Sewing Without Squeak

Thanks to my mother in law I had several uninterrupted hours of sewing time yesterday. And I have almost nothing to show for it. I did manage to get all but one of my Etsy orders finished up. And I made the custom order wallet that was placed at my craft show a couple of weeks ago.

 

I already had a basic pattern that I had used in the past by changing around the layout and adding card pockets but when I saw this pattern at the store while picking out my fabric (pink & green were the colors requested) I decided to see how they had done theirs.  I did like their method of making the card pocket better than the way I had done it in the past.  My way created a lot of extra bulk at the seams.  I did omit the zippered pocket and accordion pocket in favor of a flat pocket.  The customer had looked at my personal wallet as an example (poor, battered thing that it is) and I wanted to keep it as close to that as possible.  It is a present for her sister and she requested it to be done by the 10th so I'm pretty excited to not be down to the wire for once :).  I found what I hope are the perfect fabrics.  I also picked up a yard of Christmas fabric on sale for $5.  I'm thinking it may be perfect for the backing of my 25 Days of Christmas Cross Stitch Wall Hanging...

 

I cut my pieces, making the changes to the bottom pocket, and attached the first piece.  Then I forgot to take any more pictures until I was done (sorry!).

 

I also changed around all of the interfacing suggestions.  Instead of doing a fusible interfacing and a sew-in interfacing as required I cut little rectangular pellon inserts and attached them with fusible fleece to give it the sturdiness that I felt it needed.  Overall it was a great pattern and someday I'm going to make it the way it was meant to be by actually following the directions ;P

 

The finished inside complete with props.

 

Then on to my next custom order.  This customer had a very hard time deciding between two different diaper bags that I had at the show.  She loved the fabric on one and the design of the other.  She eventually asked that I try to find more of the fabric to make the different style.  I knew I had a little bit left in my stash, but not nearly enough, so I went back to the store and they were out (no big surprise; I bought the fabric I long time ago and just recently got around to using it).  The fabric she liked was a printed patchwork pattern in soft pinks and browns.  After Squeak and I scoured the fabric store for what seemed like (and most likely actually was) hours I could not find a pink/brown that I was happy with.  I settled for pinks and grays.

 

I went home and cut my pieces.

 

And started piecing them.

 

After adding some borders out of a fabric that I found in my stash, they were the perfect size for the exterior panels.

 

So I added the batting and started quilting.  I decided to do an angular spiral in the gray blocks, diagonal lines in the whites, and a grid in the pinks (all in coordinating colors of course).  It is taking me forever but I'm falling in love with the bag.  Let's hope the client feels the same way when she sees it.  If not, it will find a, hopefully temporary, home in my Etsy shop.

 

Linking up to Really Random Thursday.