The Perfect Bag: A Rifle Paper Co. Super Tote

Over the past month or so I've been working on the world's most beautiful, perfect Super Tote (a pattern by Noodlehead). I say it is the most beautiful because the main fabric is by one of my hands-down favorite designers, Rifle Paper Co.

They are primarily known for their stationary, but they've been branching out the last few years to put their patterns on a variety of things. Most recently, they launched a line of fabric with Cotton + Steel, and I basically lost my mind over it. It's so very very beautiful.

Even the selvedges are beautiful!

I own one other RPC collaboration... a dress from Paper Crown (of Lauren Conrad fame). Here I am wearing it while feeding a newborn calf... as one does.

Farming attire?

So when the fabirc came out, I was all, "AWESOME! Now I can have an entire CLOSET full of floral magicalness without completely busting my wallet!" So I started with a bag. This is my second Super Tote. I made the first with some of my block printed fabric.

Now a diaper bag.

Making the second one was great because I got to make several adjustments to things I didn't love about the first. For example, I ditched the recessed zipper (always gets in my way). I fully lined the exterior pocket plus added a Velcro closure (so that it doesn't gape open and when it does it looks fabulous). I also segmented the interior pocket into two... something I neglected in the first bag for some reason.

Finally, the straps are a bit shorter, but that was my fault because I used linen I already had... and of course didn't actually measure to make sure I had enough. But, whatever, it works.

Out of sequence, in progress short... look at those short handles.

So I can't finish this post without talking about that lining fabric. When I got the  Rifle Paper Co. fabric, I thought about using some leftover cotton for the lining... but they just didn't match and I wanted this bag to BE PERFECT. I ran to G Street Fabrics to grab something new, and I was in a hurry... I wanted to take it up a notch, so I grabbed fuchsia linen that looked amazing (of course not really looking at the price tag).

As the lady was cutting it for me, she asked what I was making... a nice blouse or skirt? "Nope, it's for a bag," I said proudly, showing her my swatch of the floral. "A BAG?!" she said incredulously. "And this is going INSIDE the BAG??? THIS is FINE ITALIAN LINEN (dummy)." (I added that subtext). "Um, a really nice bag?" I tried.

Oooooo, luxury.

So yeah, here's my fabulous bag, with the disproportionately expensive lining. I think it totally makes it ;o)

Ahoy! Sewing a Sailor Top and Checking In

Well hello there. It's just me, sitting over here pretending I haven't fallen off the face of the earth (again). Today I'm sharing my experience with CreativeBug's class from Fancy Tiger Crafts on how to make a Sailor Top.

Similar to many of my projects this year, this one took me quite a while to get off the ground thanks to our latest little addition :o) At one point (obviously before he was born) I really thought I would have gobs of time during maternity leave to work on sewing and design projects. I even thought (gasp!) that I might be bored. So I bought some extra fabric and sewing patterns and made big big big plans.

Kaufman Union Dots Chambray

Well... six months later and... now I know better. However, we decided to start our kiddo a few days early at his daycare so that he could get acclimated and I could have a little break before returning to work. So I finally busted out the sewing machine and got to it. (In hindsight, maybe I should have napped?)

I coooould have ironed this before I took a pic... but meh.

I've been wanting to make this top for a while. The pattern is free with your CreativeBug membership, but beware, the instructions are not included so you have to watch the class. Not that that is a bad thing, I just would like to be able to remake it without watching the class again.

Ugh.

The class was very straightforward and I was pretty happy with the top. It looks great with jeans and also works well for work which I was surprised by. My gathering at the neckline is maaaaybe not the most even but I'll forgive my sleep-deprived self for that one. I also had trouble catching the inside of the yoke as I was stitching-in-the-ditch... but again, that's really more about my lazy-a$$ sewing skills vs. the pattern/class.

Eat Your Vegetables: A Pattern Project Nine-ish Months in the Making

Today I wanted to talk about the creation of this veggie pattern I made because, as a creative dabbler, this is how things usually work for me... slowly but surely over a long, long time. 

Sometimes I find this really discouraging--the fact that sometimes I just don't have the time and attention span to create whole collections or see things through in a reasonable amount of time (what's "reasonable" anyways?). But sticking to something... even if it takes nine months is still a completely worthwhile and rewarding process. So here we go:

Waaaay back in the early Spring, when we were block printing up a storm, my favorite collaborator, husband and lover of all things gardening and vegetable-ly carved these sweet block prints. I immediately felt like they would make an awesome garden-inspired pattern.

(If you know Kevin, you know that he is obsessed with his garden and is known to be found on any given day out in our back yard collecting a horde of tomatoes as well as eating greens plucked straight from various plants... carrots, peas, lettuce, beets, basically anything.)

