Turn and Press

Giveaway Winner, Simul-Sew Vote Results, and Etsy Find!

First of all, the fun part: the giveaway! Thank you so much to everyone who left comments, I've already found your advice to be so helpful. And especially thanks for the kind words and encouragement. I couldn't choose the winner for myself, because I wanted all of you to one, so I used a random number generator, and it came up with...

Talya!

Send me an email with your info so I can send you your new wristlet. You have your choice of either the warm purple and brown colors with the Japanese accent fabric like in the original post; or cool lavenders with a blue and purple batik accent fabric.

And now for the simul-sew vote results. The winning category, with 30% of the votes, is A Useful Bag. The second choice, with 20%, is a Toy or Other Children's Item. A Pretty Bag, An Apron, and Something for the Home each came in with 15% of the vote. And we had one write-in vote: "clothing like a shirt from a pattern, hard stuff like sleeves, collar." Thanks to everyone who voted!

Stay tuned for our next poll, when you can vote on the specific useful bag pattern you'd like to make for the April Simul-Sew. In future months, we'll rotate between the other choices, and I'll have other polls like this (maybe with some different choices too) in the future, to make sure we've got a good variety of projects.

And in case you need any tote bag inspiration, or just some beautiful spring-like pictures on what is (in New York) a very blustery not-quite-spring kind of day, look at these beautiful tote bags from etsy seller Raspberry Fairy:

Useful bags can be beautiful too! The more I see her work, the more I like it. She also has a lovely blog and flickr page with more pictures of her work and work-in-progress.  Click on the pics to buy the bags above, or click here to visit her shop.

My Wristlet, with link to tutorial - and giveaway!

A few weeks ago, you may remember, I spent an entire weekend making zipper pouches and trying different ways to put in zippers. This tutorial from Javajem has yet another way to put in a zipper, similar to Method 2 from my previous post (no handsewing). But this is much easier because the zipper is on the side, not the top, which negates the problem with rounded corners at the zipper ends. Not only that, this one is definitely the prettiest and most useful zipper pouch I've made so far!

I have to confess that even though I recognize that this is a relatively easy project, it totally kicked my butt. Not because there is any problem with the project or the instructions; I just didn't have any sewing mojo at all that day. I measured my fabric wrong; I put my zipper in backwards (as though for a left-handed person); I had to resew my topstitching three times because I could NOT get my lines straight (of course I would have to use contrasting thread!); and I somehow managed to flip my strap over after sewing down one side, so the stitching on one side of my strap looks crappy because it is actually the BACK of the stitches, not the front. And yet, I still managed to come up with this:

Just goes to show that if you have a good tutorial and cute fabric (and a seam ripper), you can't go too wrong!

I was particularly proud of the way I patchworked together the front, which is the first time I've tried something like that, and I think it looks nice. Of course, I meant to only have three strips of fabric - the floral, the lavender, and then the raspberryish - but I calculated wrong and needed another lavender strip to make up the width. But I think it's actually better this way.

This project does leave raw edges on the inside of the bag, but the way the bag is you can't really see them, so I don't think it matters too much. I'm not sure if there's a way to get around that. I did also shorten the strap by maybe 3-4 inches from the instructions, because I thought it would be more comfortable for me.

And note that I bravely forewent my traditional purple for the lining, and opted for a light, muted green to pick up the leaves on my print. I guess there is one advantage to leaving your leftover fabric lying around in a pile, instead of putting it away, because otherwise I don't think I would have thought of that.

This is actually a milestone post - my fiftieth! Wow! So to celebrate my accomplishment, I will make and  give away a wristlet similar to this to one of my lucky readers. All you have to do is leave a comment below that you think will be helpful to other new sewers - a sewing tip, a tool you've found indispensable, your Mom's words of wisdom, or just some encouragement. I'll pick the winner at random.

And thanks for reading!