Craftastic endeavors ♥

Now that I have my table back, I have been doing lots of crafty stuff again, especially sewing.  I made a nifty little drawstring bag that I LOVE.  It is the perfect size to hold my wallet (one of those new hard ones with the clasp), my Sony Reader, my Black Berry, the necessary Altoids, and a few random small things, too.  The only ones I ever see out there are the ones made out of nylon, intended for gym or beach stuff.  I wanted one that was made of cute fabric and lined to use as a purse.  So I winged it and I love how it turned out.  Most bags like this use grommets on the lower edges that the cords run through and knot in place.  I didn’t want to use grommets because the fabric could pull and tear around them with use so I came up with a way to sew them in place, which was actually more difficult than I would have though, especially when adding a lining to the mix!  But once I figured it out, it was easy to do, and I have made a couple since.  I posted the tutorial here, complete with pictures showing it in progress and finished.  I also turned all my patterns in my “crafty stuff” section into PDF files so that they are easier to download, save and print.

Yesterday, I got a whim to make myself a new top with some funky skully fabric I got last year from J and O Fabrics.  I saw a pillowcase dress on Craftster and it got me looking for patterns to make an adult version in the same style.  I found a few tutorials, but I didn’t want the ties to tie over my shoulders.  I have a halter-style shirt that I really love that ties the way I wanted the new top to tie, so I kind of combined the style of the pillowcase dress with the ties of the halter and worked out my own top.  I have everything cut, pressed, and pinned so my job for the day is to sew it all together.  It only has 4 pieces of fabric that are all rectangles.  There is one for the front, 2 for the back, and 1 for a lining for the boob area.  I think it would be just as easy to do it with a single piece in the back, though.  It took 3 pieces of elastic and some bias tape and some ribbon for the ties and some trim along the neckline and that is it.  I made it so that I only have to actually sew in elastic (which is my personal nightmare) in one place.  The other two are slipped through casings, as is the ribbon tie.  I have been writing the tutorial as I go so I will post it when it is done.  I only needed a few measurements to make the top, too, which was nice,… all of which is explained in detail in the upcoming tutorial.  The beauty of this top is that, because of the style, it doesn’t need to be exact and perfect!