Ashley- IPad messenger bag!

     Alisha some time ago sent me a pattern and some fabric to make her an IPad bag and well I suck at patterns. I slao don't have everything yet for it still and it's been 6 months I would say so i thought that I would make a bag kind of like the one she wanted to see if I could make one on my own that she would like and then I could make it with the supplies I already had laying around. So I picked some super cute fabric that I loved and just dove right in. This is what I came up with.

     This will have plenty for anything you might need. I'm thinking this will be the bag that comes with me when Melody and I fly home at the end of April. Hopefully Alisha likes it and I can FINALLY get her bag done and to her. Oh and if you'd like a full tutorial for this bag please comment and let me know and I can do another with full instructions. I just want to make sure there's interest first :) Pin It

Ashley- Magazine Tote!

Hey there! So I've been looking around trying to find a new bag to try out and since I didn't really find anything on pinterest I went digging in my sewing magazines. That's when I came across an adorable little tote and dove right in. This is my finished product.

 

 

This was such a fun bag! And I love the interior fabric that peek-a-boo's out the front of the bag. This is the magazine I got the idea from. Simple Quilts & Sewing 2011 edition number #119.

 

 

 

And here is my tote next to the picture of the tote in the magazine. Not too shabby huh?

 

 

Go take a look online and see if you can't find the archive!

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Ashley - Minnie Mouse backpack

     Hey everyone! So now that we have our tax return I am getting ready to fly home to see the family. You've seen my progress so far with the quiet book I'm making for the plane ride (I have more pages to post I promise I will get those up soon!). So since I have to buy a ticket for Melody too now, which is why I waited for tax season to go home because it's so spendy now lol, I have been panning on having luggage for her so I don't have to try and pack everything for both of us just in my bags because if I'm paying for the seat I'm going to take advantage of that space lol. I have a suitcase for her but I wanted a backpack for her that could be the bag under her seat that would hold toys and snacks so I got to work on a Minnie Mouse backpack for her.

 

 

 

 

     Didn't turn out amazing?!?!?!?! I put Minnie heads on both side pockets and also embroidered the M on the front too :) I LOVE my new machine!!! It's lined with the polka dot fabric on the inside. I can't wait to take it on our trip. Let me know what you think!

 



 

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Ashley - DIY Santa Bag

So with this Christmas party for my husband's battery is tomorrow, and no matter where my poor friend searched she could not find a bag for Santa to use at the party so I got on my ipad, looked on pinterest and found a blog where a woman did this really adoarble Santa bag. Here is her site and full tutorial so you can make your own. http://www.crafterhoursblog.com/2011/11/make-santa-bag-tutorial.html

 

I put my husband's unit flash and crest on it to put a little extra special somethign to it and there you have it! Tomorrow I will take better pictures I promise but for now this mama is hitting the hay :) Enjoy!

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Ashley - IPad Bag tutorial

Ok I know some time ago I was asked to make an IPad bag tutorial and I know it took me forever (I'm sorry Melody's party occupied all my crafting time) but here it is now :) Ok first things first you need to get your supplies together. Now pardon me because I kind of fly by the seat of my pants when I do things like this.

• 1 yard exterior fabric
• 1 yard interior fabric
• 1 yard mid weight interfacing ( I get mine from walmart and I get the non fusible 926 weight interfacing but if this is your first time working with it get the fusible and run the iron over it to keep your fabric in place on the interfacing)
• Zipper
•  1/2 yard fusible fleece ( I didn't have fusible for the tutorial but it would be much easier with fusible)
• coordinating threads
• Ribbon or any other coordinating embellishment you may want.

