Man Gifts Three - Farah Makes... a BAG!

Squee! You guys, we have a guest! (The bloggy kind, so I don't have to change out of my sweats or clean the house or anything!)
Farah from over at Farah Makes Stuff is AWESOME (she's got sewing GAME!).
Today she's been kind enough to come on by and share the skinny on a Man Gift that is pretty much, oh, the bomb. It's useful, cute and appliqued and comes complete with instructions that ACTUALLY make sense! ( I know right!?)
Ready?
Take it away Farah!

Hello luck and bliss readers!

My name is Farah, from Farah makes Stuff. I was soooo honoured when Erin asked me to do a guest post for her man gift series. I have been reading her blog for a while, and on top of her adorable writing style, I love her creativity and resourcefulness! Plus, she lives in the same city as me! Toronto for the win!

Sewing for a man can be a challenge, but since I have 2 very special men in my life, I am always up for that challenge. My project is a man-bag (murse?), or a special, masculine, custom bag for your man and his iPad. I first made this bag for myself, but when my husband got an iPad, we realized it fit perfectly. So a few tweaks on the pattern, and an applique chosen by the man, and we have the iPad Man-Bag.

Here we have a nice, masculine, messenger bag style satchel, which can be gussied up with an applique, or left simple. Inside is a padded sleeve for an Ipad (or heck, maybe even for another electronic gadget) plus room for a wallet, keys, comic book etc. The applique can be suited to your man's own interests.

Or make one for your self. I made this pink one (minus the iPad sleeve) almost 2 years ago and use it as a purse very often.

What you need:


-Main fabric (A) - About 1 meter of a heavy cotton (home dec weight, denim or twill would be great. I used Corduroy)
-Lining (B) - About 1/2 meter of lining, I used black twill, but a lighter cotton would work)
-Ipad sleeve fabric (maybe 1/2 meter?)
-a bit of poly batting
-24 inches of twill tape
-a bit of velcro
-for applique, scrap of fabric (you could use the lining fabric), and some Heat n Bond
-some metal snaps or buttons
-a bit of bias tape

Cut List:
-from main fabric (A),
cut 1 piece 12 x 20.5 inches (front/back)
2 pieces 9 x 2.5 inches (sides)
1 piece 12 x 18 inches (front flap)
1 piece 8 x 58 inches (this was the width of my fabric) (strap)

from lining (B),
cut 1 12 x 20 inches (front/back)
cut 2 9 x 2.5 inches (sides)

on the side pieces (both the main fabric and lining) round one of the shorter edges so you have a U shape. I traced around a round pin box to get the round shape.
On the front flap piece, round all 4 corners (i used the same pin box to round the corners)

from the twill tape,
cut 2 pieces 8 inches long, and 2 pieces 4 inches long

Sewing Directions (1/4 inch seams)

1- Sew front/back piece of A to side pieces of A by easing the longer sides of the front/back piece to the U curve of the side piece. Do this for both side pieces. You will find that the front/back piece is a little bit too long and there will be extra fabric. Ensure the extra fabric is on the same side (at the back) for each side.
2 - Repeat step 1 with the lining pieces B
3 - Turn lining assembly right side out, and put into main fabric assembly, matching top raw edges, and side seams. pin in place. Trim extra length on the back so the edges line up all around. (the extra length is there to allow some room for error in sewing around the curves on the side pieces, we don't need it anymore). Sew lining to main bag around top edge, leaving a 2 inch gap on the top back for turning.
4 - Turn bag ride side out through the gap, press lining inside bag, and slip seam allowance of the gap in. pin gap closed. Top stitch around top of the bag, closing gap as you stitch. set bag aside.
5 - Lay front flap piece face up in front of you, and decide on applique placement. The 12 inch shorter edge is the bottom/top of the flap piece.

let's take a break now and discuss the applique. The applique on my bag is a Cactaur, which is a monster from the Final Fantasy video games. My husband picked this design. On the pink bag seen above, I appliqued an asterisk on the bag, because I thought it matched the graphic print of the fabric. Make sure the applique is a simple design, as you don't want to be sewing anything too complicated. A mustache? a Muppet? perhaps a star wars emblem? How about a giant squid? or even an apple. You could even do a monogram.

Google the picture you want, and look through the images to find one that will work. Once you have selected your image, trace it onto the paper side of the Heat n Bond. (I put my paper right up onto my computer screen and trace it with a felt tip pen, instead of bothering to print it first). Remember that it will be backwards when ironed on to the bag, so ensure your picture is flipped. Cut out the heat n bond loosely around your picture, and then press it (paper side up, iron on silk setting) onto the back of your applique fabric. Now cut out the applique fabric and heat and bond at the same time, being as precise as possible. There. You made an applique. Now back to the sewing instructions.

