Bicycle Built for Necessity

Summer is meant for creativity after I've rode my bike and walked. However, for a couple of years now I've been meaning to make a bicycle bag to carry  my stuff: mail ( if I have to), iphone (to listen to books), keys (if needed), and a variety of whatever else needs to go on the trip.   I thought about a basket, but that seemed to juvenile and too big. This year I finally decided to take the plunge and see what I could come up with.

I found this really cute bicycle fabric on Etsy. I  am also in love with the Basal double sided fusible foam. I saw this on a video with Jenny and the Crafty Gemini when they showed how to make a quilt as you go bag. I hope to have one of these made by the end of the summer and posted here.

Thanks to Missouri Star Quilt Co. I was able to purchase to Basal Foam as part of their daily deals. I highly recommend signing up for  those deals. However, be warned fellow sewers, it is very dangerous. :)  I bought one (actually many)  to make the bag (sometime in the future) and one to cut into pieces for other projects. I hope to show you some coasters in the future as well.

This tutorial may not be the best because I was really flying by the seat of my pants, or rather the seat of my bicycle seat. I  didn't have a true pattern, just improvised a lot.  The basic idea for the bag came from  this make up bag tutorial at Sew Like My Mom. There wasn't much needed except for some fabric, foam, a zipper and I decided to add some rick rack.  Check with the tutorial for much more detailed directions.

I measured the area of my bike I could fit in a bag. I wanted a bag that faced me as I ride, not facing the front as a basket would.  I doubled the size of the foam and fabric adding an extra 1/2 inch to the fabric.  I cut a piece for the lining as well as the outside. 

Then sewed the outer fabric and lining to the first half of the zipper.  Before sewing the second half, I added some rick rack for a visual effect. 

Once the zipper was sewn on both sides, I turned it inside out in order to sew both sides.  I started with a full length of the zipper and only cut it when I sewed the sides. At the point of sewing across the zipper, I made sure to reinforce the area by going back and forth a few times. 

After each side was sewn, I used pinking shears to trim away the extra fabric.  

I then made a standard "box"  on the bottom of the bag to give it some dimension. I trimmed again with pinking shears.  

After both sides were sewn, I turned it right side out. It's finally looking as I expected.

Now this is kind of hard to see: the two pins with a white head are where I planned to devise straps to anchor it to my bike. You can see it is not symmetrical at all.  I also carry a water bottle on the bike which my husband moved from facing me on the bike to facing outward. The only way I can attach this bag is in the positions of where the pins are.  So here is what I did: 

I added a very think tie strap to the far left of the bag. 

And a velcro strap to the left.  

 

I tacked both on by hand sewing them to the outside on the back.  

For today it seems to work out well. The straps are positioned  perfectly in order to have my water bottle holder too.

I'm able to fit some mail, my keys, my iPhone in the bag with room enough for more if I need it.

I'm glad to have this bag done. Tomorrow will be my first outing with the new accessory for my necessities. I think it's going to work out great. 

Lessons Learned: 

1. Be mindful of using one way designs  on fabric. If I showed you the side of the bag that is facing the front, the bicycles would be upside down.  You can see this if you look at the photo where I was attaching the straps that would hold it to the bike. 

Do you have a necessity you just had to make that  you couldn't find just the right one in the store? Feel free to share your experience in the comments below. 

Happy Bicycling Everyone. 

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Smirky Bear: The Polar Bear Who is Headed South

After making a toy Monkey for Ava, I thought I would never make another stuffed animal again. Although once I saw Ava with Marie the monkey I decided , "Nah", they are just to cute  and making them provides so much satisfaction. 

Shortly after Marie, I found this great Polar Bear pattern at Two Owls Design.  The minute I saw it I knew who I was going to make it for.  

This is a very simple pattern that I chose to make out of white fleece. The pattern actually calls for corduroy, but the fleece is so easy to work with. I might try corduroy or chenille next time.

