We are celebrating Rebecca’s birthday so I am up to my eyeballs busy… but I did receive a few pictures from Anne, where she showed me a couple of purses she had made. I’m not kidding, they look like something you would buy at a store… I’m hoping these pictures will enlarge, but if not, use the ctrl button and the + key and make them bigger manually…
This is what she said in her comments yesterday about making the purses…
I was so pleased with the bag I made for Bianca that I made another one for me. Russell’s old work pants had three usable pockets so I have enough for one more. I will send pictures of them. My old one was well used and was really lovely 18 months ago when I made it but the lovely fabric I had on the front had lost all it’s luster and was quite dirty as well, I will photograph that one as well so you can see what I mean. I might also include some of the original fabric so you can see what it used to look like. The pattern is basically my own made up of lots of different techniques from other patterns. So long as you can make a bag with a zip you can easily make one to suit whatever you want to do with it. The ones I just made had to accommodate the pockets I already had so came out a little bigger than the one I made earlier last year.
Here are the front and backs of the 2 purses she made…
This was her old purse that needed to be replaced…
…and the fabric… closeup…
Now, here are 3 hints about the next dress in the works… the first 2 pictures have the color a bit on the washed out side, but the last one is pretty accurate…
Okay, got it figured out? I’ll give you the weekend to ponder who is in the picture and what will it look like when finished…
Now, off to get things finished for my baby’s birthday… she’s turning 30 today! Oh my! How can that possibly be… my little red headed miracle baby!
See you Monday, (unless I see your smiling face at the finish line on Ebay waiting for Lian’s dress set to end!)
Blessings, Jeanne
Anne’s bags are beautiful! I love the fabric she used for her old one, but I do think the one with the purple is my favorite. (which figures…my favorite color!)
As to the dress, it’s an American Girl, I know (I recognized the hand) and a sort of Addie-styled shoulder line but not Addie, as the hand is too pale. Hm…..
First things first, Anne, your purses are nothing short of amazing! I admit, I am not a purse person, trying to get by with one purse for summer, one for winter, etc. but then where do I go? Ha! if I had the pick of your purses, I’m sure I would be a purse person! It is wonderful to be able to make such darling purses. I too, love that purple one!
Oh, I think that is a dress for Kirsten, Jeanne! Yes, the way the shoulder seam is sewn, and the sleeve band, just tell me Kirsten is the next lucky girl from the Jeanne Marie Studio! I love the color combination too, one of my favorites! I hope I’m right!
I didn”t get to answer your question, Jeanne, about where Dianna Effner lived, and you mentioned Fenton, MO., but no, that is only about 20 minutes away from me. I wish she did live there, but Dianna’s studio is in Jamestown, MO, right in the middle of the state, close to Jefferson City, the state capitol. Jamestown is a tiny little town, and is about 2 hours away from me. I had no idea it was there until recently, and surely would have gone there before this, if I knew!
Thank you Dorothy, for the information you gave me yesterday!
Oh my, I forgot to wish lovely Rebecca a very Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Rebecca! I wonder what dinner and what cake you chose. I suppose we may find out Monday.
What a pretty dress — beautiful colors and a great fabric for Kirsten – I agree with Linda on that.
Anne — the purses are wonderful and a great use of leftover beautiful fabric or remnants. A friend makes her own purses out of interesting fabrics she finds at thrift stores, though the first one was made from recycled black plastic trash bags — She calls them “Trash Bags by Lou.” If shipping costs were not so high, you could have an Etsy shop. But who would wan you to limit your creativity to one thing? I wonder if you could get remnants or samples of upholstery fabric, which might hold up longer.
I was to say American Girl (That is an easy guess) I think Kirsten, love the material and colors!
I hadn’t read all the other comments when made my guess! DAH!!!!!!!!
That’s a great idea for leftover fabric. I’ll keep that in mind when the need for masks is over and I’ll have a serious stash to work with. My daughter-in-law has suggested making purses and that’s sure a great sample, Anne.
The homespun look of the fabric and the colors do suggest Kirsten. Happy Birthday to Rebecca and my grandson.
Great purses Anne. Love seeing your talent.
And Jeanne. Thank you for the enlarging tip. Being a late bloomer to the computer, other than cut/paste, I had no idea. 🙂
As to the dress, I love the colors and the two different fabrics. Will the cuff have that embroidery also? or maybe that isn’t part of the style. Can’t wait to see the dress on Monday.
Happy Birthday to Rebecca hitting a milestone year. Next year our daughter will hit the big 40. 🙂
💐Happy Birthday to Rebecca!🎂
Anne, your purses are wonderful! My sister made purses for mom and me. Now I’m not using mine because I don’t want to wear it out. There will never be anymore from her. I made myself a couple of very raggedy denim ones. Yours look like they could be from Vera Bradley!
Dad and I have a big day planned. Get the mail, drop off recycling, and then shop for groceries. Wheeee life in a tiny town! We may both need naps. 😉
Wishing a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Rebecca!! Miracle baby? I’d love to know what that means. I pray you all have a wonderful day. Rebecca may like this saying I found prior to my 30th birthday.” I’m not 30, I’m really 18 with 12 years of experience”. Gotta love that.
Anne, your purses are just beautiful. You certainly are a lady of many sewing talents. I went back to admire your quilts again and just love your “Peace Reigns in the Valley” with the wishing well, dog, and especially the smiling sheep.
I’m definitely thinking that dress has to be for Kirsten. The colors on spot on for her as well as the way the waist and shoulders are sewn. I love the machine embroidery across the shoulders. That homespun plaid is beautiful! Can’t wait to see more. She could be going to a barn raising and taking a basket of treats along. Kirsten hasn’t been down in a loooong time, I don’t think. Sure hope it’s her.
