Monthly Archives: December 2020

Christmas Bags!

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I decided to use the same website for my Christmas gifts as I did for my purple geode dress – Spoonflower, but making my own designs to be printed on the fabric.

I used GIMP, a photo editing software, to trace some of my own pictures and clip art to make the designs. I used a picture of a clematis flower on my porch to do some tests.

Original clematis flower on my porch
Traced clematis, plus a diagonal repeat
Spoonflower selection – you can choose the type of repeat and the size of the design

And I did a little abstract design of the graptosedum california sunset succulent I had over the summer, too.

I decided to spend the majority of my time on the designs instead of the construction, so I made some simple zipper bags out of the fabric I printed. I have a drawing pen with a tablet that connects to my computer, so I don’t have to draw with the mouse. I start out by tracing a thin outline of the shape, then a thicker and smoother outline. Then I color in the subject and do a background, usually very blurry so that there aren’t any apparent lines when it repeats. GIMP has a feature to offset the design so it will tile, so I use that and make sure that there aren’t any weird empty spaces that would be obvious in the fabric.

I did a design of bats for one of my friends, and lined the bag with a Dungeons and Dragons inspired fabric that someone else designed.

My other friend has a ton of cat themed stuff, but she also owns some geckos! So I wanted to do a bag with some geckos on it. I used a clipart picture of a gecko and made the markings match her specific gecko 🙂 I blurred out some wood clipart for the background. I used some old cactus fabric for the inside, since we’re both plant parents 🙂

One of my friends lives in a different state and I wanted to make her something Colorado themed, so I made some mountains on the Colorado flag and added a bike.

For my secret santa gift in my friend group, I used a picture of my friend’s dog to make two different prints for the exterior and interior of the bag.

Projects completed December 2020.

EPP Update!

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I’m still working on my scrappy hexagon quilt – it’s been a while since I laid it out, and I’m pleasantly surprised it’s so big now! Honestly it’s getting to the point where I should start adding to the sides so it doesn’t become too rectangular!

I’m still not sure what I want this quilt to be – a wall hanging? A couch quilt? I’m not sure. I started this back in January and it’s fun to see the scraps of my projects all in one place. It’s a sort of historical record, an archive of projects past.

I also bought an English paper piecing kit for a star pattern, and whipped it up in a couple days. They provided the papers and plastic templates to make it easier to cut your fabric, which was nice.

Star has approximately 16″ diameter

It was weird to work with acute angles and smaller pieces, but I like how it turned out! This was my tester version, so I just used random scraps, but I think a sunset would be really cool, a nebula type shape, maybe fabric that looks more like stained glass? Some of the intersections aren’t perfectly aligned, so I want to work on that next time.

Cleaning!

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It’s not very exciting, but I do have to do this every couple of projects. Tiny pieces of fabric and thread accumulate in the guts of the machine and have to be cleaned out!

First I take off the needle (it does not go well if you do not do this) and the presser foot and ankle. Then I take off the needleplate and expose the guts! I use a lint brush to dig out all the lint, and then take off the side of the machine. Then I use compressed air to blow out the excess lint, always pointing the air out the exposed side, not deeper in. I can also take off part of the top, where the thread comes through, and clean that out as well.