I started out hand stitching the pattern, but soon realized it would be pretty easy to do on the machine. So away I went: a piece here, a piece there and you can see the bear coming to life. 

The fun part about this was making the face. You can see the mouth below and then the two button eyes. He ( or she ) actually looks like he has a personality. My sis calls him "Smirky". She says he has a  constant smirk on his face which makes her happy. 

Because my sister likes polar bears, I asked her one day, "How come most of the polar bears I see have a red scarf?" I didn't get a straight answer so I decided to go with a cute blue print with polar bears on it from the Little Fabric Shop which I just love.

As you can see, Smirky looks very cute with his blue scarf.

Who knows, he could be starting a new trend in polar bear wear.

Have fun in North Carolina Smirky and be sure to stay indoors during the heat in the south.  I know you will have a good home and be very well taken care of.

Do you have a favorite stuffed animal pattern you like to make?  I'd love to hear about it.

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Daisy Blue

Let me start by saying, I'm so glad these daisies didn't wilt. The time it took me to make this quilt was so long, it was embarrassing.

Last June my god daughter graduated from high school. I knew I wanted to make her a quilt, but my experience and expertise in quiltmaking lacked. I found the pattern and asked her mom for favorite colors and flowers and Daisy Blue was born.

I knew I didn't want to do anything with small pieces of fabric. I like larger, bold shapes with vibrant colors and patterns. The design I found on Pinterest was originally made from layer cake pieces.
http://www.polkadotchair.com/2010/03/tuesday-tutorial-snuggly-layer-cake-quilt-a-march-bag-giveaway.html/  There's a diagram on this site of how to piece each section together.

I decided to hunt for the daisy and blue fabric and make my own squares. The light blue dots and daisies are from Fabric.com by designer Kaffe Fassett.

 

Here was my first stumbling block. I think a big reason why I didn't quilt more is because I don't have a very large space to work on. I hate working from the floor, but at this time, that was all there was. I read somewhere (probably on Pinterest) painters tape works well on securing the back to a carpet. I seemed to do it's job for this one. 

Everything is laid out and pinned. It was carefully rolled up and set aside. By this time I had missed the deadline of graduation. I had great intentions of getting it done by the end of summer and delivered before Emma went to college.  Then there was end of summer vacation, school starting, holidays, and this and that  and the quilt wasn't going anywhere.

In Feb. I was asked if I wanted to take a quilt class at Shirley's Stoney Creek on Saturday afternoons. This was it! The time I would have to get this baby done. Each Saturday for 3 hours I learned a great deal and this quilt was on it's way to being complete. Shirley, if you see this, Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your knowledge and space.

Shirley tried to talk me into hand binding my quilts and did a few of her customers who came in. Seriously? If I did that, I would never make another. 

 She did suggest I use one of the decorative stitches to finish the binding if I was going to machine quilt it.  It was a great idea and looked really nice.

 Almost finished and it's near the end of March.

 

I had yet to create a quilt label. I would have liked to make a nice embroidered label, but lets just say I hope to learn to make those by the end of summer. 

I decided to peruse Pinterest again to find out how to transfer photos onto fabric. Of course it didn't take me long. I made a design in MS Word, printed it on Transfer Artist's paper which I bought on Amazon. 

 

I then ironed it on fabric and sewed the label on the back of the quilt.   

Below are just some additional photos of the finished quilt. 

   

I had some leftover fabric so I decided to make a mug rug to go along with the quilt.  I love these mini quilts. It's a great way to use up left over scraps. 

The quilt was mailed about two weeks ago. I hope she enjoys it and gets lots of use from it on those frigid days in fall and winter in upstate New York.

Lessons Learned:

1. Start quilts early enough so you can finish them on time.

This this was one of first quilts I've made, I can't really say there were many mistakes because the whole process was learning how to quilt and bind. I do know there will be some things I will do differently next time.

Have you ever had an experience of not getting a gift done on time?  Tell me about your story in a comment.

Thanks for visiting One Twenty Seven.

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