Easy Fix for Floppy Bags

 

I love bags. Not expensive designer bags, but high utility, go anywhere, do anything bags. I especially like small ones that hold a lot and have lots of pockets and zippers and nooks and crannies. I'm a bit of a connoisseur. 

I keep a "go bag" (under an airline seat size) packed and ready at all times. To accompany that bag, I like to have a small crossbody bag to wear that holds the usual purse stuff. Between those two bags, I can skip checking luggage, quickly get through security, hop on a flight, and have all my things with me at all times, without worrying about whether my luggage will make it to my destination. (Why I do this might be a subject for another post.)

I have prowled Amazon for many hours in search of wonderful (inexpensive!) bags, and I've found that many of the ones with the features I like are also made of nylon, which is cool because they're water resistant, but uncool because they often don't have rigid bottoms and they're floppy, which I don't like.

Bottomless and floppy (boooo!)

Fortunately, this is easy to fix. All you need is some cardboard or other stiff-ish material, fabric, and glue.

Measure the bottom of the bag, between the seams. Stretch the fabric slightly to get an accurate measurement. You'll want the bottom to fit snugly.

Cut your bottom material a tiny bit smaller than your measurement, and remember a thicker bottom like cardboard will be less forgiving size-wise. You want to use something that is stiff but not so rigid it can't be manipulated, as you'll have to work it in under those seams. Trim the corners to make it easier to fit under the end seams.

Cover cardboard with fabric (I used hot glue to secure it). Work the bottom in under the seams and that's all there is to it.

Not floppy (yaaaay!)

Having a rigid bottom in a bag makes it a little easier to dig around in (think digging around in a box as opposed to a plastic bag), and it's kinda fun to customize with pretty fabric. It's also a good way to brighten up the inside to make it easier to see what's in there.

The straps are also from Amazon and are sold as "camera straps." They come in tons of colors and designs and are another fun way to customize a bag. A wider strap is also more comfortable than a skinny one, at least for me.

Hope this is helpful, and may you find the perfect bag!

Twelve Days of Christmas Bonus Post: Tips & Tools

 

Let me start by saying if you're thinking of making this ornament set in paper, it can be as simple or as elaborate as you like, but if you want to make them elaborate, it will take some time. They cannot be whipped out in an hour. Each of these ornaments took hours. If you're a stitcher, you may be thinking, "No problem! It takes hours to stitch a Christmas ornament." It does, but stitching is pretty relaxing and rhythmic and you can do it anywhere. Making these and being fancy pants about it is pretty exacting work and you need a workspace. I wouldn't call it relaxing, but the finished product is rewarding. The patterns become increasingly detailed as you work your way from the partridge to the people, and most of these took me at least a couple of days, and in the case of the people, longer. Part of that was because once I got everything cut out, including all the tiny details, I placed them, and then I walked away from it for a day or so to make sure I liked it before I started gluing everything in place. I have no idea how many hours this set took me. 

I say all that, not to discourage you, but to help you decide how you want to make your set and how much time to budget. If you like paper crafting, you will love making these. It's challenging and absorbing and the results are so lovely and unique. Mr. Wonderful has claimed this ornament set to decorate his library (shown above on his bookcases). The point is, when I had this idea, I really didn't have a clue how long these would take me. It's definitely not something you can throw together at the last minute. I think it would be a great year-long project, making one per month. You could start in January! The whole set is available in a bundle (I think it goes on sale every November; that's when I got mine but that was years ago) but it is also available in smaller bundles of three ornaments each and you can even purchase individual ornaments if you'd just like to dip your toe in and make one and see how it goes.

Twelve Days of Christmas by mmmcrafts

With all that out of the way, let's talk about tips & tools. Everything I used is pretty basic, with the only special purchases being the paper punches. If you're a crafter, you probably already have most of these supplies.

PAPER

Your paper choice is really the most important decision you make for how you want your set to look. You can do details or no details, glitter or no glitter (gasp!), but it's your paper choice that makes the set. Obviously, using plain paper (card stock) gives you a much different look than using patterned paper, and I did make my first partridge using plain paper, but it just lacked the visual interest I wanted. If you prefer a quieter look, definitely go with plain paper. If you want to use patterned paper, my advice is to choose a pad of curated papers that you like. Why? Because all the color work is done for you. Everything already coordinates. All you have to do is choose some complimentary plain paper (and glitter!) and you're ready to go. This is especially helpful if you don't feel confident choosing colors. All of the plaids I used in my set were from one pad of Christmas plaids.  There are so many styles and patterns and colors to choose from. 

