Which came first the sea dragon or the egg

Yesterday I managed to finish and enter (just in time!) my entry to the "Mythical creature plushie pattern" contest run over at Spoonflowers site. Here's the brief "Create a cut-&-sew pattern to make a plush mythical creature toy. The sewing pattern, with instructions, should fit on a fat quarter of linen-cotton canvas (27" x 18"). Contest will close for entries on February 17, 2015. Voting opens Thursday, February 19th."

So here's my entry "Sea Dragon and Egg" usually I do more complicated cut n sews but decided to keep the pattern simple and let the design shine through. I thought also my doing this the design could be used for an appliqué onto a t-shirt, cushion, bag. There's also a little touch of the metal cogs design to match my other steampunk inspired "Cogs and Gears Collection".
Here's the link to vote for your favourites, no need to sign in and you can vote for as many as you choose.
http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters_temp/new?contest_id=291
I am looking forward to seeing all the other entries.

Fabric arrives

Recently spoonflower had a BOG OFF sale (buy one get one free) on fat quarters of fabric. My fabrics arrived last week, here's some of the pics.

 
The first two are cut and sew patterns, both printed on 100% cotton fabric.
"Mr Fox Awake/ Asleep Cover" is inner pillow/ cushion, that is filled with wheat or rice to create a  heatable pillow(in a microwave), it can then be put into the fox (one side awake the other side asleep) outer cover.

"Bees 'n' Flowers Barrel shaped pencil case" make one lined barrel shaped pencil case with a strap, or two unlined barrel shaped pencil cases :) 

 

 

And "Mom's Recipe - Soda Bread Tea Towel" this is printed on the linen/ cotton blend as its larger size, I think I may also make a smaller size so two prints can fit on a fat quarter. I was very happy with how this printed and it just needs the edges neatened and hemmed.

I'll post the other fabric quarters as soon as I photo them :)

Tote bag granny hexagon fabric arrived

My tote bag (Lined Tote Bag featuring a Crochet Print) fabric arrived today. I am so happy with the results of the printing. I will cut out and make the bag later this week and post the results :)

Earth Day Cut & Sew Bag

 This weeks spoonflower competition is for an Earth Day Cut & Sew Bag, the brief was "To honor earth day 2014, we're asking you to create a cut & sew pattern for a reusable shopping bag. The design should be set up to be centered. Preview will be sized at a single yard of (42" X 36") kona cotton."
This fabric design had two stages, the designing of the bag/ pattern and then the design to go on the bag. Spoonflower did supply a file for a bag if people could not make their own, but I felt it had a lot of wasted fabric space and I also wanted to put lining in my bag.
For me when designing the bag I tried to use as much of the yard as I could, I think there should be very little wastage if something is for earth day. The bag is lined for strength and has no seams on the bottom again for strength. The straps are wider so they don't cut into your shoulders when been used, I may even add a light-weight wadding/ batting to them give them extra support and comfort.
For the design on the bag, I used the crocheted hexagon I had been playing with recently (I posted about last month) and decided to scan them into photoshop. I had to do this many thing as what looks like a good hexagon when scanned for some reason does not always look like a hexagon or the stitches do not show nicely. I played with the scanned hexagons for several hours and created a few different fabric prints I was happy with to use on the bag. I also played with the colour a little, keeping with earth day theme I wanted a "green bag" that was green!
I have ordered the fabric and I am waiting for it to arrive to see how it looks when printed. I will make the bag and post a "how to" when it comes.
To vote for my bag or to see/ vote for the other bags in the competition click the link below http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters_temp/new?contest_id=243 there are some really nice designs. You can vote for as many as you like (only 1 vote per person) just make sure you go all the way down to the bottom of the page and hit submit when you do vote so it is counted (you don't need to sign up to vote)

Cogs the Mouse

Got my new batch of swatch samples this week still waiting for 1 final batch, its so exciting to see if they have printed correctly or not (so far its been good). Was very happy as this batch as it contained my new cut and sew little mouse patterns. I hand sewed this 1st mouse "Cogs". I may adjust his tail a little (add more seam allowance) but I am very happy with the outcome. Now to make his friend "Dandelion"

Little Barn Owl Cut & Sew Bag

My "Little Barn Owl Cut & Sew Bag/ s" fabric arrived today so I spent the day cutting and making the bag :)



I used my cheap-O mini sewing matching, great for quick projects.
The fabric has a reversible project bag, scissor keeper, pin cushion, pockets. I decided to cut new linings and use the printed lining as a bag also, so I have 2 bags that match.

It was good to see the design/ pattern worked. I had made a little demo bag (approx. 5th scale) in calico before designing the full scale bag, but you never really know if the pattern and seams will all match until you test the printed fabric design. I will post the other bag design in the next post.