You can of course sew bags on a domestic machine!

I've been more and more often in groups on Facebook and around the net been reading comments such as:

"but if you'll be sewing more than a few bags, you'll need an industrial machine" 

"you'll need an industrial machine if you'll be getting into this hobby" (of sewing bags, my note).

And this is just not true!

These comments make me sad, as I fear it will discourage new bag makers from even considering taking up our wonderful hobby! As most people can't afford, or have the room for an industrial machine.

I just want to make it clear, you do not need an industrial machine to sew bags! 

I ran my business as a bag designer using only a domestic Janome Horizon 7700 up until three years ago! And trust me, I've sewn many, MANY bags. 

Before I bought my Janome I sewed my bags on a Husqvarna Emerald 118 for years - and that worked great too! And I still don't have a full industrial machine. I do work mostly on my Juki TL-2200QVP mini nowadays. But I always test sew all my bag patterns on my Husqvarna Opal 690q before I release, so I still sew on a domestic machine too. As all my designs are intended for the home or domestic sewists.

Yeah you will sooner or later likely run into issues if you have something similar to the Lidl or Ikea Singers, as they're not built to last and you can't do basic things like adjust pressure foot pressure on them, making them a poor choice for bag making. But any decent quality domestic that allows you to adjust pressure foot pressure and you can get a walking foot or teflon foot for, you can use for bag making! 

Thank you for listening and please don't hesitate to ask in the comments, in my Facebook group or in email if you run into any machine related issues when sewing your bags!  

Alternative construction of the Sendai Wallet - Fits A4 sheets of vinyl

 I've had a few requests making it possible to sew the Sedai Wallet from the very popular A4 sheets of vinyl available, so I've got an alternative method of construction here for you making that possible!

 This method is also for those of you who might find step 14 of the pattern a little tricky. This is the Sendai I made using this method. The interior is only slightly different, instead of folds, the middle section is separated to two pieces. Let's get started!

Alternative Construction - Sendai Wallet

The Sendai Wallet pattern is available HERE.

Please just supplement and/or replace the following steps in the pattern with the below. 

Please pardon the lack of buttons in the photos below, I didn't get the right ones til after I'd taken the photos. Please know that the following tutorial won't make sense unless you have the pattern at hand. 

Step 1 - Preparations

Fold the "wings" of the pattern template in half to mark the middle, and then cut them in half along the fold. 

You'll now be able to fit all of the exterior pieces into a single A4 sheet, so you can use such pieces of vinyl. 

Skip steps 10-11

Step - 12

Place your tape along the wrong sides of the long side of the loose "wing sections" instead and tape them in place just below the marks you make in this step according to the pattern (red marks). 

Step - 13

Sew down the taped sections carefully and slowly with 1⁄8” (2mm) seam allowance, leaving long thread tails when you start and stop so you can tie them off. Turn it over and sew from the back of your piece, so you easily can match your seam exactly with the seam already on the back. 

Step - 14

Fold your wallet in half with the lining side out and match up the raw edges of the "wings", clip in place. Sew together the"wing" sections carefully and slowly with 1⁄8” (2mm) seam allowance, leaving long thread tails when you start and stop so you can tie them off. 

It will look like this from above after sewing the wings, just turn the wallet right side out and you're done!

Tada!! You'll now have a beautiful Sendai Wallet! 

If you want to learn exactly how I apply the pretty, iridescent edge paint to this wallet, please see this video: 

All About My Favourite Presser Feet for Bag Making!

I'm quite often asked what presser feet I've bought extra for my Juki TL-2200QVP mini, so I've made a YouTube video showing my favourite presser feet for bag making. 😊

It was going to be a blog post, but there was just so much I wanted to talk about, it had to be a video. The right presser foot for the job can really up your bag making game, and give you much better, more professional looking results! 

I highly recommend viewing this directly on Youtube, using this link instead of the embedded video. 

