Current Mood : Excited !
Spent on doll/craft stuff : $4.32
Busy, fun day. Dearest Son loved his Birthday Cake earlier this week, and adores the new printer. I loved his cake, too - it was delicious ! The Wall-E figure on it had a greater range of motion than the action figure did. And now he has two Wall-Es and a Eve in that scale.
Today, we returned to Mal-Wart for a few things. I found the D-rings I wanted for the Wristlet Key Fob project, on the button rack, of all places. There wasn't a one in the store anywhere else, not even in Hardware. It's a good thing I wanted ‘small', because the ¾" ones was all they had. Got a pack in gold and silver.
I'd been reading about all the good ‘50th Anniversary' Barbie stuff everyone else was finding at their local M-W, but our store, of course, was bare. Until today ! I feasted my eyes on the new Malibu and Superstar reproductions, as well as the travel mug, magnets, and other goodies. I was unable to resist getting the tote bag pictured above, and at $2.44, I considered it a good valued indulgence. And, let's face it, that box Joanne at In The Pink gifted me with kinda dampened my ‘I wants' quite a bit. I still haven't found places for it all.
That said, I found a pretty blonde doll with a kickin' dress form that I want, bad. Too bad she's $18., and all I want is that dress form ! I'm surprised at how much I liked the repro sets. I didn't think I would, since I have several flea-market Malibus, a Bubble Cut, and a TNT, and goss only knows how many Superstars. But if M-W still did layaway, I'd be in some serious debt about now. At least two, possibly three, at about $40. each...
As a late birthday present, Beloved Hubby sprang for a Nerf revolver for Dearest Son, so I spent a good chunk of the morning dodging orange foam cylinders from both of ‘em. I was surprised to learn that Beloved can already twirl the thing like Murphy does in Robocop.
Was twirling around myself on line, not really up to much, when I remembered my little pre-bedtime burst of inspiration last night. Was tidying up the lab from the Leia Hat-Wig project when my fingers found the "Barbie on the Runway" tote bag I'd won last summer on In The Pink. I'd had big plans for it, but ultimately didn't use it very much, even though it was pretty darn cool. It was simply too big.
Um, when did ‘too anything' matter to me ? I'd long since thought that the bag would be perfect smaller, I'd be glad to carry it as a purse, it was just too big. I'm surprised it too me this long to complete the thought. Why not cut it down, remove and replace the handles, and use it as a purse already ?! I could, easily ! And why not ? It'd beat having it sit around and wait for the rare opportunity to carry French bread and a picnic lunch for six.
So I grabbed it up again, and snagged the good aluminum ruler. And my current purse, it's a good depth, with straps that I like. I soon determined where to cut, and what I'd need. Initially, the idea was to remove the straps, cut the bag, fold it in, and sew the straps back on. Maybe two hours, tops.
Well, I spent over four on it off and on today, and it's not quite done. But I didn't just cut, fold, sew, either. Before I had the straps off, I was surprised to learn how cheaply they'd been sewn on in the first place - and they weren't even the same length ! Even allowing for hems and folds, the straps were more than an inch different. Hmpft.
I also realized I didn't really like the straps. They put the bag right up my armpit, which isn't comfortable. I like a shoulder bag. How to make that happen...? I was mulling it over with the strap pieces when Beloved came in from some garage work, and handed me three large D-rings he'd found out there. Nice, big D-rings. Hmmmm....
A few minutes later, I'd about figured out what I'd do. I had some Barbie fabric - given to me by the assistant librarian late last year. It was left over from her daughter's bedroom makeover, several years ago. I also got some pretty Disney Princess stuff. But the bright pink, happy Barbie fabric would be perfect for straps ! And by playing with the strap ends and the D-rings, I could make them not only any length I wanted, but I could change them whenever I liked. Cooool.....
Scouted around the garage and found a fourth D-ring. Whew ! Since we're down to one vehicle, and by then Beloved was in it, headed off to work, it would have ranked if I couldn't finish for lack of a D-ring ! I soon had the purse cut down, and the logistics worked out. Loaded up the sewing machine with a good heavyweight needle and sat back for a few.
The purse body landed on the Barbie fabric I had out. It really looked good together. The straps would be perfect ! But... wouldn't it be nice if I lined it ? With the Barbie fabric ? I knew my last attempt at lining a purse - that jeans one - hadn't gone well, but clearly I'd learned from it, and even if the lining was baggy, who could tell, or care ?
So I cut out enough fabric to circle the purse, and be deep enough to touch bottom with some to spare. Made the fabric into a tube, and sewed the bottom shut, then tucked it inside, wrong sides together, and sewed. I'd be folding the top edge down over it, so that'd work out fine.
Attaching the strap brackets back to the purse body was a nightmare. The thread kept breaking, and I hated asking so much of my dear little Kenmore-Janome. It was never meant to sew through four layers of strap, one layer of canvas, and a layer of cotton. But with enough perseverance, and adjustments to tension (less) and stitch length (longer), it worked. The bigger challenge was to sew both the strap ends down. Eight pieces of strap, one of lining, two of canvas purse, since the top would be folded over. Still, somehow, my machine pulled it off ! I got the foldover done and the strap brackets are sewn down.
All that's left is making the straps, attaching them to the D-rings, adding Velcro to the opening, and sewing in a ‘Made by Me' tag. I'll post a photo tomorrow. So far, though, I'm really happy with it. And my sweet sewing machine ! I just have to rest, I can barely see straight. At least my fingers don't hurt anymore. My entire right arm does, though...
In case it works out, I took occasional photos, so I could add it to ‘Somewhere That's Crafty' when that page is ready. So much to do ! I can't wait to finish it tomorrow !
