Ruffle Backpack Tutorial

This is only one box of ruffled lace that was given to me by a friend. She had collected all this lace because she made fabric scrapbook covers. I knew I could think up something to do with all this lace. I have several ideas but the first one I came up with is a ruffled lace backpack. I made a trial one a few weeks ago. There were a few things I wanted to work out differently. So I made two more which I like much better. From the pictures they look about the same. But on these I boxed out the bottoms and I strung the straps so the opening closed more efficiently. And I decided to take some pictures of the process so I could try my hand at writing a tutorial. So here goes.

Supplies:15" X 34" outside fabric (I used a polyester heavyweight twill)

2 pieces 17" X 3" same as outside fabric for strap casings

15" X 34" lining fabric (I used a floral cotton)

4 yards of cording for straps

And an assortment of pre-ruffled laces at least 15 inches long. I used about 14 pieces of varying widths.

Start by sewing the lace in overlapping rows onto the front of the 15"x34" outside fabric. Make a mark at the 17" halfway point of the piece and then make a mark 2 1/4" up from the halfway point. Sew the first piece of lace so the bottom edge meets this mark. Continue adding lace overlapping the row before it slightly. The very top piece of lace should be about 1/4" from the top edge of the fabric. I found it helpful to mark a straight line about every 3 inches on the front to keep everything lined up. I didn't do this on the first backpack I made and my rows got a bit slanted.


Now make the strap casing. Take the two 17"x 3" pieces press under 1 1/2" on each end and top stitch a hem. Then press them in half with wrong sides facing. Sew them to the top edge of the ruffled piece both front and back. Leave a 1/2" on each side.






















Now is the time to thread the cording through the casing. Cut the 4 yard piece in half make two 2 yard pieces. Thread one piece into the casing front and back according to the green line in the picture. Thread the second piece according to the red line in the picture.



Even the ends of the cords and pin one set on the left side of the bag and one set on the right side. Pin them at about one inch above the lower edge of the first row of lace. Stitch them in place by back tacking several times as these will get a lot of stress and you want to make sure they don't come undone.




















Now turn the bag right sides together and sew the side seams. Starting at the top edge back tack right next to the casing and sew half inch seams all the way to the bottom fold. Catch the straps in the seam where you have back tacked them in place but be sure not to catch them in any other place.












Now box out the bottom. Line the side seam up with the bottom fold. Measure 2" up from the point. Sew across the line. It is the black line in the photo. Be sure not to catch the edge of the lower piece of lace in your stitching. Turn the bag right side out. See how that makes a boxed bottom.







Make the linning by sewing the side seams right sides together with 1/2" seams. Box the bottom of the lining the same way as the outside bag.

To keep the lining from pulling out of the bag insert the lining into the bag and line up both points. Sew point together so they fold to the inside.






Finish off the top of the bag by sewing the linning to the outside bag right sides together. Pin the side seams first and turn the bag inside out. Sew around the top edge leaving a 3" opening at the center back of the bag for turning right side out. Turn the bag through the opening. Topstich the top edge closing the opening left for turning and stitching the top ruffle so it is kept from rolling up.

Ruffled Drawstring Bag

I came across this tutorial a few days ago and decided to try it out. I have seen similar bags before I think this idea has been around for a long time. She explains the process for making this very well in her tutorial even though English is not her first language. It is a very easy and useful project. She used it to store threads in. I thought it would make a good travel jewelry pouch.

This would be a good project for a beginning seamstress. I think kids would enjoy making it because you can use some of those fancy stitches on your sewing machine. I used a couple of daisy stitches on mine. You could make this elegant or simple just by changing the fabric. I used quilting cottons for mine. I could see it made up in silk or velvet. It would also make a nice travel sewing kit or even a first aid kit. I think this is a great little bag.

Butterfly Apron

Today I finished my Butterfly Apron from Crochet Adorned . I crocheted the butterfly pocket and the trim yesterday and sewed up the apron today. The directions for the apron are included in the book. It is really a basic gathered half apron so it was a quick project to sew.

I had picked out the main fabric from my stash because I liked it with the pink thread I used for the crochet. So after making the butterfly and the trim I needed to find something in my stash to use for the contrast waistband and lower band. Even though I have a huge stash it proved to be difficult to find anything that looked good with this fabric and trim.

You may ask why didn't I just go out and buy something. Well I joined





Stashbusting September at T-Shirt Diaries.