Now lets get started! Make sure you iron everything, it's a great habit to get into, it will amke your cuts much more precise. We are now ready for cutting your fabric. In your exterior fabric you will cut these pieces:

• (2) 10in by 13in pieces (front and back panels)
• (2) 4 1/2in  by 10in pieces (side panels)
• (1) 4 1/2in by 13in piece (bottom panel)
• (1) 5in by 30in piece (strap)
• (2) 2in by 12in pieces (for the zipper area)

For you interior fabric you will need to cut the same measurements as above for the exterior fabric except for the strap. Then the only other pieces you will need to cut are the pieces for the pouch to hold your IPad and any pocket you might want to add. The pouch for the IPad you will need (2) pieces of fabric 9 1/2in by 13in. And you interfacing pieces you will need to cut pieces that are the same measurements as the exterior fabric for the front and back panels 10in by 13 in), the side panels ( 4 1/2in by 10in), and the bottom panel (4 1/2in by 13in). And the fusible fleece you will cut  2 pieces are the size of the interior pouch size (9 1/2in by 13in) and this is optional but I padded my strap to make it more comfortable and to keep it from getting all creased and crazy looking and so I cut 1 piece of fleece that was 2 1/4in by 30in.

 I'm sorry I know that was a lot but I want to make sure to tell you as much as I can to make sure you the best chance in succeeding with your own bag. Ok so after you have your pieces cut take your exterior pieces and your interfacing pieces and warm up that iron again and fuse your exterior and interfacing pieces together. And if you want the outside facing portion of your IPad pouch padded you will fuse your fusible fleece on top of your interfacing and you will want the bottom of the fleece to line up with the bottom the panel. Up on the top your fleece will come up a little short and that's what you want it will make it eaasier for you when you assemble everything together.

 



After you have done that start sewing your panels together. Now all seams will be 1/4in seams unless I say otherwise.

 

 



 

 

 

Now when you have the side panels and  the front and back panels sewn together it's time to put the bottom panel in your bag. I'm going to try and explain this the best that I can and the pictures I took to show you were when I put the inside of the bag together so don't let that throw you, your going to be doing the same steps again when we get that far. Now to put the bottom into your bag. You will turn your bag shell inside out then you will take your bottom and line it up to either your front or back panel. Line it up well and make sure the little excess on each side is about equal.

 

 

 

When your ready to sew start out in the middle of the panel. When you get to the edge seam where the side panel starts your going to want to stop the needle when it hits that seam.

 

 

 

Then without lifting the foot you will rotate your work so that you have lined up the side panel like your going to to sew that next. Then you pull down the bottom panel and line it up with the side panel and start sewing again.

 

 

 

You will repeat that at each corner until you have completely gone around the bag and I usually over lap my stitch a few inches when I reach the end.

 

You have officially put the outside of your bag together! :) If your wanting to pur ribbon around the outside of your bag like I did I just pinned the ribbon in place then sewed it in. REMEMBER turn down your tension on the machine when you sew your ribbon on (I turned mine down to 2) so it doesn't pull the ribbon apart and it keeps it from pooching on you.  Here is the outside of my bag so far :)

 

 

 



It's time to start on the interior of your bag. Grab your (2) 9 1/2in by 13in pieces of the interior fabric and the piece of fusible fleece that you have cut that is the same size. Heat up your iron and fusethe fleece to one of your pieces. If your going to try and do this just like my bag and put ribbon on the inside as well go ahead and do that now. Take the interior piece that you didn't fuse the fleece to and sew your rbbon on. Now you will sew the two interior pieces along a 13in edge. This is what it should look like.

 

 

after you got that all done grab the rest on your interior pieces and put them together just like you did with the exterior. My tip is if you have an extra pocket that you want to put in like the one you see down below in the bottom left corner of the picture you will put that in before you start assembling. And when you assemble you are going to want to put your padded pouch sandwiched in between a front/ banck panel and the two side panels. Makse sure when you line the pieces up before sewing that the bottoms are the ones that all match up again the top of your pouch pocket will be just a little short, that's what you want. 

 

Ok ladies we are getting close! Now we will just put the strap together. Just fold the long edges together and sew you will flip it right side in and then feed the fleece in lay it down flat (it will take a little patiene but I promise it's worth it) and then fuse it. I also did two 1/8in seams on each side of the strap just to hold the bottom and the top of the strap together. It dresses it up a little too :) And for the zipper I didn't do a full zipper tutorial you can find them on youtube I'm sure. Thats why I had you cut those 1 1/2in by 12in strips. But I can show you pictures of mine and with a tutorial from online you will be a pro.

