Embroidery Project – Snail Wallet with Vintage Snail Embroidery

The Matching Wallet!

This little wallet is made from a Lazy Girl Designs pattern, Wonder Wallet.

We took the same fabric from the lining of the Snail Purse and used it as one of the top pockets and accent piece for the little matching wallet. The wild stripe really went well with all the colors and makes the wallet a little fun and crazy! Notice the velcro closure. It’s Fabric Fushion Velcro. It IRONS-on. No sewing. NO. NOPE. NO. No sewing velcro…whoo hoo!

[“Shop Day” snail was made the same way as all the other Snail Portraits. She’s just a little smaller.] Here’s little “Shop Day” snail appropriately placed on the wallet for shopping. I altered her design. The original has her shopping for vegetables and milk. I just couldn’t find a lot of FUN in shopping for vegies or milk…so I have her shopping…where else? At the Local Yarn/Needlecraft Store! Can you see what she is browsing through?

The snail patch is very, very little. It’s only 1.5″ x 2″. Here you can see, the wallet just fits in my hand. According to Lazy Girl Designs, you can stuff this puppy of a wallet pretty full…I’m sure going to try!

While finishing the wallet, a cute little bright pink flower button was added to the short handle strap of the finished Snail Purse.

Now all the pink ties all the elements together…and the Snails are a full “Days of the Week” pattern with 7 complete portraits.

How does the “Shop Day” wallet fit with the little Snail Purse? Well…let’s look!

Here is the bottom of the Snail Purse…see the little wallet down there? You can see the reflection off the plexi glass bottom and guess that there is actually a lot of room down there for more stuff!

Here’s proof. My hand is down there with my hand under the wallet. You can put a LOT of stuff in this purse!

And…here is the Snail Purse, wallet snug inside, handles all ready to go on an adventure!

Try a wallet! The Lazy Girl Wonder Wallet pattern is EASY PEASY. Really. It really is. All the parts can be cut with a rotary cutter and the directions are beautifully clear with illustrations and clear, precise instructions. Best of all, the wallet can be made from wonderful scraps! I can see all types of embroidery projects adorning this little wallet. You’ve got a flap, a back, pockets to embellish…oh, and crazy quilters…can you SEE it?! This little guy is a quick little, affordable gift for anyone of any age!

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!

———–Helpful Information———

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 1 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 2 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 3 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 4 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 5 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 6 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 7 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 8 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 9 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 10 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 11 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 12 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 13 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 14 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 15 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 16 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 17 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 18 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Final (Click Here)

Find Sue of Berkshire Cottage (Click Here)

Find Helen of Show Your Workings (Japanese Knot Bag Tutorial) (Click Here)

Find My “Tinting Fabric with Crayon” Tutorial (Click Here)

Find My Iron On Transfer Tutorial (Click Here)

Find Flickr Group Hoop Love Vintage Transfers (Click Here)

Find Yahoo!Group Hand Embroidery (Click Here)

Find Hand Embroidery Group Blog (Click Here)

Find Hand Embroidery Group Summer Creativity Challenge (Click Here)

Find Stitchy Britches Blog (Click Here)

Embroidery Project – Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery, Gallery, Final

I added a plexi-glass bottom to the purse. [I cut it out on the bandsaw ;)] It keep the bottom firm and all my little ‘junk’ won’t sag into oblivion.

Here is the Gallery for the completed Snail Purse/Bag! Enjoy!

Long handle under short handle…

Doesn’t that little space there on the handle really need a decorative button?! <evil grin>

I’ve got the wallet designed. It’s the 7th “Day of Week” Snail…Shop Day. 😉

Thanks for being a fan!

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!

———–Helpful Information———

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 1 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 2 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 3 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 4 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 5 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 6 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 7 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 8 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 9 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 10 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 11 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 12 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 13 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 14 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 15 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 16 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 17 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 18 (Click Here)

Find Sue of Berkshire Cottage (Click Here)

Find Helen of Show Your Workings (Japanese Knot Bag Tutorial) (Click Here)

Find My “Tinting Fabric with Crayon” Tutorial (Click Here)

Find My Iron On Transfer Tutorial (Click Here)

Find Flickr Group Hoop Love Vintage Transfers (Click Here)

Find Yahoo!Group Hand Embroidery (Click Here)

Find Hand Embroidery Group Blog (Click Here)

Find Hand Embroidery Group Summer Creativity Challenge (Click Here)

Find Stitchy Britches Blog (Click Here)

Embroidery Project – Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery, Finishing, Part 18

We last ended matching up our handles after turning the entire purse right-side-out.

We left the last 1/4 in. not UNsewn and those are the free ends that we are now going to join. Here we match the edges. And sew them together with our 1/4 in. seam. Again, I match the foot so that the material will run along the edge of the sewing foot.

(Another view)

Once that seam is sewn, the outer seam can be sewn. Since we used felt for this project, there really is no need to turn the fabric under to conceal the raw edges. For this project, we will overlap the felt edges and topstitch the seam closed.

Here is the first topstitching.

And…here with two rows of topstitching.