Some unspecified amount of time later (May maybe?) I finally got around to printing and scanning them. Here's what the prints looked like when cleaned them up using my computer:

The radish was definitely my favorite. Again, possibly weeks/months later (and after hassling Kevin to carve me a carrot), I finally started playing around with them in Illustrator, added some appropriate colors, and here's the half-drop, repeat pattern I ended up with:

Now we're somewhere into the Fall... maybe late September... I used Spoonflower to print out two yards of it on their basic combed cotton with two particular projects in mind... a blanket and a pillow cover for a specific, farm-y room we're working on (I know, the suspense is killing you right???). 

Here's what the fabric looked like along with other fabrics I picked out for the room. 

And TADA! After months in the making, and a lot of sitting around and doing other things like going to work and taking well-earned naps, the pillow cover and blanket were finally done. (The blanket is back at the top of the post). For the pillow cover, I used the envelope-back method because I like to be able to wash things, but zippers are hard...

For both projects, I chose to use a gold minky fabric for the backs and let me tell you... I'll be happy if I never delve in to using minky EVER AGAIN.

A Brief Aside About Sewing w/ Minky:

One, use safety pins, many many straight pins and a walking foot. Two, use a long stitch length. And three, give yourself an extra hour or two to calm down after you stop tearing your hair out. THEN PUT IN MORE PINS!

End of Aside.

Anyways, as I continue (in obvious fits and starts) to do more better, I felt like this was an important process to share, because I have to remind myself... it's ok if it takes me nine months to go from concept to finishing a final project. I can't get discouraged because I'm a little ADD when it comes to stuff and the past nine months have been particularly crazy.

Sometimes out there in the cyber-insta-world it feels like other people are just cranking out amazing stuff left and right... and that is totally cool if they are. But I'm a person with a crazy, full-time job and a lot going on, and I feel like it's so important not to compare my output to full-time professional sewers/bloggers/artists.

So, I'm celebrating the completion of these small, very personal projects, taking a breather... and then jumping in to the next project!

Ready, Set, Sew: Race Day Tank Top

I have to admit that I'm not always the most enthusiastic runner. My motivation has a lot more to do with the clothes than the many other benefits of running. So I decided, after my first tank top turned out pretty well, I needed to try out Spoonflower's Performance Pique fabric to make a running tank for the Pikes Peek 10K race this past weekend.

I again used an existing tank top (with a racer back) as the pattern, which worked out pretty well, but I tried another method for the binding and ended up with straps that were slightly different sizes (oops!). I also wish I had made it a little bit longer, but overall it fit pretty well.

I really loved the fabric. It was light and surprisingly great quality. I think it will hold up really well over time. I picked my Block Print Blossom pattern in Hydrangea for the task. 

Here's a pic at the finish line! I'm always the happiest when its all over. Photobombed by the Geico Gecko of course. 

It was really cold at the start so I wore my jacket through the first few miles, but was delighted when the sun came out! Good thing I remembered my sunscreen ;o)

Anyways, after all my crazy fabric design projects of late, I decided to try something a little different. Here's a sneak peek... more to come!

Feeling Just Fine & Dandelion

Hooray! Today I finally got the swatches from my Fine & Dandelion patterns from Spoonflower! You can see the whole collection here. I was so excited I made this little movie on Instagram:

A video posted by Liz Weaver (@snarkybeagle) on Apr 16, 2015 at 6:28pm PDT

This was definitely a labor of love as I put in a lot of post-full-day-of-real-work hours in to it. Here's what the primary pattern (that I shared first on Instagram two weeks ago) looks like close up...

I really like the natural/linen-looking background color and the detail in the flowers. If you are so inclined, I entered it in to the final Creative Bug Fabric Design Challenge and I would greatly appreciate your vote (no login is necessary)! Here's the other main pattern I made...

As you can tell by the grass in our backyard, the collection was inspired by all the weeds that are coming back in full force now that it is finally Spring! Pretty soon there will be clover and bumblebees all over the place (and I'm totally ok with that!)

Here are all the swatches together. I just want to say thank you again for everyone's encouragement during this process. I know it may not seem like a huge deal but this has been a fun/exhausting creative outlet, and I want to hug every single person who has shown even the tiniest bit of enthusiasm or interest. You guys are the BEST!

Tank Top Sewing and a Fine & Dandelion Sneak Peak!

Well, it's been a really exciting week! I made my first sale on Spoonflower (woohoo, $1.35! lol) and I was picked for Creative Bug's Instagram Challenge for their Fabric Design class. More on that in a minute, but first, I recently embarked on learning to sew with knit fabrics.

It actually wasn't as hard as I expected. I don't have a serger, so the seams weren't as pretty as they could be. I also made the mistake of not paying attention to the length vs. width (which really matters with knits). Luckily Spoonflower's Modern Jersey is VERY stretchy in both directions so it still fits well. Lesson learned!

I made the pattern myself (also a first!) from a Banana Republic tank top. I used this tutorial from Anna at Noodlehead as a guide as well as Creative Bug's Sewing a T-Shirt class.

Here's the design/fabric before I cut it. The design was featured this week on Spoonflower's "Hot Trends" this week and can be purchased here in fabric, wallpaper and gift wrap!

