Paris bag, the piped version

Yesterday, I showed you how I made the Paris goody bag,
with a simple flap.

Here is the piped version,

just a few extra stepped,

but still really easy!

The only extra steps are done during the construction of the flap.

After the top is interfaced and the corners are cut,

I stitched some piping around the flap.

I made my own piping because I wanted it to be the same purple

than the lining and the handle.

After stitching the piping, the other piece of print fabric is placed on top of the piping,

and the sandwich is stitched again all the 3 sides, like the other version.

When I made the piping, I stitched it using my presser foot, and move my needle to 3 (off center)

when I stitched the piping to the top, my needle is move to 4,

and finally for the sandwich, it moved to 5, 

so it closer and closer to the piping, making it impossible to see the previous stitching lines.

Once again I clipped the corners before turning the flap right side out.

I ironed it carefully and top-stitched all around it for neat, finish look.

With the flap complete, it is back to the rest of the bag,
nothing else is changed.

happy sewing!

Paris goody bags

Once again I spent a little too much time preparing Miss C.'s Bday party!

Please tell me I am not the only one.....

I guess I have a little too much fun making stuff!

This year theme was the Eiffel Tower,

what is not to like, right?

last year goody bags were simpler:

homemade-goody-bags

This year I went with a more purse looking bag,
A very girly version of messenger bag.
This one is the simple version,
tomorrow I will explain the extra steps for the piped version.

The fabric I used is  Premier Print Franch Stamp Dossett Grapevine
from Fabric.com, it is a home decor fabric, so it has more body than just a regular cotton.


List of cuts:
For the body  8" x 13.5": 2 in print, 2 in lining, 2 interfacing.

For the flap  9" x 11": 2 in print, 1 interfacing.

For the strap: 2 strips of 2.5" of lining fabric
1 strip of 2.25" of interfacing
1 strip of 3.5" of print
The length of the strap depends on the size of the child,
mine was about 26", half the width of the home decor fabric.

Let's start with the main body.
First I interfaced the 2 prints, then I stitched with a 1/4" seam allowance the 3 sides of the rectangle
(bottom and sides), making sure the tower is right side up.

I ironed all the seams opened, pinched the corner so that the seams align.
I marked a stitching at 1.5" from the corner, the line is 3" long.
I stitched that line and cut off the excess fabric, about 1/4" away.

I turned the bag right side out, and pressed it.

Now that the main body is ready,I did pretty much the same thing with the lining, 

except that I left an opening at the bottom of the bag,

stitching one side, part of the bottom, stopping (leaving a 3" gap), stitching the rest of the bottom

and the other side.

 Once again I ironed the seams opened, pinched the corners and sewed them.

The lining is now complete, and remains inside out.

Let's work on the bag flap.
I ironed the interfacing to the top part of the flap, then using a round object,
I traced 2 rounded corners and cut out the corners.
With the other flap piece, right side together, I stitched on the 3 sides of the flap.
I clipped the corners, turned it right side out, and pressed it carefully.

I top-stitched all around with a scant 1/4".

For the strap, I ironed on interfacing to one lining strap, and stitched both of them together on the 2 long sides. I turned it right side out, pressed it and top-stitched both sides.

With the print strip, I stitched it to itself wrong side together, pressed the seam opened making sure it is centered in the middle, because it is applied to the lining,the back side will not be seen.

I centered the print band on top of lining strap, and stitched close to the edges on both sides.
To add strength to the trap, I stitched the strap 3 more times, on the print.

With all the parts completed, we can now put it all together.

I first pinned the strap to the sides of the bag, centering the strap over the side seams.

Then I pinned the flap, centering it between the strap.

With a scant 1/4", I stitched the flap and strap to the bag.

I placed the entire bag inside the lining, aligning all the seams,

and stitched all around the top of the bag.

I turned it all right side out through the lining opening.

I then slip-stitched the opening in the lining by hand.

The bag is thoroughly ironed with the lining inside the bag.

The edges are pinned together and are top-stitched

 all the way around.

And we are done!

Happy sewing!

a simple Paris birthday party

This week end Miss C. celebrated her birthday

with a sleepover party with her 3 best friends.

The theme for this year: Paris and the Eiffel tower,

totally perfect for an almost 9 year old!

I kept things simple with a color scheme of purple and turquoise,

Miss C.'s favorite colors!