So I am not allowed to buy any new fabric or craft supplies. After rooting through several bins of unorganized fabric nothing was really looking even remotely right with what I had picked out so far. Finally I found this black and ivory gingham and I thought it gave the apron just the right vintage feel and contrast. I was thinking about giving this as a gift but once it is finished I want to keep it for myself. Maybe I will just make another one for a gift.

I am going to enter this project in the Craft Book Month Linky

Party. I might win some more goodies to add to my stash. I think that is allowed since winning isn't buying anything.

Ruffle Apron

I have been hearing about Hobby Lobby for a long time now. There has never been one near me. Well about a month ago they opened one in a town about an hours drive from me. So my friend and I went to check out the grand opening. This is my kind of store. I picked up a few things that I didn't know I needed until I saw it.

One thing I purchased was the book Crochet Adorned. I have been eyeing this book for quite some time. It is full of crocheted embellishment for clothing accessories and household item. I have already started a project from the book the Butterfly Apron.

Maybe you can tell I like aprons because one of the other things I picked up was a kit for making an apron. It was a fabric panel for a ruffled apron. It was very easy to sew up. All I had to do was cut out the pieces, hem the edges and attach the waistband and ties. A quick and easy project. This apron has another thing in common with the project from the book. Another favorite of mine butterflies. The very top fabric on this ruffled apron has butterflies on it. And the project from the book is an apron with a crocheted butterfly for a pocket. Both are fun projects. And I think this little ruffled apron will become a gift.

Vintage Potholders With Pattern

I picked up this vintage crochet book from Out Of The Ashes. She sells all kinds of vintage sewing pattern and a few vintage knitting and crochet books. Mine is The Magic Of Crochet (Gifts). It is copyright 1941 by the Spool Cotton Company. The price was 10 cents originally and it looks like it was resold at some point for 99 cents. I paid $4.00 for it and I thought that was a bargain. It has all kinds of cute accessories for the home and some fashion items too. There are several things I want to make. The instructions are easy to follow but you must convert the thread and needle size to a modern equivalent. This is not critical with things like place mats or pot holders as they don't need to fit anything they just need to be close. There are no gauges in the book so I just tried to find a thread that worked with the size needle suggested. Most of the patterns use a very tiny needle and thread size.

The pattern I tried first was these potholders called Ship Shape in the book. I had everything I needed around the house. I even had some tiny steel crochet hooks. I had just bought a set of vintage steel crochet hooks in a little plastic case at a flea market. This pattern used one of the medium sized hooks in the set. So I thought it was doable. I even found a couple of bone rings in my stash. I think these probably came from my grandmother's stash. I don't really think they are bone but some sort of plastic. They are quite old though. The thread was leftover from another project and it is new crochet thread. I like these a lot. They turned out bigger than I thought they would. Most of the vintage potholder patterns I have tried are a bit to small for my taste. I don't know if woman had tiny hands in the 40's or they were just trying to conserve on thread. They are a bit thin for a pot holder too but I think they would work for a stove top pot handle or a microwave dish. If nothing else they are cute decorations.

I think the copyright has expired by now so I am going to share the pattern. The pattern is for six potholders three in each color combination. I only made two of them.

Materials: J&P Coats Knit-Cro-Sheen 1 ball white or ecru (referred to in directions as "light color") and 2 balls of dark color.
Milward's Steel Crochet Hook No. 7 and 6 bone rings.

This amount is sufficient for entire set of six potholders.

With light color, work sc closely over ring. Join with a sl st to 1st sc made. 1st rnd: Ch 3 (to count as 1st dc), dc in front loop of 6 sc, ch 3, dc in front loop of next 6 sc. Turn, and working in remaining loop of same sc's, make dc in next 6 sc ch 3 dc in 5 sc. Join with sl st to top of first ch 3 made.

2nd Rnd: Ch 3 (dc in each dc across to ch 3 sp make 2 dc ch 3 and 2 dc) twice; dc in each remaining dc. Join.

Repeat last row 15 more times. Fasten off. Attach dark color and repeat 2nd row 2 more times. Fasten off. Attach light color and work 2nd row once again. Working through both thicknesses ( picking up only the center loops), make sc in each stitch and 4 sc over ch across, ch 5, turn, and make edging as follows: * Ch 4, 3 tr in base of ch 4, skip 3 sc, sc in next sc repeat from* across. Fasten off.

Make 2 more pot holders same as this. Make 3 more pot holders same as this only reversing colors.