Lilly of the Valley - Flowers for my mum

My mum's favourite flowers have always been Lilly of the Valley. 

The first time she saw them, I think, was when she went to Paris, France, in her early twenties. They don't grow in Portugal, where she comes from and lives, so they are very special, and exotic,  to her. Everytime I see the first Lilly of the Valley delicate flowers shooting up in the late Swedish Spring, I always call her to tell her about it!

When I found this fabulous floral fabric on Retrodepot I just knew I had to make something out of it for my mum. So I made this bag.

 

It is of course yet another size variation of  the Charming Handbag, pattern by Amy Karol, from Bend the Rules Sewing. Only here I have exchanged the handle for a shoulder strap. This is the third size (original size here and XL here!) I Have used for this same pattern. It is definitely a perfect pattern to use in different sizes.

 

The lining is a recycled old, but almost unused shirt that my partner had, literally, grown out of. It's a lovely thin, smooth cotton of very good quality!

The three little buttons I stiched to the decorative ribbon on the outside were new, but they have a very old-fashioned, vintage look to them, which was what I really liked about them. And they went perfectly with the Lilly of the Valley fabric.

Recycled jumper-bag

I made this bag using an old shrunken jumper I had kept for ages.  It went in with the wrong wash and turned out almost felted.  As Betz White explains in her beautiful book Sewing Green a garment has to contain at least 80% wool, or a combination of wool and other animal fibres to felt. This jumper was mostly synthetic and it had a low percentage of wool so it didn't really felt, but it's close, anyway. Not bad considering it was originally an accident!

I cut it straight along the underarm seams, turned it inside out and sewed in a cotton lining the same way I did for the Big Jumps Gym Bag. The fabric for the lining is called Très Jolie - perfect name which fits really well! It's designed by Janet G. Gossard for Fabrics by Spectrix. 

For the shoulder strap I used an old belt which had been lying around unused, from my older son's trousers.

I'm very pleased with how cosy this bag turned out and the lining has a - now - worn touch to it which feels lovely when I have to put my hand in it to get something out.

For the string I used red leather - I really like red leather, and it matches my purse (which is in my bag so you can't see it!) - and three cloisonné beads.

NOTE: The HELP HAITI! Fabric Auction - on previous post - will be open till the 31st January. If you haven't donated to any Help organisation yet, you might want to take part in this auction and not only will you be helping the victims in Haiti but also having the opportunity to receive a beautiful  fabric pack.

HELP HAITI! AUCTION

I am auctioning this fabric to collect money for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.

cotton: approx. 48cm x 112cm, 50cm x 150cm, 50cm x 142cm, 70cm x 100 cm 

All the money collected will go to a help organisation.
In Sweden, the following organisations are helping in Haiti:
Actionaid, Erikshjälpen, Hoppets stjärna, Läkare utan gränser, Läkarmissionen, Plan Sverige, Rädda Barnen, Röda korset, SOS-Barnbyar, Svenska FN-förbundet, Svenska kyrkan and Unicef Sverige.

Leave a comment with how much money you are willing to donate.
I will send the fabric to any country in the world, free of charge, of course. And who gets the fabric can choose which help organisation - Swedish or local - to donate the money to.

HELP HAITI! And tell everyone you know to join this auction!

Thank you for your help!

A Brilliant Cause

Happy New Year!

It's been ages since I visited my own blog!
The 4th of Advent has gone. So has Christmas and the New Year is now here, roaring on.

I'd like the first post of this New Year to be a colourful one and so I leave you with some ribbons I bought when I went to Lisbon, Portugal, for Christmas.









In down town Lisbon there as still a few old haberdashers with dark wooden cupboards, shelves and a million little drawers which hide treasures like these.
These ribbons were bought in a shop called "Causa Brilhante", which of course means Brilliant (Shiny) Cause! And yes, this was a brilliant cause to spend a large percentage of my already empoverished study loan!

Last Summer I bought some ribbons in the same shop so I decided to go back. I explained to the gentleman working there that I had already bought some ribbons a while ago. He opened a drawer and asked "Was it from this drawer?", then as he opened another one, "Or from this one?"..."Or from this one?"... And he opened five or six different age worn drawers with endless colours and patterns and I didn't know where to turn! So many more I hadn't seen last time!

It's great to be back!

3rd of Advent & Lucia

Last Sunday was the 3rd of Advent, which means only one more Sunday till Christmas!


It was also Lucia.

More Lucia songs here!

So we baked the traditional lusse bullar. Delicious saffran buns!
And I just love when the dough is rising! And the smell!...

You can make them into different shapes and they all have different names.

This one is a dubbel kusse.
I symbolically give it to Vera at Brikebrok
who, on the 1st of Advent, wondered if I had baked the lusse bulle on the photo, which I hadn't.

We also made pepparkakor, the Swedish gingerbread biscuits, which of course noone could keep their hands off!

"Big Jumps" gym bag

For an active little girl who goes dancing I designed this combined tote/draw string bag.

It has the cuteness of a little tote and the practicality of a draw string bag so the ballet shoes don't fall out!

"Big Jumps" gym bag
Pattern by Miss Pelicano

The bag is lined with the polka dot fabric which sticks out at the top with the draw string. The lining/draw string bag is sewn on to the tote.

Outer fabric: "Tossed Ladybugs", Retrodepot Fabrics
Lining: Polka dots from local fabric shop in Lisbon, Portugal

Note: Let me know if you are interested in a tutorial for the "Big Jumps" gym bag! You are welcome to use these ideas but I would really appreciate it if you link to my blog/post! Thank you! And have fun!

Commission - Bags and Purses

I was commissioned 3 bags and 4 purses to be given away as Christmas presents.

I had a pattern in mind with pleats. Pleats have always been a bit of a scary thought, but in the end it's just folding the fabric. I put a simple pleat on each side of the bag and it gives the bag a bit of volume.

Because of the "A" shaped effect of the pleat and the slight "A" shape of the actual bag, I thought "A-Line" Shoulder Bag would be an appropriate name for this pattern. What do you think?

"A-Line" Shoulder bag
Pattern by Miss Pelicano
Fabric by Åhléns

"A-Line" Shoulder bag
Pattern by Miss Pelicano
Fabric from IKEA

This one is the Amy Karol Charming Handbag, from Bend the Rules Sewing, but in an expanded XL version. So now it's more of a shoulder bag, but still quite charming, I think. This is a fun pattern to try in many sizes. The fabric is also from Åhléns.

The orange and the lime green polka dot linings are from a small local fabric shop in Lisbon, Portugal. The light blue polka dot lining is from Panduro.


These are the 4 little purses:

Fabric for purses - left to right: 1. Åhléns 2. Vera Bradley fabric from local shop in Lisbon, Portugal 3. Traditional Portuguese "Chita", from local shop in Portugal 4."Willow" pattern, from local shop in England.
Polka dot linings are from Portugal and Sweden.

I think I like polka dot linings!

Note: The lucky ladies getting these presents don't know about this blog. That's why I can publish the photos ahead of time!

Note: Let me know if you are interested in a tutorial for the "A-Line" shoulder bag! You are welcome to use these ideas but I would really appreciate it if you link to my blog/post! Thank you! And have fun!