Supernova Pleather Drawstring Duffel Backpack Tutorial & Fabric Giveaway

It's TWO-fer time!  A fun tutorial AND a fabric giveaway to go with it!  I've got a new bag how-to that's all about versatility to start things off: my Supernova Pleather Drawstring Duffel Backpack.

I was inspired to make it by this awesome gemstone print fabric.  It's from the new Supernova collection by Dear Stella.  I love the geometric mineral design.  So science chic! And there's a chance for you to win some for yourself below;)

Using pleather for the lower portion, bottom and straps, gives the backpack extra durability:

And a pretty color and texture contrast:

The generous size makes it work well as a backpack, large purse or even a chic diaper bag alternative:

Materials:

- 1 yard outer cotton fabric (I used Dear Stella Supernova Gemstones)

- 1 yard lining cotton fabric (I used Dear Stella Triangle Dot in Midori)

- 1/2 yard pleather fabric

- 1 yard fusible fleece

- 2 pairs 1/4 inch wide D rings

- 2 3/4inch wide grommets

- Notions: heavy duty needle, hand sewing needle, iron, basting spray/spray adhesive, marking pen, clips, pins, chopstick, matching thread.  Optional: walking foot.

Start by cutting the following pieces:

Outer fabric 

(1) 12 inch high by 34 inch wide rectangle

(1) 10 1/2 inch diameter circle

Lining Fabric

(1) 16 inch by 34 inch wide rectangle

(1) 10 1/2 inch diameter circle

Pleather

(1) 5 inch high by 34 wide rectangle

(1) 10 1/2 inch diameter circle

(2) 18 inch by 3 inch strips

(2) 3 inch by 3 inch squares (for lower straps)

Fusible Fleece

(2) 15 1/2 inch wide by 34 inch long rectangles

(2) 10 1/2 inch diameter circles

With right sides facing, stitch together the bottom edge of the outer fabric and the pleather side piece.

Line up a piece of the fusible, wrong sides facing, with the fabric - leaving a 1/2 inch gap at the top.

Flip and iron on the right side of the fabric to fuse, careful to keep the iron away from the pleather bottom so it doesn't melt.  Fuse the fleece to the lining pieces as well. 

Spray quilt basting or spray adhesive on the wrong side of the pleather so the fleece will adhere to it.  Smooth the fleece onto it.  Do the same with the bottom circle.

Measure to find the center of the rectangle and mark one inch down from the top edge. Affix the grommets, one half inch apart according to the package directions:

Bring short sides together using clips and stitch.  Do the same with the lining, but leave a 3 inch gap in the side for turning.

Take the strap pieces and fold in half lengthwise, wrong side out.  Stitch along side and one short end:

Using a chopstick or fairly blunt dowel, wiggle the short end into the strap to turn it:

Top stitch 1/8 inch from either side.  A walking foot makes this a little easier, but it's not required.

Do the same with the short straps and thread a pair of D rings through each, fold over and clip ends together:

Open up outer bag with the side seam in the center.  Mark along the top one inch over on either side of the seam for the top strap placement and three inches over on either side of the seam on the bottom end for the short strap placement:

Stitch straps into place on right side of bag:

Clip the pleather circle to the pleather bottom of the cylinder and stitch together all the way around with a 3/8 inch seam allowance.  Repeat with the lining (pins are ok here):



With right sides facing, insert outer bag into lining.  Pinning all around the top.  Stitch together with 1/2 inch seam allowance.  

Carefully pull bags right side out through side gap in the lining.  Hand stitch gap closed.  Top stitch 1 1/4 inches down from top seam to create the casing for the drawstring.

Take drawstring strip of pleather and fold over three times lengthwise.  Clip in place and stitch together:

The pleather will not fray so it's ok for the raw edge to be out.  Using a safety pin, snake drawstring through the casing and then knot the ends:

Pull ends to cinch closed and tie to hold in place:

Thread the straps through the D rings to the desired length and the backpack is ready to tote around!

Now how about a chance to win some of this pretty fabric to make your own??

I'm giving away a 1 1/2 yard cut of this Supernova Gemstones print and a yard of the coordinating Scallop Dot in Eggshell, courtesy of Dear Stella.

a Rafflecopter giveaway



I was not financially compensated for this post.  I received fabric, to use as I wished, from Dear Stella.   The opinions are completely my own based on my experiences.

Craftastic Monday Link Party & Party News

Happy Monday Craft Lovers!  Besides being a new week to link up your latest projects, it's also time for a party announcement:

I'm now welcoming crafty giveaways to the Craftastic Link Party!  If you've got a giveaway for something craft or sewing related, like supplies, gear, books, patterns, fabric, yarn or gift cards to stores with craft materials, it can now be linked at the party, so share the giveaway love.  Note: random giveaways for other items will be removed.