PAPER PUNCHES

Whether or not you decide to add a lot of details to your ornaments will determine whether or not you need to invest in some paper punches. I say "invest" because good paper punches aren't cheap but they're definitely worth the money. A less expensive punch that mangles card stock and doesn't even dint glitter paper is a waste of money. I actually didn't figure out the paper punch solution for detail work until I had already made my first couple of ornaments. I wasn't satisfied with the result and I needed a way to produce lots of tiny pieces for details without driving myself mad cutting them out. Paper punches, obviously! I already had some basic shapes but decided I wanted a leafy, nature-y look, so I went hunting for those and found Bira craft punches. I can recommend these. Lots and lots of choices and very good quality. They handled heavy glitter paper and produced nice, clean cuts. They do go on sale occasionally, so watch out for that. The big one in the second picture was my splurge, but it was worth it. I used it a lot. For the heads of my people, I used the 1" round punch in the middle. The hands are about a 10 mm circle.

Here's another thing to think about when choosing paper punches. There are "border" punches like the blue Fiskars punch in the second picture that produce a long design, but what you're interested in is the little bits of punched paper. I used that punch (which I've had for many years and is probably no longer available) for the long squiggle and the leaves, but also for mouths, eyebrows, and eyelashes (by trimming the leaves). When you look at border punches, don't look at the border as a whole, but at the little shapes. They can be used for all kinds of things.

You'll also need some regular hole punches in different sizes. The one on the right is a tiny 4 mm punch and it feels like I glued about a thousand of those. It's a useful size, just about right for eyes. 

CUTTING TOOLS

Good scissors are a must. You might also need an exacto knife. I have a bunch of different Fiskars paper edgers, but I think this is the only one I used, to do the Lady's hair. If you have some, they would be neat to use, but they're not necessary.

COLORED PENCILS, SHARPIES, GEL PENS

Adding some shading around the edges of plain paper shapes really gives them a nice dimension and a more finished look. It may not show up well in the pictures, but I think it's an important step. You might also need a black Sharpie, and I use a white gel pen to add a little bright spot to the birds' eyes. 

EYES

Speaking of birds' eyes, I used these little adhesive black facets. You can find them in the scrapbook supplies with the stickers. 

GLUE

Nothing fancy, just good, old fashioned Elmer's glue sticks. I like the purple ones because you can easily see where the glue is going. It dries clear.

TWEEZERS. TWEEZERS. TWEEZERS.

If you decide to make this set fancy schmancy with lots of embellishments, you will develop a deep relationship with your tweezers. Oh my stars. Make sure they are worthy of your love. I wouldn't recommend the ones with the slanted tips, but that's probably a personal preference. But do make sure they close properly. Every single teeny tiny piece of paper will have to be placed, and you don't want to constantly have to pick up dropped pieces over and over. You'll go crazy.

HOW TO MAKE THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL HATS

For the most part, the patterns for these three-dimensional felt ornaments translate easily into paper. The only thing I had to figure out was the hats, because obviously, the patterns are meant to fit a round wooden bead. The solution was pretty simple, once I put my brain cell to it. I pencil traced around the shape of the hat in the picture on the pattern (top picture). I then used my little light box (a bright window will do) to trace that shape onto a plain piece of paper, which I took a picture of (second picture). Then I "embiggened" that picture until it fit the 1" round head I had punched out, and traced that enlarged shape right from my phone screen. My enlarged hat pattern is in the top picture. I did this with the piper's hat, too. I skipped the milk maid's hat but it would be the same process. 

I think that covers it. If you plunge into this project, allow yourself to make mistakes, and change your mind. I made the pear--the simplest pattern in the whole set--three times. Your first try may not give you the result you want, but you'll get there. Even though you're using a pattern, it's very much a creative process. My paper ornament set is very different from the felt set, but I think it still has the same spirit. I think anyone who is familiar with the felt set would immediately recognize my paper interpretation, and I like that.

