Belly Dance Veils

Dealing with lightweight fabrics may be tricky, but I think I finally have a knack for it.

I no longer iron the folding of the hem before sewing. Instead, I fold it in hand just before sewing and pull it tight, making sure that the weft threads go horizontally at the hem.

Also beginning and ending of the seam needs more attention. I put a piece of paper underneath and carefully tear it off when finished.

The heap of my silky veils. They'll be used for voi poi. Measurements are like 90 x 220 cm.

And here are organza ones. The upper hem is done with regular sewing machine, the curved edge needs an overlock machine. These are regular belly dance veils, measurements are 100 x 230, the curve may be 45 cm high.

Viking Runestone Birthday Card

A birthday card made for our viking friend.

I found some photos of viking rocks and picked this one.

I took paints and made the colored base. This sais something about how much I like him because I worked with brush which usually is quite a torture for me :-)

For the futhark I used a permanent marker (I love their absolute black).

Finally I tore the "rock" around the dragon and colored it with a pencil (the paper has its structure visible). Water paints would probably be better, but at one in the morning, you just go the easy way.

Dirty Dancing Bag

A gift for my friend who is a big fan of Dirty Dancing movie :)

I ordered a printed bag with a Dirty Dancing photo of my choice.

You know, no one prints your photos just on a fabric, so you have to order a bag and cut out the photo.

So this photo and a few leftovers from my last project (I am trying to get rid of any leftovers, because my heap of fabric tends to heave...). No matter what, I just love this fabric.

I sewed the pieces so that they would make a nice flat surface to quilt. I took a piece of batting and freehand quilted the parisian fabric.

At the photo panel, I stitched along the frames. And embroidered the printed Dirty Dancing writing.

I cut the lining of the same size , just without upper seam allowance. I cut two pockets for the lining.

I attached the pockets. I sewed both the main piece and the lining at the vertical seam and at the bottom. At the lining, I left a gap at the bottom seam for turning over later on.

I folded the bottom to have the bottom seam in the center and sewed the corners (on both pieces).

I made a tunnel for the strap. I filled it with batting and sewed the upper fabric to the bag.

I quilted it. Just straight stitch - freehand quilting in such narrow pieces is no fun...

And I want to have fun in my projects! I have too many UFOs (unfinished objects) in my stash. From now on I prefer to have fun from having everything perfect :)

I made the quilting more dense at the edges - I did't want them to be bulky.

I cut the seam allowance at the upper edge to 2 cms and sewed the straps on.

As the seam allowance is 2 cm and the lining was cut just to the upper edge, I can sew the lining on with 1cm seam allowance and the seam will be 1 cm below the upper edge.

The lining can be turned over and attached to the main piece at the corners - better to say at their seam allowances.

I prepared the zipper - I took a piece of 'endless' zipper and sewed little endings on it. Nice detail  :)

I took the closed zipper and sewed on. No special foot needed because of the batting.

I pinned the zipper to the other size, opened and repinned correctly to be able to sew it.

I didn't feel like hand sewing today at all, so I folded the bottom of the lining and sewed one milimiter from the edge to close the hole.

So, here it is. A lovely bag for my lovely Dirty-Dancingolic friend :-)

The lining.

I hope she'll enjoy it as much as I do. I'm just totally into quilted bags :-D