reverse applique purse

Ok - knuckle pop - I have been wanting to show this for a long time now! I made this back in, um, August I think? Sometime a while ago anyway. As I have said before, I love Alabama Chanin. This project came about after seeing the Alabama Chanin tote bag over at the purl bee. I had been scheming a way to make my own while at the same time scheming a new purse. The two ideas collided in a burst of inspiration and so this purse was born. I love it. I use it every day.

This is made from freebie T-shirts from Craig's law conferences and scraps leftover from other projects. I posted some progress shots to show the start of the technique. Basically I decided how big I wanted the bag to be, then drafted out the dimensions on graph paper. It's really a bunch of rectangles, so it's quite simple.

I used gray fabric paint over my homemade stencil with Alabama Chanin's flower design. Then I put the same size rectangle of white fabric underneath and embroidered around the edges of each design motif. Once all the embroidery was in place, I cut the shapes out of the flowers (the reverse applique). Then I followed the instructions from the purl bee to put the bag together using scraps from my dress as the piping. Oh how I love the piping. It really makes the whole thing pop.

I fiddled with the strap some before finally making it gradually narrow at the shoulder and widen near the zipper. I used a herringbone stitch to finish the strap so it would have plenty of stretch.

I harvested a zipper from an old make-up bag, which fortunately had two zipper pulls so I can open it from either side :)

My favorite part of this project was hand sewing everything. You really gain a great deal of control when you sew by hand - no machine running away with you tears flowing and ripping out seams. All was peaceful and quiet with this project. With this technique, you also get the wonderful raw edges of the knit fabric.

As you can see, I used the instructions from the purl bee to make some pockets - I made a really big one and sewed a couple of seams to split it into three pockets.

This was a very satisfying process from start to finish. It has already gone through the wash, and only got better for the wear. The edges are fluffier and the whole thing got a more settled look. I was a bit concerned about using white for a purse. I am not the world's most careful person, especially with purses, but I decided to risk it. So far I have only gotten one big spot on it which came out in the wash. Otherwise it is doing brilliantly :)

Here are a couple of progress shots when I was putting together the zipper:

That is back before the strap was sewn together. For that I just gauged the distance I wanted it from my shoulder, factoring in the stretch. I am so pleased with how it came out. The neutral colors go with everything, and it is pleasant to reach into a soft bag instead of stiff leather. Perhaps one day I can try something like this with some soft leather? I wonder if the same technique would work....hey why not?!?

By the way, Happy New Year!

work in progress

I am head over heals in love with Alabama Chanin. I have not been this inspired to sew in years. It is incredibly liberating to sew without a machine! After combing through her website and blog over and over just swimming in the possibilities, I decided to try my hand at some of her techniques. I've leafed through her books at my local B&N, and took a few basic notes. I figure if my first couple of projects turn out well, I'll bite the bullet and buy both books.

I saw this skirt on her site and thought about a red dress I have but never wear. It's a sporty knit mini-dress. I'm really not sure why I bought it years ago. I wasn't exactly into sports, and I can't imagine wearing a dress for it if I was.

Here's a shot of it (with horribly bright, color altering light) of the dress after I applied the bloomers pattern from Ms. Chanin:

I read a tip in her book about using contact paper for homemade stencils, and it works really well. I have this thing lately about only using what I have on hand or can get for free for my projects. Fortunately, I had some contact paper, fabric paint and old unworn clothes to play with. yay!

So the concept here is to use two layers of knit fabric, then cut away the top layer in a pattern to reveal the layer underneath - reverse applique. In order to have a pattern to follow, you stencil it on with fabric paint. That way you have a little color at the cut edges when you've finished stitching and cutting. I plan to use this old Abercrombie shirt for the backing fabric. I'm glad I bought this XL!

I cut off that awful top and have made it lower. I plan to add spaghetti straps using the darker burgundy material (which is delightfully thick and soft - gotta love vintage A&F), and perhaps beading it to make it fancy. I'm thinking this will be a cool date dress.

I was MOST excited about cutting this blasted logo off the dress:

I hated this so much, it was usually the reason I didn't wear it. And now it's gone!

I realized as I was making this that it would be reversible - when you turn it inside out you see the Abercrombie logo and the writing from the back of the shirt all covered with the stitches from the bloomers pattern. I think this is going to be a really cool dress.

I'm afraid you will have to put up with much more I-love-Alabama-Chanin posts. I'm already working on another project which I will share soon...

Teacup Potholder Set

I am so thrilled to share this fun project. I made this set of potholders for my eldest sister for Christmas. I have a similar set I bought ages ago and still use all the time. The little teacups are especially useful for getting hot bowls of soup out of the microwave.


