One sweet bag and a phone sleeve...

You saw the early progress on my Dove Garden bag here on Monday.

Today you can see it finished and ready to be swung over my shoulder...

The outer bag is lined with leftover cotton quilt batting which I hand quilted using green and red Perle #12 thread.

After cutting two lengths of fabric to make the handles I went rummaging through my supplies cupboard for cream twill to sew along the inside of them (adds stability and strength) where I discovered a pair of forgotten red leather handles!

I'd used them years ago on a bag that I never really liked so early this year during a declutter I threw away the bag but unpicked the handles and promptly packed them away for another time and another bag. 

So thank the Lord I went hunting for twill in the right place to find them because they were perfect for this project and added a bit of class (according to Blossom)...

The bottom corners of the bag are boxed square so I made a fabric covered rectangle from template plastic to insert inside and stabilise the base...

Happy with all the elements of the bag I decided to make one more thing - a sleeve for my mobile phone.

Using a scrap from the Chez Moi print, one pretty birdcage button and a piece of olive green wool felt from my stash, this turned out sweet as can be...

Tiny seed beads became the eye and the flower centre...

There's a deep sense of satisfaction at completing a new bag for myself because I rarely make bags.

Do you like it?

The pattern for the "Dove Garden" stitchery featured on the front of my bag is now available as a PDF pattern HERE...

...and if you'd like to sew a simple sleeve for your mobile/cell phone follow my tutorial over HERE.

The Stitchery Club patterns for June (which include 'Dove Garden') were emailed to all members today.

For those who are not members but would like to purchase the individual stitchery patterns, they are now available HERE in my shop. 

One of those patterns is "Sleep Tight Owl"...

I think it's time I took my bag out for a road test shop test, don't you?

hugs

TUTORIAL: an iPhone cosy...and tea!

The other day I shared photos of a sweet set I made over the weekend, and part of that trio was an iPhone sleeve and a lined zippered pouch. I promised to share tutorials for making the pouch and phone sleeve and today we'll begin with how to...

(I got the original idea from Squidoo and have changed a few things to suit my own requirements)

Firstly, let me assure you that you can use this tutorial to make a cosy for any mobile phone, you just need to adjust the width of my measurements to suit.

You will need your mobile phone, a piece of fabric you love (mine is Japanese linen), and a piece of felt in a colour that blends with your fabric...

 I have an iPhone 4 and it measures 2.25 inches wide (6cm) so I cut my felt and fabric 4" x 12" each...

 Lay the fabric face down on the felt...

Pin both narrow ends together...

 Sew along the ends with a 1/4" seam...

Turn the fabrics right side out and press flat...

Fold in half across the middle, fabric side facing each other...

Sew down both raw edged sides with a 1/4" seam...

 

Place your phone inside to check how snug it sits.

My cosy was too loose around my phone so I needed to have more taken out of the sides. I stitched two more side seams, 1/4" in from the first seams...

I trimmed the seams back to a scant eighth of an inch, turned the cosy right side out and it fit my phone perfectly.

But I couldn't stop there!

 

 It's the little extras that take simple projects up a notch, don't you think?

By simply threading some red beads with both red and beige Perle #12 threads and tying off the ends with a cute birdcage charm my new little iPhone cosy is ready for use!

These would make excellent gifts, and it only took me 15 minutes from start to finish.

Yesterday Heather, Barb and I met up at Absolute Tea for a morning of sweet and savoury nibbles, and non-stop chatter.

I take much better photos with my camera than my phone so I only have two pics from my phone to show you, but you can see we had delicious fun.

Heather (below) and I had the sweet taster platters which held a macaron, scone, cupcake and chocolate, all of which married perfectly with our delicious Vanilla Chai Lattes...

Barb enjoyed a pot of elegant tea with the savoury taster platter of ribbon sandwiches, quiche, fritatta and herbed sour cream...

 

I've stolen this photo collage from Heather. She was wise and brought a real camera!

I love the photo she took of Barb and I...

A wonderful morning with special friends.

These days are what memories are made of...

hugs