Friday, October 19, 2018

Beijing Bag Pattern release!

This little bag has been secret for soooo long now and I've been DYING to show it off!

The Beijing Bag was made special for the Swedish Quilters Associations 30th anniversary event this year! It's a bag I designed especially with quilters in mind, however, it's just as great for the non quilting bag maker. The totally smooth front and back lends itself beautifully for orphan quilt blocks, machine/hand embroidery or other decoration. Or why not use that one statement print fat quarter you've been dying to find the perfect project for?

The Beijing Bag pattern has both INCH and CENTIMETER measurements and is available in both English and Swedish HERE


The bag has a lovely teardrop shape from the side which is sure to turn a few heads.




It's the perfect size for the essentials and a few extras at ~11” (28cm) wide, ~8” (20cm) high and ~2.5” (6cm) deep at the base.


The interior has a zipper pocket and slip pockets.




The first Beijing Bag I made was with Katrina Roccellas beautiful Blithe fabric. I'll try to make a separate post featuring this bag once I have my camera back up and running again as it very much deserves it.


Me and my awesome mother before the reveal of the pattern! So sorry for the potato quality of these two photos, my cellphone is not great with dark areas,  or long distances AND dark as in the second photo, but I really wanted to include them anyway =)


Me doing the presentation and grand reveal! 



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My amazing pattern testers has sewn a number of beautiful Beijing Bags naturally and here they all are! Thanks a million everyone, I couldn't do this without you! <3

Anja - whom you can find on instagram here made an absolutely beautiful one with a spare quilt block. That gorgeous butterfly is just the perfect eye catcher for this bag! It beautifully demonstrates how I meant for the smooth front to be used. And thank you Anja for letting me borrow your beautiful bag for the great reveal for this bag pattern!


Annette - Made this super clever (oh how my partner scratched his head before he realized the pun *lol*), machine embroidered, pieced and quilted Beijing bag! Again, this bag is another perfect example of how the front of the bag can be embellished!



Barbara Dörig - Whom can be found here on instagram made this awesome, statement print bag, that goldfish print is just to die for! She made adjustable crossbody straps and made beautiful, red edges and frames for her interior pockets!



Cheryl Wright Simmerman - of Adarra Handmade made this absolutely perfect, cattitude bag! I HAVE to get myself some of this print, that cat is sooo cool!  I love how she made the back in a matching fabric, giving her a totally different look should she choose to turn it around. And just look at that awesome bag bling!



Christine Davis - of Bags by Bags of Style whom can be found here on Facebook and here on Instagram made this STUNNING, freemotion quilted beauty! I just LOVE how the quilting designs just lifts the print and the bag to a whole new level! And that little tassel, lovely!


Eva Arthursson - made this lovely one with a single print, perfect for everyday wear! I love how the cool shoulder strap gives this rather sweet fabric choice a bit of attitude! Great combination!


Kristin - whom can be found here on Instagram made this gorgeous (even more stunning in person), quilted version, it doesn't show well in the photos but each shape is carefully outlined, giving the bag a BEAUTIFUL structure and look. Thank you Kristin for letting me borrow your lovely bag for the grand revel of this pattern!


Lori Peoples - whom can be found here on Instagram made this pretty, statement fabric Beijing! The lovely fabric is absolutely perfect in the beautiful greenery she chose to photograph this beauty in!


Noor Rats - Whom can be found here on instagram made this gorgeous Tula Pink version! This print is one of my favourites ever and just look how perfectly it fits the Beijing Bag! That aqua zipper is just perfection! Lovely!



Pia Jestin - can be found here on Instagram made this gorgeous version! I almost bought it off her! Those beautiful irregular curves matched with that beautiful quilting! The photos don't do it full justice, it's even more stunning in real life! And look at that adjustable, two sided strap, beautiful! Thank you Pia for allowing me to borrow this beauty for the weekends event!


Tania Chanroux - of Smart Made Designs on Instagram made this STUNNER! That little top panel, brilliant!  My mother have had that ombre, striped fabric in her store for a while, and I'd never dreamed of how gorgeous it could be in a bag! Look at that perfect combination with this quilted faux leather!  


Ann-Kristin Kristoffersen - of Kinnas Lappteknik made this breathtaking, machine embroidered one, with beautiful quilting! I wish you could see this live, the colors are amazing! Thank you Anki for letting me borrow your gorgeous bag for the grand reveal of this pattern! 


Eva Halvarsson - of Borlänge Sycentrum made this super cool jeans version! Upcycling is always in style and so is this awesome bag! Love the pant seam down the middle and that little "handmade" sign and that adorable tassel, lovely! Thank you mom for letting me borrow your pretty bag for the grand reveal of this pattern! 


Marita Tjulander - of Valsanhäxan Syr/Quiltar made this awesome faux leather version! It makes such a great visual impact with that simple division down the middle, and that beautiful charm, perfect! And look at the dual color shoulder strap, epic! Thank you too Marita for letting me bring your pretty bag for the grand reveal of this pattern! 





Monday, September 24, 2018

Calgary Crossbody Bag - Pattern Release!

Can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this bag!! I'm so pleased with how my crazy "flip over pocket" idea turned out! But I'm even more excited that my testers liked it!  Now I just sincerely hope you'll like it as much as we do! 

The pattern is available in both English and Swedish and has both inch and centimeter measurements, find it HERE.


