oh fransson

Lunchbox Inspiration: Little Shopping Bags

Hello, lunchbox swappers and anyone else who's reading!  This is the first of several planned posts to (hopefully) inspire your lunchbox/bag making.  If you're looking for even more inspiration, check out the new pictures in the Lunchbox Swap Flickr Group. 

Today, I'm going to talk about what I call Little Shopping Bags.  You know those paper shopping bags with the cord or twill tape handles that some stores give you when you buy something small (and which you then use to carry things around in for months)?  I see people using bags like this to carry their lunches to work all the time.  I've been known to use them myself.  However, they're not very sturdy and they don't do well in the elements.  Also, they're ugly.  I was sure we could do better.

Making a fabric facsimile of these bags turned out to be easy.  It also gave me a chance to try out eyelets, which I'd never done before.  If you're like I was and think eyelets will be difficult to use, I'm here to tell you they're not.  Setting eyelets is very easy indeed. 

Because this bag design is so simple, you can use almost any fabric you want.  Here are some of the materials I tried out:

These were made with some oilcloth remnants I bought at the Mill End Store ages ago.

Here are a couple of zakka-inspired bags made from natural linen and a printed muslin patchwork panel.

These two are made from your standard-issue printed cottons.  The black and white bag is made from some of Alexander Henry's decor weight fabric.  The blue and red bag is made with quilter's cotton from the Sis Boom Girlfriends line for Free Spirit.

I even made some out of paper, just for fun.  The green bag is made from a sheet of handmade paper from Thailand.  The bag on the right is made from an old grocery bag.  If you want to make these from paper, it helps to use something heavy, but not too rigid.  Because it's going to get wrinkly anyway when you turn it inside out, I recommend wadding the whole thing up first, to make it more pliable.  I also skipped the lining on these.

I've made up a little tutorial for these bags. 

Download little_shopping_bag_tutorial.pdf

The pattern is simple, so it's very short.  I'm warning you, though.  I was complaining the other day about not wanting to make the same thing over and over, but I could not stop making these bags.  I made eight Sunday afternoon alone!  (That probably gives you some idea how quickly they come together.)

Here's one last shot of several of them together.  The tutorial includes three sets of dimensions for bags ranging from about 5" x 7" to about 8" x 10".  Hopefully it's useful to someone.

If you do make a Little Shopping Bag (or anything from one of my tutorials), please consider posting a photo in the Flickr Group.  I love to see what people are making! 

Hallmark Moment

I'm unreasonably excited about having my little doortstop appear in the May 2008 issue of Hallmark Magazine. 

It's out today (picture on Page 44).  There's also a picture on their website, here.

Spacegirl & Robots

A while ago I made my nephew, Elliot, a Spaceboy softie using Hillary Lang's pattern.  He's been wanting a Robot friend for Spaceboy, so I made him one this weekend.

This is Elliot's Robot.

I also made myself a Robot and Spacegirl, just for fun.  This was a great way to use up odd, large buttons.  I also learned that, when making softies, the quality of the fiberfill makes a BIG difference.  I had a bag of "premium" poly fill on hand, but had to buy an additional bag to finish all three softies.  Because it was on sale, I bought the bargain brand fiberfill, which was a mistake.  It took much longer to stuff with and the results were a lot more lumpy.

I'm not really experienced with making softies and I can see a bunch of places where there's room for improvement.  (For instance, I placed Spacegirl's arms way too low.)  All in all though, it was a fun little project and will hopefully help my next softie project to come out even better.

Vintage Pillowcase Lunchbox Tutorial

At long last!  The Vintage Pillowcase Lunchbox Tutorial is complete.  

