Crafty Loops

 Mini Tim Burton Character backpack - Penelope backpack pattern from All Sew Petite Whatabout ye folks, it's Lee here.  Long time no see!  I am sharing a cute little make with you today from a pattern made by Monika at All Sew Petite called the Penelope backpack .  This is such a cute wee bag and was very easy to make, especially since Monika kindly shows you step by step in her video tutorial for it.  And as a visual learner, the videos are definitely my preferred method of making patterns.   Now, my poor wee Janome QXL605 sewing machine did struggle a wee bit with the top stitching at the very end (why is it always  at the end when the struggles begin??)......but she still managed it ok with a bit of hand cranking from me.  But that wasn't the patterns fault, it was more to do with the fabrics and interfacing I used.  I'm eagerly awaiting the day that I have saved up the funds to get myself the Janome HD9........someday HD9....you wi...

 Handmade Laptop Bag - Lupin Laptop from Blue Calla Patterns Whatabout ye folks, it's Lee here.  I am back again with another Blue Calla Pattern Bag.  This time I thought I would try my hand at making a laptop bag.  Early last Summer, my brother, Jamie (or Miwadi, as I affectionately call him) asked me could I make him a laptop bag for work. Being pretty new to bag making (and this is still the case today, teehee), I wasn't terribly confident about this request as I just didn't know where to begin or if there was even a pattern available on the world wide web for this type of bag.  However, at that stage, he did say that if I wanted to forget about the laptop bag and make his son, Alfie, a Buzz Lightyear Backpack , he'd go with that instead.  So, of course I made Alfie the backpack  as I had already made a few of those in the past.  But, I felt kinda bad that I didn't make Miwadi the laptop bag all because I wasn't confident enough to try to...

 Boronia Bag - Blue Calla Patterns - Handmade Tim Burton handbag/purse Whatabout ye folks, it's Lee here.  I realise that my blog may look like it's turning into a bag making blog, but I promise it isn't.....I'm going through a phase, teehee.  Maybe I should maybe think about making another blog for just my sewing projects.  But, I suppose, this is a crafting blog and I never like to stick to one thing only.  I like to learn tonnes of different crafts, it keeps things interesting. Anyway, I told you that I was making another one of the Blue Calla Patterns Boronia Bags .  I am a big Tim Burton fan and as soon as I saw this Tim Burton characters fabric on Craftyjam on Ebay, I knew I had to make a handbag from it.  Looks like the whole gang is here on this fabric, lol.  And the Boronia pattern is perfect because you actually don't need a massive length of the main body fabric at all. I only bought a 1/2 metre and I got all the pattern pieces neede...

Handmade Large Tote bag - using Debbie Shore's Tutorial It's my lovely Mother-In-law's Birthday in early September and she'll be heading away for 3 weeks to beautiful, sunny Cyrus. So, I thought a nice tote bag would be perfect as no-one wants to lug their handbag around with them when going down to the pool. The bag itself has plenty of storage for your ipad or a book or 2, in fact the tote has a tonne of useful storage. I gave this bag to Lorraine, last weekend and she loved it.  I am so chuffed.  HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY LORRAINE!  xx As per usual, I followed Debbie Shore's tutorial for her large tote bag , with a few modifications by me.  Honestly, if you are new to sewing, Debbie Shore's tutorials are so incredible.  I was just about able to thread my machine when I first made one of her bags and it turned out great.  Her instructions are so easy to follow.  Definitely, give any of her tutorials a go, they're so simple and easy but very effective and ...