New Feature: Weekly handmade roundup

On my personal blog I do a Random Friday post where I put all the links and notes from the previous week that I want to share. I thought it was about time to start that here. I plan to limit it to crafty things, pretty handmade things, and cool Etsy items, as well as personal sewing notes. I can't quite decide what to call it, but I plan to post it on Thursday or Friday of each week. Any suggestions?

Here we go!

Does anyone have a source of bulk zippers? By bulk I mean dozens, not hundreds.

How stunning is this quilt? I'd so love to make something like this for my bed.


This is a smart idea- make one cool t-shirt out of two clearance ones.

Oh, I want this ring!

I absolutely LOVE how this person keeps her journal. I wish I were half that artistic and creative. Even so, I am half tempted to try it next year.

Personally, the sewing I did this week was in the form of a banner that I sold in the shop. I had a bit of problem with a yellow mark transferring from my ironing board to the banner and had to basically start over, so this one has a LOT of extra time into it. I'm itching to make a few more backpacks though, as I sold TWO of them this week! Slowly but surely...

What fun, pretty, crafty or handmade goodness did you find this week? Was it something you made? What have you been wishing you had time to make?

I won!

A few weeks ago I entered a contest at Cicada Daydream to win a bundle of fat quarters of her new line of fabric.

Imagine my surprise when I won! About 3 days later they arrived on my doorstep.

They are even prettier in person than in these pictures. I think the top middle one is my favorite... can you see the little snails?

So now I'm faced with the inevitable question- what to make with them??

One for me

I decided that the best way to show off my work was to carry it with me.

I had been using a great bag, but it was a bag I bought, not something I made myself. I thought I'd try to replicate it. I had this piece of Joel Dewberry's Aviary fabric that I had been hoarding, waiting for the perfect thing.

This isn't exactly like the model. The fabric is a little less slouchy and the straps are attached a little differently. Inside there is a zipper pocket and a couple open pockets.

Why yes, I do carry all that around with me. Often more! The bottom is round, with a few little pleats to give body to the bag. It's a great weight and very roomy.

As always, there are a few things I'd do differently- like make actual bias tape, cut on the bias- but overall I'm very happy with it.

Craft, Inc by Meg Mateo Ilasco

(Some of you have already seen this, but there are a couple people who only read this blog who might be interested in the book.)

As you are all fully aware, given how much I talk about it, I have a shop on Etsy. I'd love to turn it into something that will generate a little extra income for my family so that I could one day be debt free. (Yes, "one day" is a long long long long LONG time in the future. Do not crush my dreams.) To that end I bought (yes, bought!) this book- Craft, Inc.: Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business. It's a short little book, only 160 pages, and while not everything in it will really apply to me, there was a lot of inspiration to be found.

Ilasco breaks the book down into chapters about marketing, inspiration, sales, and pricing, among others. The book covers in very general terms all the different aspects of owning your own shop AND creating your own brand. She's very clear that you have to brand yourself fully, you can't have a bunch of random stuff throw together and expect to be a rousing success. I think this is possibly the most useful thing I took out of the book and I expect it'll cause me to think more about my own shop and how I can pull it together more cohesively. One thing I took the time to do already was to create a Facebook fan page for the shop, please go become a fan!

Throughout the book there are short interview from various people who have managed to turn their hobbies into very successful brands. Each one was about two pages long, just long enough to keep me interested, without too many details. Some of them were very inspiring and make me think that this IS possible for me.

The one aspect of the book that wasn't so helpful for me was that a lot of the book does focus on things that can be mass produced. For example- pottery pots, or lip balm, or even knitted hats. Most of what I make tends to be one of the kind- custom team banners, messenger bags, and tote bags from t-shirts. It's a little harder to market something that is so unique- just how many sample banners do I need anyway, if the Twins fans don't bite?

Overall, a useful book, one that I'll add to my shelves. It certainly does inspire me to work harder at my goal. If you're interesting in starting a creative business of your own, I think you could get a lot out of this book, otherwise probably not for you.

If you could turn any hobby into a business, what would it be? What do you love to do? You don't have to be great at it, I'm just interested in what your passion is... and don't say "I'd love to make a living reading books!" cause DUH.

Craft, Inc. by Meg Mateo Ilasco

Chronicle Books

2007

160 pages

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Fair Quilt

This is the only quilt that I took a picture of at our fair. They hang most of them in an odd folded way so you can only see a sliver of the quilt. This was a small wall hanging near the edge of the room. I don't know if you can really tell the scale, but look at the size of the ribbon and the hanger. That's a regular hanger, like you'd put your skirt on. Those little hexagons are about the size of your fingernail. Crazy, huh?

Taryn's Bag

It's back to school time and my niece Taryn wanted a school bag that wasn't like everyone else's, and really, who could blame her? She wanted something that wasn't pink and she likes the messenger bag style (thank God, I don't think I'm ready to make a backpack yet!) She brought me a sample bag and should be what she liked and what she didn't. She chose the main fabric and I found a matching corduroy for a little strength. I interfaced the whole bag heavily, but it should soften up with use. This was my first experience with inset zippers and seams, but I think they turned out pretty well.

I left the edges of the peace sign raw so that over time they will fray a little bit, a peace sign shouldn't be perfect.

Inside there is another pocket, and a hook for her keys (the red thing to the left.) The outer edges have elastic in the seams to hopefully keep things from falling out.

I'm going to give it to her tomorrow, I hope she loves it!

Many thanks to Larissa at mmmcrafts for her messenger bag tutorial, which is where I started. Obviously I veered off into my own world and didn't follow her exactly, her bags are super cute though, so go take a look.

PS. The yard is crooked, not the bag.

PPS. If you are interested in your own custom bag let me know!