Upcycling: denim meets neon and SnapPap

I recently finished two upcycling projects, both made from worn out denim jeans.

I turned my husbands favourite pair of jeans into a little boxy bag, lined with travel themed fabric.

One of the back pockets found it's new function as side panel. 

I used neon green thread to add some fresh accents and as I forgot the handles initially (duh...), I used some neon green zippers as a last minute fix. I covered the multiple-stitched ends under some scraps of SnapPap (aka "Vegan Leather", washable and sew-able thick paper).

The second project was way quicker... I found the instruction for a flatcap in a book I recently bought (I might have bought it just for the cap...) and used one of big boy's holey pair of jeans to make a flatcap for little boy.

I couldn't resist adding a bit of SnapPap and some neon green thread, too.

My favourite bit is the little punched star I attached to the screen.

Here's a close-up shot.

Miriam, thanks for the inspiration!!!

Do you have favourite upcycling projects? Or worn out clothes you want to re-use and upcycle? Please share so I can turn more of our old denim wear into new things.

Happy sewing

Christine

Bye bye 2014

It’s been quite a while since I last found the time and energy to write about my sewing projects (it’s half a year actually!). Looking back to the first months of 2014 I realize how everything was too much for me – especially too much work at my day-time-job. Hours and hours of overtime that made me impatient with the boys (which made them uneasy and even more agitated), unnerved by the workload at home and generally too exhausted to enjoy my freetime (which I mostly spent sleeping).

But! Everything is better now. I have a new colleague that took over a large amount of my workload and circumstances made it possible to return to normal schedule at work during October/November.

I made a re-start at running, sewed more often and generally enjoyed my life much more than during the first months of 2014. The boys were easier to handle, more balanced and family life got calmer, too.

There. I thought I’d share these good news with you and I really look forward to enjoying 2015 as much as possible.

But first let’s have a look back at the last months of 2014:

In August, big boy started primary school:

In case you are wondering what he carries in his arms: it’s a “Schultüte”: In Germany the kids get a cardstock cone filled with candy and little gifts to “sweeten up” their first and exciting day at school. Very often the cones are handmade by parents (or parents and kids together). When I asked him, what kind of design he’d like to have (soccer, superheros, etc.) he said that he wanted me to sew him a cone. When I told him that I didn’t know how to sew a cone he simply said: “we’ll look it up online”. Ha. Clever boy he is. He chose a star-y theme and I machine embroidered the date of his first day at school, his name and his class.

In September my sister had her second child – a girl! The first baby girl after 4 baby boys in our family! I was so looking forward to sewing little dresses for girls that I started right away:

  

October, November and December flew by with secret sewing projects.

But the best thing that happened during the last half-year was the visit of Ann for a private sewing retreat in August. She came over from Denmark for an extended weekend and we had lots of fun together. (Some pictures are from our Instagram Accounts: she is kvintaen on IG and I am grapesandhearts)

She taught me how to sew a Sew-together-bag (pattern by SewDemented):

 

And I showed her how to use a Serger to sew t-shirs for her son. We made an entire production:

 

And we visited Zen Chic Owner and Designer Brigitte Heitland. She lives approx. 30 minutes away from me:

 

This was truely my sewing highlight of the entire year. Thanks so much for flying over, Ann! It was so much fun to have you here, you are very welcome to come back at any time!!

So in a nutshell, this was the second and better half of 2014. I made many more things during the last months (christmas gifts, baby quilts, big boy quilts, bags), that I plan to show you during the next days (the kids are visiting grandma so I hope to get some blog post up during the weekend).

Enough for now. I sincerely hope that 2015 will be a good, happy and healthy year for each and every one of you and your beloved ones.

Happy Sewing!
Christine

Bags, bags, bags

I made four more bags. It all started with this fabric:

And it ended in a sports bag for my youngest who was about to have his first handball lesson ever.

In the photo above, I stuffed it with boxes, the bag is too floppy in reality. You can see, that is not stiff enough in the photo below:

Of course I should have known that big brother would ask for one, too. I made the second one much stiffer by using a fusible interface. And I used a laminated IKEA fabric as lining.

