cherishables: October 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

New fabric!!!

The greatest thing happened this weekend. I ran out of fabric and had to buy more. Oh happy day!

I picked up these beauties:

The fabric on the bottom will be used for a black & white hounds tooth purse that still needs to be felted.

The fabric on the top will be a lining for this purse:

I can't wait!!

Friday, October 21, 2011

Smells Like Team Spirit

From top: Philadelphia Flyers, Eagles, & Phillies purses.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love my local professional teams. Flyers, Phillies, Eagles. I love them all.

A few years ago, merchandisers started getting smart & realized that women (and girls!) are sports fans & they started marketing merchandise towards this demographic. I'll admit I have my fair share of pink baseball caps with the team logo on them. I stop short of buying the handbag with the logo. I don't want to carry a purse with my team's logo on it. I need something a little more...subdued.

Then I found a really neat pattern. It was a simple row by row, but after a few rows you switch colors to make a stripe. Sew up the sides, add some straps & done!

Free pattern from the web. I have no idea who to credit for this design.

Cute idea, right? When it was done, I made another. This time I tweaked it a little. Added more stripes. I striped the top and added a wider handle.

Apparently I also put it together inside out b/c the stripe is on the other side.

Then I saw it. With a little more tweaking this purse could be very easily adapted to any set of colors. Even.....team colors. So, I changed the shape a bit to more of a tapered top, instead of a straight top & got to work.

I matched up my beloved (yes, beloved) Flyers:

It was still baseball season at the time, so the Phillies were next on the list:

Football season was right around the corner, so I search and searched for green yarn to make an Eagles purse:

I had to go retro to match the Eagles. Green is hard.
There are 4,000 shades of forest green in wool, but not green-green.

The my family started getting in on the act.

MN Vikings purse made, by request, for my cousin.

Dallas ~~Cowgirls~~ Cowboys purse made for another cousin.

I even made a NJ Devils purse for my sister, but I can't seem to find a picture for it. Eh. It's just the Devils. :-)

I love this idea! I'm able to show my team spirit and still have a fashionable purse to carry around. No team logos or mascots faces. Just the colors. Wearing my heart on my shoulder, as it were.

It took some work, but I have found yarn to match every single NFL, NHL and MLB team. I'm offering custom made NFL and NHL purses in my Etsy shop. MLB coming soon. (I actually have the yarn match-ups for MLB, I just haven't formatted the swatches, so if you would like an MLB purse, email me and I'll send you the colors.)

I think these would make fab holiday gifts. I know I would love to receive one (which is why I made 3 for me!) Perfect gift for a girl in college or HS. Just let me know the school colors & I'll find the wool.

I would love it if you visited my shop to take a look. I can make these pretty quick, but sometimes have to order the yarn, so order soon to guarantee holiday delivery.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

How do you like them apples?

I love apples and this is the time of the year to eat them. Lots of them! What I don't like are bruised apples in my lunch sack. Naturally, I needed to make a cover for my apples. That's where the good people at KnotSewCute come in. They have the cutest apple jacket you ever saw!

I bought this pattern about a year ago. I read through it and put it down. It was like a foreign language. Front post this & back post that. Skip stitches and then post around the skipped stitches. My head hurt just reading it!

A year, and countless items later, I picked up the pattern again -- determined to figure it out. This time I had no problem understanding what to do. What a difference a year makes!

Look at all those pretty, twisty, cables. This one is made from Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool in Oatmeal.

Last year, at this time, I was shaking my head and wondering if I would ever understand enough to make this beautiful pattern. This year, I made my first in a one night! I now have a baker's dozen apple jackets to sell at my very first craft fair (more on that later.)

As always, Kim & Tara at KnotSewCute have taken a simple item and created something wonderful. This is a great pattern and one I highly recommend. Little sweaters for your apples. And no more bruises!