Origami Bag tutorial

I would like to thank the kind lady who let me know that one of the tutorials I posted a link to online no longer exists.  If you want to see the first bag I made like this one it is here.

After looking for another tutorial to link to and not finding one I decided I had to make my own.

I now have a new appreciation of the generous people who make tutorials and post them on their blog.  Thank you. Tutorials are not as easy to do as I thought they would be.

Firstly I learnt I should have used a light plain fabric and clear contrasting thread so that everything was easier to see.  So bear that in mind when you read my tutorial.  Also that I have no time to do it again right now because I promised the kind lady I would make one as soon as possible.  It has already taken a week of slaving away at the tutorial at night after work when I was already exhausted from talking to clients all day.

What You Need

40cm x 40cm (16") of exterior fabric
40cm x 40cm (16") of lining fabric
two buttons
cord (or ribbon like I used)

Instructions

Step 1:

Cut out one 40cm x 40cm square from both exterior and lining fabrics.

Please be more accurate than I was.  If you think you may not be perfectly square when cutting out, then stay away from spotted fabric!

Step 2:

Pin and sew the two squares together.  Right sides facing.

I used a 1cm seam as you can see (above).

Leave a gap of about 5cm to 8cm in one side so that you can turn right side out.

See my fingers.  Am I doing bunny ears or the peace sign?

Step 3:

Clip all four corners to reduce bulk.

Step 4:

Turn right side out and press.

Ensure all four corners are pushed all the way out and are square.

Step 5:

Fold in half.

Step 6:

Fold the sides over until tip of triangle is flush to the other edge.

(This is where using a light coloured fabric would have been more useful to show what I am talking about!)

Fold the top corner down.  Press entire project.

Step 7:

Draw lines on the crease lines.  The lines on the sides will be your stitching lines.

Step 8:

Fold over the top and bottom flaps to the line marked and pin.

Sew across about 1/2" to form your casings.

My casing.  If I didn't use spotted fabric you would probably not notice it looking so uneven.

Step 9:

Sew the sides.  Follow those lines you drew in step 7.

Just wanted to show that not only do I cut wonky uneven squares of fabric but I sew wonky straight lines of stitching.

No don't do this.  Sew yours straight.

Step 10:

Origami fold the sides in to look like mini squares.

Step 11:

Fold the top flap of mini square over as in photo on left.

Step 12:

Stitch a button onto each side. 

Step 13:

Stitch an embellishment to the front.

After making a couple of flowers for the front that all seemed too big, I got lazy and went ahead and used one.  Personally I think a smaller flower would look better.

Step 14:

Pull your cord through the casings and voila!  Your done!!!



Hope you like this tutorial and can follow my instructions well enough.  If you can't my email is always a few clicks away.

Weddings are  generally not my favourite event to go to, though I do prefer them to funerals.  I find church weddings are stiff and too formal.  So imagine my pleasant surprise to witness a beautiful wedding in a cathedral called St Francis Xavier that had fun, love and laughter.  A happy priest telling jokes and the bride and groom's close friends having participating roles in the service.  I cried a little. The bride's mother tells me I was the only person who cried.  I assured her that they were tears of joy.

 

This is not the best of wedding photos but about the only one I managed to take without a bubble up somebody's nose.

Spot the bubble!

To be fair to family I will embarrassingly expose myself on my blog.

before a few drinks at hens night

after a few drinks!

 

 

My sewing mojo has managed to finish off a small childs tote that has been hanging around unfinished for months.  I feel so happy to finally finish off a project that started off exciting and ended up blah.

Next sewing finish is a neck pillow I made using a pattern from the book called "Sew Darn Cute" by Jenny Ryan.  That book is so darn cute and the projects in it are all on my "must do" list. 

Top of pillow was made using cotton scraps stitched onto a piece of flannel.  Then I traced the pattern onto this and cut out along with the backing piece which was from a child's dress made of soft chenille fabric.  Looks gorgeous and feels so comfy.  It is so mine! 

Mothers Day is in a week.  Do you think I will have enough time to make a couple more for the lovely ladies in my life?  (A little voice of reason is telling me no because stuffing the pillow is such a time sucker).