The reverse handle inside shows the bobbin side of the topstitching.

Speaking of bobbins…here is the INSIDE of that bobbin box that keeps sneaking into my photos!

The complete purse will be uploaded as a gallery of photos in a separate post.

Coming…next!

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!

———–Helpful Information———

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 1 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 2 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 3 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 4 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 5 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 6 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 7 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 8 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 9 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 10 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 11 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 12 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 13 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 14 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 15 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 16 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 17 (Click Here)

Find Sue of Berkshire Cottage (Click Here)

Find Helen of Show Your Workings (Japanese Knot Bag Tutorial) (Click Here)

Find My “Tinting Fabric with Crayon” Tutorial (Click Here)

Find My Iron On Transfer Tutorial (Click Here)

Find Flickr Group Hoop Love Vintage Transfers (Click Here)

Find Yahoo!Group Hand Embroidery (Click Here)

Find Hand Embroidery Group Blog (Click Here)

Find Hand Embroidery Group Summer Creativity Challenge (Click Here)

Find Stitchy Britches Blog (Click Here)

Tutorial/Embroidery Project – Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery, Turning a Reversible Purse/Bag Part 17

Yesterday, we left the snail bag with this little hole in the handle and are now expected to turn this little baby inside out.

What we need to do is:

Stick our fingers into the hole…

Grab some fabric…any really easy to grasp fabric you can get is good…we don’t want to be picky, we want this to be easy…

Then…pull it through the hole.

[While I was doing all this, it was rather dark in the room (it was late evening already) and it was a mess…the photos didn’t come out clear enough to actually SEE anything…]

But, I can describe this:

The first little bits of fabric you “pull through” this little hole can just be pulled ‘a little more’…then ‘a little more’…and ‘a little more’ until we can get our fingers back into the hole and kind of take little grabs at the fabric until it all turns itself inside out in one wild mess! 😉

Here we can see that no part of the purse is left unscathed. It all comes through mashed up and a wrinkled mess! [I play the Great Highland Bagpipes and it sure reminds me of a pipe bag and the stock chanters! ;)]

The entire bag came through that handle. Really. It did.

Now, we push the lining down into the bag.

Here’s that wonky “V” or “U” seam that we had to deal with when we were sewing down the side seam for the handle. That little trick to “imagine the seam is whole” worked out well! (See yesterday’s post)

The same seam from the inside.

Now we deal with the handles.

Match up the pairing sides; long with long and short with short.

Now we are off to sew the handles and straighten out the purse!

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!

———–Helpful Information———

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 1 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 2 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 3 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 4 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 5 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 6 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 7 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 8 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 9 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 10 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 11 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 12 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 13 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 14 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 15 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 16 (Click Here)

Find Sue of Berkshire Cottage (Click Here)

Find Helen of Show Your Workings (Japanese Knot Bag Tutorial) (Click Here)

Find My “Tinting Fabric with Crayon” Tutorial (Click Here)

Find My Iron On Transfer Tutorial (Click Here)

Find Flickr Group Hoop Love Vintage Transfers (Click Here)

Find Yahoo!Group Hand Embroidery (Click Here)

Find Hand Embroidery Group Blog (Click Here)

Find Hand Embroidery Group Summer Creativity Challenge (Click Here)

Find Stitchy Britches Blog (Click Here)

Tutorial/Embroidery Project – Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery, Sewing the Japanese Knot Bag, front to back, Part 16

Yesterday, we got the circle shaped bottom of the bag sewn into the purse tube of the Japanese Knot Bag. Here are the results with the extra piping added in for some fun.

After learning about this Japanese Knot Bag I saw many versions of it and read many comments about it. One recurring comment dealt with not understanding the instructions. I am hoping that by taking the time to show the step by step procedures to construct and assemble this bag, the instructions for the Japanese Knot Bag will be a little clearer and maybe easier to follow. Hopefully it will clear up any questions about construction. 😉

Now that the circular bottom is sewn on, the outer shell of the purse is done, for now.

The next stop: sewing the inner lining.

Fortunately, the inner purse is made from the exact same pattern as the outer purse and follows the exact same construction.

The instructions for the purse say:

“Step three

Take the 2 main pattern pieces of outer fabric and place them together right sides facing. Mark with chalk or pencil on the fabric at the point of the join in the paper pattern. This is the point you will sew to on the side seams, sew from the bottom up to the marked point on each side. Repeat for the lining.”

Here are the sides, placed together right sides facing. See where the pins are?

I placed my pins at the “join in the paper pattern”. Now, we sew from there down to the bottom for the side seam. This will leave the handles are flappy and unattached just like out outer purse fabric.

Moving on in the pattern directions we read:

“Step four

Take your base pieces, you may want to contrast the base by swapping around the lining and outer fabric. Pin the base to main body and sew around, repeat for lining. You should now have two pieces that look like bags without the handles joined.”

*I did NOT post a separate photo of the circular bottom of the lining being sewn is because yesterday’s post covered that in detail. We can check back there for the information.*

At this point we have an exact replica in shape, form and construction of the outer purse.