If you have questions, leave a comment and I'll do my best to help.

Counting Pin Storage

 

When I was a very young stitcher almost 40 years ago, I loved to buy lots and lots of charts. Over the years, my tastes have become more selective and for a long time now I've been buying far fewer charts but more fabric and goodies. One of my favorite goodies is counting pins. As you can see, I have a little collection, some purchased, some homemade. Some were on the cards they came on when I bought them, some were in a small tin. I decided to make a counting pin book.

I already had everything I needed in my sewing room, including the floss bags and binder cover. I get those from Hobby Lobby (I'm sure they're available elsewhere) and keep them on hand because that's what I use to store my hand dyed threads. It just hadn't occurred to me to use them for my counting pins. The only other things I used were cardstock and felt.

I just cut small pieces of cardstock and stapled strips of felt to them. 

Slip them in the floss baggies and put the baggies in the binder and done! All together and organized. 

Caterpillar & Clothes Pin Display Stands

Years ago, I posted a tutorial for homemade display stands that has been one of my most viewed posts. They're easy to make and you can really fancy them up in any way you want. But for my Christmas village I wanted display stands that didn't show and were quick and easy to make. I came up with what I'm calling Caterpillar & Clothes Pin display stands. Let's make some.

All you need is some clothes pins, some pipe cleaners, and a hot glue gun.

Take the clothes pins apart. 

Glue the pieces back together as shown. It just so happens that this creates the perfect angle for the stand.

This is the caterpillar part. Wrap a pipe cleaner around a ruler 1 1/2 times so that you have a double section on one side and a single section on the other. Snip off the remainder.

Line up the bottom of a clothes pin stand with the bottom of the finished piece and make a small mark on either side of the top notch on the stand. Put some hot glue on the double section of the caterpillar and glue it onto the marked spot.

Slide the stand into the caterpillar. You'll feel the notch catch and secure the finished piece to the stand.

And that's it! When you're ready to put away your finished stitching, just slide the stand out of the caterpillar.

Framing: Centering Made Easy

Finally had a chance to get in my sewing room and get some work done! This beautiful Blue Jay from Pigeon Coop Designs was the last project I completed for this year's Summer Birds and I've framed him at last! The frame is from The Rusty Roof. They have a nice selection of custom sizes and a good range of color choices. 

Framing your own needlework isn't hard and it saves a ton of money (my basic framing tutorial). The trickiest part is probably getting your piece centered properly, so I thought I'd share how I do it. As with a lot of other stuff I share here, this is probably not "the way you're supposed to do it" but it's the way I do it and it's easy and it works, so there's that. 

After cutting the foam core to the proper size, I use a ruler to draw two lines between the corners to find the center of the foam core.

I also measure and mark the center of each side.

Then I stick a pin through the center of the foam core.

Referring to the marked center of the design chart, I lay the finished piece on the padded foam core, with the pin sticking up through the center of the design. I now have the exact center of the design matched to the exact center of the foam core.

I then put one pin in the marked center of each side. If it looks good, I start pinning in the corners, working between opposite sides (ie. top right corner, then bottom left; top left corner, then bottom right), gently stretching and straightening as needed, pinning all the way around the piece, with pins about 1/4" apart. I start in the corners because it's easier to stretch the fabric in two directions (lengthwise and widthwise) simultaneously, and it's also easier to see if the horizontal and vertical fibers are exactly perpendicular, which they will be if the stretch is nice and even. If it's uneven, you can easily see the wiggle in the fibers at the corner.

So that's it! It takes some practice but it really isn't difficult at all and it saves so much money. 

Making Wee Skeins of Floss

 

For those unexpected occasions when you suddenly need a very tiny skein of floss, here is a quick show & tell for making them. This is super easy.

Loosely tie the floss around a dinner fork to hold it in place.

Wrap the floss around the fork four times, then tie the middle with black floss.

Trim the floss and slide it off the fork. You have an adorably tiny skein of floss you can use to embellish stitched pieces or in finishing.

If you like, you can tie it twice so it looks a bit more like a big skein.

That's it! Easy, easy method for making the tiniest skeins of floss.

Happy Stitching!