First Official Double Zipper Tablet Case In Store!!

This last weekend, I got a chance to sit down and take my time working on my own double zipper case, the same design as what my friend Airon and I worked on last week, and am very pleased with the results!!

It's the same fabric as the last attempt I did but I couldn't bear the thought of making a case that might not work with a similar fabric I bought for myself with butterflies instead of flowers!!

I worked on it throughout the day but I must have only worked on it for an hour and a half or so. It's pretty basic once you get past the idea that there's 2 zippers instead of just the 1, and that you need an extra layer of batting and interior fabric...

It's pretty snug for my 7" Google Nexus tablet on the sides, but because of the extra fabric I used, it's got plenty of room top to bottom and is snug on the sides once it's in; the only really snug part is getting past the zipper, but that's ok.

It comfortably fits my tablet in the main section, and has more than enough room for my charger as well which means I'd have plenty of room to put a pair of earbuds in there also!!

You can't even tell there's a tablet AND a charger in there, can you?!

I will call Airon the guinea pig on this one though. She and I both noticed that it was a little difficult to get the zipper teeth on the front pocket's zipper lined up when sewing the layers together, and not have the fabric get stitched through with the zipper a little too open (you have to open that zipper to stitch over it and give it the new ends). I tried this though and it worked like a charm!:

It's maybe a little hard to tell, but I basically used a couple pins on both sides of the zipper to pin through the layers when the zipper was closed so that when I opened it and stitched over the open end on the left, it was still pretty much lined up to what it was when closed!

I must say though, I'm pretty proud of myself on this one as well as the last 2 clutches I have made and the last 2 pouches I've made. Why you ask? Well, it's all a matter of getting more and more used to my sewing machine, realizing little tips and tricks and just what works best for what I'm trying to do.

One of the things that I was getting a lot was knotted string within the first inch or so of stitching! I kept having to take the piece out, get the strings out of it and what was stuck in the bobbin area, and start again! I finally realized it was just the starting strings getting in my way.This was easily fixed by taping the strings down on the backside of the machine and then un-taping them after getting that initial inch or so sewn!!

The other thing was figuring out that the left side of my zipper sewing foot is the PERFECT gauge to get that perfect top-stitch taken care of!!

I may still have a ways to go on sewing skills and talent, but hey, considering where I was only a few months ago...I'm definitely proud of myself and my hard work. If you are trying to get better at sewing or even learning how, just remember that noone starts out perfect and good product comes out of practice, patience and hard work!!

This will be my first tablet case I'll put up in my online store at www.beadsbycelleste.com and I couldn't be happier to finally get one online since so far the only ones I've made as sellable quality are currently at Easely Amused.

Well, that's all for now. I will let you guys know what the next batch of clutches/cases look like as I hope you're as excited as I am to see them!!

Craft ya laters!!

New Fabric For August

I love August if for nothing else than my day job having 3 paychecks this month due to timing! As soon as this last week had started, I was planning on going to the store on Saturday to get more fabric. I am pretty pleased with what I got to work with, what about you?

This one might seem odd, but there's a totally valid explanation. No, it's not getting used for a tablet case or clutch or anything. It's most likely going to be used for a zippered pouch armband for a friend who is a fellow motorcycle rider like myself, but has a TX toll device that he'd prefer to wear in a pouch on his arm than store in his backpack or case on his bike. There will be more on this later...

I actually ended up getting a lot of this floral as when the cutting lady was undoing the fabric on the bolt, she saw that there was only 1 1/3 yd left on the bolt. They hate doing remnant packaging so they offer to give you an awesome discount on what's left if you'll just take it with your cut!

This blue floral I think would go nicely with this silver polka dot I got the other day.....

...or as a real simple pairing with black.

I personally really love this fabric and can't wait to see it made into a clutch and/or case!!

Just another variation idea to pair these together instead of just with black.

So what do you guys think? I really like these fabrics and can't wait to get to work on them. I only have to get some zippers ordered from a seller on Etsy (Zipit) that stocks YKK brand zippers at a fantastic price and I'm excited to get good brand zippers, en masse, that will match the fabric I'm using much better than the Coats & Clark ones I've had to get locally at Joanns. 

I believe I already have someone interested in the blue/silver fabric paired with the blue it's pictured with for a banded clutch, and maybe even a similar tablet case pairing!!

Keep an eye out for what's next!!

Craft ya laters!!

Monthly All Girls Craft Group - June 2013

We had our June All Girls Craft Day on 6/22/13. It was a little small with attendance being 5 gals, one of whom couldn't stay long, but we still got a bit done!

Sarah was able to get a bracelet and 2 pairs of earrings done (one pair pictured, the other with black beads instead of blue):

Anne had a little more fun with the needle felting and made an awesomely cute little duck!!

I got another clutch done for a friend at work, but unfortunately the neon green was unexpected and has asked for another one with a darker, more true green. That's ok, that just means I can use this one for my consignment shop stock!