All the fabric is recycled from old clothes, and the flowers were embroidered using this wonderful embroidery blog for guidance. The multicolor yarn was a Christmas gift from my SIL, and the leaves are from recycled yarn from an old scarf.

Isn't it just so fun? I think I might make a few more of these to put in the shop.

I have more to share still, so stay tuned!

Christmas Place Mats

I finally get to share the Christmas presents I made! My mother is crazy about place mats, so it seemed like great fun to sew her a patchwork set. These are made using the salvaged fabric from wallpaper sample books and other hand-me-down fabric from family members. The whole idea started with a way to make the most of that beautiful cardinal


I started with the patch above - I was so thrilled to work with festive, Christmasy patterns. It was ridiculously fun. It was also much harder than I anticipated picking out fabrics from such a limited supply, and working around very limited sizes. It made me realize what quilters in the 30's were going through - the origins of patchwork coming out a scarcity of materials. When that is actually the case, it really makes each patch so much more valuable (and mistakes that much worse!!!) The place mat below, you can see some squares of fabric with a log cabin and bears - that was from the extra special wrapping around a bar of soap! Mom gave me that a few years ago and thankfully I hung on to it :)


This squirrel place mat changes up the overall patchwork pattern because I was running out of stuff to make my stars. This way though, I was able to use the scraps from the other mats and have two odd mats in the group of six - helps to keep it exciting :) This bird was the other odd mat:


For the backs, I decided to use a beautiful green woven fabric from Belgium my mother has had for years and years. She recently gave it to me to do something with - and here it is:


With lovely fabric on both sides, these are reversible. Here's a shot of the place mats in their natural habitat - they match her Christmas table theme so well!

I also made some place mats for H's mom - pictures of those plus other gifts coming soon :) It's like Christmas all over again!

commissioned purses

H's aunt commissioned me to make two purses for her granddaughters, and so here they are! Amazingly I have not gone completely insane making Christmas presents yet, even with commissions. I have to admit, being paid to make presents is really cool :)

These are made from Angry Chicken's book Bend-the-Rules Sewing (the charming handbag). The one above is made from a thick, velvet fabric and cotton/linen lining. All of the fabric for both purses is reclaimed/recycled. Instead of the bow on the purse above, I tried a yo-yo flower with a cool metal button.

This one is brighter and lighter. I think the outer lining is thin wool, but one can never tell with reclaimed fabric unless there is a tag involved. I love the ribbon on this thing - oh so fun to play with. Also, the lining goes almost too well with the ribbon. I would totally carry this purse.

I wish so badly I could share pictures of the other presents I'm working on, but I have the sneaking suspicion their recipients would be spying on the blog.

More to come!

Grand Opening!

I am pleased to announce the grand opening of my new Etsy shop - BusyBunny Handmade!


I've already loaded five goodies into the shop, so stop by and check it out! This is the perfect time of year to grab a special handmade gift for your loved one. Below I've posted some pictures of the items in the shop now. I plan to announce when I add new goodies, so stay tuned! I'm already working on the next batch (Christmas ornaments, purses, potholders, place mats, etc.) I hope you'll stop by :)

special quilts

I was at my parents' house over the weekend, and I managed to get some pictures of some very special stuff. Here is my sister's first quilt - a perfect doll quilt. This formed my image of what all doll quilts should be. I love it so much.

It was a kit, I believe, which came with the patches. I absolutely love the combination of patterns and colors.

This is my pitiful recreation from my own kit. I can't remember how old I was when I sewed this - 8 perhaps? This is officially my first quilt. I do hold a special place in my heart for it, but it just didn't compare with my sister's, and so I have always been disappointed in it.

Fortunately, my mother cherishes both without being concerned with quality :) These next few pictures are of the mother of all quilts. This is the quilt. Literally - in my house when someone refers to "the quilt," this is what they mean.

The coolest part is that my mother let us play with it like wild things. As I was growing up (this was sewn before I was born!) it was my butterfly wings, a sale to my pirate ship, a giant treasure map, and most of all, the ultimate source of motherly warmth and comfort while traveling, sick or just cuddling. I really couldn't say enough of how much this means to me!

Before it was popular to be eco-friendly, this was an eco-friendly quilt. Mom used shirting fabric scraps from a shirt factory. I marveled at this when I was little - I thought it was so amazing to use shirt scraps, and I used to pick out the patches that looked the most like a shirt! As you can see, the backing is a rainbow sheet - no need to tell you how cool that is to a little girl.

The ties are yellow yarn, and the edging fabric is the most perfect calico. Don't you just love the little mending that occurred over time?

It is also interesting to see how the colors fade into soft pastels over time. I think I need to use this as inspiration in painting - and in quilting! I hope you all have something special and warm to snuggle up in :)