 

 

 

 

 





 





And now for final assembly! You will need to heat up the iron and along the tops of your exterior bag and interior bag your going to press about 1/2in worth of the fabric down. The more you press and get that nice crease in the fabric the easier things will be for you. Now we move onto pinning everything together. to make it easier it you want to tack in your strap before you do the final seam that can make it easier too. Remember to also make sure you put your zipper pieces in, just center them and pin them in when your pinning your exterior and interior bags together. Take your time and pin as much as you need.

 

 

 

When you're ready to sew your going to want to start in the middle of the back panel like you did when you put the bottom in your exterior and interior bags. Go slow and pay attention to your different layers to make sure they are staying lined up. And that's it! nothing to it right?!?! lol

 

 

 

 

Now you have a beautiful bag to carry your IPad around in! Let me know what you think ladies and don't be afraid to contact me with any questions or concerns with the tutorial. I will be making another one here starting tomorrow so I will be doing it with you :)

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Ashley - Purses I made this past week

So about two and a half weeks ago my husband decided to volunteer me to make purses for a fundraiser for his unit. They were only expecting me to only make 3 bags but with this way awesome pattern I bought along with the rights to sell I decided to knock their socks off and make as many as I could. I got 8 bags done, which is crazy lol. They turned out amazing and there was lots of interest when I worked my 1 hour shift at the fundraiser. I'm very proud with how they turned out and I thought I would share :)

this is called the buttercup pattern and it is from this blog here http://www.made-by-rae.com/2009/02/free-buttercup-bag-sewing-pattern/ . Take a minute to look around her blog, she is awesome and it's one that I check regularly. Keep checking back to our blog too. I'm gearing up to make more minnie decorations, I'm only 2 months out from Melody's 2nd birthday so I have to get cracking! Pin It

Ashley - Bags I've made and useful tips for making your own

Ok I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back on here, my hubby returned to me broken and so I have been tending to him. If you were to ask Alisha what I am best at as far as crafting goes she would say making bags, I love making them. I have made quite a few of them out of army uniforms for other amy spouses and a even a couple bags for air force wives and marine wives. Let me show you a few that I've made and tell you some of the techniques and products I use to make them.

purse design by http://www.madebyrae.blogspot.com  A very cute purse.

A laptop tote, I used Velcro on the sides and 1in. foam in the center divider and if you don't have your laptop on you then you can just take that out and use all the spacein the bag.

Diaper bag

One thing I always use on all of my bags is fusible interfacing. They have different kind whee some are stiffer then others but it will give your bag structure and you can still have the option to wash the bag if you ever need to which is AMAZING. Another thing that I do is the way I line my bags is I make an outside bag and an inside bag then so I don't have any seams showing on the inside of the bag ( you will see this in that pleated bag tutorial so if you use this tip you can hide the seam ) I just put the inside bag in the outside bag and fold them in and pin the whole top down like that. Then run an 1/8in seam around the top and then just trim down your thread and your good to go! I should have a more in depth how to on a bag on here shortly, I have another bag to make for an army wife so keep your eyes open! Pin It

Ashley - IPad purse :)

Ok I am sorry it's taken me a bit to come back and post something else, I've been busy, I was going to show you the raised garden bed I helped my friend make but my batteries in my camera died and I sprained my foot lol. But now I've taken the time to make the IPad purse that I've been wanting to design and work. I haev seen other women make them on etsy and I'm not against buying from someone else but I'm not about to pay 80 dollars when I have the stuff here to make myself one. So I was trying to make this a tutorial but it got really challenging lol I will try again but in the mean time I wanted to show you what I came up with!

It holds quite a bit in there too, my IPad 2, IPhone, 2 diapers, wipes, chapstck, wallet, and keys are in the pictures :) If there are some comments left about wanting to know how to make this cute bag I will post a full tutorial. Enjoy!!! Pin It