See? It keeps it form without stuffing.

Plus I tried a covered zipper. Yay.

And then there was my mother’s birthday. She asked for a little bag with the emblems of her rowing club. Well. Here’s the result:

I enlarged the emblem and appliquéd it on a low volume love fabric (wonder if she saw the hint?!)

I lined it with a red and white striped fabric and I even put in a little zipper pocket for keepsakes (which is lined with a fun fabric featuring all kinds of traffic signs).

I am happy to report that she loves this little bag and that she uses it a lot.

And I made another bag – another quilted one – that will be a gift for a dear friend. So just a little sneak peek today:

Happy Quilting!
Christine

Gifts made

Although I have not been blogging much lately, I managed to get some little things done over the last months. Here’s some of my secret sewing:

A fabric basket for my neighbor (she asked for berry as the main fabric):

A keychain for my colleague:

A tote bag for our little neighbor turning 5 who is a huge fan of firefighters:

A coaster/ mugrug than can double up as potholder - for our friend’s birthday (Pattern from Sarah Fielke’s “All that and the hatter”)

Fabric baskets for my friends… (free tutorial here)

 

4 Coasters for my friends in Québec, Canada, who love cats. (The free pattern was part of Elizabeth Hartman’s “Catventalong”). So much fun. One day I might make an entire cat-quilt.

And last but not least, I made another tote bag. This one is for my sister’s MIL:

That variegated aurifil thread is my new favourite!!! And those FMQ Stars are way easier than I feared. I shouldn’t have procrastinated quilting that tote for so long…

If I can find a minute or two this afternoon, I might get a blog post ready for tomorrow with all the handmade gifts I received (o:

Have a great sunday!
Christine

Bits and pieces

Somehow my sewing creativity is still in vacation mode. I may have left it here:

I don’t feel like starting a new quilt. I made some totes instead.
Six of those gift bags and two of those robot totes for kindergarten.

The bags are fully lined and I used some ric rac to add an extra little something.

I did some secret sewing for Brigitte (following her pattern, no creativity needed).

Then the fabrics for Annabella’s month (August) of Sew-Euro-Bee-an arrived (after they were returned once because the postman was unable to find us. Stupid fellow…). She chose a Churn Dash Block and sent out two colourful prints and some low volume bits for the background. My first Churn Dash Blocks ever and certainly not the last!

Thanks for sending out the fabrics again, Annabella! I loved making your blocks!!!

And about a week ago, Brigitte let us have a go at her longarm machine. You can read more about that MQGB adventure here.

Look at their faces… can you guess what my first stitches looked like ?! FMQ on a longarm is soooooooo difficult IMHO. Moving the machine instead of the fabric feels weird and the handles are soooooo far away from the needle.

So, not much creativity over here. I hope that I get back into the mood soon. I have not been reading blogs much and perhaps I get tempted by some eye candy when I resume my daily blog-reading routine?!

Hoping I am not the only one who feels uninspired somt times… Are you?

Have a great new week!
Christine

Halloween Bags

There is no Halloween tradition in Germany, and there are no trick-or-treat walks. So I didn’t have to sew costumes for this event (o:. However we do celebrate Saint Martin on November, 11th when the kids carry their lanterns from house to house and sing and get some sweets.

Yesterday we were invited to a small Halloween party at our friend’s little arbour in the woods. They made a super tasty pumpkin soup and we went out for a nightwalk in the woods for 45 minutes. We were curious to see how our boys would like it – if they would be frightened in the pitch dark. But to our surprise (and slight disappointment) they were holding tight to their torch lights and were chatting ceaselessly. Neither afraid when we had to climb over logs nor when they had to crawl underneath a fence. They didn’t mind giant spiders nor a frog that came hopping through the leaves. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves anyway – that is until our youngest was too tired to walk and we had to carry him in turns. AH!

I made two fabric baskets and matching totes as gifts for our hosts:

When we headed home to put our boys to bed (completely exhausted btw.) our friends had more guests for the night. I had made more treat bags for them all and stuffed them with sweets:

Hope you had a jolly Halloween!
Christine