Tag: antique brass

Paradigm Showcase Tour – DIY Bucket Bag

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I am SO ridiculously happy to be kicking off the Paradigm Showcase Tour for my very dear friend, Sarah Thomas of Sariditty.  This woman does it all.  She is an incredible long-arm quilter who is known for her signature “sketchbook” style with improvisational designs.  She lectures and teaches a ton of quilting classes (with which I have actually assisted) and she is also a product designer with a line of sewing rulers and sewing tools.  (Sis is even a pilot!!!)  It’s no wonder, that “Fabric Designer” is one of her newest titles.  You can learn more about Sarah and her work in the  Paradigm Lookbook here.
Within the quilting social media world, Sarah and I have worked together through many other blog tours and only recently, were able to meet up IRL at QuiltCon to share all of our love of sewing (and an Air BnB!)  So when Sarah told me about her debut collection of fabrics, I was over-the-moon happy for this woman!  And when she asked me to be a part of her Showcase Tour, you know I was game.   It truly brings me such crazy joy to help such a thoughtful person who has really helped me navigate the industry side of sewing.
I could go on about Sarah, but will focus on her fabrics now 🙂  Paradigm fabrics are 100% cotton and digitally printed through Hoffman California Fabrics.  What really blew my mind was the incredibly innovative production style with this collection.  There are 23 different fabrics in Paradigm, but only 7 different bolts because the fabrics are either printed by the yard, half-yard, or grouped by fat-quarter as seen here.  This allows for all the fabric in less SKUs…which in my pre-sewing supply chain management job, is so clever!
But what I really love about Paradigm fabrics is that this line IS completely Sarah.  If you follow her quilt designs and pattern motifs, you see her love of geometric shapes, vivid color and there is always a butterfly close by.  So when I wanted to make a Bucket Bag (pattern to be published in the fall) for the tour, I chose this gorgeous focal print in Denim.  It has all of the swishes and spirals found in her quilting along with all the flying geese found in her piecing — all Sariditty!
For the interior, I used the half-yard bolt of Tidepool which is split with both the blue and yellow colorways of this design.  The flying geese in each print moves across different color values — from a light periwinkle to deep navy.   The changes give a lot of visual movement and why I thought it would make the perfect lining fabric.
To make sure I utilized this bolt, I used the yellow half of Tidepool as the pocket bag and interior of the slip pocket.  The triangles change from a light pink to a deep rust on this color way.  I love opening the zipper and seeing the fun pop of color to complement all of the blue.
When making bags, I love to mix in some other substrates with all of this quilt cotton.   I couldn’t help but pull out this gorgeous chestnut colored leather out of my stash to help accent and bring out the beauty of Paradigm both on the inside and outside of the bag.
And of course, there is the purse hardware.  With all the lovely pops of chartreuse, teal and violet, antique brass hardware was definitely the right choice to work with all of these fabrics.  I used rivets on the outside to work with the designs on the Denim panel and circle rings to echo all of the flying geese and swirls as well.
This bag is ready for our next quilt adventure and I hope you get to check it out in May at Quilt Market 😉
The party is just getting started so don’t forget to visit all of the other incredible makers on the Paradigm Showcase Tour through May.  Click through to the makers below or follow along on Instagram via #paradigmshowcasetour #sariditty.

Schedule:

22 April – Cristy Stuhldreher @loveyousew_ (You are here)
23 April – Rebecca Bryan @bryanhousequilts 
24 April – Hilary Jordan @byhilaryjordan
25 April – Tiffany Sepulveda @sewtiffany 
26 April – Karie Jewell @kariejewell 
27 April – Jen Timko @jentimko
28 April – Cheri Lehnow @tinkerellen
29 April – Karen Miller @redbirdquiltco
30 April – Karen O’Connor @ladykquilts
1 May – Nicholas Ball @quiltsfromtheattic
2 May – Nicole Daksiewicz @modernhandcraft
3 May – Nichole Vogelsinger @wildboho 
4 May – Kate Toney @toughkittencrafts
5 May – Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill @wholecirclestudio 
6 May – Karen Tripp @karenthediyaddict
7 May  – Isabelle Selak @southbaybella
8 May – Elise Kwon @eliseandemelie
9 May – Jessica Kapitanski @sallietomatopatterns
10 May – Suzy Williams @suzyquilts 
11 May – Sarah Thomas @sariditty

Fabric was provided for this blog post.  All thoughts and opinions are my own – I really do adore Sarah. 

Something Old Something New – Festival Bag Upcycle

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I’m a fan of fashion.  But as a mom (and as a work-at-home one,) there isn’t much motivation to step past the yoga pants and a clean (smelling) tee most days.  I do admit, when I can get my act together, it does make me feel good to step out of my slip-on Vans.  Now that both my kids are in school,  I’ve been making a conscientious effort to bring my fashion game back – nothing crazy, but pulled together looks using cues from today’s trends.  Like Boho.

I love the relaxed (aka loose fitting) style of Bohemian fashion.  I grew up near the Philadelphia Folk Festival so I saw a lot of 70’s hippie clothes and I love the laid back vibe.  Pair that with my urban life in the city for 10+ years and the result is this “Festival Bag.”  It’s an edgier take on Boho with the dark floral, leather and antique brass hardware.

When RJR Fabrics asked me to work with some of their new fabrics, this Reverie line pretty much blew my mind.  I tend to work with more graphic prints, but the photo-realistic imagery in these Digiprints are amazing.  The best part, is that these fabrics feel JUST like their other high quality quilt cottons so you know you are working with the good stuff.

This Floral Fantasy print with the the dark background is just gorgeous. I love the style contrast of soft flowers with the intense black (which is how I like to mix up my own closet.)  I like combining hard elements with something very soft and feminine. I also like a mix of textures. So this soft quilt cotton HAD to be paired with some leather and lots of hardware, right?

My mom knew I was upcycling old leather coats and gave me this great long duster about a year ago. I’m happy to finally use it.  This coat is such a great upcycle coat because of its size and the design. Too bad the shape…errr…lack of….just doesn’t work now. There are so many large pieces of leather to use in any project.  I used about 70% of this coat and I might use the rest on a future clutch…

The larger pieces were all cut into 1/4″ fringe and double-layered all around the bag. Fringe is one of my favorite things in a bag.  It’s so much fun to walk and feel the swing of the leather. The pieces add movement and life to everyday running around.

More leather was added to the top flap and I saved all the scraps. They are great to use in zipper pulls and bag charms. You can see I made some tassels and added lots of rivets. I also used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out my intials. Long skinny scraps can be turned into beautiful braids like this one as well.

On the inside of the bag, there is more Reverie with the Mirage in Bloom print. It is the perfect complement to this style bag. It is a mottled floral which gives a very contemporary feel with the more muted tones.

With spring music festivals in the news, I decided to make the bag strap differently than I usually would. Taking inspiration from the bands themselves, I modeled the strap after guitar ones. The leather strap is about 1 1/2″ wide with Floral Fantasy on top and another layer of leather all stitched in place with added rivet accents.

I am so in love with how this strap and bag turned out. I can’t wait to “rock” it all summer long.

Project Details:

 

 

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