Thanks for reading.  May you all be blessed with beautiful weather this week.

I have been attempting to write a blog post for ages.  I have lost count of the many times I logged in all ready to do a post and then been interrupted and lured away from the keyboard!

So lets be quick:

Made a fabric flower for no reason at all.  Turned out to be a blessing because I got asked to decorate church pews for a wedding.  No not with the above flower.  I made some white ones.

I made eight.  Well I stitched the circles together while my friend Min cut out all 12 circles for each flower.  Cutting out the circles is the hardest and most boring bit I think you will agree. Tutorial is from Precious Little Poppets.  Link here.

Some netting and the pew decorations are done.  We had about 2 weeks notice before the wedding as the bride forgot about the little details.

The Gnomes have eyes!  One (red hat) has a new home too.  Link for tutorial is on previous post. (sorry about being lazy.  Link to Gingercakes blog here.

The gardening job I mentioned last post about my friend coming over to help..........  well we had good intentions and did do some mowing but soon did more drinking.  Mowing and drinking do not mix.  I should think.  I don't actually know because I don't drink and mow. I'm not an idiot! lol

Hey!  I got a post done!  Yippee and wish my long suffering readers all the best wherever you are.

I am a sewing crazy and I need help!!!

I have been sewing like mad for the last few weeks and guess what?  I have barely finished a single item.  What exactly do you call this condition? What does it say about me that I lose interest too quickly or am easily distracted by the next great project that comes along?

I also found I couldn't blog about a project until I finished it which made for a very sad and sorry looking blog indeed!

I have decided to try and post about all my projects right from the "Cutting Of The Fabric" stage and seeing if  this helps. Not only with finishing WIPs but getting a blog post out every couple of days at least!

As a craft blog reader myself I actually like seeing the whole journey of projects being made and well as the end result.  So somebody may actual enjoy my posts or at the very least find it useful.

They aren't actually finished yet as they have no faces:(

To be totally honest I am too scared to paint their faces as I am so messy at it and don't want to ruin the cute little things.

Tutorial was found here and I would like to say thank you to Virginia Lindsay, creator of Gingercake Patterns and the blog Gingercake for sharing her gnomes with us.  I found them quite adorable.

 Well bye for now.  I would like to finish a neck pillow as its nearly done!  Alas I also have a friend coming over tomorrow to help me landscape my front garden and I have to do some preliminary work first.

Also try and catch up with another friend whose daughter is getting married and I have volunteered to help her with the tasks she has to do for the wedding, like make the guest gifts and table decorations.  She also had to alter her daughters wedding gown and re sew the intricate lace and beading.  Now she has to give it a gentle wash.  I don't want to help her with THAT too much as all hell will break loose is something happens to the dress!  I will give her emotional support and thats about all! lol

I want a little bit of empty nest syndrome!

I am having quite a bit of difficulties in writing regular blog post's!  It's frustrating me no end.  Is it a lack of sewing projects to show?..........no.  Is it having nothing to write about?..........no.  Is it time management?........a little bit.  What is making it hard to blog is the fact my son keeps wanting to use my computer which makes it hard for me to get access to it.

To write a blog post I really require a decent sized block of time, uninterrupted to write, edit etc.  I require private time and for it to be at night time.  The time management bit is that I need a regular time slot to be available .........regularly.  Mornings are also great times to write blogs but some mornings I have to get up, get ready for work and then go.  There is no time for personal activities some mornings!

What can I do about reclaiming my computer back for me?  He has a laptop of his own and our house is a hotspot.  Yeah, yeah I need to get a spine!  Tonight I will.  I have already asked my daughter for help! lol

I realized that I have put myself on hold until the kids move back out of home.  I want a little bit of empty nest syndrome!  They are both adults and act like ones when they live on their own but since moving back home I find they revert back to kids again and I treat them like kids.  Washing their clothes, cooking, cleaning after them etc. I am my own worst enemy!  Yeah, I know!  I need to get a spine..again!

The daughter is not so bad at helping with household chores.  Often when I come home from work I will find she has done some tiding up and the dishes.  My son though is a typical bloke that just doesn't see mess.  Just like my husband!!!!!