From the purse directions we read:

“Step five

Slip the outer fabric bag into the lining with the right sides facing, sew the outer fabric and the lining together along the sides of the handles, leave the tops of the handles unsewn. Turn the bag right-side out through the top of one handle.”

Whew! Well, of all the ‘steps’ this one is a handful! Let’s see what this looks like bit by bit. It is here that we encounter some tricky little glitches in the construction.

“Slip the outer fabric bag into the lining with the right sides facing,” – The first thing is getting the outer purse INTO the lining; RIGHT sides together. Here you can see the lining, in the exact same position as the last photo above. It looks as though you are already looking into the bottom of the bag. The outer purse is RIGHT side out. We can see the snails as though they are the purse already done and ready to go. Stuff the outer purse into the lining and match up the handles. Yes, this can feel truly weird to do, but really, it will work out. 😉

We want to match up the fabric for the handles. Let’s do the side of the handle that requires us to sew toward the side seam. This side of the handle is the trickiest of the set. Here you can see how they match up. I don’t like to pin on too many pins.

If you get the corners to match, set a pin, get the side seams of the purse to match, set a pin on either side of the seam, and get at least one ,maybe two, pins between those two spots, you will have enough ease to help you sew in a neat, tidy seam.

Here you can see where our tricky spot is at the side seams of the purse. Right here, it seems as though we ‘don’t have enough material to fill the seam’. This is how we are going to get the ‘turn’ or ‘curve’ of the handle to sew in straight, by matching the side seams, pinning to the left and right of the seam and ‘imagining’ that the little space there that we see, well…we are going to pretend it isn’t there. 😉

“sew the outer fabric and the lining together along the sides of the handles, leave the tops of the handles unsewn.” We start at the top of one handle, on the side that we just pinned. I like to use the foot to gauge my seams so here you can see I’ve lined the right edge of the fabric up to the right edge of the foot. (I don’t run over my pins by the way. I pull them out as I come to them.) Sew down this straight way until we get to that tricky side seam. Leave the first 1/4 in. UNsewn at the top.

As we approach it, notice I have to use 4 fingers to keep the fabric in place. I pinch the fabric that is being fed under the foot with my pointer and thumb. This keeps a certain ‘tension’ on the fabric as it feeds into the machine.

Here you can see the ‘imaginary’ seam line it passes the ‘gap’ of that tricky side seam. If we ‘imagine’ that to be the seam line and connect the blue section to the upcoming blue section, then we will sew, over the gap and go on.

Here is that view again, at a different angle. Notice, again, I have to use all 4 fingers to keep the fabric where I want it while I sew this section. (And take the photo of course, but even without the camera, this is where the tension is tightest on both my grip of the fabric and the feed into the machine.)

Sew over that gap and up to the other end of the handle. Leave the last 1/4 in. of the handle UNsewn.

*SNEAK PEEK* What we are sewing that is so ‘tricky’ is the “V” or “U” at the handle intersections from front to back. Here you can see what that ‘gap section’ looks like turned right sides out. In this photo I am having to really pull the fabric and stretch the material in place to show the way the seam will eventually lay on the outside of the purse. As we see the “V” or “U” area, it goes in straight and seems to make a sharp, deep turn to come back up the other side. That ‘dip’ is the ‘gap’ that we saw on the inside. 😉

Now that the side seams of the handles are done, we just have to finish the other seams of the handles. Again, match the corners on both sides, place pins, then match the center ‘dip’ there where the dip is at the lowest, place a pin, then match add one or two pins between those guide pins to ensure ease matches up for a tidy, neat seam. Again, leave the first and last 1/4 in. UNsewn.

And here is our beautiful purse?! From the top…

from the bottom… Well, it’s done. It’s just INSIDE OUT!

Remember the top of the handles? Recall our directions…“Turn the bag right-side out through the top of one handle.”Um, yeah,…right?! See that little space where we left the top of the handles UNsewn? We are going to pick ONE of the handles and we are going to turn the entire bag right side out through that hole. Yes. I know… ever witness childbirth? It’s kind of the same idea. LOL

Tomorrow we will get this baby to turn INSIDE OUT through this little tiny hole at the top of this handle. Really. We will. 😉

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!

———–Helpful Information———

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 1 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 2 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 3 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 4 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 5 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 6 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 7 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 8 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 9 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 10 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 11 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 12 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 13 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 14 (Click Here)

Find Small Snail Purse/Bag with Vintage Snail Embroidery Part 15 (Click Here)

Find Sue of Berkshire Cottage (Click Here)

Find Helen of Show Your Workings (Japanese Knot Bag Tutorial) (Click Here)

Find My “Tinting Fabric with Crayon” Tutorial (Click Here)

Find My Iron On Transfer Tutorial (Click Here)

Find Flickr Group Hoop Love Vintage Transfers (Click Here)

Find Yahoo!Group Hand Embroidery (Click Here)

Find Hand Embroidery Group Blog (Click Here)

Find Hand Embroidery Group Summer Creativity Challenge (Click Here)

Find Stitchy Britches Blog (Click Here)