Bags in my shop

I have uploaded my newest creations, the bags in my webshop.
If anyone is interested, look at http://adorna.se/product_categories/1548.

If you want to know the prices in another currency, just ask, also please note that the webshop prices include postage in Sweden. So if I need to send it abroad, it might be a bit more, if you come and pick it up yourself, it will be cheaper.

(Wishful thinking, right?)

I showed here some of the bags, here are the ones I made this weekend:

My "Save the world" piece and some bags

Hello, dear friends,


Remember, I told you how I entered an embroidery competition? The topic was how we can save the world with embroidery.
I wasn´t sure if I could post pictures of the work since they said it should be unpublished, so I rather played safe and waited.
Well, the results are on the website now, and I am not among the winners, but I have to say I don´t feel ashamed: those are all so fantastic pieces of art that I had absolutely no chance. It is a different dimension.
If you want to look at them, here.

But now, finally, I can show you my work. Here it is, and I am really proud of it. Just love how it turned out.

The text at the bottom is in Swedish and this is what it says:

Under this walnut shell there is a butterfly hiding from the rain - according to my 5-year-old friend, Lizi. This is to honour all that and all those who have to hide from the suffering of the world.

I don´t know yet what I will do with it. I don´t really have place for it at home, and I would be so happy if I could hang it somewhere where others can see it and get the message.


I have also been working on my commission. Here is the latest picture, although since I took it, I have done a lot, it is almost ready.

I have also been sewing a lot.

I made some teddy bears for the charity I sometimes help out. I made a bag for my daughter, and then a few more that I will try and sell in my webshop. Well, sounds a bit pretentious to call it a webshop, but perhaps I will be able to sell something this time :D Want to have a peek?

The teddy bears above, and my daughter´s bag bellow. She loved it.

And these are the ones I made for my shop:

I will soon be back with some more pictures, and a cross stitch pattern or two. Watch this place :)

Happy stitching.

Tutorial: how to crochet a cosmetic bag. Very easy. Part 2 - lining.

Hello, here I am with the lining part of the tutorial.

I used a lovely Hungarian traditional cotton fabric to line this bag. I had a stripe cut off which was roughly the right width (about 20 cm), so I just had to cut a piece of it twice the height of the bag. Sorry, I didn´t do any measuring just adjusted it to the bag. I folded the fabric in half, this is how it looks with the bag:



Then I cut off a little from the corners, to follow the shape of the bag. I didn´t want too much bulk in the corners.



Then I folded the fabric right side in, and sew together the two sides.



I stitched with hand and used backstitch, this is how it looks from the two sides:





This is how it looks when I turn it right side out - but then I realised I don´t have to do it. :)



Because the lining goes in the bag so that the right side faces inwards:



Then I had to adjust it a little. Since the crochet is flexible, it is possible to smooth out the fabric quite nicely inside. This is how it looks then:



Now only the edges are left to stitch. First I folded and pinned them, then I sew them to the crochet with very small stitches.



Unfortunately I don´t have a zip with me here and don´t want to spend money when I have a few at home, so that will have to wait.
But here is a nice tutorial how to sew in a zip, if you need it.



While making the previous two bags, I had some experience with it. With the first, I sewed in the lining first, then the zip. With the second, I tried to put the zip´s fabric part between the crochet and the lining. It was much more difficult to sew and it wasn´t better looking at the end, so I chose the first option this time.

As for the embellishment: I want to wave in a nice looking ribbon in the double crochet row this time, so that will also have to wait until I am home.
The flowers on the previous bags were made using this series of crochet tutorials on YouTube by Theresa:

I think I will make them again, they are so well explained in these tutorials.

I hope I helped if someone wants to make something similar.

Tutorial: how to crochet a cosmetic bag. Very easy. Part 1

I have been away from the blog for quite a while, but I am back now. I crocheted another one of the little bags and took pictures of the steps, so here is how it was made. This part is only about the crochet, I will come back soon with the lining and putting in the zip.

I started with a chain of 40.



Then I did one single crochet in each chain.



When I reached the end, I turned but not the usual way. I turned around, if that makes sense, and did another single crochet on the other side of the beginning chain.
I hope you can see it here, at the bottom is the first row I made, and at the top I am just starting the other row in the starting chain.



So when I finished this row, I actually finished a round, and I had this:



It is good to remember that you finish a row when you are just at the opposite end from the starting tail.

After two more rows, with no increasing, you can see how the bottom of the bag starts to take shape:



And you just go on and on, round after round of single crochet. Easy as pie :)

Since I wanted the sides of the bag to be a bit slanted, I did one increasing. If you don´t want it but prefer a straight side, you can omit this step.
So I increased two stitches at both ends (you can find where exactly if you flatten the bag):



I crocheted two single crochets in the two middle stitches.



When the bag was 9 cm high, I did a row of double crochet. This is where I will weave in a string or a ribbon for decoration. Again, if you want, you can leave this out.



Then I went on with my single crochet again and when I reached the desired height, I did a final row of a kind of picot or wavy finish:



It goes like this: *one single crochet, one single crochet, chain two, single crochet in the next stitch* - and repeat between the *s.

This is what the edge looks like when done:



And this is the whole little bag. No sewing together needed.



See you soon with the rest. And some more freebies to stitch. Watch this place :)

Knitted and felted bag

This is my first attempt, but definitely not the last. I bought some really cheap wool at a thrift shop, and it felted, well, not 100 % perfect, but I quite like the effect. You can still see the knitted stitches, but barely.