6 -Peel the paper off the back of your applique and place it face up on your front flap piece. The applique should be only in the lower third of your flap piece, and be clear about 1/2 inch from the edges for seam allowances. once you are happy with the placement, iron in place. You can go hotter than the silk setting this time to make sure it really sticks.
7 - Edge stitch around the perimeter of the applique. This may not be necessary if you are using the permanent (ultra) heat n bond, but I like too anyway both for definition and for security.
8 - Fold your flap piece in half, right sides together, matching corners, so the applique is in the inside. You should now have a 12 x 9 flap piece, with a fold at the top, and rounded corners at the bottom.
9 - sew around the sides and bottom of flap, leaving a 2 inch gap on one side for turning. clip curves before turning.
10 - turn right side out, press flat, top stitch around perimeter, closing gap as you stitch. Flap done.
11 - pin the flap to the top bag of the bag. The top of the flap sits outside the bag, about 1/2 inch down from the top edge of the bag.
12 - stitch flap in place by top stitching close to the edge of the flap.

13 - make strap. Fold strap piece lengthwise in half and press. fold each raw edge into the center (as if you are making really big bias tape) and press. Top stitch around entire strap, tucking raw edges on short ends in as you sew.

14 Stitch strap onto bag on the sides by sewing a box with an x in it on the strap. The straps should be sewed on the inside of the bag.

15 - Add some snaps or buttons (and button holes, of course) to the bag to close it up and you're done your bag! Stop here if you man has no need for a padded iPad pouch.

For the padded iPad sleeve
1 - cut two pieces of fabric, 17 x 10.5 (one lining, one main), and one piece batting a bit bigger than that.
2 - place the lining fabric face down. place the batting on that, then the main fabric on top, face up. make sure edges of lining and main fabric line up, batting should stick out a bit around. pin in place.
3 - add some quilting stitches through the whole thing to hold the layers in place, starting from the middle and working out. I stitched vertical lines 2 inches apart. Use a walking foot if you have one. If not, should be okay anyway.
4 - Once it is quilted, trim off excess batting, and fold in half, with the main fabric to the outside. you should have a pouch which is about 8.5 x 10.5.
5 - use a serger, or a zig -zag stitch close to the edge to sew up up the side seams. I stitched on the outside with raw edges showing because i did not want the bulkiness of a seam on the inside with the iPad. if you prefer, sew wrong sides together and flip right side out. You could also finish the side seams with bias tape, but my sewing machine would not go through all those layers.
6 - finish top edge of pouch with bias tape. iPad sleeve done.


Straps to hold iPad in bag
1 - sew the soft side of a small square of Velcro onto one edge of each the longer twill tape pieces, tucking in raw edge under velcro. sew the prickly side onto the shorter pieces the same way.
2 - about 2 inches from each edge, pin the shorter twill tape pieces in place on the top back of the bag only, not on the flap. this picture may help understand where they go. The bag is inside out here. The straps are placed on that little 1/2 inch overlap we left on the inside when sewing the flap in place. Place it so the velcro is face down when the straps are pointing down towards the bottom of the bag. sew in place.

3 - sew the corresponding long pieces of twill tape onto the bottom of the bag, also about 2 inches from the sides, and close to the back of the bag. This time your velcro is face up when the strips are in place. see this picture below. when sewing, the stitches will show on the outside of the bag, so make sure your thread matches the bag. Again, the picture shows the bag inside out.

4 - slip the iPad in the sleeve, place the sleeve in the bag and secure in place with the twill tape straps. Ta-Da! you have now made a custom man-bag with a secure, padded iPad sleeve. And there is room in front of the iPad for your man's wallet, blackberry, and comic book. He'll love it. I promise.
I know I am not very good at writing instructions. Please feel free to email me with any questions, and let me know if you make the man-bag!

OK! Me again. Didn't she do well! (You should go on over and hit the folla' button.)
Thanks THIS MUCH for sharing Farah.
x

monday. huh.

monday. yah it is.

