One Project A Month - February

Sewing : I bought this lovely Michael Miller fabric a while ago but just couldn't decide which of the 18 bag patterns I have to make!  Eventually I decided on the Buttercup Bag pattern, (another make to sell pattern from Made By Rae) a lovely little bag with front pleats and a shoulder strap which makes it just the right size bag for an evening out somewhere, anyway it was finished earlier today and I'm really pleased with it, it's the second bag I've made with a corsage and I think it goes really well with the fabric which is called Flutter.

It is now listed in my folksy shop - http://folksy.com/shops/sykesssillysite and at an introductory price of just £12.50 which I think is very reasonable for a one off handmade bag. 

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Bills : we had our winter gas bill the other day, E-on emailed me for a meter reading and the bill for November - February was just £112.01 , a lot lower than we were expecting considering we have had the heating on more because of the cold weather. Other recent bills for three months were £57 for water rates and £107 for electric which I think are pretty good too!

anyway have a good weekend

Josie x 

One Project A Month - January

I bought a new ' make to sell' bag pattern last week, a Bucket Bag, earlier today I finished it, new patterns are always a bit challenging especially with curved edges, so there were some times while I was making it , well just replace the 'B' in bucket with an 'F', well I'm sure you get my drift!

Anyway here are some photo's, some not very good as it was just starting to go dark, I'm going to take some more tomorrow and then it will be listed for sale in my Folksy shop. http://folksy.com/shops/sykesssillysite

It's a small but roomy shoulder bag because of the shape and there is a large pocket on the front of the bag with a vintage button from my button tin which I think looks just perfect , it has a magnetic fastener and it's lined too! 

Anyway this is my One Project A Month for January, have a good weekend

Josie x 

One Project A Month - October

I bought a make to sell bag pattern earlier this year but I've only just finished making a bag from it as it looked complicated because of the rings and I didn't have any fabric that seemed to go with the pattern, anyway a few months ago, I bought some real tree fabric and it just seemed perfect for this bag pattern, so last month I cut out the fabric but it's just been on the kitchen table ever since.

One Project A Month - September

I bought another 'make to sell bag pattern' the other week, from a shop on Etsy, Bustle & Sew, it's called the "Sweet Pleat Shoulder Tote, a pdf pattern which you pay for, then download and print off yourself.

It's a lovely pattern,anyway, I finished it the other day, more complicated than I thought it would be, it took me three days after managing to put the lining in upside down, I seem to have a thing with linings! but I managed it in the end and even managed to find a button to match the heart print fabric!

Anyway here are some pictures, 

There are some more pictures of the bag listed in my Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/listing/109291019/shoulder-bag-sweet-pleat-red-chenille

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Not much else happening, hubby working, going shopping, paying bills, doing housework etc, Millie the cat went to the vets the other week for her yearly vaccinations, oh the hot weather we had a while back, I took this photo of Millie asleep in front of the fan - a cool cat! 

I don't know if anyone follows me on facebook but I've changed the name, its now

https://www.facebook.com/sykesssillysite.co.uk

Have a good weekend, Josie x

ps) just checked my e-mails and I've just found out that a nice surprise is on it's way to cheer someone up in Blogland :-)

Autumn...

September again, nights drawing in and not as warm, it's my favourite season.  Busy sewing as usual, I bought this lovely 'real tree' print fabric back in July but as I ordered it from America, it's a lovely thickish linen/canvas type fabric, I was just so nervous of cutting into it but over the weekend I decided I would and here is the finished bag and I think it looks great!

I've just got enough fabric left to make two more bags, so I've already cut out the fabric for a Messenger bag and a shoulder bag or shopping bag, I can't decide which?

I've just listed it in my Etsy shop, there are quite a few things listed in there too, pop over there are have a look!