The Calgary Crossbody Bag is a medium sized bag with more room than one would think based on it's measurements: 
~11 ½” (29cm) high, ~9” (20cm) wide at the base, while ~12” (30cm) wide at the top and ~5” (13cm) deep at the base. I can fit my laptop and a thin sweater on top of the regular stuff like wallet and basics. 





The panel on the front extends over the edge of the bag and into the lining, there you have a small snap button pocket attached which allows you to use the small snap pocket, but you can also choose to fold it out of the way to the outside of the bag when you want to find something in the bag, like so: 




On the opposite side you have a big zipper pocket, a number of open slip pockets and a key lanyard.


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My amazing pattern testers has sewn a number of beautiful Calgary Crossbody Bags naturally and here they all are! Thanks a million each end every one of you, I couldn't do this without you! <3
Sadly a number of my testers this time around has had health issues, moves and other problems resulting in their bags not being finished for photos despite having tested the pattern, and I want to thank you all too and say that we look forward to seeing your creations down the line.

Pia Jestin -  Who can be found here on Instagram made not one but two stunning bags! The first red cork version is just absolutely beautiful! Can't stop admiring it!


But her second, black faux leather and Marilyn Monroe one might possibly be even more fantastic! She replaced the cross body strap with shoulder straps with a smashing result! I have to make one for myself like this too now!

The straps are 27" (68cm) long each raw, and are placed a scant 2 3/4" (7cm) from the middle of each exterior piece (so just outside the flap and front panel) - if you should wish to make the same edit to your Calgary.


Becky McCoy - of Simply Memorable Bags made this gorgeous sloth and brown suede version!! <3 Look at those little cuties climbing all across the front panel! Absolutely stunning!


Lori Peoples - whom can be found here on Instagram made this absolutely adorable cork combined with 80ies cartoons (can you say - straight up my alley!). Lovely!



Eva Arthursson - made this absolutely lovely all cotton version, love how classic looking it is, while still fun with the front panel, beautiful work!



Monday, July 16, 2018

A clever use of staples

When sewing curves or any other tricky seams which are troublesome to get to stay in place, make your seam allowance 1/2" and instead of pinning or clipping with wonder clips or similar - STAPLE! 😍 Your seam allowance will stay dead put throughout the curve or seam, minimising the risk for folds or unevenness!


First wonder clip the section, to make sure everything is where you want it, and then replace the clips with staples.


Beautiful, smooth curves and seams is the result! After I've sewn the seam I just cut down the seam allowance and with it the staples which I've placed at the edge - making the process of removing them a breeze!

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Reno Rounded Makeup Bag - Pattern Update!

Sewn by Tania Chanroux of Smartmade Designs.  
I'm very happy to announce that my Reno Rounded Makeup Bag pattern has received an update and does now offer both CENTIMETER and INCH measurements!! And the style of the cutting instructions and pattern now reflects my newer patterns, as well as offering three different methods to finish the sides

Hand-stitched, like these ones I made for my mother in law:




Machine-stitched like the original:

And with rivets like this super cool version by Aafke Jongsma:



If you've bought the Reno Rounded Makeup Bag pattern previously, you will naturally get the new PDF pattern version for free! 

Just drop me a line with your payment confirmation email forwarded or just attach the old pattern file with your email, and I'll send you the new version. If you bought the pattern on craftsy.com, the new version was sent out a few days ago.

These gorgeous, quilted (such a great move!) Reno Rounded Makeup Bags (including the first one in the post) were made by my awesome pattern tester Tania Chanroux - of Smart Made Designs on Instagram during the test of the new version of this pattern. Aren't they just gorgeous with the cork? Thank you Tania! <3



Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Mediterraneo by Katarina Roccella

I'm super proud to have been one of the lucky to get to work on projects for the look book for one of my favourite designers latest line, Katarina Roccella's Mediterraneo! This gorgeous line was inspired by her childhood summers spent on the Mediterranean coast. As someone who's lived the past 11 years in the Mediterranean, this line spoke to me right away! The stunning bouganvilla, the beautiful fruits, the gorgeous shades of navy and magenta went straight to my heart!


I made a Paris Purse in the beautiful "Frutteria Bleu" print, it lends itself stunningly to purses! The photo above is directly from the look book, which can be found HERE, make sure you check it out for tons of inspiration!

This bag had quite an extensive photo shoot in Portugal, I had way too much fun with this! The Pattern for the Paris Purse is available here, and if you want to know where to buy the frames, please take a look at this blogpost.


This Paris Purse was such a blast to make, and I'm super excited to share that the lining fabric, which is the gorgeous "Cartographe" print, was signed by Katarina herself (look at the pocket, right hand side)! It might be some time before I dare use this bag ;) But I LOVE it!!


Found a lovely little gated garden with a beautiful green fence, it had to be photographed!


The pool was a lovely backdrop I thought!

And this orange blossom smelled sooo delicious, and fit the bag so nicely!

The bottom is pretty cute too.


The making of this bag was so much fun! I had a great time deciding where I wanted the prints for front and back (this process took two days, I kid you not! So many awesome options!!), I did as I always do and cut out the pattern piece and use the leftover "paper frame" to decide on placement. 



Backside. Sorry for the poor image quality, but they where taken with my phone as reference for myself only originally. Here I was also trying to decide on fram color, I leaned towards the silver for quite some time, but in the end, the brass was the right way to go!


Thank you Katarina and Art Gallery Fabrics for letting me be a part of this! It was a pleasure and an honour!