Lots to share today!

Firstly, a couple of bags I've made this week - one for my friend Nikki, and a new larger version of my 'Romance pattern.

This is Nikki's bag - I love the fabrics she chose for it! 

 and now my 'Big Romance' bag...the yellow fabric is some vintage cotton I was given by my friend Emma (thank you!) after I admired something she had made from some of it! What a sweetie she is!

and here it is next to the original 'Romance' bag so you can see how much bigger it is!

and now you can get the patterns too! Just click the link to download the PDF files for both bags!

You can use the pattern to make bags for yourself, or to sell (as long as they're not mass produced) - and DON'T sell the patterns, or claim them as your own. I will find out, okay? lol!

Romance and Big Romance Bag Patterns Download 

In the next few days, I'll be adding a picture tutorial in case you need one lol! 

I hope you enjoy the patterns - feel free to share any that you make with me either here or on Facebook - I'd love to see them!

And next, do you remember this bag I made a while back?

Well it's been sitting on my shelf, and when I saw an appeal on Facebook asking for donations for a charity tombola for Cornwall's Fundraising for the Ronald McDonald House, Bristol, I thought it would be perfect!

So it's now on it's way to Cornwall - I hope it helps them raise lots of money!

Thanks for looking!

Lisa xxx

'Planning fabric choices in Photoshop' - tutorial.

I had this lightbulb moment yesterday, and have been asked to share with you how I do it, so here goes!
(To see the images full size, just click on them).

1. Take a photo of your pattern picture, and the upload it into photoshop. I resize mine to 600x400 just for ease of use and file sizes! This will be referred to here as 'Background layer'.

2. Create a new layer (layer>new in menu bar) - this will be referred to here as 'Layer 1'.

3. Make sure your brush tool is set to 100% hardness and around 3 pixels (if you're using 600x400 image), then using your PEN tool, draw around one section of the pattern. Then right click>stroke path. When the pop up box appears, make sure it's set to brush, and if the little box is checked underneath that, uncheck it. Click OK. Then right click>delete path. Repeat for each section, and it should now look like this - 

4. Hide the Background layer (click the little 'eye' next to the layer in the layers palette), and you'll be left with this...

5. Either drag-and-drop or use right click>place to add a fabric pic. Place this layer BEHIND (or below) Layer 1 in the layers palette. Then right click>rasterize layer.

6. Click on Layer 1 in the layers palette so it is highlighted, then using your magic wand tool, click on the section of pattern you want to add the fabric to. You will get a marching ants outline. 

7. Click your fabric layer in the layers palette to highlight it, then go to Select>Inverse in the menu bar, then press Delete on your keyboard.

This is what you should get...

8. Repeat with different fabric layers for different parts of the pattern until you're happy with the result!

9. Finally, show the Background layer by reclicking the eye icon, and hide Layer 1 by clicking the eye next to that layer, and you're done!

***If you already have a black and white line drawing on your pattern (lucky you!) you can skip steps 2-4, add your fabric layer ON TOP of your background rather than underneath, and just proceed from there, treating your background layer as LAYER 1 above.

Hope that makes sense! 

Thanks for looking

Lisa

xxx

Using Photoshop to plan fabric choices!

This was kind of a lightbulb moment for me this afternoon.....so I thought I'd share! Those of you who sew and have Photoshop have probably been doing this for years, but I've only just caught on (I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, if you hadn't already guessed! Ha ha!).

In the post below you'll see I bought a Farbenmix Vida pattern, and I was trying to plan in my head what fabrics I had and what to put where, when I suddenly had a brainwave - why not Photoshop it?

So I took photos of the fabrics, and a photo of the line drawing on the front of the pattern, et voila! Instant (relatively!) dress right there on the screen!

I think I'll be doing this now for all my patterns!

Thanks for looking!

Lisa xxx

I've been a busy girl!

Over the past couple of days, so I thought I should share with you what I've been making!

