Month / July 2017

by gr8typist

Miscellaneous Sewing Stuff

This will be a running post with some miscellaneous projects.

7/2017 – Cross body bag with front pocket for small items, like a phone, pens, notepad, etc.  This one is custom made to the size of whatever tablet you want to put into it.  Mine is for my Asus Transformer with keyboard.  I adapted the Crazy Little Projects Laptop bag.

8/2017 – Silly little sewing project – pumpkin-style pincushion using instructions from CraftyGeminiCreates.  My flat-head quilting pins needed a home and it used up some fabric scraps.

by gr8typist

Quilted Patchwork Totes

My newest obsession, the quilted patchwork tote.

My first charm pack tote was kind of a fluke. I like to buy decent-sized fabric remnants at thrift stores, and I found one particularly generous pack of several remnants that when I got it home and unfolded, discovered was actually one large remnant with a stack of pink and purple poorly cut squares. Someone was going to make a little girl’s quilt and stopped after rough-cutting charms. New challenge — make something out of these otherwise useless squares.

My first project was based on a YouTube video tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  The tote is lined and I added a CamSnap at the center top after these pics were taken.

My second tote was based on Charm Pack Tote Bag Tutorial-Sewn Up from Sewn Up.  This bag was not quilted, but is traditionally lined, so I went ahead and quilted the front, back and bottom panels separately and then sewed them together as I added the inset ruffle.  This one was my new favorite.

While I was creating the mauve tote, I knew I wanted to make a denim patchwork tote. This bag is based on Sewn Up’s Charm Pack Tote Bag with Pocket (I didn’t add the pocket), and I used the Classic Bow Tutorial from Better Homes and Gardens to make the perfect decorative bow.  Again, I quilted my bag, but because the accent ribbon and bow are sewn on after the bag is assembled, I was able to quilt the bag in one large piece.

I’ll definitely be making more of these totes, experimenting with sizes and shapes of the charms.

Update:  Gorgeous greens with diamond quilting.

Update:  Thanks Teresa Mairal, TeresaDownUnder, at Sewn Up Patterns for the nice note back!

Update 8/13:  Here’s a project that was meant to be something else, but I completely screwed it up, so it became this instead.

by gr8typist

Don’t Iron Plastic, Kids

How to Clean a Hopeless Iron.

20170630_193930Seems like an obvious statement, I know.  “Don’t iron stuff that will melt.”

But stuff happens sometimes.

So this happened tonight.  My iron tipped for a second at the most, as I was pressing a strap.  Unfortunately, it rested right smack on a thin plastic bag that melted instantaneously.  The plastic fused to the sole plate and was so thin and smooth it was NOT coming off.  I tried ironing waxed paper.  I tried gently scraping, I tried freezing and gently scraping, I tried Magic Erasers, and I tried dryer sheets by themselves.  Nothing budged this stuff.  It was one with the iron.

So here’s the trick – it’s a combo trick.

Waxed paper
Salt
Clean dryer sheets

Turn your iron on the hottest setting.  Put some table salt on a sheet of waxed paper, and on a surface that you won’t damage with a hot iron, iron the salt on the waxed paper.  The salt will cling to the iron, the iron will smoke.  Immediately iron a couple of clean dryer sheets.  You’ll see the melted stuff come off on the dryer sheets.  Repeat until clean.

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