Pleated Purse

The first purse I ever made was this pleated purse. It was right before Christmas so guess what everyone got as gifts, haha.

 I had originally bought these fabrics for a dress, but wanted to try something new. I've been hooked on bags ever since!

Then I found a pattern for this organizer and loved the idea. It has a few layers of interfacing to both pad and protect your items and also to give it enough structure to stand upright in your purse. They're great for those of us that have more than one purse, it's designed to fit into whatever size bag you have!

 

 I like the details on this purse-the pleating, the handles with both exterior and interior fabric, the flat bottom makes it roomy enough to hold everything you need and there's 2 divided pockets inside.

I was so nervous about adding the magnetic closure that I actually left it out on the first one I made, lol! To my relief it's really easy and now I put them in without a second thought.

 I LOVE this fabric! It, too, was bought with a dress in mind, I was going to make pants out of the houndstooth for my son for matching Christmas outfits...needless to say I never got around to it. Since I started making purses the only clothes I've made were because someone ordered them.

I noticed that I have some things on my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/RGOriginals that I haven't put on my blog, this is the first one. I'm trying to find extra time this week to make sure I have everything I've made on both pages. Crayon rolls with matching reversible totes are up next!

A little help from my friend

     Yesterday I was lucky enough to spend time with my best friend, Sharon. We used to see each other several times a week, but since I moved in July I've only gotten to see her a handful of times. She and I have been friends for almost 20 years, we usually tell people that we are "adopted sisters." We have always been close, I met her when she was pregnant with her daughter and I was in high school and I started babysitting her kids. She, in turn, took me under her wing and helped guide me through the crazy high school years. We stayed in contact after I left for college, she was my matron of honor in my wedding, when my son was born and we moved back home she was at my house almost daily.

     In August 2010, both of our lives were changed forever. Within a weeks time my husband and I separated and her doctors found a tumor on her lung. I'll never forget sitting at that first oncologist appointment with her and her mom...hearing him say "stage 4 cancer to the lung, liver and lymph nodes."

     This is meant to be a happy post so I'm not going into the details too much. She's been through hell and she's been strong and brave throughout the whole thing. At the same time she was my biggest support as my marriage ended. It's been 17 months since she was diagnosed, she's done chemo, radiation,  had surgery on her liver, and had an allergic reaction to one type of chemo that almost killed her. The tumors were shrinking at first, but there has been no good news since the spring, they found spots on her brain and spine in November. They started a new chemo and radiation and will retest her in March, and here's the thing, she looks better then she has since this all started and she feels great! The docs told her this new stuff has the possibility to work miracles, and we're counting on it!

 This is the day she had surgery on her liver to remove the tumor. Unfortunately I realized as I was putting this post together that it's the only picture I have of us together in the last few years. Anyway, she's been feeling really good lately and had offered to come help me with cutting and interfacing. I really HATE interfacing, lol, it's so time consuming, so I jumped at the chance to not only get some help, but also spend some time with my friend!

 I have 6 crayon roll and tote sets due this coming week (with 15 other orders in line behind them!) so I figured we could get those ready to sew. She started out cutting but quickly realized she didn't get along with the rotary cutter, lol!

 I started cutting and got her set up at the ironing board. It took her a few pieces before she got the hang of interfacing but once she did she whipped through it. Lucky for me she said she LIKED it!

 We even had time for her to mark all the lines on the crayon rolls. in about 4 hours of work we accomplished what would usually take me 2 days! We had fun hanging out, she said it was nice to get away from the house and do something different and she would gladly come back to help again. With orders piling up and 2 craft shows coming up I'll definitely take her up on that!

Izzie hasn't seen "Aunt Sharon" since the summer and she was so happy to get some snuggle time with her. She asked her, in her cute little 4 year old voice, if she was still sick and "Aunt Sharon" said with a big smile "I'm feeling better and getting healthier every day!"

It was so wonderful to spend time with my "big sister" I can't wait to do it again!

I love you Sharon

Go Green with Reusable Snack Bags!