In this video I'm sharing my favourite presser feet for bag making. I'll also be recommending what feet to buy as to start with as it can get expensive to buy them all in one go. I'm in no way affiliated with Juki or any Juki shop, I'm just a fan of my machine. 

I switch feet often as I make a bag and there's sooo many great aids in the presser feet department for this semi-industrial and other industrial machines, as this machine uses industrial feet. I highly recommend investing in a few extra presser feet to make bag making more fun!

Sew Your Own Half Check Dog Collar Tutorial

I made a YouTube tutorial showing how to sew your own, beautiful and practical half check dog collar! This type of collar has many names, half slip collar, martingale collar and more but it's a super convenient kind of collar slip on and off, with no risk of the dog backing out of it, nor does it choke your dog.

Convenience: Slip it on and off without any need for a snap or buckle. This is great for shy or scared dogs that might find the snap of a buckle loud and scary, for dogs with long coats which might tangle in the buckle, or for dogs that just don't have the patience to stand still while the collar is adjusted and secured. 

Safety: As we make this collar exactly to size, there's no risk of our dog being able to back out of the collar or escape it, while the collar doesn't choke or strangle the dog.

Comfort and coat: If you have a long haired dog, a tightly fitted regular collar might cause unsightly "waves" in the coat from the collar, but as this collar is large and loose when the dog is't pulling (which makes it very comfortable for the dog to wear too!) and therefore reduces this effect from the collar. 

I recommend clicking this link and going to YouTube and watching the video there instead of embedded. 

The reason for this tutorial is that have a new little family member as of a little over month now! Lilla My is a 1,5 year old Sheltie girl whom has found her forever home with us!  We love her soooo much!⁣ 

She of course urgently needed her own  Tula Pink collar! Lilla My really loved her new collars, and when I tried to have a photo shoot with the finished collar, she promptly laid down to sleep on my background!  I could hardly protest this (despite the black hairs now all over my white photo background) as it's her collars right? =D 

The collars in the video are made with Tula Pink fabrics, my girl needs to be dressed in style right!? The wider collar is from Tula's Zuma line, the beautiful "Glow fish" print. And the thinner one is the "Disco Kitty" print from her Tabby Road line.

Isn't she fashionable on her walk? =) 

It's really easy to make and such a fun sew, properly addictive! Such a great scrap buster too! 

And I'm going to end this post with two more photos of my lovely cutie, just because I can ;)

I'd love to see if you make your own collar using this tutorial, please share you photos in the Facebook Group, or tag me on social media <3 

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!

A new jacket for Jackie!

If you have an identic memory, you might recall me sewing a little jacket for Jackie some two years ago. Jackie is Eriks mothers lovely little Jack Russel Terrier we get to borrow when we're in Sweden. However, after being spayed this year she has gained a little around the belly region (don't tell her I repeated this, her mom told me in confidence) and it has gotten too small. So this year we bought proper, waterproof wind jacket fabric (vindpoplin in Swedish, don't know the English name) and some seriously cozy teddy fabric and got to work!

It resulted in this awesome, (super professional looking ;) ) little jacket! It's much lighter than the old one, and warmer too. She was super excited over it! It's adorable how happy she gets when she gets her jacket on, the little tail works like a fan!

We went with a contrasting, neon yellow band this year, and also neon yellow seams, it looks really cool!

Luckily it worked great for playing in!

And of course most adorable Nisse came to join us when he heard we were out playing.

The constructions is pretty much the same as the old one, basically a rectangle that I've added a bit of a rounded section over the tush, and a hollow out section which will allow for a slight overlap around the neck for closure. Sorry for the poor quality of this photo, didn't think to take one before I gifted it.

This time I attached the "belt" section in the seams like so, for a nicer look.

It's so much fun to sew clothes for Jackie, she's so very grateful not having to be as cold, and she loves when we take it out for her to put on.

Old jacket for comparison.