Suckfest of a weekend here, with the snivelling and the facegoo and the snorting and the missing out on Christmas movie watching parties and the one eyeball constantly leaking from sinus pressure so I look like a sad, squinty, bloodshot-eye'd pirate. Arrrh.

whine whine whine whine WHINE.
And weeeeeee're done. Hope your weekend was WAY more awesome.
x
Also, I'm hustling over here this morning (and hooboy there's good stuff out there today).
x

Small Animal in the Spirit House,

I was just thinking about something I'd almost forgotten and then I though OH crap I better write that down or it'll be gone.
You know how we love the ROM right? Me and that short blond. Well one of us only loves 98% of the ROM. The other 2%, well...
The lobby of the ROM has a space called the Spirit House, it's a darkish space with crazy angled walls and bouncy acoustics. And there's a permanent Art/Sound Installation Thing (wow, they should let me write the brochure). It features sounds. Random sounds. That bounce off the walls and reverberate and actually are kind of awesome.
Anyhow, back when I was waddling, hefty, miserable pregnant I would go in an perch my swollen caress on the sophisticated-but-uncomfortably slithery chairs in there.
And fetus Teddy would completely love it. He would either instantly settle down and stop kicking me in the organs. Or he would wake up and rock out, depending on the sounds. He appeared to particularly like the deep base sounds. It was nice thing to do at a time that was otherwise frankly kindoflousy.

So, when I took him into the Spirit room for the first time post- womb, I kind of expected that he would like it.
Yah.
Not so muchly.

The first sound was a grumbly purr then a deep, bear-type growly noise. And apparently whatever is programmed into small animals to make them fear large growly ones works just fine in Teddy. Because he completely lost his noodles. And tried to climb into my face. Whimpering (apparently full-on screeching makes you an easier target) and shaking. I got him out of there instantly AND I managed not to laugh at him (that gets me a parenting award right?). And we haven't been in there since.
The whole thing made me think about the fact that infants are kind of snack sized for the big carnivores or hell, even an Eagle with the right can-do attitude.
I don't know where I was going with this, I guess I just mean Babies - Squishy and Delicious.

I don't know about now though, this guy looks like he could beat an eagle in a bar fight.

OK. Done here. Carry on.

Man Gift TWO - Leather 'Tache Keychain

Just for the record this giftie doesn't HAVE to be mustache shaped (if you're suffering Movember burnout or you aren't into awesomeness). Essentially all you're doing is sewing two pieces of leather together and adding a taggy to hold a keyring. And voila, nice tactile keyring in the shape of your choice.
It could be pretty much anything.
I just like 'taches.
And I've given these as Man Gifts with some success before...

Ready to get started?
The first thing you'll need is some leather. Mine started life like this:


Well OK, I guess technically it started life as a cow, but at some point it became a handbag that I found at Goodwill for $4.99 (but It was half off day so I paid $2.50). There is enough leather here for a few projects.
So I hacked it up.
Now bearing in mind that all my leather working experience is "huh, I wonder if that'll work?" And it sometimes ends up with "OH CRAP! IT'S ON FIRE!" these are a few things that I found useful when prepping my leather to work with.

1. Clean is good. And it's way easier to clean a whole handbag with leather cleaner (or a damp cloth) than it is an itty bitty keychain.
2. Don't quote me on this BUT I found that ironing the rough side of the leather made it a bit easier to handle when sewing. But test a patch first.
3. I kind of don't love specific leather needles. In fact I had better luck with a ball point/knits needle than with the leather specific one.
4. You know the extra strong thread? Gutterman does some? You don't need that. In fact my leather and machine both HATED it.

OK. Next step is to find your shape. Not tooooooo detailed unless you're looking to make yourself crazy, because you'll be leaving some space outside of your stitching line. I made my 'tache template freehand. But this is the internets! There's cool stuff everywhere!

Next you'll need to mark your design onto your leather. Pencil/pen works fine for this.

Just make sure there's enough room for your design on the two pieces of leather (of roughly the same colour and texture) with wrong sides facing. You only need trace your design onto one piece of your leather.
The next step is optional. But I like to sew the two piece of leather together, so I don't have to worry about them slipping. Like this see:

Now the next step is to sew your design. Sew through both pieces of leather along your template lines (if you want sewn details do them on each single piece of leather separately first).
This is the point where you should decide where you want your loop bit to go (the bit that you'll attach the metal circle too). All you do to make the loop is fold over a piece of leather (this is WAY easier if you iron it a bit first). Then sammich it between the two main parts of the keychain, where it well be caught up in your stitching.
Now it' time to sew! (you've set up your stitch and tension already on two layers of scrap leather haven't you? OK. Awesome.)
You should go slowly. Really slowly. Fast won't win you anything but howls of rage and wasted bit of leather. Ask me how I know (and notice that the next picture is of a different piece of leather... and that it's scraggly because I apparently don't learn) SLOW IS GOOD! Also, you don't have to use a contrasting colour here, I did for tute purposes (this keychain is going on my keys, not under the tree) a shade that matches is more forgiving.