I don't know about you, but at my house we use 3 plastic snack bags daily in my son's lunch box and usually at least 2-4 more for random snacks for my daughter through the week. When I bought a new box earlier this week I started thinking about how much waste this adds up to every week-if every kid in his school used 3 bags a day that would be 1,200 bags a day and 6,000 a week just at one elementary school! I came home and did some a LOT of research and found out that rip stop nylon is completely food safe, waterproof, and washable!  Then I made these

If I assume that we use 3 bags a day, 5 days a week that's 120 bags per month and 1,440 a year. I usually buy a box of 100 snack bags for about $3 which means I'll spend $43 a year, and that's if we don't use any extra! By using these I'm helping the environment and saving money, talk about going green!

I'm selling them for $4 a piece. They have a velcro closure and I triple stitched the top edges to keep it sturdy and easy for little hands to open. They can be wiped out after each use or thrown in the washing machine whenever necessary.  They can hold dry snacks or wet snacks,since they lining is waterproof, I used them for apples and pickles (not together,lol!) and the outside stayed dry.

Sandwich size coming soon!

****FABRIC CHOICES****

The Isabel Bag

Here's a new bag I call "The Isabel Bag" after my baby girl!

She picked the fabrics, she calls the exterior fabric "the pretzel fabric" lol. This is a very basic version of this bag, I have some cool variations, like adding a flap for the closure and making the handle adjustable (plus a few more!) that I'll be working on soon.

   
Until then, here's a few pics of Izzie enjoying her new bag, she wouldn't put it down once I gave it to her! Since we had a really nice day today we got to play outside (crazy Ohio weather, I bet it will be back in the 20's before we know it!)

Wristlet set

My newest project that I worked on this weekend is a wristlet set that includes a sunglasses case, lipgloss case and phone case that has 2 pockets. It was a long process so I thought I'd post not only the finished pieces but also some of the steps along the way. To start, here's the completed set...

Now that I've made the first set and worked out a few kinks I can't wait to make more, it's so cute! The pattern for this came on a HUGE tissue pattern paper filled with about 30 different patterns! Luckily I had seen a post about using freezer paper showing the easiest way to trace patterns from these. I think the kids thought I was crazy, but this was the best way to see through the freezer paper. The sliding glass doors were the only thing big enough otherwise I would have had to move it each time I traced a new piece.

I got really excited when I was done tracing all the pieces, but once I finished cutting them out I started wondering what had I gotten myself into!

It was right after this that I got stuck, is was kind of like writers block. I had traced another pattern that day from that same huge paper, got a new book with a few bags I wanted to make, and then went shopping and got a bunch of new fabric. It was almost as if I had too much in my head at one time and couldn't figure out where to start! I talked to my sister and Jeff a few times trying to sort everything out but it wasn't until my sweet baby girl said to me Friday morning when I was on the computer "Mommy, I thought you said you had sewing projects to do, so what are you doing?!" Hahaha, motivation from a 4 year old! I actually had a busy day already but managed to get all the fabric cut and interfaced (luckily less then half needed it-I HATE interfacing!)

I finally sat down and really got to work Saturday, determined to get it finished. Much to my dismay I figured out halfway though the wristlet that the directions were wrong and the zipper they called for was about 3 inches too short!! I had already been to the fabric store earlier and was not going to waste any more time so I just made do by cutting off 1 1/2 inches off the sides of the bag. It was frustrating and took a bit of work to get it to look right, but it turned out ok. I'll use the correct size next time! I also changed the pattern a bit by adding a swivel hook to the strap so it can be removed easily.

(ugh! sometimes my pics rotate when I post them and even Jeff can't figure out why!)

I love the cases with this set! They go great all together or can be used separately, plus they can be used for whatever your heart desires! First I made the phone case. It holds my iPhone with plenty of extra room and it has fleece lining to keep your phone protected. It also has 2 nice pockets to keep money, ID, or credit cards.

Next I made a sunglasses case. It is also lined with fleece to keep your sunglasses safe inside your bag. Like the phone case, it has a flap with a velcro closure. I'm so glad my sister talked me into using the buttons, they really add a nice touch!

Last, but not least, is a lipgloss case, it's a great size for your make-up though it can hold any of the little things usually floating around at the bottom of your purse. It has a larger flap with velcro closure to keep your smaller items put!

