Coil Fabric Bowls

I discovered Susan Briar’s book on how to make

coil fabric bowls at my not so local  quilt shop.

I loved the look of the bowls.. so bought the book and

gave it a whirl.  Susan’s directions are clear and

thorough. The hardest part was getting the hang of

how to angle the sides.  It  took some practice.. as with

anything I guess.

She has directions for bowls of all sizes, and

includes how to make oval and square  shapes.

You can also make matching lids and

embellishments which are very cute, but

I have not attempted yet.  Besides the bowls,

Susan also includes directions for coiled mats and purses.

      

http://www.amazon.com/Its-Wrap-Sewing-Fabric-Baskets/dp/156477662X

My first attempt was  this small green bowl, with a flared top.

I really was just playing around with getting used to the

shaping techniques.

My next was to try to add stripes of contrasting color.

Not bad.  My friends thought the bowl was perfect

for hosting a potted plant… I think they are right.

      This bowl taught me the importance of

choosing the right color thread.  I started with black…

and did not like the look at all.. it made the bowl

too dark, and over powered the fabric.  I switched

to a light blue.. and was much happier with the outcome.

Of the fabrics I chose, I found I like the brighter fabrics, with variegated patterns,

as opposed to the muted tones with more elongated patterns.

I had a lot of fun creating these lovely bowls.. they made perfect end of the year teachers gifts!

If you are interested in try this project, you can find Susan’s book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Its-Wrap-Sewing-Fabric-Baskets/dp/156477662X

           

I Phone bag/case ..big enough for the otter box too!

My daughter’s

her friends’s

We recently  manned up, (or parented up I should say),  and bought our kids I phones.   We opted for the  otter box  case for my daughter,  and a less protective case for my son.  Which as I look back now made no sense.  My daughter had the original phone that she received when she was 11.  she is now 16.  My son on the other hand  has been through 3, maybe 4 phones in the same amount of time.

But it was  what it was, and as a consequence, my daughter realized she can no longer stuff her phone in the pocket of her jeans. The  otter box is just too big.  So she asked if I could make her a bag that she could tuck her phone in at school.    I pulled out some patterns that I had, and found an old  Butterick pattern for an Ipod case.  My daughter liked the style, and with a few modifications we were able  to  create a bag that suited her and fit her I phone/otter box.   Her friend at school liked it so much that she asked my daughter if I could make her one too. The tutorial is on  the one I made for her friend.

      

As you can see, the original pattern was for the old I pods, with a window to see the

scroll controller and screen…so old school!  We did not want/need the

window, so we skipped that part of the directions.  She did want the strap to be

adjustable, so I incorporated this using a double ring slider.

To make the bag, you need about a 1/4 yard of fabric, fusible interfacing,  1.5  inch

Velcro, a small O ring ( I used 1/2 inch), and a double ring slider to accommodate

a 3/4 inch wide strap.

The only small rings I could find were the type you  use for key chains.

It works fine, but a real O ring would probably be better.    I found a

double ring slider at my local fabric store.  It has 2 center bars,

but  only needs to have 1.   I did find a web site that sells the necessary

hardware, …but I had already finished the bag!  At least it will be a good

resource for future projects….  and for you.

http://www.buckleguy.com.

First.. Increase the pattern to accommodate the phone:

I added 3/8s  of and inch to both sides, 1 inch to

end near the flap, and 1 and 1/4 inches to other end.

(Hint:  patterns generally have blank portions with

nothing printed on them.. I save the bigger pieces

just adjusting patterns)

cut  2  of material and 1 interfacing

 

Iron interfacing onto wrong side of one  fabric piece.

with right sides together sew entire flap end including “shoulder”

of main section, sew the opposite end, leaving sides open.

Turn right sides out and press.

orient the bag so that the side that is fused to interfacing

is facing down.   Hand sew  loop Velcro to the flap end, as

shown, onto side not fused to interfacing.  Set aside.

Make the strap by cutting 2 inch strips of fabric- you will

need about 60 to 62 inches in length

to piece the strips, place right side down and fold

corner up to form a 45 degree angle, press.

take a second strip and fold end to opposite corner as

above, and press.

line the folds up, placing right sides together.

  

sew along fold line

trim to about 1/4 inch from seam.

Press open.  Join all strips in this manor until you have

one long strip at least 60 inches long.

fold this strip right sides together and sew.  Turn right sides out.

a quick way to do this is to attach a pin to inside of one end,

(so sorry- forgot to take pics of this, therefore showing you

with scrap material)

Push the pin through

until it comes out the other side. Flatten and Press.

place the bag so that the Velcro  is facing down.

Form the bag by bringing the end up until it meets the

base of the flap.

Sew just one side, leaving other side

open as adding the strap will be easier.

Measure the length of the seam just sewn, and add

an inch.  Cut this much off of the strap, and zig zag stitch

all four ends to secure raw edges.

slip the strap through the O ring, folding the end down

and sew.  You may need to use your zipper foot, in order

to get closer to the ring.

take this piece and pin it to the inside of the bag

centered over the side seam.

Turn piece over and sew  1/4 inch away from both sides

of the center seam, (as you can see, I first tried sewing

this from the other side.. but did not get a nice even

seam.. so I took it out and tried again on the out side

of the bag.)

Attach the main strap to the double ring slider.

Remember, mine has 2 center bars, but you can use a single center

bar as well.  This I had to hand sew. Because of the nature

of the double ring, I could not lay it so that it would fit under the foot of my machine.

I used my adjustable bra strap as a guide for figuring out how to set up the strap.

First I fed the end through the O ring.

 

then feed it back through the slider ring, under

outside ring, then over to inner bars, and under out

side ring

.

Sew the last side and attach free end of strap as shown,

pinning over the seam.

  

Turn it over and sew it 1/4 inch away from either

side of the center seam.

This gets a little tricky because you end up having to sew

inside the bag.

The last step is to reinforce the strap by sewing across

the top of the bag at the seam line.  This is done at

both ends of the strap.

Fold the flap into place and mark where the hook Velcro should

be attached and hand sew into place.