And last but not least, we had Airon taking her first big stab and making something on a sewing machine (whirrrrr):

And voila! She made the cutest little bow-front, zippered, wrist strap clutch!! 

Great job as always all!!

Craft ya laters!!

Getting ready for my first shop display!!

Ok, we had our All Girls Craft Day for June last weekend and I said I really wanted to get the blog post written up and posted here... but I've been more distracted in the evenings than I planned getting more clutches sewn to put in Easely Amused's store on MY shelf!! 

Therefore, until I can get the rest of those pics off my camera and edited to post here, I give you clutch pr0n!!

New fabric!! May only be 1 or 2 clutches though... we'll see!

More new fabric!! Can't wait to see these together as a clutch!!

Sexy ladies...?? ;)

I still have about 6 more I want to make along with price tags getting put on these as well as on whatever jewelry I choose to put up in the window. Then I need to figure out displays which I think I'll have to make myself but I kinda want to try and keep with the fact I'm setting up shop in a painting studio. I want to use canvases to display the earrings, necklaces and bracelets, make them almost little pieces of "art" on the canvases and also maybe have a tray with some loose pieces.

The clutches oddly enough are a little harder to figure out because as much as people have suggested to just splay them out in a fan... they'd be laying on the shelf and not visible from across the room. What I would like to do is have them sort of stadium seated, prominently displayed so that they're visible from across the room. I am thinking of using this idea and just making it smaller, with steps that aren't as deep so only 1, maybe 2 clutches fit on each step, and have little lips so they don't just slide off:

The (awesome) DIY can be found at Sen & Sons

I'll keep you guys updated and definitely show you what I come up with and how the shelf looks when I'm all done!! I hope to be ready to take it all down to setup Monday night, 7/1/13, but we'll see how that goes...

Craft ya laters!!

Back from Hiatus....Sorry guys....

February snuck up on me, and just as easily, was gone! In the blink of an eye, the month just disappeared... and then March did just about the same thing!

If anyone was excited to see the purse/clutches I alluded to in my last post, I apologize for disappearing all of a sudden and not getting to make any to show you!!

The reasons I disappeared and wasn't able to really do anything the last 2 months are many, but for the most part, by bff had to move in for a little while (she still is with bf and me, but only needs a temp residence so not much longer but I've felt sort of like a regular sleepover and who wants to work at a sleepover?!) so we had to get her in and settled but some of her stuff unfortunately had to go in my craft room for temporary storage, but I also have been working some major OT at my day job. I mean, extra money is awesome, don't get me wrong! But the time spent doing the extra hours and then the energy it takes means that once I get home, I have a bit of trouble getting up and motivated and wanting to do much of anything but relax and watch tv while eating dinner. 

The good news is however that we did have an All Girl's Craft Day for both February AND March!! Those pictures/posts will follow, as well as a sort of impromptu Craft Challenge for March since I made 4 of the same type of thing on Saturday at March's Craft Day and I think I can manage to make at least another few before the week is out!

I promise to try and keep up with the blog though and try to at least post once a week if anything so you guys don't have to witness my sad disappearing trick again!

Craft ya later!!

Making Books Into Purses

I'm sure you're all aware of the craze going around right now of making a hardback book into a purse. I hadn't really thought about it's possibilities or potential until my friend Michelle asked if I wanted to go shopping with her to search for some candidates for the process! She sent me a few ideas of purses she'd seen:

From Etsy seller bibliobags

From Cosmo Cricket Blog

I like the idea of having a sturdy purse from the hardback book's frame, but I especially like the idea of having a sturdy type of case I can use as an idea sketchbook (the 2nd one).

After about 10-15 minutes of looking through books though, I realized something; I'm apparently a little picky when it comes to picking out a book to use for the sole intent of ripping out the pages and using the frame alone!! That and I'm kind of cheap and seeing as how the really nice ones were either really old (aka falling apart and/or printed decades ago) and/or really expensive, I couldn't bear the though of taking them apart to make a purse out of!

Therefore, I'm kinda glad I found the below 2 books, one in the kid's section for $5 (left) and one on the clearance shelf for $1 (right). The one on the right is actually written by one of the author's I normally read anyways, Kim Harrison, so I figured I'd go ahead and read it, THEN I'd tear it apart! I might try to see what adding other things to the front would look like and what options are best (between decoupaging, embossing, etc) but would be a good candidate for my idea book?

The reason I like the kid's book though is for the awesome images inside! I'm not sure I'll be able to use the book frame itself since it's a little on the small side, but check out the art inside!!:

I can totally see using these images for resin pendants, decoupaging, maybe even scrapbooking?? The possibilities are actually pretty endless!! I'll definitely have to make copies of the pages though first before I use any just because they're so awesome!!

Once I play around with these guys though, I'll show you guys what I come up with. But what about you guys? Have any of you converted a book into a purse? If not a purse, have you used hardback books for any other type of upcycling or repurposing projects? Let me know in the comments!

Craft ya later!