Prince and Princess bears in the drawstring bags

Prince and Princess bear love donuts, they will go anywhere with them.

Mouse Doll, Luci and her baby mouse doll

The fabrics is the 150 year daisy chain range, so pretty.

I made Luci :
- a citron daisy dress with a hat 
- a blue daisy dress with a flower hair band
- a blouse and a blue skirt with a pink hair band
- a set of 4 pastries, a cream cotton napkin in a 
blue felt hand bag
- a baby mouse doll in a crocheted basket and a pink blanket
- a set of 2 dress hangers

Luci is made of natural linen , her dresses are mostly hand sewn. I use pink cotton fabric for her inner ears and inner arms.
Luci and baby mouse doll ' faces are hand stitched. 
All motifs and embellishment are hand sewn.
Luci is about 23 cm. 

Lalita, Bunny doll - Zakka doll

Miss bunny is an ideal for dressing up, I make her and will make more dresses and accessories for her.
I have a new way to make my animal dolls ' eyes with embroidery thread and stitched on the face.
I bought the dress fabric from Korea and it is cotton linen blend and it is so nice to work with.

Her handbag is openable in case she needs to keep her things in it.
I use lots of bias binding for making accessories, there are so many choices of colour and patterns.

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Fusible Interlining

Hi everyone out there,

Today I am writing about the fusible interlining I have been using lately. I have been trying many types of them till I found the one I like most. It is an iron on single sided woven fusible interlining.

I use it for making clutches, bags that need soft but firmer texture.
After I iron this interlining on my fabric, my fabric maintains flexibility and not seem to crease much.

Just use the steam iron, glide iron over each area, apply steam and pressure for about 12 seconds.

also machine washable, and dry cleanable.

When I use the iron on woven interlining, I draw the pattern on the interlining excluding seam allowance  so when I sew many layers of fabrics together, there is less bulk and the outcome is better.
This interlining sticks with my fabrics so well, I just love it.

I bought mine from U-Handbag, cottonandcloud, cottonpatch.

The main body of the clutch and the flap are lined with this interlining.

Mini handbag for me

I went on holiday in Thailand with a suitcase full of gifts for my family and friends and I came back with lots of presents for me and craft material.
My sister's best friend who I have know her since she was in secondary school with my sister, about 27 years!! I think of her as my little sister, she is working together with my sister how lucky they are.

She gave me this lovely mini handbag with zipper, it is so special because it all hand sewn and I like the color tone, I will keep it forever.

I have a thing with brass zipper charms, I love them. I love you " Sao" and thank you so much for this gift.
and thank you for being you.

Gifts from me

We are going to visit my family and having a long holiday in Thailand soon. I have been hand making gifts for my family and dear friends over there, plus my friends' children as well. I am very busy with buying materials, sewing, organizing flight tickets, apartments and hotels on the beach. I love to stay with my family but my husband wants his own space ( sad sign on my face).  I want the gifts to have a bit of English touch or somethings about England, when I saw this fabric, I bought it without thinking much. I like the cotton/linen fabric, I personally think this type of fabric is easy to sew and press.

Actually, this fabric is called LONDON BUS, there are little guards, buses, flags, London bridge, parliament printed on the fabric, they are so cute.

I decided to sew a handbag with gusset, I used natural linen for the interior fabric, interfaced the exterior fabric and lined the interior fabric with soft fleece.

I used magnetic snap to close the bag, it is my first time to use the magnetic snap I found it is far easier than sewing the zipper!!. I have not decided to whom I will give this bag . The bag is so light and quite roomy, I have been lately carrying  this kind of handbag instead of shoulder bag since I hurt my shoulders. I have to make more and more of them.

I sew the inside zipped pocket and attach the little metal bag charm. I bought lots of zipper charms from Thailand last year.

I think materials are so expensive in England, I will spend a whole week of my holiday looking and buying all sort of craft materials and bring them back.  They are so much cheaper in Thailand, hopefully I will have things to show you when I come back to England.

Francessca work bag

Finally I have finished a bag for Fran, my friend at work. She saw me with my tote bag and she likes it. She asked me (long while ago) to make her one similar to mine. I designed a bigger bag with gusset so it is roomy for Fran to put her things ( I mean loads of her things ) in when she comes to work. She always put in her bag a container of her cooking ( her noodle  is absolutely to die for) or baking to share with me!!!

I embroidered the bubble in the middle of flower. It is about 15 '' wide and 13.5 '' long, the thick leather handle length is 12'' and 3/4 '' (width).

I lined the interior fabric with woven interface, the exterior fabric is heavy weight cotton mixed linen in dark purple color, three inside pockets. I like the size of this bag, hopefully it is big enough for Fran.

Georgia Fawn Clutch/ handbag

Georgia 's mum bought her a Nintendo DSI for Christmas and I think of making her a bag to put her DSI and lip gloss, hair clips, small purse in. Last year I knitted her a baby pink handbag with a knitted flower motif. Now she is growing up fast so I need a bag that not too little girl y look and not too lady look. I came up with the idea of a clutch which is a bit bigger than normal clutch and a bit smaller than a handbag.

I have this red medium weight cotton mixed linen  and kawaii fawn fabrics, I lined inside with the same red fabric, I don't have to use interfacing at all, the fabric holds its shape very well.

I sewn the loop for closing the clutch so it is easy to pop things in and get them out. The big bow with the kawaii fawn printed fabric is so lovely. I hope Georgia likes it though.

From summer HAT to a Cotton Linen + Sashiko BAG

I crocheted the hat for athi since May but I have not got a chance to finish the beam part. After looking at it every day with guilt, I picked it up and  decided to stitch the navy gingham linen with white sashiko threads, no design was drafted. I just hand free stitched the gingham with free mind. The size of the bag was already decided by the size of athi's hat, the hat turned to be the bottom of the bag. Before I have finished the top part, the postman delivered a leather handle which was originally bought for my friend tote bag. The quality of the handle is so good, it is about 1 " wide, it is perfect for this bag.

I made the mistake when I ordered this handle, I thought the price I paid was for 2 handles, so Fran has to wait for her bag, The handle fits lovely with this supposed to be hat-bag. I am quite happy with the result although it took me quite a while to finish it off.

the circumference of the bag is 19 " and  about 9.5 " tall, the handle is about 12" length.
the crocheted hat is made out of organic cotton yarn in moonstone color,
I lined the soft fusible fleece between Gingham and the inner fabric which is medium heavy weight cotton linen in dusty blue.
I can't help to hand stitching the Gingham part with Sashiko thread in white, I just love these threads so much.

I used the black cord drawstrings with the golden oval shape ends. it is time to list the bag on etsy!!!

Tote bag

 It is  time I have my new tote bag for work, I like to put my handbag, lunch box, keys, cellphone, bills, ID, medicines in a bag. I have been using an Eco bag for a long long time and I need to be more organize. I sewn 3 pockets inside the lining fabric. I used heavy weight cotton mixed linen for outer bag and Cath Kidston's for inside. I use leather straps for handle but I think they are too small for this bag. I decided not using interlining of battling which I should have used them.

The size is 15 x 13 inches

I made a flower brooch and pinned with the bag, in the middle of the flower, I stitched with running stitches using DMC 25 embroidery thread before I made this bubble.