My new baby

I know I teased y’all with some new sewing projects in April, but then life happened and time got away from me, and I just packed them up and brought them with me when we came back to the Canyon. I am hoping to get started on some sewing this week, before I have to go back to work on Monday.

Quite a while back, I think it was in December, I bought a new sewing machine. I had it delivered to my daughter’s house in Georgia because I didn’t have a place for it. I picked it up from her after we closed on the house, but I have not used it until today. The old one I had, a White 970, was a good little machine and I used it for 12 years. It was showing signs of wear though, and on the last backpack I made, it was skipping stitches quite a bit and caused me to have to use the seam ripper A LOT. So, when I was getting ready to come back out west, I packed up the new one to bring with me. Today was the first time I used it, and I have to say, it is a MUCH better machine than the other one ever was.

This new machine is a Singer Scholastic 5523. It is a little heavier than the White was, and because of that, it doesn’t jump around on the table like the White did. It is so much easier to sew with than the other machine! The best part of was the price: I got it in a Woot Deal for $284, which included shipping AND a Singer Serger. It sells for around $250 just for the sewing machine, so I think I got a really good deal on the pair. I have never used a serger before, so I didn’t bring it with me on this trip.

This is the patch on the inside

The reason I got the sewing machine out today was because I had to repair my pajama pants. I made them back in 2010, and have worn them almost constantly since then. They developed a little hole in the seat a couple of months ago, that just got bigger and bigger as time went on. Last night, Fabgrandpa said to me, “I wouldn’t wear those outside if I were you, because people would be snickering about seeing your hiney.” I took that as sign that I really needed to fix them.

The patch from the outside. You really can't sew it from a distance

I decided that I needed to re-enforce the seat because it was wearing really thin, so I got a piece of fabric to stitch to the inside, then did some zigzag stitching randomly on the outside to hold the patch in place. These ought to be good for another few months now!

Here it is, the first of the Girlie Girl backpacks I am making this week. This one is green and hot pink and white polka dots and plaid and floral. It has one large pocket on the outside, and several pockets on the inside. It would be good as a tote for a little girl, or a big girl, or even a diaper bag.

This backpack is big enough to hold a small laptop computer, a nook or kindle, and all the accessories to go with them. It is quilted and has very stiff Peltex interfacing so it will stand up by itself. It is for sale. The price is $45 and that includes shipping in the United States. I will ship to other countries, but you will have to pay shipping if outside the US. Send me an email or use the contact form found in the menu above if you are interested in purchasing this cute bag.

Handmade girlie backpack

Pockets inside

A view from the front

And from the back

I love this one!

As soon as the company left, I got out the sewing projects. Five projects have been cut and made ready to sew, so today I sat down at the machine and got this much done:

The back of a girlie girl back pack

It will be finished tomorrow, and is going to be so freaking cute! I can’t wait to see the finished product.

My granddaughter, Amelia

This morning my sister and my daughter in law issued a challenge of sorts:

Not being one to walk away from a challenge, I got to work right away, and this is what happened:

a cute ruffled handbag

It is not very big, just big enough for a not quite two year old girlie girl.

It's not much bigger than my droid

I am sure she is going to love it!

It’s National Craft Month. What are you making?