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10 Minute Dog Collar

Guess who got a bath today?  Lila is clean, fresh & huggable--and a little tired from the trauma. 

Lila stays pretty clean, since she is a sort of a tidy dog by nature and her coat is quite short.  Since she isn't very dirty, she only gets a bath once a month.  On bath day I almost always make her a new collar. I reuse the plastic buckle and d-ring and just make a new fabric piece. 

Here is her new collar:

It is the same print as her last collar because I happen to have several long pieces of fabric binding tape in this print.  It took about 10 minutes to make a new one.  This time I added a layer of cotton batting to make it somewhat firm.  Her last one was sort of floppy. 

If you'd like to make a dog or cat collar you can take a look at this tutorial from several years ago.  

Works in Progress

This is the large size Ditty Bag.  It is about 8" wide x 9" high x 2"-3" deep.  The fabric is an olive green home dec print.

I may have to make a very small version of this too.  It would be fun to have one that could have a keychain or clip attached at the top.  It would be perfect for lipgloss, ID and a some cash.

Here we have what I'm thinking of as a lunch bag.  I made one not long ago and I do use it to take food to work, and also have been using it for just a general little bag for all the bits and pieces I tote back and forth.  This one picture is taller and the wrap strap is wider, but I think I'm going back to a slightly shorter version with a thinner strap.  Still playing with this design...

Sample Sale - Business Card Wallet - SOLD

Last week I made this Business Card wallet and took new photos to update the pattern.  The fabric color is too dark for the pattern photos, so sometime this week I'll make another one. 

So it is looking for a new home...does it need to go home with you?  It is $10.  US shipping is included.  If you are outside the US, the shipping might be an additional $1-3 depending on where you are located. Sold - Thanks!

The first person to email me (link in upper right column) will be invoiced through PayPal.  Please let me know your location if you are outside the US.  Thanks!

More Ditty Bags

Here is the second Ditty Bag.  I love it in this striped cotton/linen. 

A Ditty Bag is basically a small travel bag.  The name is a old sailing term for the bags sailors used to store their tools and personal items.  The ditty bag often contained a sewing kit, so they were also called a "sailor's housewife" or "housewife".  Because space was tight on the ship, the bags were hung on the wall--probably right in the sailor's bunk. 

I believe Naval recruits are still issued a ditty bag with a sewing kit, paper/pens & toiletries. 

I put a squirrel charm on as a zip pull, but I think it has to come off.  The zipper pull flops over when the bag is sitting flat, so it needs a zip pull that doesn't have a specific front/back, or maybe it just needs a swivel.  I'm still experimenting.

This will be a pattern "soon".  I'm making one larger size.  This one is about 6" wide x 7" high.   

 

Farmdale Blossom

Alexander Henry Farmdale Blossom in Teal

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Cool Cottons is just two blocks from my bank, so whenever I go to the bank I also have to visit their store.  The last few times I was in, I found myself drawn to this print from Alexander Henry's Farmdale collection (available online here). 

I loved the teal color, but wasn't sure what I would make with the fabric, so I held off.  After about four trips to the fabric store, I finally bought a yard.  One yard is my "I like it, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it" amount. 

But I quickly realized it needed to be made into fabric tape:

The cutting & pressing part of sewing sort of sort of relaxing to me, so making fabric tape is something I enjoy.

Now I'm going to tell you a secret...I don't like bias tape.  Bias tape can be useful for binding very sharp curves, but most of the time it just ends up being a sloppy mess when used to bind things that don't need that much give. One day not long ago I asked my neighbor--who doesn't know much about sewing--if she was familiar with bias tape.  She knew what I was talking about, and what she said was something like this: "oh, that stuff you trim things with that always ends up all wrinkled along the fold?"  Yep, that's bias tape!

If I want to bind something I almost always use cross grain tape.  It has a good amount of stretch and doesn't tend to get as wrinkled along the fold.

 

Alexander Henry - In the Kitchen - Rolling Hills

In the Kitchen - Rolling Hills in Yellow