I LOVE Ann’s purses. Where did she get the straps?
I couldn’t figure out which doll was next, but after reading the comments, I think it is Kirsten. I like the fabric.
Debi the straps are five eights of an inch webbing, loops with rings are attached when you put in the zip
I don’t know enough about the 18″ AG dolls to hazard a guess on which it is so I’ll just have to wait and see. But I do love the fabrics and can suppose the style of the dress from what I see. I know it’s going to be lovely.
Happy 30th to Rebecca. I remember that after 30 those milestone birthdays seemed to come very quickly. Like Joy, my daughter will be 40 next year, April. That’s about the same age David and I were when we moved here to Sealy. Seems like only yesterday. My son was 38 on Wednesday. They were almost exactly 18 mos. apart. Where does the time go?
Anne’s purses are so sweet. With all she does and all the emotional demands in her life, it amazes me how much she accomplishes creatively. I have a problem with being creative when life is pulling me in many directions, as it has this year. For most doing creative things is an escape. Not so for me. I do my best creative work when my life is settled and all “have tos” are pretty much out of the way. This year I have been grandkid sitting a lot, but aside from that I handle all the normal household chores and, in addition, all the household financial needs, and manage our mobile home park and Kansas farm property. It seems there’s always something to be done in one of those areas. When I’m worried or in demand, I’m afraid I get in my own way. If I plan my day and something happens to change the plans, I get whatever it is done and then come to a grinding halt trying to figure out what to do next because it’s either too late to start something I wanted to do or I’m worn out. With spending so many days with the grandkids this summer I was too tired in the evenings to do my usual crochet or crafting. Most of that exhaustion came not from having the kids all day, they’re amazing, but from not being able to take them places and do things because everything was closed. It came from trying to keep them busy. Sometimes I cheated and let them spend more time than usual on their screens.
But I did manage yesterday to get Sophie’s little plaid pleated skirt outfit finished. The skirt is red, white and black plaid. Her blouse is dark red with lighter red polka dots. She looks too cute. I’m thinking of making her a felt jacket to go with it when it gets a little cooler. Right now the blouse looks so sweet on her I don’t want to cover it up. I’ve been catching up with things neglected over the summer, so hopefully I will have more time for sewing. A woman at my church who sews, smocks, quilts, etc., has accomplished a whole lot of that this year. Since her husband has been working from home, she sequesters herself in her sewing room and sews all day so she’s not in his way. Oh such punishment!
Happy Birthday Rebecca!!
Jeanne…tell us why she is a miracle baby?
The hints of the next dress are interesting. Love the fabric….it looks like Fall to me.
the colors are so pretty and the bias trim…hummm…is that the waistline?
Will be fun to watch.
Anne, Oh my…the purses are great! Glad you made one for yourself. Nothing like a new purse. it would match Jeanne’s new dress…well , color anyway :0)
Thank you ladies for your lovely comments about the quilts, I hope you don’t think I made all of them, just the two last ones. To move on to the purses, I have discovered a way of attaching almost perfect zips in them. I am useless at putting in zips, no matter what the item and have tried all sorts of ways to try and keep them in place. First I used to tack (but the stitches always moved), Then I machine tacked, then I tried pinning, (broke a few needles that way). I even tried double sided sellotape (no fun trying to remove it once stitched in and horrible if a bit was left sticking out and the iron went over it. In quilting I use a lot of paper backed adhesive for applique (we call it Vliesofix, there is also Steam-a-seam but that is too sticky for this job) and decided to try that. I cut a strip slightly under a quarter of an inch, Iron the adhesive side on to the top of the lining (right side up), remove the paper (if you are adding loops and rings for the handle you need to put them in place at this stage). Lay the zip over the adhesive matching the top edges and the side seams and iron it in place, then place another strip of adhesive over the zip and iron that on (over the paper of course). Remove the paper. Then place the back of the bag right side down and matching the top and side seams again, over the adhesive on the zip and iron. I can now stitch through the three layers with my zipper foot and everything stays exactly where I wanted it. I then press the section I have done and top stitch before repeating for the front of the bag. Perfect placement and so much easier then all those other methods. I haven’t used it for anything else other than bags yet but I will try it on other items eventually.
Well at last the election is over it seems to have gone on forever as we had to have a delay of a month because of the Covid outbreak in Auckland. It was an enormous landslide for Labour and Jacinda. Seats that have been National’s forever and never changed before went to Labour. For the first time since we started with MMP (30 yrs ago) we have a Government who can govern alone and doesn’t need a coalition party to join them (though I hope they remember who their friends were in the last government as they may need them in the future). There are still a few seats that were very close and may change with the special votes but it won’t make any difference to the overall result. Even the most affluent suburb in Christchurch which has always been a National seat went to Labour. My BBQ with the family will be interesting this afternoon. I am sure my son Darren will be spitting tacks as they say lol
Looking forward to seeing the new dress Jeanne. I wouldn’t know where to start guessing at which doll but it will be lovely whoever wears it.
I forgot to say happy birthday Rebecca, I hope you have a lovely day. My daughter turns 50 next year! I was planning a big party for her 40th and had tentatively booked a venue, her birthday was May 2011. In Feb 2011 we had the massive earthquake, we lost our house and the venue was closed and eventually demolished. Her birthday came and went because everything was still in a mess. Lets hope next year’s birthday will be better for her. Not that I am planning a big party! Not about to tempt fate a second time!
Dear Jeanne, have a wonderful birthday celebration with your daughter.
Anne’s purses are lovely.
I am guessing that you are making a Fall dress for an American Girl size doll.