Ruby - A little business card holder

I'm so bad with the blogging lately, if you want to know what I'm up too, please follow me on Instagram, if you just want the business/pattern side of things, Facebook is the way to go =)

However, today I did a little sewing and it's such a cute and clever pattern by Serial Bagmakers that I just had to share the outcome with you all <3

It's a super cheap, great stash busting pattern in a tutorial like design, you can find it on Craftsy here.

The construction is super clever, so clever that even I stayed with the pattern and didn't make any of my usual "optimizations" and tweaks! <3

The only thing I'll change for my next one is to use a lighter button *lol*

2016 Finish - A - Long Goals for Q2!

So for the second quarter of the 2016 Finish - A - Long my proposed finishes are as follows, hopefully I will finish more then 1 this time around, so I'm aiming for a grand 3! ;)

1. I really hope to finally finish my Hexie Tablerunner from Q1 that I didn't manage to finish.

2. I want to finish making my new backpack design and pattern of lovely Tula Pink Eden Fabrics! I'm very excited about this one! I think it will be super cool! =D

3. I hope to finish quilting long time WIP the Chameleon Bali Pop quilt. One should never let a quilt lie for this many years.... I'm ashamed.

Presenting: Daytona Bag Pattern!

I'm so very excited to finally be able to release this pattern! It's such a fantastic bag, so professional looking (if I may say so myself ;) ) and so much fun to make! I'm already itching to make a summer version!

Despite its relative small size, it has so much interior space! And the zippered divider pocket is fantastic, as it makes the interior split up and your things so easy to find. And it's perfect for holding passports and boarding passes when you fly, I just tried it :)

The exterior is made with just a single fat quarter, so its a great way to use that favourite fat quarter you've been saving for a chance to really display it.

Pattern available HERE on Craftsy!

And for those wondering, yes, the exterior is made with the same fabric I used as a focus fabric for the Circles of Time Table Runner =)

It matches one of my favourite pairs of boots perfectly! <3

Don't they look great together? ^^ You can read more about the first version (the black one) here.

It's fits so much more then you'd think, the iPad with cover fits nicely, or a pocket book, however I naturally forgot to bring both for this photo session  =)

Thank you!

I want to give a big shout out to my wonderful pattern testers! They did amazing work, corrected issues, helped me with spelling and grammar, made fantastic versions of the bag with and without tweaks and personalisation. Please enjoy these beauties!

By Anne Verberckmoes - She made her divider pocket 2" shorter then in the pattern (like suggested in the pattern step 22) and got this lovely result! That pink plaid is just so stunning!

By Cate Sjöman - You can find her blog here. Who made note one but two bags, one basic and one really cool over the shoulder version too! Love the use of the pre-quilted fabrics here, such a cool look!

By Jennifer MacWilliams - You can find her on Instagram: @thisgirlissewdestructive and on Facebook. She also made her divider pocket 2" shorter for the equally gorgeous tucked in sides look, such happy colors, lovely!  I also love her use of rivets for the handles and the side tucks. =)

By Saar Mertens - Made a lovely all black version with a lovely, contrasting red inside! Love the black zippers contrasting so nicely against the red.

By Noor Raats - She made a gorgeous brown and mustard one, it's so classy on the outside, but so happy and colorful on the inside, I love bags like this! Look at all the lovely little details, like the matching  fabrics and the little lace zipper!

By Jill Dalrymple - She made this lovely Tula Pink version, I love her fabric choices, as a big Tula fan myself it was right up my alley =) I am so involve with the moss green vinyl, I had to pick some up myself when I was in Sweden. she left her sides un-pinched, and that's a great look too!

By Gun Ottosson -  She made her great bag from a thin home dec fabric with books on (such a lovely choice says book lover me) and fake leather, and I love her choice for decor hardware, such a nice addition.

Thank you lovely ladies, your work was so very appreciated!

Linking up with SewFreshQuilts:

And with Crazy Mom Quilts for the very aptly named "Finish it up Friday" linkup =)