Right! Now you've sewn 'round your design and caught your loop; it's time to cut your shape out. Best to use sharp scissors and to give yourself some wiggle room. Also, cut through the layers that the loop is sammiched between separately.
The last step is optional, but I like to finish off the raw edges of the leather with my trusty brown acrylic paint pen, applied really carefully. I bet a Sharpie (maybe even in a contrasting colour) would work really well too.
And voila! One keychain/super useful portable disguise.

The Randoms...

Quick. Somebody hide me. There's a BOX (a whole BOX!) of Twinkies in my kitchen. Whispering seductively to me in Barry White voice
"MMM. Oh Yeah baby. You know what I'm talking about. Huah"
Why would I have box of twinkies in the house? Well I wouldn't. But my sweetie who A'ly has been wearing the same size Levis since he was 18. And B'ly DOESN'T even eat Twinkies is apparently a compulsive shopper. If you put it by the checkout he's going to pick it up.
Anybody seen my willpower around here?

Also. You might know that I am a tiny bit alarmist when it comes to my kid getting sick. (Who isn't right? right? right?) It turns out that the only person in the world who's more alarmist about Teddy's health than me is my brother. The kid had 5 little red spots yesterday. And I was all "hmmm rash? Chicken Pox?" (turns out it was neither).
But Elliot was all "MEASLES? BUBONIC PLAGUE!?".
I dunno if it's a brain injury thing or a plain old him thing. But it actually made me feel better (it's nice to be the less nuts one sometimes).
And because posts need pictures... here's a picture of the Dog Faced Girl spending some quality time with a chum.

Man Gift ONE - Leather Patch Scarf

Hokay! We're rolling.
The first Man Gift project is quick, easy and a blatant designer knock off (a triumvirate of fun!) The "inspiration" for this scarf looks like this:

Cute right? Suave with just a hint of geography teacher (totally my favorite flavour).
It's A Maison Martin Margiela Leather Patch Scarf. And it can be yours (or your sweetie's) for the bargain price of three-are you kidding me- hundred and ten dollars US.
OR you could make one that looks a bit like this:

With buttery soft suede and a boiled wool mix that's so soft it's like it's made of kitten parts. For about $15-$20.

Wanna try? You'll need:
4 Suede patches (two ovals two rectangles) OR one "recycled" suede/leather item (coats or skirts give you LOTS to play with) OR suede/leather by the meter.
Scarf weight wool mix. You could either use the length (selvage to selvage, approx. 150cm) which means you can get away with using just 20-40 cm (be aware of patterns) OR you could buy 1.70-2 m it you want a longer scarf or if you're making a few scarves.

The nice thing about buying the smaller amount is that you can get The REALLY GOOD STUFF (you know the wool blends that are so expensive they make you kind of sweaty? Doesn't happen to you? OH.) Anyway the small amount combined with a 50% off sale at Fabricland means that the scarf is seriously luxe feeling but only cost about $12 (and 40 cm is enough to make two scarves).

The first step is to get your straight lines marked out:
I folded selvage to selvage, then marked my line with chalk.


(just as an aside, when I asked the lady in FabricLand for really straight cut she acted like I'd peed in her cereal and was super eye-rolling rude. But this is what a straight cut looks like there. So whatever lady... Phew good to get that off my chest.)

Right. Once you've got your STRAIGHT sides cut you should have something that looks remarkably like a scarf. Mmmm and soft.
With a boiled wool like this you could actually just leave the edges but I think that frayed edges look more scarfy. So I did that next, see:


The next part depends on weather you're using premade patches or recycled leather.
to make your own patches the first thing you do is make a template. I used a little serving dish to make mine. Mark your cutting lines (bog standard pen worked fine for me, chalk made a mess).


It you're using an old jacket or skirt bear in mind that the "wrong" side of the leather might be just as soft and less marked. And that you can rebuff suede (or make it even softer) with a clean, dry plastic scouring pad, just lay it down on a flat surface and scrub in little circles.

Next cut your patches out. I used my pinking shears because the patches on the original scarf have pinked edges but you totally don't have to, leather won't fray.

Right. Got your patches? Good. The next step is to sew those suckers on.
Getting the patches to stay in one place is half the battle here, because using pins will leave holes in your leather.
If you have some of that spray sticky stuff (um, the kind that quilters use? What is that called?) then have at it. But DO check if it marks on a scrap first. If not you could either...

Just wing it, holding you patches and fabric firmly and going really really slowly.
Or
Use a bit of tape like this:
('scuse the lousy picture)
I used low tack masking tape and I stuck it to my shirt first to make it even LESS sticky. And of course I tested a whether it left marks on a scrap piece of suede first (nope it didn't). You need to stick it down as close to the edge as possible as you'll be sewing INSIDE the tape.

