tea mats

Mom is making an apple pie for family's Friday night dessert, while dad is still at work. He is waiting for the last boat to leave. This boat trip seem to be very popular with only 8 pence a ticket and chilled milk & berries at the cafe for excited travelers.

Pillows in the sofa are fluffed, tea and biscuits are ready, elder sister and baby hippo couldn't wait to show new dance steps they have learnt to dad. Little sister is dressed up and looking cute for Friday evening's fun!

I got inspiration for these paper pieced dolls from Kumiko Fujita's book '318 Patchwork patterns'. It is a delicious book with adorable pictures from front page to the last. The patterns are actually meant for hand sewing, but we can tweak them and sketch out on graph paper to turn them into paper piecing patterns.

This girl is in the book but I changed her face and hair style to give her piggy tails.. I find pig tails on little girls extra sweet, even more so when they go up and down swinging to the dance steps!

I was afraid of spoiling their faces if I stitch their eyes with thread, so I thought of sewing black beads but the ones I got turned out too big for the tiny faces. So I couldn't escape this necessary step. It was a relief to see they came out well with twinkly eyes and sparkly smiles ( * v * )

I got a little bit stuck on how to convey the sailing boat feeling. When I was looking through the fabrics I found one border print with clouds.  After fussy cutting, it was perfect fit for a boat gently swaying on the waves.

I used regular batting for the inside and plain linen on back side of the mat. Dolls are about 2.5" x 5" in size if I remember correctly.  My friend said she likes her tea mats, that made me very happy :)

 Thanks so much for visiting! Hope you are enjoying a delightful summer ( ' u ' ) 

Market tote

Hi friends, hope you are enjoying a bubbly summer, going to beach or swimming in a cooling pool ( ' u ' )

I managed very little sewing in the last month, mostly due to my laziness but I could blame it on bird songs and bright blue skies ;)

Have you heard of Guy Latulippe? Guy is a designer and also a teacher at 'Work room' in Canada. He creates unique bag patterns for his Etsy shop. I was completely smitten with the clean lines and cleverness behind each of his bag designs when I saw them for the first time last year and bought three of his patterns.

Market tote is one them. It is generously sized (18"L x 15"H) with 6 outer pockets, 3 on either side and plenty of storage space, perfect to take for market trips, picnics on beach or even for sewing retreats.

Only addition I made to the pattern is the inside pocket for quick access to a notepad or wallet or keys. I was making these bags for two dear friends, when picking fabrics I tried to pick something they might have chosen for themselves. I don't know if I get full marks there but I still hope they find it new and exciting ;)

Guy's pattern was like an excellent teaching lesson, I learned many things while sewing this bag, his instructions walk us through every step and minute detail with lot of care and ease. I am also very thankful for the hand drawn sketches and scribbled notes at every stage which even included pressing directions for seams. Not a small detail was missed.

I bought a hard copy for the full size templates and instructions came in PDF form. It was so nice to have full size templates ready to use without having to worry about taping or enlarging, I really appreciated it.

For interfacing, I used 'Annie's soft and stable'. I came to know about this product through my friend Stephanie. I also lined the lining fabric with SF101 by Pellon to add bit more sturdiness.

Thank you so much, Guy for sharing your insight and experience through these amazing patterns. I wouldn't have dreamed to produce a professional looking bag without your guidance!!

Thank you for stopping by! Have a great Summer! ( ' v ' )