Firstly was a couple of bags (yeah, like you're shocked......lol!) - I think these have a very fresh and spring like feel to them!

Fabric used: Kate Spain Central Park North Meadow Aqua

Free Spirit Designer Beads Mist

Free Spirit Designer Solids Aqua

15mm Plain Ribbon Plum

Fabrics used:  Carolyn Gavin Spring Street Buzzing Gardens Multi

Carolyn Gavin Spring Street Tossed Flowers White

Free Spirit Designer Solids Lemon

15mm Plain Ribbon Blue

 All the above fabrics and ribbons were bought from Sew Me Happy - my favourite UK fabric shop! (And I'm not getting any payment or goods for this mention - I just love them!)

And then something that's NOT a bag - another dress! This one is for a friend's gorgeous little 2 month old girl - I hope she likes it! Its based on the Made By Rae Itty Bitty Dress  with a few variations of my own. You'll notice this is the same fabric as my camera bag and the other little girl's dress I made - I think it suits the style perfectly!

So that's it! 

Have a great weekend, and thanks for looking!

xxx

Girl's Dress (no, not a bag lol!)

I decided I wanted to make something I'd never made before. So I decided to make a little girl's dress (I don't have a little girl, and my 3 year old son definitely doesn't like 'girls stuff' as he calls it lol!)

So this is what I came up with - I was very pleased with how it turned out! I just used one of Jamie's shirts as a pattern base, and went from there!

You might recognise the fabric as being the same as that from my camera bag - it looks much better in a dress! 

Thanks for looking!

xxx

New Camera Bag

I decided I needed a new camera bag....everything keeps falling out of my old Canon one lol! 

So I grabbed some fabric, had a look round the internet for some inspiration and ideas...and set off (I do like to make things up as I go along - I'm a 'bodger')

So here it is - I kinda wish I'd used different fabric - this was supposed to be a mock up of the real thing but I went a little overboard and it's now a full-blown bag, with padded foam lining, padded inserts, flower details, the lot! So I guess it will have to do until I can make myself another one in fabric I do like!

The bag...

The pockets...

The inside, with padded inserts (ok, so I cheated and stole the ones from my Canon bag, too....)

and here it is with my camera, lenses, and my full handbag in as well to show size - I wanted a bag I could take everything out in, instead of carting around two bags as I usually do!

I might add some more pockets to the inside if I do make another one - somewhere to put my filter cases would be handy!

Thanks for looking - I'm hoping once I get this perfected I can get a pattern made for you, but I'm still working on sorting the Romance bag pattern lol! 

xxx 

As it feels like Spring....

I thought I'd share with you this bag I made yesterday...

I designed and drafted the pattern, and made it up myself!

it's called the 'Romance' Bag, and the pattern will be available soon.

This was my first time trying to make this style of fabric flower - I think it turned out ok!

Fabrics used are:

Tanya Whelan - Delilah Roses on Red

Michael Miller - Dumb Dots Fuschia

Riley Blake - Be Merry Polka Dot on Cream

Ribbon - no idea - an odd piece from my stash lol!

and also....see that vase of tulips in the first picture?

That's what Russ surprised me with yesterday morning when he came home from work - what a sweetie he is!

Of course I had to take some pictures - they're too beautiful not to!

Thanks for looking!

xxx

Playing with photoshop...

The more I looked at my blog recently, the more I decided I didn't like the frames I made for my photos - too fussy!

So this morning while Russ was asleep and Jamie was playing (relatively!) quietly with his trains, I thought I'd have a play and see if I could come up with something I liked better!

So here it is....this photo is one of the set I took when I made Jamie's contrast hoodie. This was towards the end of the mini shoot - I think you can tell lol!

So, what do you think - better? 

Thanks for looking!

xxx

Woohoo!

Just had my confirmation email from Spoonflower that my entry for Project Selvage has been accepted.....fingers crossed I make it through to the next round!
Spottydots by StuffMummyMakes...

Thanks for looking!

xxx