Crafting For Obama

Purse Set 1, Group Shot

Gone (temporarily)! Blue with Clouds

This style of blue will be a mainstay offering. It's Kona cotton.

Pricing and purchasing information.

Update! This particular one has gone to a good home, but six more are on deck, so I'm leaving it in the 'available' category for now until I finish & photograph the new ones.

Gone! Multi-Green

The cloth for this one was originally napkins dyed and woven by a woman's collective in Ghana. Since I had just enough left from a massive project completed over last year to make one purse, it's a One Night Only. It's thin cotton with barely-visible patterns woven into the base cloth.

Pricing and purchasing information.

Update! Gone to a good home.

Gone! Mudcloth with Quilted Logo

In the early beta stage, I quilted the actual logo along with the body. While I like the way that made the arch pop out, for various reasons I stopped doing that, preferring to let the logo stand unmolested. All three of the other quilted logo versions have been given away to consultants and friends. This is the last of the quilted logo style. 

Am rather pleased at how I managed to just about match the wavy lines on the back of this one when binding.

Update! Gone to a good home. There are other mudcloths on deck, but in different colors and patterns.

Backs 1

For now, all of the purse backs are done in two styles:

BR 12, red lever 4:

BL 15, red lever 4

When that changes down the road, new pictures!

Straps Part 2

Straps were an issue from the beginning, all throughout the prototype stage. (For those keeping count, there were five prototypes before I got to the Beta, three of those block-only prototypes. Beta = the near final version where only minor fixes need to be made for the next step.)  I wanted flexibility for the end-user. In case for some reason that person hated the straps I chose, I wanted it to be easy to replace the straps. Then there's the issue of sizing. Some people like short purse straps, some like long. I lean toward long.  

Here's a shot of my purse, the lovely Beta, with the straps sewn in at the sides: 

Not a lot of end-user flexibility there. Also, took a bit of time to set the strap in properly. It wasn't until a week after running around town wearing the Beta for its test run that the solution hit. D-rings! They're easy and fast to install, and if you don't like the strap attached to the ring, snip it out and tie in another one. I also have quite a few in the house already, and if more are needed they can be obtained dirt cheap. Win all around! Below is a D-ring.

To Mitered Or Not To Mitered

Since each purse is supposed to be mimicking a quilt block, each is bound as if it were a quilt block. Since each purse actually *is* a quilt block, it all works out perfectly!

But.

For the first set of offerings, some of the purses have mitered corners, and some do not. This largely came down to whether or not there was enough cloth left to make the long, continuous strip needed for mitered corners. All future purses will have mitered corners. 

Just felt the need to mention that for those who care.

heh.

Straps Part 1

The straps are something I found myself fiddling with while in prototype stage. I knew early on I was going to use trim for straps, but it was important that they be strong, which meant each strap had to have binding attached to the trim. For the first two prototypes I made my own bias binding strips from the cloth used for the corresponding purse/pouch bodies. Then sanity prevailed. Pre-made binding comes in ever so many colors! Use that.

Next was niggling over various ways to attach the straps to the bodies. I'll share that adventure in a later post.

Typically, finding trim for straps involves gathering swatches in hand and descending upon the garment district downtown. There are several wonderful outlets down there - faves include Gold Sea Trims, which is the one in front of the $3 (during the week) parking lot at 9th and San Julian, Zip-Up Trim, on the 800 block of Wall where I get the grommets for faire, and the one across the street from that spot, next door to a carpet outlet, name of which escapes me now. The mainstay Levine's is good, too, for standard stuff and for bindings. But Levine's tends to be a lightning strike location...I hit it up when I know exactly what I want and can get in and out before parking enforcement shows up with their little chalk sticks. It can take a couple of hours just to go through one of the other three spots, particularly Zip-Up, which is a wonderfully crammed space of absolute chaos. Down in the district some of the best spots have zero organization. You have to troll through haphazard stacks and boxes and items even the shopkeeper forgot was in inventory. But if you're willing to do so you will find wonderful, unique stuff at killer prices.

Keeping with the Henry Ford approach, and in part because space is an issue at the HQ, once the chosen trim has gone through the wash it's hung from one of the posts in the main room until ready to use. (The posts are there for the holiday decorations. I leave them up year-round because they come in handy.) The corresponding binding is up there, too, and at the appointed time it is folded and ironed to fit the trim. We don't want raggedy edges down the road! Though it may be boring the fold & iron the binding just so, it's necessary.

Once all of the purse/pouch bodies are done, all of the related straps for that set are created. In general it takes me about 45 minutes to pin and sew the binding to both edges of a strap. Tried to speed that up during the prototype phase, but the result was disaster! So 45 mins x2 per strap it is. Lots and lots of pins. Sooo many pins. Setting is BL, stitch length 12, red lever 2. (That only makes sense if you have a 401A.)

Bound straps are then relocated to one of the lights over my work table (also known as the 70s-era dining table courtesy of Goodwill. Let's just say that since this effort began I've been eating at the writing desk or on the floor in front of the sewing machine.) Since the purse/pouch bodies are pinned to a strip of cloth attached to the curtain rod, everything's right where I need it to be when it's time to roll!

In general I get trim to match planned or existing bodies. But every once in a while I've stumbled across fabulous trim that does not yet have a body, so I'll grab just enough for one. This trim is an example. Some of the cloth set aside for the Michelle Block would work for this trim, but I'd rather keep that stash just for the Michelle Block. I'll have to dive through the bins to find something to match this. I'm sure I've got *something* in the house that will work..

This trim is too coolio to let go to waste! Especially since it was $1, even though that wasn't the original price. (This is another aspect of the garment district that I love, though I know many who absolutely hate the idea of fluidity in district pricing. The gamesmanship unnerves them, I think.) I said to the guy, I need only 1.5 yards. (Some outlets don't like it if you want a very small amount.) But he said, okay! For you! One dollar! It's okay! And then he tried to sell me nine yards of this hideous black lace stuff nearby because those young people with the devil in them! They love this! It matches! (It didn't.) I just busted out laughing, and he did, too. I think trying to get me to buy that was just reflex on his part. The day and time I went there I was the only person in the store, and I got the feeling he was kinda bored.

Update! This strap has been claimed by my friend Pandora. It's going to be combined with the last of the cloth from Fire & Land, a massive project that took up most of last year. It's gonna look great!

How I finally decided to attach the straps? Whole 'nother post.