And... Sew away. ( I don't have a picture of this step - not enough hands) But I can tell you that I bought special leather needles for my machine. And then totally forgot to use them. So a regular needle works fine, turns out. The other thing is that you should go SLOW. Really really slow, adjusting and making sure you're flat when you need to.

Well HEY! almost done.
I put my patches on different sides. Like this see:

So the wearer can have softie suede next to their neck, and the oval patches are still visible. But you can do whichever.
A voila. One Man Gift!

Oh, and I shared here, here and here.

Manly Man Gifts

I'm pretty sure that I'm preaching to the choir here but firstly of all, Handmade gifties = finest kind.
They say, "Hey, I love you and I spent some time making this with my hands because you're awesome".
Which is easy when it comes to the girl types and the under 10's on one's list (and by "one's'" I totally mean mine).
But you guys. Crafting gifties for men folk over the age of 12 or so. YEESH.
So with that in mind, over the next three weeks or so I'm going to be working up some tutes for manly manly Man Gifts! And because I'll be making them the prerequisites are super easy and relatively quick. Quirky, useful, funny or beautiful (or a combination of those things) is a bonus.
They're all things that I have either given my boys (to good response) or they're things that I'll be giving them this year.
If you want to play along feel free to grab a button from the sidebar there ->
or hit me up with suggestions or links (ooou yes! links please!) to what YOU'VE made for the guys in your life in the comments.


Now! On to the projects...
First up a Designer Knock-off Leather Patch Scarf
Secondly, a Leather 'Tache Keychain
Third, a guest post and a MAN BAG (murse!?) from Farah Makes Stuff
Fourth, get your GOOGLY on with Googly Eye Magnets.
And watch this space!

Whining and MAN GIFTS

Gack you guys. Just Blah. Sickie at our house. My poor bear has some kind of germy double whammy; apparently JUST a faceful of snorty snot isn't where it's at this season, OH NO. All the cool germs now come complete with a dose of the whistling-squits.
So that's fun.
Plus side, hanging out in the warm and letting my kid watch TV means I get to have cuddles and do some hand sewing/crochet/poly clay meddling. But I haven't actually FINISHED anything. Or at least nothing I can show you yet. Though it turns out that most of the people on my "Nice" list are the kind with those XY chromosomes. Making stuff for guys. DUDE, way tougher. One Pretty Thing's gift guides are rad, but I am working on a couple of my own ideas too.
If you're a guy who knows me you should look away RIGHT NOW.
No really.
Right now.
I can tell.

Are they gone?
OK good. Ideas like...

A leather patch ribbed scarf
Leather 'stache keychains
"Enamelled" pinup girl cufflinks
Hand Grenade mittens
Wallets (I am so excited about this)
And here's a picture of a the ONE finished Hold-My-Hand mitten. (There'll be a tute for these) The embroidery that looks like it was done in a maximum security wing is totally optional.

Sushi Combo B - or "I can't believe I'm doing this again"

Is craft amnesia a thing? Maybe? I'm going to go with yes it is. Because what else could possibly explain the fact that I am making ANOTHER all-hand-stitched felt Christmas present for my bear?
Here's the rational,
Just recently Teddy has been ALL about the play cooking and play cooking needs play food right? (Right? Right?) And my kid's favorite food in the whole world is... sushi.

OK, firstly of all, I KNOW that makes me sound like a pretentious urbanite. In fact I just rolled my eyes at myself. But I can explain! Honest I can.
It's not like he honks down slabs of sashimi (well, aside from tuna, kid loves him some tuna) he just likes avocado Maki rolls and Eel nigiri and Miso Soup with big chunks of "tofes" (soft tofu).
Which when you break it down isn't that crazy, it's just rice and food that is squishy.
And I've been taking him to the sushi place for lunch since before he could sit up by hisself. Because I LOVE sushi (I lived in Japan for a while). And my sweetie DOESN'T like sushi, so Teddy and I go at lunchtimes about twice a month, and he's really good company.

This was taken almost a year ago, his hair is EVEN crazier now.

So Yah. That's why I'm making felt sushi. Want to see how it's coming on?

Like ziz! California rolls, partly finished Nigiri and Tamego.
I kind of love them. And they're super fun to make.
I've been making the design up as I went along and I thaught maybe I'd write a tute. BUT a quick cherche around the internets turned up this one from Carrie at Tao Of Crafts that is completely awesome. I'm SO making some edamame! Cuuute!