I made this kitchen floor mat using an old towel and some cotton fabric scraps.  I thought the idea for this mat came from some random blog surfing awhile ago but could be from a craft book I borrowed from the library  ages ago.  I stumbled upon blog posts of the towel projects the other day that came from the same book. The book is "Handmade Home" by Amanda Blake Soule from the "SouleMamma" blog.

The other mats were done differently to mine but look a lot easier to do (and quicker!).  A rectangle of towel and a rectangle of cotton fabric sewed together around the edges and turned right side out.  Towel scraps appliqued to the top.

For mine I layered two towel rectangles together.  Appliqued cotton scraps on top and binded the top and bottom raw edges.  I slip stitched the side edges together.  Looks alright, and being two layers of towel means its soft and plush.  The cat loves it and sits on it whenever it can.

 

I wish I could sit on a post all day by the river. 

5 cent scrap of fabric

During my weekly tour of the local op shops, I was lucky to spot a wee scrap of fabric that has two beautiful horses on it.  Horse fabric is so hard to find and to find this scrap and only costing 5 cents was like winning lotto.

I am not horse mad by the way.  I had horse mad friends growing up and did try to learn how to ride. Unfortunately one of my friend's had a fat and obese horse named "Star" who deliberately stood on my foot and refused to move.  Nearly broke a bone in my foot.  I chose motorbikes thereafter.

My school mate is now my sister in law and had passed her mad fetish onto my darling niece Becky.  So the fabric had to be "got" and a bag made.
Here it is:

A little close up

Interior with another horse on the pocket

Check out the handle on this bag.  I also scored a wooden belt  and turned it into the bag handle.  Compliments the cowboy/ country look doesn't it?

This wild duck followed me up and down the riverbank while I was looking for a great photo spot for my bag.  Looking to be fed?  Or is he after his 15 seconds of fame on a blog?  He (or she) is rather cute!  Sadly for him/her I will not feed wildlife.  They need to learn to look after themselves!  Tough love!

Bag pattern information:

This bag was made using a free bag pattern shared by Keyka of Keyka Lou - The sewing blog.  She also generously allows home crafters to make a few to sell on their stalls etc.  I am planning on making one or two to sell using some "African animal" fabric I found with lions, zebras, cheetahs and a giraffe. 

Kind regards and HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!

Looking forward to this year 2012

Why am I looking forward to a year that has every "doom Sayer" predicting is going to end? 

The huge solar flare that is going to hit Earth approx Dec 20th.

I am looking forward to the possibility that the flare will cause a huge  "Aurora australis" that can easily be seen by many on the main land.  Aboriginal folklore of the "Great Rainbow Serpent" may be the retelling of the indigenous witnessing this great event hundreds of years ago.

Not looking forward to the possible heat wave though.  Make sure you look after the elderly, sick and very young with plenty of water etc.  And batteries for the youngsters in case power goes out, internet down, (no facebook for awhile!!) lol.

To sewing:

I have got a few projects finished!  Hurray!  One of the projects I enjoyed making the most was some "thank you gifts".  A lovely couple who live on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia helped my in-laws out when they broke down returning from holidays.

I made them a wristlet and a couple of peg bags.  Not knowing the lovely people in person made deciding what to make them difficult.  I decided on pouches and peg bags as they can be  used to store a lot of different things.  A work mate uses a peg bag that I made as a sock holder in her wardrobe.

I got a new camera and I haven't learnt how to use it properly yet!  I didn't know it was still on special effects mode when I was rushed to take these pictures until the items were on the road 900km away.

Looks lovely in real mode.  Blues, reds and black.  If I find the scraps will post pic of fabric!

Pouches were from a Heather Bailey pouch tutorial from the book called "Signature Styles".  I purchased mine at www.Can Do Books.com.au.

Looks like the owls are sneaking a peek.

Last year was a terrible year for a lot of people.  My FIL got very sick, my SIL had a heart attack and in a coma, my daughters cat got bitten by a snake and the news on TV was tragedy after tragedy.  I didn't feel much like blogging as I didn't have many happy things to say!  I sewed though and got through 2011.

I hope 2012 is a good one for all of us and I will have plenty of happy things to blog about.

Hugs to everyone.