Order from Fabric Direct

I received my first ever order from Fabric Direct. Having never ordered, I wanted to see the types of fabric they had. These two aqua fabrics are not exactly the same color, but coordinate. On the left is a cotton stretch sateen and on the right a cotton stretch knit. I think the sateen would be dynamite as Sandra Betzina's Jeans Jacket. And I think a skirt rather than pants!

I also received this rayon/cotton mix in a pink sort of boucle. It isn't exactly what I expected, but the photos on the website are so small, it is hard to tell what you are ordering. The left photo is the right side, but on the right is the inside. I think I like the inside best.

Overall, I'm happy with the order - good quality, 12 yards of fabric total for just over $40.

L2 Bag: Sewing Workshop - Finished Bags

I just posted a review of this bag pattern at PATTERN REVIEW.COM. Here are the photos of all my finsihed bags. See below where I discuss making pockets, etc.

The pink, green and gray bag is reduced to about 65% of the larger bag.

Patterns I have known and loved

I've spent several hours the past few days looking for a specific pattern from the late 60's/early 70's. I never did find it, but I found a lot of others I've made in the past. Here are some, and what I can remember about them.
I am not sure of exactly when I made the pants and vest or the dress with the scarf, but it was sometime while in junior high or high school, so the range would be about 1967 to 1972. I think these were from the earlier side of that range. I think the dress was green, but I'm not certain anymore.

Then this dress came along - I know I made the long version. In white and in blue. Maybe more than twice! Again the same range as above, or maybe just a tad later.
I was thrilled to see this pattern. I made the middle dress - short puff sleeve - for my high school graduation in June 1972. Amazingly enough, a few months ago, I found this dress in a box! It is white cotton with pink and white flowers. If I can find it again, I'll take a photo.
Now this is quite specific - the summer of 1973! The summer of the Jolly Green Giant and Bertha Butt - does anyone else remember that crazy tune? I know I wore this when I went out with the new boyfriend after work from my summer job. Again, not specific as to material, but I made the one on the left.
I absolutely loved this dress. I made it in several different fabrics in the late 70's. A burgundy fake suede. A pink and white floral print. A black satin. It looked great and felt great. I think I wore this when I was finishing up University in 1977/78 or so, maybe just a bit later.
The description of this dress was 1970's, but I know I made it in 1982/3. My memory is quite specific, as I moved to Mississippi in 82 and it was so hot, I couldn't cope. This loose dress was very helpful. I know I made it in a sheer chiffon - small floral, peach and brown.

There were a number of others - and some I wondered how I missed! It was fun to see these old friends again.

Easy Interior Pockets for Bags - Bohemian L2 Bag

This is an easy way to make a pocket for the interior of your purse. First, cut a piece of the main fabric about 8 to 10 inches wide and however long you want the pocket to be. Then, cut a contrasting strip at least two inches wide and sew one at the top and one at the bottom of the main fabric, and repeat with the second main fabric. You will have an oblong with a contrasting edging.
Determine how deep you want each pocket. Cut a piece of stiff interfacing and insert into the oblong (non fusible is best). Now fold the bottom toward the top of the oblong to create an offset of two pockets (as shown above). Turn under the pocket's ends. Put your lining fabric on top of the stiffer interfacing, then place your pocket onto the lining sandwich. Pin liberally, especially at sides to keep edges tucked.
This photo shows the two lining pieces in place with the pockets pinned in place. Sew around the pockets (use a zig zag or a stretch zig zag - measure how wide a pocket you need, and create the pockets by sewing up the body of the pocket piece, then back down to the bottom to continue the bottom edge. The blue fabric piece across the pockets is for the key leash, so you don't need to include it for the pockets.

Marking Hard to Mark Fabrics

Most marking for darts, pleats, etc. can be done with chalk or pencil. However, when you have a difficult fabric, such as this red knit, using tailor tacks works well. I am assuming that you will use a small slash for matching the diamonds, so save this process for other more difficult parts of the pattern marking. On this, I'm working on the red knit dress from Simplicity 3804

Step one, (left above) align your fabric and your pattern. With this stretchy knit, I pinned the fabric and pattern onto the ironing board to make it easier to handle. You will need to "unpin" selectively.

Step two, (right above) take a long double length of contrasting thread and thread a needle. In this photo I used black - I started with peach, but it didn't show up too well in the photo. Tie a big sloppy knot in the end. You will go through the pattern and fabric (both layers) with the threaded needle, pulling taut. Be careful you don't pull the knot through the fabrics. Clip the thread so it is about 2 or 3 inchs long.

Then tie another big sloppy knot and reach under the pattern and material sandwich, enter the fabric at a point just a bit to the top or bottom of the knot and pull through again. Do this for all the areas you need to mark.

Step 3, (left photo) when you have all your knots marked, you will gently pull the two layers of fabric apart. Do this a bit gingerly to get the feel. You will end up with your two pieces, each wit ha long thread and knot to mark the point you want to mark.

The next photo (righ) shows what the two layers look like with all the knots and threads, pulled apart.

Finally, I immediately pin to make the pleat or dart or whatever I'm marking. That way, you don't wonder later what matches what! In this photo you can see one side front piece with two large pleats pinned, the top and bottom of each pleat with a thread. Also a thread for the neckline pivot point.

And that is it! It looks scarier than it really is. This is an effective way to mark anything you can't mark with chalk or pencil.