I had a lot of fun and my fair share of stress making this set. Thanks to my sister's advice I got to try something new-fabric covered buttons. They were fun to make and really add to the little cases. The 3 I used helped me learn about fabric placement for each button and also placement on the flaps...I've been getting a lot of practice with hand sewing lately! You can buy kits at the store to make your own, I can already see lots of projects using these coming in my future!

As if the misprint on the zipper size wasn't stressful enough, I misread the directions on the phone case and made a crucial mistake...oops, I missed to directions for adding the velcro to the case!! I noticed the bottom pocket wasn't straight and then the seams came apart! I ended up having to start from scratch and make another one, the first one was a MESS!! I learned from my mistakes and was a LOT more careful in the construction of the second one!

So there you go, a wristlet with 3 accessory cases! I know I could have just shown you the set and the individual pieces but it was an interesting journey to get this project done and I wanted to share it. 

Like I said earlier, I have a LOT of ideas and a bunch of new fabric so keep checking back for fun new projects! If you see anything you want please leave me a comment, anything I make can be made in (almost) any fabric I have and I like doing custom orders. The next order I'm working on is for a friend that wanted the elements of 2 different purses I make combined so I've designed a whole new purse for her! I'll be posting pictures of that next week hopefully. I also have pictures on my facebook page that I haven't posted on here yet, crayon roll and tote bag sets, a purse and purse organizer and a few dresses, skirts and hair accessories, those are all coming to the blog soon!

Have a great day!!

They're DONE!

     The project that I didn't want to do and avoided as much as possible is finally finished! I woke up this morning and said "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!" I worked on them all day and just finished them, finally! Now I can move on to projects I've been wanting to do and other orders that are easy and much less time consuming. I can't even describe how good it feels to be done with this crazy and highly stressful project!!!

work spaces

     I've been busy working on orders this week, one in particular has been tough and it's taking up a lot of my time. The worst part about it is that it's not even something I want to make, so it's harder to concentrate on it! I just have to suck it up and get it done, money is money, right?!?! 

     Since I've been trying to find excuses to stay away from that project, lol, I thought I'd take a minute to show you my work spaces. Jeff and I both have hobbies that take up a lot of space, but we're in a house that has enough space for the necessities and all the kids stuff but not much else-so we had to get creative.

This is the new sewing table Jeff got me for Christmas. When I'm not using it it just looks like a regular piece of furniture.

When you open it up it has tons of work space! It has plenty of storage for all my notions and equipment, I can put both my machines on top when I need to or store one down on the shelf to keep it out of the way. Luckily it fits right in an available space we had in the dining room. It is so nice to not have to drag all that stuff in and out of the hobby closet every day! Speaking of the hobby closet...

This is where I keep the fabric I use most often as well as my interfacings, hardware, and, well, whatever else I'm using that won't fit into my sewing table! This is only part of the closet, the rest of it isn't nearly as organized, lol! Jeff uses this closet for some of his stuff, the rest of our hobby stashes are out in the garage.

My 2 trusty machines!! A Husqvarna Viking Emerald 118 and a Brother 1034 D, I love them both! The Viking puts my last Singer to shame, it sews through multiple layers like it's nothing and it has some very useful features that make my life easier! My serger is like a dream come true, lol! I haven't even really gotten into all the functions it can do, but am really happy with how quickly it finishes seams perfectly and almost died when I found out how easily it gathers! 

This is how I set up my cutting and ironing spaces when I'm working. Lol, it's not great but it works! Cutting on the floor gives me a ton of space but always hurts my back if I'm cutting a lot of material. I set up this really bright light above my ironing board because it's kind of a dark corner of the house. I work a lot at night and even if I turn on all the lights downstairs and the light on the stairs it's still dark. I use the speaker as a little tablet to hold any tools I may need, which I'm sure drives Jeff crazy but he's to wonderful to complain!

Ok, I've avoided my project for long enough, lol. I need to get some work done on it now because I have a ton of  'real life' things to do today, laundry and grocery shopping don't take care of themselves unfortunately!