As I mentioned earlier, I've added Creative Bug's Fabric Design class to my ever growing list of online class credentials. And I was thrilled to win their Instagram challenge this past week! The feedback from folks was an AMAZING confidence booster. I seriously want to hug every person who liked or commented on the post. Here was my submission:

I've spent the last few days furiously finishing the pattern I posted and creating a whole collection around it to share on Spoonflower. I just got everything uploaded today and ordered the swatches. Here's a sneak peak of a few of the other designs and coordinates. I hope you are as excited as I am!

Block Print Blossoms now on Spoonflower!

Guess what! My Block Print Blossom patterns are now on my Spoonflower shop. And, oh yeah, I have a Spoonflower shop! You can order any of the patterns, in three color ways, on a variety of their fabrics, wallpapers and wrapping papers. I got the fabric swatches in the mail this week!

I mentioned a few weeks ago when I posted my block print patterns that I feel like I've come a really long way when it comes to designing patterns. I started this blog almost seven years ago and I started thinking about designing patterns almost five years ago. I fumbled through sort of figuring things out myself and toodled around with that for a long time.

I've always thought about posting my designs on Spoonflower or another print-to-order site like Society 6, Zazzle, etc., but I never really felt like my designs were good enough (whatever that means). In the past year I've taken a lot of design classes (and purchased a new laptop) and I finally feel really proud of what I'm making.

I don't necessarily have big expectations in terms of actually selling stuff, but it was an exciting milestone that I felt like I could. I greatly appreciated the support from many friends and classmates that were a huge confidence booster. Anyways there's always a long ways to go, but I'm excited to share these patterns and I hope you will visit my Spoonflower shop to take a look :)

**UPDATED 4/18** I just got a whole yard of the main fabric (in hydrangea) to make in to a running top! So excited! Check it out:

ZZZzzzippp! Block printed sewing projects

One side effect of doing all this block printing is creating a bunch of fabric... and that fabric has been screaming to be used. I have an over abundance of fabric already so I needed some quick projects.

I started with a little zipper pouch because there's no such thing as having too many zipper pouches. Ammirite?! I used another scrap for the inside. 

Next I took on something just a liiiiiitle more (or a lot more) ambitious... Noodlehead's Super Tote.

I printed this fabric specifically for this project and it took about two hours-ish to do. So much rolling. You can also see the lovely necklace holding frame Kevin made me for my birthday :o) Another pic of the bag:

The bag has an exterior pocket, recessed zipper and a nice elastic pocket (not picture cause I just couldn't get a good angle). It's such a great pattern and I took the bag to Charlottesville this weekend... this bag is huge! It fit a ton of stuff for the weekend.

Anyways, more fabric and projects to come!

Design, Carve, Print: Block Printing Class Day 2

On Sunday, I finished up Jen Hewett's Design, Carve, Print class by taking some of my stamps and creating repeat patterns. I was surprised how similar it was to doing it digitally... just with a ruler. Maybe a little less precise if you're impatient like me.

Above were the circles. It's hard to tell but the ink was a dark navy. I'm hoping to using this pattern to print fabric for a throw pillow soon-ish.

On Saturday night (after day 1) I ended up staying up pretty late designing and carving another set of blocks. This wasn't a perfectly measured out pattern, but I liked the randomness and the BEES!

Speaking of the BEES! I tried a little half drop repeat. I think I liked the bees among the flowers better.

You can probably tell but I took these last couple photos at night... not as pretty but I think you get the point. I like the shape of these flowers that sort of interlock.

Last one! Another flower, half drop.

Glamour shot! Anyways, I absolutely loved the class. Jen was great and, as always, I appreciated the cheerleading and support of my Facebook groupies/classmates. I have so many ideas for this, its actually a little paralyzing. Would like to take the next step and actually use the fabric for something (or actually print on non-scrap cotton), but we'll see how it goes :)

Design, Carve, Print: Block Printing Class Day 1

As I mentioned in my last post, I signed up for Jen Hewett's Design, Carve, Print class. I've been admiring Jen's handiwork for several years. I was psyched to sign up for another weekend, online design class after how much I loved Pattern Camp.

This class is decidedly more hands on vs. techy, which was refreshing. I love digital design but some times it's great to get your hands messy (in my case EXTREMELY messy). First let's admire my craft/laundry/sewing room when it was still clean-ish:

We started out with some sketching (Kevin also hopped in on some of the action; Bailey decided it was a good time/place to nap).

I took a bunch of old sketches that I thought would be good and was inspired by this pic I found on Pinterest of envelope security lines (I know, weird).

After sketching it was time to transfer and carve. Here's what my block looked like when I transferred the sketches over:

And here was my first round of printing after I had everything carved. The little trees and stars were blocks I carved a while back for other projects but it was good to put them to use.

I think there's a pretty clear distinction between Kevin and my designs. Whereas my designs are generally abstract, Kevin created some awesome peas and running shoe prints (in line with two of his most favorite hobbies). Looking forward to tomorrow's class!