Showing posts with label Feisty Stitcher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Feisty Stitcher. Show all posts

Monday, March 7, 2011

Oilcloth Bicycle Bags

Snow day!  Since it was an unexpected day off, I justified spending it sewing.  I did the bicycle bags from the book, The Feisty Stitcher.    I have the book, BUT I found a pdf  for them from the publishers.  Lucky you!  If you want to try these, you don't have to buy the book or even borrow the book from the library!  (You will, however, be missing out of more great project ideas.)  Either Google "oilcloth bike bag" or go to this link:  http://www.larkcrafts.com/needlearts/stitch-it-with-attitude-2/  and find another link at the end of the article.  For some reason, the direct link to the pdf does not work when I put it in here.
 
With nice weather on its way, these would made great gifts for bicyclists!  Here is the bag for the front of the bike.   I like the buttons on this one.
And, this shows the velcro for fastening it onto the bike.  I have both methods on since I don't know which will work best with my bike.  (Sorry, I refuse to shovel my way to she shed to show these on an actual bike.  It is still winter here as in, I am having a snow day!)  Take a look at the pdf to see how they look on a bike (and in some much more "grown-up" looking fabric.)


This is the bag for behind the bike seat.


I am NOT liking those buttons.  New picture of new buttons.  I like these better.  The book pattern calls for four buttons and the hair band closures.  I thought buttons and polka dots would be great together, but it was just overwhelming on this one.  I put on snap closures to cut down on the buttons. 

I do, however,  like the red Velcro on the back of this one.

I actually used PUL instead of the oilcloth suggested because this PUL was already in the stash.  I am keeping my pledge not to buy fabric til I get the stash way down.  This is not the lighter weight, stretchier, shiny PUL that people use for diaper covers.  This is a nice cotton poly-laminate. It was really easy to work with. 

I tried this pattern once without the the bias tape or braid, too.  I DO like easy.  I turned the flap pieces under a quarter of an inch and sewed a top stitch.  If you want to try this simpler design, I've included some pics to show you what I did below.

Follow the directions to create the basic rectangular piece in the book/pdf. Once you have finished putting together the two rectangles, turned it right-side out,  and sewn on the strap for holding the Velcro, DON'T turn the bottom up and sew it in place.  Instead, cut the angles for the flap as in the directions.  Now start folding in a quarter of an inch on each side.  .

You need to clip off  this point in the seamed corner to make it less bulky. 
Start folding the 1/4 inch.  This is really easy with the PUL as I think it would be with oilcloth because the fabrics tend to hold a finger fold well.  Once the back side is folded under, it is easy to match the front fabric to it.  Just a few pins will hold it in place for sewing.
If you want, you could sew the hair band in at the center point now eliminating the need for two buttons. This way you will only need one button to hook the hair band around.
This is what you'll have at the end of pinning.   You are ready to top stitch!

Here it is with the top stitching completed.  NOW fold up the bottom the suggested number of inches.  Remember that the Velcro strap will be INSIDE because you are about to sew the seams.  Continue on with the pattern creating the boxed corners.  If you put the hair band in the point seam, you only need to sew on one button now.  I do love easy!

One other change I made was to make the box corners 3/4 of an inch instead of 1 1/4 to give the bag just a bit more room.  If you make some of these, I'd love to see them.  Leave me a link to your blog in the comments or email me.

I'll leave you with a picture from the icy, snowy day--sun glistening off the branches in the aftermath.  It IS pretty.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Reusing Old Couch Cushions

I mentioned in another post that I saved some old couch cushions to recover.  I thought I could use one for meditation and just have them around for floor cushions.  They turned out to be more difficult than I thought because my traditional "take the old cushions apart for a pattern and to reuse the zipper and the cording" did not quite work this time.  The material covering the edge cording (which has another name I have forgotten at the moment) was incorporated into the side material.  That sounded like such a great idea!  A real time-saver! As it turned out, it was very difficult for me to figure out how to sew this all together. I gave up twice.  The cushions made their to the garbage area on two frustrating occasions.

Then, I was going through the Feisty Stitcher and noticed that she had a cushion that was sewn to the outside--very simple.  I was using denim that matched the furniture I covered in the four seasons room:


Denim would fray nicely--the perfect look for a rustic kind of fabric!  Here they are!  I'm still working on the edges.  I've been picking out the edges for that frayed look.  It's a nice boring job to do while watching television.

I'm glad they survived two near trips to the garbage.  I'm really pleased with how they turned out and the many uses I'm finding for them.  I love that I can just stack them up in a corner and grab one or two or three to use as needed.   I use one to make meditation time more comfortable and for some yoga things.  My book club is going to be watching Babette's Feast next week.  (Don't you just love a book club that will watch movies, too?)  These cushions are going to help provide the extra seating in the man cave, too.