And it's time to announce the winner of my City Knits Fabric Giveaway.

~~~ Teri C. ~~~

Congratulations Teri and a big thank you to Timeless Treasures for providing this amazing knit fabric.  Keep visiting Sew Can Do this week for an all new tutorial and another fabulous fabric giveaway. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now let's see the new Craftastic Picks!!

Five Spot Green Living had this healthy greek rice salad recipe:

Happy In Red made this pretty funky fifties crochet bag:

Kleinworth & Co. shared this easy slow cooker fiesta cheese dip recipe:

The Kittchen offered up how to make this delicious sounding chocolate chip cookie and brownie s'mores cake:

Second Chances By Susan shared how to make these cute mini lantern beads:

If you're one of this week's features, be sure to grab my Featured On button over on my Buttons Page to share the good news. 

 Want a Chance to 
Be Featured Next Week?  

Link back to the party somewhere on your blog.
I can't feature your post if you don't share the party.  
  

I also feature these projects on Sew Can Do's Craftastic Picks Pinterest board 

AND share each of them on Twitter too for even MORE exposure for YOUR blog!

Follow me there to see more great projects (and see if yours is one of them)!   

On Twitter: Follow @sewcandoblog

On Pinterest: Sew Can Do

Ready to link up your crafty creations?

 

Party rules are simple: 

• As long as it's crafty, and made by you, it's Craftastic (no links to shops, link parties or other people's work).  Add the link to your specific post. Product reviews, plagiarized or sponsored posts for random items will be immediately deleted.  
• Grab my party button & put it on your post, party page or blog somewhere.  If you want the chance to be featured, this is key.  The button code can be found HERE.
• Check out some of the other fabulous links and share some crafty comment love.  We all love getting comments!!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Craftastic Monday Link Party & Last Day Knit Fabric Giveaway!

Hello Crafties!  Ready for a new week of creativity and sharing?  Come link up what you've been busy making and find some great inspiring ideas too.

Last week I showed how I made some fun Flocked Crazy Unicorn Lady Tote Bags:

And today's the last day to enter my City Knits Fabric Giveaway. FOUR yards of these colorful knit fabrics are up for grabs!  Gorgeous cotton spandex with loads of project possibilities. Enter HERE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now let's see the new Craftastic Picks!!

The Scrap Shoppe took vinyl wall art to the next level with this cross stitch flower wall design tutorial:

Refresh Living repurposed a copper jello mold into the perfect umbrella table painter: 

Kandy Kreations shared this fun watermelon mini notebook plastic canvas pattern.  I love the stitched lettering binding:

Growing Up Gabel offered up how to make these cute bookworm brownies:

Delightful E Made shared a recipe for this yummy frozen raspberry peach bellini:

Condo Blues showed how to make a custom fabric folding fan:

If you're one of this week's features, be sure to grab my Featured On button over on my Buttons Page to share the good news. 

 Want a Chance to 
Be Featured Next Week?  

Link back to the party somewhere on your blog.
I can't feature your post if you don't share the party.  
  

I also feature these projects on Sew Can Do's Craftastic Picks Pinterest board 

AND share each of them on Twitter too for even MORE exposure for YOUR blog!

Follow me there to see more great projects (and see if yours is one of them)!   

On Twitter: Follow @sewcandoblog

On Pinterest: Sew Can Do

Ready to link up your crafty creations?

 

Party rules are simple: 

• As long as it's crafty, and made by you, it's Craftastic (no links to giveaways, shops, link parties or other people's work).  Add the link to your specific post. Product reviews, plagiarized or sponsored posts for random items will be immediately deleted.  
• Grab my party button & put it on your post, party page or blog somewhere.  If you want the chance to be featured, this is key.  The button code can be found HERE.
• Check out some of the other fabulous links and share some crafty comment love.  We all love getting comments!!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Flocked Crazy Unicorn Lady Bag Tutorial

I'll be honest, I've not been feeling super crafty this summer.  I've had a few things keeping me from the craft room, but even when I have unfettered time, I've just not had the excited "I wanna make this right now!" vibe.  I'm trying to be a bit more in the moment of summer with the family and less Mom's alone crafting in her cave.  While it feels great in some ways, it also makes me feel a bit uncreative/unmotivated.  Sigh.  

The one exception is quick & easy projects.  If it's something I can make fast and still get that rush of making something I really dig, then I'm for it.  That's today's project: my Crazy Unicorn Lady Bags.

With unicorns being all the rage these days, why not express the love of the mythical horned horse with a fun bag?  It's fast to put together, so I made several colorful versions too.  Gotta show off that unicorn love!

And they all feel soft and lovely (just like unicorns should) thanks to flocked heat transfer material.  For me, that kicks it up a notch above the shiny plastic stuff and also has a hint of dimension to it too:    

Materials:
- Blank cotton tote bag
- Flocked heat transfer
- Cutting machine 
- Iron & press cloth

I used my Cricut Explore to cut out my heat transfer, but it could be done with any cutting machine or even by hand (although that would probably negate the quick & easy aspect).

I found a nice side image of a unicorn silhouette and imported that into Cricut Design Space.  I used a free cursive font to do the top word and welded the letters together.  Then another fun free font to do the bottom words and then angled them a bit to get a curve and centered everything around the unicorn:  

The material goes face down on the mat, with the plastic carrier still on.  The machine also needs to be set to heat transfer to cut. 

Cutting it out with the machine on the vinyl setting was super fast, but it's important to set the cutting to mirror so the right side faces out.

Fuse time!  I always iron the tote first so it's warm when the transfer is placed on it - this helps it adhere better, since I don't have a fancy heat press.  Then I use a press cloth between the iron and plastic carrier when adhering the transfer.  When cooled I turn it inside out and iron on that inner side too.  Then I peel the plastic off when totally cool.  Keeping the iron temperature moderate - cotton no steam - is key too.  Higher temperatures won't make it stick any better, just wreck the transfer.  When it's cool, the bag is ready for any unicorn lover!



Are you feeling the unicorn vibe this summer or is there some other theme that's caught your eye?