Download pillowcase_lunchbox_tutorial.pdf

Like the others, it's kind of a big file and may take a minute or two to download.  I included some tips/suggestions in the tutorial (probably more than anyone needs or wants, actually) but I also wanted to mention a couple of things here:

First of all, you'll want to take a good look at your pillowcase before you cut it.  The tutorial assumes your pillowcase is about 20" x 30".  It's fine if it's not those exact dimensions.  Given the order of the cutting directions, a smaller pillowcase will simply result in a smaller placemat, not a smaller bag.  You'll also want to take a look at the "header".  (I don't know of a better word for it, but I'm talking about the folded part at the opening.)  I've noticed that the size of this piece varies pretty widely among pillowcases.  The main cutting directions are for a header that's at least 3.5" wide.  However, I've also included an alternate set of instructions for a smaller header.  Both will work, you just need to decide which instructions to follow before you start cutting.

Secondly, I wanted to say a couple of things about Iron-On Vinyl.  It's really cool stuff.  It's also kind of tricky to sew -- particularly on the straps.  Before you start working on your project, I would suggest making a practice strap with some scrap fabric so you can determine your machine's proper settings for sewing vinyl.  (I found I had to increase my tension a LOT and use a slightly longer stitch.)  The tutorial refers to switching back and forth between "regular settings" and "vinyl settings" so you'll want to make a note of what those settings are before you start.  I didn't use a Teflon foot but, if you have one, it would probably come in handy here.  I would also suggest using a heavyweight/denim needle. 

When you're doing the actual ironing on of the vinyl, be careful about lint.  It's very, very easy (especially if you have cats) to get all kinds of things stuck between the vinyl and the fabric.  I like to keep tweezers nearby so I can pick them out before I iron.  Don't worry if the tweezers dent the vinyl.  It's actually quite resilient and, unless you've punctured the surface, any marks should press out.  While you're working on the project, be aware of your iron's location at all times.  Even a quick brush with the bare iron can melt a big old hole in your project!  (If this happens though, don't despair!  Trim away the melted plastic with embroidery scissors, cut a patch of iron vinyl to cover the hole, protect with the paper ironing sheet/backing and fuse the patch in place.  You'll be able to see the patch if you look closely, but it's probably not worth abandoning your project.)

If all of these warnings are making you wary of Iron-On Vinyl, there's a very simple solution.  Don't use it.  The project will work just as well without the vinyl.  You'll just need to interface your handles and exterior bag panel.  (I suggest a mid-weight sew-in like Pellon 40, which will still be easy to sew.) 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the tutorial.  I would LOVE to see what anyone makes with this (or either of my other tutorials for that matter) so I've started a Flickr Group for that purpose.  If you're so inclined, please humor me and add your photos to this group!

Lunchbox Swap: Partners Sent!

It's just before midnight (of course) and I just finished sending everyone their swap partner's information.  If you haven't received your information, please e-mail me at ohfransson at yahoo dot com.  This is the first swap I've ever "moderated," so I'm hoping I didn't mess things up too much!

Several of you asked me the same questions about the swap.  I tried to respond to questions in everyone's e-mails (If I didn't answer your question, I apologize and ask that you e-mail me again) but I also want to answer them here.

Can we use the Pillowcase Lunchbox Tutorial for the swap?  Yes . . . but you don't have to!  You can use any pattern/design you want.

Can we send anything else with our Lunchbox?  Yes.  But, again, you don't have to.  The lunchbox is what you signed up to send.  If it's fun for your to include extras, don't hesitate to do it.  Just know that it isn't expected.

Is the Pillowcase Lunchbox Tutorial EVER going to be done?  (Okay, this question was from me, and isn't exactly related to the swap.)  Yes!  I worked on it for another eight hours today and it's close.  It will probably be done tomorrow evening.

Thank you to everyone who signed up!  We have 30 participants from five countries and 17 states.  It should be very exciting to see what everyone comes up with.

Happy Swapping!

TGI(almost)F

I am, in general, an incredibly lucky person.  On days like today, I just have to keep repeating that to myself because, well, EVERYTHING has gone wrong today. 

Because I was out with the uber-flu almost all of last week, I'm now just buried at work.  So it was particularly unfortunate that I had to spend an hour at the bank this morning disputing a random $1,000 charge that showed up on my checking account.  (As an aside, who buys a wedding cake with a stolen debit card number?  It's not like you just pick a thousand dollar cake out of a bakery case and take it with you right then.  Someone is bound to figure it out before the wedding!)  I ended up staying late at work and then, once I got home, I had received a notice which required me to comb through everything I'd ever posted to find and remove references to a particular fabric which shall remain nameless but had apparently been using a registered name without license.  Much like the fraudulent charge, it was nothing I'd done wrong, but it had to be fixed.

