfortunately I forgot to take some photos towards the end of the make – sorry about that  – hopefully you’ll still be able to follow what’s going on. If not just pop a query in the comments box, drop me an email, and I’ll do my best to explain.

Please be gentle with me as this is my first tutorial......

The size of the bag is approx 15 inch (h) x 12 inch (w) x 4 inch (d) with 12 inch (h) x 1 inch (w) handles.

A seam allowance of ¼ inch has been included to everything except the handles. I found it easier to mark in pen a ¼ inch seam allowance line on the back of the oilcloth.

When stitching the oilcloth you’ll need to use a slightly longer stitch length than you would normally use, and please don’t backstitch/oversew as this weakens the oilcloth. Instead leave a long thread at the beginning and end of your stitching then knot to secure.

You’ll need:
Oilcloth – I bought a metre length and used about half
Lining fabric
Thread for main and lining fabric

For the front and back:
Cut two 17 inch (h) x 12 ½ inch (w) pieces from the oilcloth
Cut two 16 7/8 inch (h) x 12 ¼ inch (w) pieces from the lining

For the sides:
Cut four 17 inch (h) x 2 ½ inch (w) pieces from the oilcloth
Cut four 16 7/8 inch (h) x 2 3/8 inch (w) pieces from the lining

For the base:
Cut one 4 ½ inch (h) x 12 ½ inch (w) piece from the oilcloth
Cut one 4 ¼ inch (h) x 12 ¼ inch (w) piece from the lining

For the handles:
Cut two 13 inch x 4 inch pieces from the oilcloth

For the lining base:
Cut two 4 1/8 inch (h) x 12 ¾ inch (w) pieces from the lining
Cut one 3 1/2 inch (h) x 11 7/8 inch (w) from strong cardboard

Start with the sides pieces.

With right sides together take two main side pieces and secure them in place (I used clothes pegs but you can use paper clips).

Sew the two pieces together, stopping at the pen line you’d drawn earlier and leave a long thread so it can be secured with a knot later. Repeat with the other side.

Finger press the side seams open.

With the right side of the side seams facing sew two lines of stitching 1/8 inch either side of the centre join.

This is what the wrong side will look like, with the seams secured down.

Attach the side seams to front and back of the bag. Again use clips to secure it.

Finger press open the seams as before.

Turn over the bag so the wrong sides of the side seams and front/back are touching. Finger press the side seams to create a fold. 

With right sides facing edge stitch a 1/8 inch seam down the length of the bag. Continue until all the sides have been stitched.

The bag will now start to look ‘box’ like.

Attach the base to the bottom of the bag.

Like before, turn over the bag so the wrong sides of the base and front/back are touching. Finger press the seams to create a fold then edge stitch a 1/8 inch seam along the base of the bag. I found it easier to stitch the two long ends first. Don’t secure the thread ends with a knot, thread them through to the wrong side then secure with a couple of stitches in the seam allowance.

Take the handles and draw a line down the centre length wise. Fold the two edges meeting at the pen line.

Next fold the handle in half completely hiding the edges.

Stitch a 1/8 inch seam along both edges of the handles.

Sadly this is where the photos end. Hopefully you’ll understand what I mean....

Make the lining as per the oilcloth but omit to edge stitch the 1/8 inch seams. Press open the seams as you would normally.

Turn the lining inside out so the wrong side is facing you and place it into the bag (both the wrong sides of the bag and lining will now be touching), matching up the seams.

Finger press a ¼ inch hem all around the top of the bag then fold down 1 inch to make a band in the lining. Stitch down the band as close to the edge as possible then add a line of edge stitching around the top of the bag.

Attach the handles to however wide you would like them to be – mine are three inches apart.

Confession time.... You may have spotted in the main photo that there doesn’t appear to be any stitches on the front of the bag holding the handles in place. I didn’t want any showing so attached the handles before folding down the band.

Finally make the lining base. With right sides together stitch along the two long sides and one short side. Press the three seams then turn so the right side of the base is facing. Insert the cardboard, turn under a hem, then hand stitch the seam closed.

There you have it, an oilcloth tote bag. Happy sewing.....

Have a great week.

Love,

Gertie xx

PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.

It's in the bag

Following my etsy v folksy post, whilst I was going to stick with folksy, after your comments, I won’t discount etsy. Thanks.

I hope you liked Monday’s last minute filler post . If you do get round to making the cake I’d love to know how it turned out.

What I wanted to show you last week was the bag I’m busy making. However things didn’t quite go to plan though. Not to worry, I’m back on track now.

It all started with a bag I bought in Mahon. Directly opposite our cruise ship were a couple of stalls selling scarves and leather goods. I was looking for a present for my mam (she was so hard to buy for), and as she liked scarves, thought I might find something suitable (unbelievably I did....).

Whilst I was looking for a scarf I came across a lovely shoulder bag. It wasn’t very big but had lots of pockets, which I just love in a bag. As it was only 8 Euros it was too good a bargain to miss.  As the bag got lots of use it became quite torn and battered, to the point that no amount of sewing could repair it any more.

I liked the style of the bag so after a couple of quick measurements and a rough diagram I set to work making one of my own. At first I was going to make it out of scrap fabric but then decided on leatherette. I have a love/hate relationship with leatherette so some things didn’t quite go to plan !!!!

I started with the flap, which turned out to be a bad move as that was the most complicated part of the bag.  If you’ve ever used leatherette you’ll know how stiff it is to work with so stitching the binding on wasn’t easy. I would have preferred not to have had the small pocket lining on show but as you can’t press leatherette (it melts – speaks the voice of experience !!!) I had to make do with a finger presser (a little device which lets you press fabric seams open without having to use an iron).

I next made the front and back pockets then had to hand stitched them together as it was too bulky to machine stitch – the joys of using leatherette...

After attaching the flap to the back pocket I hand stitched six small D rings to the sides and back so the bag can be used either as a hand bag or a back pack.

All that’s left to do is make the handles and attach the pocket linings. Hopefully I’ll have that done for next week. Famous last words.....

Have a great week.

Love,

Gertie xx

PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.

A scottie here, a scottie there

 I wasn't sure if I was going to have a post for this week as things have been pretty quiet here sewing wise. Then I remembered two bags I finished making just before Christmas.

 

I also made little keyring purses to go with them.

 

All being well they will be added to the stock of bags I'm making ready for when I start my business later in the year. However as I love scottie dogs I may keep them for myself....

 Have a great week.

Love,

Gertie xx

PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.