Last year, she chose Safari, with wild animal print and food,

passport invitation and giraffe print goody bag.

I made some sugar cookies in Eiffel tower and poodle shapes

for the girls to decorate, and 3 different icing,

I also made some French macarons,

using my Valentine's day skills.

They turned out perfect, except for the color!

They were supposed to be purple, I guess I did not put enough dye!

The inside is lightly purple, but the outside is mostly beige, it looks good with the chocolate,

the color problem did not affect the taste, they were good,

even if no girl ate any!

Miss C. chose some beautiful chocolate to coordinate with her color scheme.

Finally I made a simple four layer vanilla cake,

with butter icing, and decorated it with another Eiffel tower,

I used the cookie cuter to mark the shape on the iced cake.

While it is far from perfect, Miss C. was very pleased with it,

telling me I was the best mom, ever,

which I will try to remember during our next disagreement!

Miss C. set up the table, once again keeping things simple,

but with an Eiffel tower!

As you can in the left corner, there is a place for the presents,

and of course the goody bags, 

which I spent many hours making (more on that later)!!

Here are the 2 tutorials: part I and part II.

Happy birthday Miss C.

I love you !

Happy day!

swim pennants

Swim and dive season is almost over,

it was Miss C.'s first year,

so she was assigned a swim and a dive buddy,

who were most helpful in making it a successful time.

So to celebrate the occasion,

I made a personalized pennant for each of the girls,

of course, I could not forget my own daughter!

I found this great tutorial from Infarrantly Creative on how to draw and design

vintage inspired pennants,

I first designed the name in pennant shape,

using the font Varsity, just like in the tutorial.

Then I printed out the name,

and recopied the letters from the back on some wonder under.

I ironed them onto felt and cut them out.

Before ironed them onto my background,

I carefully placed the letters, making sure they aligned perfectly.

I did not cut the background until after the name was ironed on.

It is easier that way,

I just needed to make sure that there is enough place for 

the long triangle!

Then I stitched every letter to the background

to ensure nothing will come undone!

In order to hide all the threads, and make the pennant sturdier,

I added a back to the pennant, cutting a larger rough piece of felt for the back.

I also cut 2 long pieces of felt (1/2 inch wide) for the ties

that I put between the 2 layers,

and stitched around the pennant.

Once the back is stitched, I cut off the excess felt,

making sure not to cut off the ties.

At this point, it could be complete,

but I liked it with another band at the top.

I cut a 1 inch band, stitched it to the top,

and then cut off the excess on each side.

Here there are all together,
looking mighty good and official!

Happy sewing!

Happy Bastille day, a doll's point of view

 Happy Bastille day,

or "fete nat" as we call it at home,

there is never enough place on the calendar for "fete nationale"!

Polly celebrates the holiday in jeans, breton top (from this post)

and of course a beret!

I followed this free tutorial from American Doll Outfitters, very fast and easy.

I made a few using different fabrics (fleece, microfiber and felt)

and all of them worked just fine.

This one is made of cheap felt and looks really close to a real one,

not that you would see a lot of people with a beret in France,

well my Papi wore one quite often, so I guess it still happens.

Miss C. made the baguette out of salt dough,

painted with pastel after baking it,

looking quite realistic.

Happy day!

summer treat mini quilt: finished!

While we have been very busy with the pool, especially the kids

 (with at least 2 h of practice everyday, and 3 meets a week!),

I have found some time to make a quilt out of the paper pieced blocks

I have been working on before the summer.

And I love how it turned out!

I am going to keep that one for myself,

very selfishly!

During the summer treats sew along,

I made 9 paper blocks following the patterns of Ellison Lane.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

I added some sashing between rows of blocks,

but not between the blocks themselves,

a few of the blocks have space around them, 

so I felt it was not necessary.

I sewed a border around the blocks of the same background color,

and finally the border that inspired the color choices.

I decided to skip bidding the quilt,

I did some simple quilting with the top and batting,

then I sewed the back to the quilted with right side together (leaving an opening)

and then turning everything right side out (hand stitching the opening close).

I finally did some real quilting, giving dimension to the ice cream.

To keep the background from "puffing out",

I wrote some words with free motion like summer, ice cream....

It is a little hard to see as I used some off-white thread,

I wanted it be subtle, may be too subtle!

I cannot wait to hang it in my sewing room!

Happy sewing!