Josie x

One Project A Month - July

I bought some new fabric the other week, with my birthday money, two out of the three lots of fabric have arrived, this lovely cheater print patchwork fabric, I think I will make some cushion covers from this

and this fabric, which I've ordered from America, is just gorgeous!  Real tree print fabric, I can't wait for this to arrive as I've got an idea what I'm going to make.

and finally this arrived earlier in the week, Michael Miller fabric, I've already bought the blue version of this but I think the yellow version ' French Journal' looks much better, much more cheerful, at least being stuck in with all this rain, time to so some sewing

Anyway I've made myself a shopping bag and here is the finished bag!

so that's my One Project A Month for July

Josie x 

6th June 2012 - One Project A Month - June

This month I've made another shoulder bag but a different style, from the fabrics I bought last month, 22.8 metres in seven different colours and some lovely brocades for the linings so I will be busy with lots of ideas for a while! Anyway here are a few photo's of the first two bags.

Yes I have posted two pics of the same bag, the pic on the right has been Fotofuzed, the photo has been altered to have a white background added, I've had some feedback from someone saying that's perhaps why I have slow sales, so I've been altering some photo's in my Etsy shop, I'm not convinced it will make a difference, but time will tell. I take photo's with the camera on the mobile, not the latest and greatest expensive digital camera but I try to get the best photo's I can with what I have.

This is the lovely gold/brown brocade lining of the green chenille shoulder bag, I think it finishes off the bag just perfect!

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The second bag I've made, a traditional style shopping bag, also has a lovely silver grey brocade lining which compliments the gorgeous chenille floral fabric. Once again I've stitched the fabric on inside of the handle to match the lining and no I haven't stitched the handle on the wrong way, I think it looks better this way!

There are some more pics on my facebook page, which I seem to be updating more often than the blog these days, but then again I have opened a facebook shop as well!  

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I'm waiting for some business cards to be delivered too! Here is a sneak preview.....I've already had some feedback from someone else, they said to take off 'upcycled' but that is what I make, so I'm leaving it on as I think its only fair so people know what they are buying, don't you?

The bags I've made have now been listed in my Etsy shop , have a good week.

Oh, our cat, Kitt is now on You Tube,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfRrmsb_2EM&feature=youtu.be

Josie x 

Sunday Sewing...

Remember the lovely fabrics I posted about a few days ago, well I've finished what I started making, a messenger bag! 

A simple style shoulder bag, a small but roomy bag with a magnetic clasp fastening on the front flap. I chose some gorgeous fabric for the lining, Cat's Amore by Benartex, a lilac fabric which really compliments the deep blue linen fabric.

There are some more photo's on my facebook page  and it is now avaliable to buy in my Etsy Shop

Have a good weekend.

Josie x

One Project A Month - Pretty Pinafore Purse

I bought this bag pattern back in January and on Saturday I finished bag no 9 , which I started sewing last month, so that's nine bags in five months, that's not exactly churning them out or skimping on the quality either as some people recently commented on Twitter. Yes, I use a lot of fabric that is re-purposed, mainly curtain fabric which is good quality fabric,especially Sanderson Linen. I've been recycling fabrics for years and I'm going to keep doing that, because it's what I do.

For example, this latest bag is made from linen fabric in a tapestry floral print (curtain remnant from Dunelm) with lovely piping trim on the front of the bag which fastens with a magnetic clasp, the lining is a matching brown hexagon print (re-purposed Marks and Spencer duvet cover).

The shoulder straps are made from both fabrics, one side matches the main fabric and the other side of the straps are the same as the lining fabric, I've done that with all the bags made from this pattern, you can quite clearly see the two sided straps on this bag, especially the japanese print fabric. Looking through some posts at other bags I've made, I've been sewing the two sided straps on bags since I started making Morsbags in 2008.

The binding at the top of the bag has been hand-stitched to make sure that the seams of the lining or the main fabric don't show, surely that's a sign of poor quality finishing if they are?

Here it is finished and do you know what, I'm very pleased with the finished result so I'm counting this as a finish for One Project A Month.

anyway I thought I would take a photo of the collection so far..... 

All the bags are now listed in my Etsy shop (link on the side) and three more bags are a 'work in progress, so they should be finished for about August or September!

Josie x