DIY - Envelope Bag

It was my intention to make this bag into a laptop sleeve or more of a file/paper organizer than a purse, but when I got down to it I just really wanted to turn it into another cross-body bag to use for the rest of the summer.  Needless to say, this project made it onto my list of Top DIY Pins for August. 

 This post by Veronika of Tick Tock Vintage served as my inspiration. I love  the lines that make it "envelope-y" and the giant leather tassels keeping it closed.

I used this tutorial from SwellMayde for an oversized envelope clutch and adapted it as necessary.  This tutorial is for leather, vinyl and other materials that don't fray, but my envelope is going to be made of a home-dec fabric. Click on the illustration to enlarge for her measurements and instructions.

My pattern piece for the bag is 24" long from bottom to point and 14" wide.  The thin strips to the right are going to be my make-shift bias tape to bind the raw edges of the bag. They are 2" wide.  Not pictured is a 50" long x 2" wide strap.

I started by folding the bag how it will be sewn and pressed it so I would have some guidelines.  To make the "envelope" style lines on the front of the bag's body I took the front two corners and folded them down, creating the style lines. I stitched these down as close to the fold as possible and pressed the front open again.

I don't want to leave the opening of the bag with a raw edge and I thought a bound edge would look nicer than just a rolled hem. Start by pinning the strip to the edge, right sides together. Sew with a 1/4" seam allowance.

Press the strip up with the seam allowance towards the strip. Now press the free edge of the strip in towards the seam. The edges shouldn't meet in the middle as this will cause bulk. Fold the strip so the raw edge is now enclosed under the nicely folded edge. Stitch in the ditch, hiding your stitching line in the already-there seam seen from the front.

I love the band it creates while hiding all the raw edges.

Repeat for the point of envelope flap, doing only one diagonal at a time.

Fold over 1/2" at one edge of the strip and overlap the finished binding at the point. Sew and press this strip up and repeat the binding steps.

Look how clean the edges of the envelope look!

Fold the bag on the previously pressed guidelines, right sides together. Pin and sew the two side seams at 1/4" seam allowances, backstitching several times at the beginning and end to secure the corners.  Turn the bag right-side-out and press the side seams flat.

To create the cross-body strap, fold the 50" strip in half width-wise, right sides together, and sew all the way down at a 1/4" seam allowance.  Thanks to Pinterest I came across a great tutorial from Pickup Some Creativity to make turning a tube super fast and easy. Before folding in half, sew the end of a long, thin grosgrain ribbon to one end of the strip and sandwich the ribbon between the fold of the strip. Make sure the ribbon won't be in your 1/4" seam allowance and sew all of the way down the strip. Pull the ribbon to turn the tube right side out.  Love this tip and there's much more on their Sewing 101 page!

 I added a magnetic snap to the point of the flap to keep things closed and an eyelet above that to secure my fabulous gold tassel. Follow the package instructions to install both of these (completely optional additions).

Thread the loop of the tassel through the eyelet and either tie it in a knot (if it's long and wide enough) or tie some ribbon through the loop and into several knots.  This will keep the tassel from slipping through the eyelet.

Sew the straps to the side of the envelope bag, making sure to secure with lots of stitching. I did a box of stitches where the strap's raw edge is folded under.

Then I added my tag :)

Then I proceeded to take WAY too many photos because I am severely in love with this bag.

 

 Look how cute that tassel looks!

DIY - Painted Wood Bead Necklace

This August DIY project was inspired by a random outfit post by a blogger than I now can't find in my reader. Why didn't Pinterest exist a year ago when I started all this crafty non-sense!!??!? Here is my cropped photo that I have kept in my desktop "Inspiration" folder since March 2011.  How pretty is that necklace? And just like that, the DIY sickness resuffaces..."Hey I bet I can make that!"

 PS If you know which blog this is from/this is you - Let me know so I can properly Pin you :)

 

This red necklace is pretty close to what I'm trying to achieve...yeah it's actually faceted ruby quartz and sold on BlueFly for $80.50. YIKES! So you can imagine how grateful I was to come across this oh-so-easy tutorial by Vanessa Christenson showing how she was able to spray paint these wooden beads in a not all at messy way by sticking them on skewers secured in a Styrofoam ball. Love the lime green!

 I am on a budget this week, completing projects I already have the materials for on hand, so I couldn't run out and get the skewers or the foam for this one. I tried toothpicks in cardboard but they just kept breaking. After examining the beads I realized the holes were pretty wide and made for a large enough surface for me to lay the beads down flat and (unless I knocked into the table) they wouldn't roll around like crazy.  

 

So I laid the beads out in rows and sprayed the first side with the hunter green. I waited 5 or so minutes for that to set and sprayed them again with a thicker coat.  After about 10 minutes I figured they were safe for touching and flipped them all over one by one.  Again, I sprayed with a light coat of the green and after 5 minutes did a thicker coat.  Once that was dry, I did a once over with the navy blue just to give a hint of marbleizing or something cool like that. Then I sprayed lacquer on both sides to create some sheen and quickly brought the beads indoors before the inevitable Florida afternoon rain hit.

 I threaded most of the beads on a long leather string and knotted it in the back. The remaining beads are strung on chain for a less crafty/equally dramatic look.

I love the awesome (accidental) layering!

 

I'm glad I mixed the blue paint in with the green. I have a habit of wearing blue jewelry with green clothes just because I don't own very much (any) green necklaces and the two colors have started to blend together for me. However, I don't know if other people see things the same way or think I'm super weird for wearing a bright blue necklace with a green dress.  Now I won't have to worry about that! I can mix and match all I want and I won't lie - the blue/green with the pink dress is starting to grow on me too!

DIY - Rustic Spoon Pendant

Finally, the last of the July Pinterest DIY's (you didn't get to see my messed up maxi dress...it's already been recycled into another project don't worry).  And now I can finally focus on the August projects!

I loved the look Dorian from Busily Spinning Momma created with her Rustic Spoon Pendant Necklace but I wanted to do something other than another jewelry DIY. I decided to merge this tutorial with another...This is Creatively Christy's Colored Spoons Tutorial. I love how the curves and designs are still visible through the paint. I decided to paint mine blue for my kitchen. Not because we have any blue decorations or towels - I actually have no decor in there - but because mine and Matt's aprons are dark blue and the spoons would be near them. I used the spray paint that I bought last year for my picture frame project...which I'm not sure I ever shared on here, so that might be a good post for later.

Step one - Start hammering the hell out of some spoons.  I got 2 pairs of spoons, large and small, from the dollar tree. It was actually really difficult to get the spoons to flatten so they're definitely not perfect.The edges are also pretty rough but I figured the paint would cover that up.

 

PS this did a number on our back patio...Don't look Matt. 

Step two - I quickly washed and dried the spoons to remove any dust (concrete) and laid them out on cardboard to paint. I did two light coats of the blue, letting the spoons dry for a few minutes in between and 15 minutes after. I love the color!!

 Step three - I used 3M sticky squares to adhere the spoons to the wall. I measured the middle of this slice of wall but didn't really measure between the spoons. I didn't mind if they were a little random and luckily they came out spaced pretty nicely. If they start to bother me or the boyfriend, the stickies are easy to pull off and replace.

These are great tutorials and made for a fun jumping off point for my new home decor project. If you have some frustrations you need to get out I definitely recommend hammering out some spoons to stick around your kitchen. I wonder if forks  would look as nice....maybe a knife (the flattening's done for you!)...