Anyway, I apologize for my whining, but I must postpone the debut of the Pillowcase Lunchbox Tutorial.  I will plan on posting the tutorial on Sunday, concurrent with my sending Lunchbox Swap participants their partners' information.  At that time, I'll answer any questions you may have included with your sign-up e-mails and will post a combined FAQ list.  I'm also extending the sign-up deadline to Saturday, March 15.  I am VERY excited about the Lunchbox Swap and thrilled that so many people have signed up (even my Mom!).  I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

Lunchbox Swap!

First of all, I want to thank Claire and Handmade Parade for putting on a really fun contest.  I am so happy and flattered to have won!  Secondly, I want to announce that, because of the general level of enthusiasm about the lunchbox bags, I've decided to host a Lunchbox Swap.

I've never hosted a swap before, but I've participated in several and I think I have a handle on how to do it.  (If you notice that I'm doing something particularly egregious, please tell me!)

Participants in the Lunchbox Swap must be able to:

1.  Use fabric and any other materials to create a useful lunch box, bag or similar lunch carrying container for their swap partners.  Using a pattern is perfectly fine, so long as participants construct the project themselves.   

2.  Post pictures of both the project they create and the project they receive in the Lunchbox Swap Flickr Group.  Blogging about them is also encouraged, but participants don' t necessarily have to have a blog.  (Mom, this means you . . .although you really should have a blog.)

3.  Mail their completed project no later than April 25, 2008.

4.  Agree to allow me to post pictures submitted to the Flickr Group on my blog.

If this sounds good to you, send an e-mail to lunchboxswap@yahoo.com with the following information:

1.  Name and Street Address.

2.  E-mail Address

3.  Flickr ID

4.  Web Address (if you have one)

5.  Favorite Colors

6.  Are you willing to ship Internationally?

I will accept entries through Friday, March 14, 2008, and will send participants information about their partners on Sunday, March 16, 2008.  It will be a "blind swap" in the sense that you will not be sending a lunchbox to the same person who sends one to you.  (Suspense!)

Here's a button, if you'd like to use it.

On Friday, I'll also be posting a tutorial for the Pillowcase Lunchbox and Desk Placemat.  I've been working on making some for my Etsy shop and, while doing this, have been taking the photos for the tutorial.  Here's a sneak peek:

Spring Colors

I've been working with the random pile of blocks I found in my closet last week and I think I'm going to be able to make something out of them.  Actually, I think I was on to something with the pattern I was making up -- It's a series of paired fabrics made into a series of different, but similar, blocks.  Once I finish these, I think I'm going to develop it into a larger pattern for a full-size quilt.

In the meantime, I'm going to finish these and probably, because I just can't resist, put some kind of applique on each.  Here are some closer shots of the fabrics:

This one is all teals and aquas, and I used the blocks I found "as is."  There were exactly twenty of them.

My block stash had fifteen lime blocks, only ten of which I liked.  (Some of my earlier fabric choices were just questionable!)  I ended up making up ten new blocks, which are obvious because they're so much darker.  I like the combination though.  There are very light spring green, lime green, bright avocado and a nice light kelly.  They all have a lot of yellow in them though, so I think they look nice together. 

I'm not sure why this photo isn't as clear as the others.  The color scheme on the blue one changed quite a bit from the original blocks.  I did have twenty blocks in this colorway, but they leaned much more toward periwinkle.  I replaced ten of them, not because I objected to the periwinkle but because some of the prints just didn't look right.  The replacements took the color scheme in a more cerulean direction, which I actually like better.

I think I'm going to use these little quilts as an opportunity to practice some stipple quilting.  My past experiences with stipple quilting haven't gone that well, but they've also been over much larger areas.  Hopefully the smaller surfaces will give me a chance to perfect the technique.