Tutorial - Backpack Beach Towel

Here is the tutorial I promissed a year ago. Give it a try and let me know what you think! email me in case you have some trouble with the tutorial. I also have a pdf of the tutorial in case you want it, just email me and I will send it to you asap!

Supplies:

½ yard of fabric

1 towel (I used a towel from IKEA with 28 x 55’’)

44’’ of cotton ribbon (1 and ¼ inch wide)

1 yrd cotton cord

2 Strap slides
1 cotton cord

Scissors, rotary cutter, cutting mat, safety pin, pins.

Take your fabric and cut 2 of each:

                Back pack main panel: 11 x 12’’

                Cord carrier: 2 x 11’’

                Back pack straps: 5 x 18’’

                

Fold one of your cord carriers/casings in half, wrong sides together and press to create a crease

Fold one of your cord carriers/casings so that its length is 1/2 inch shorter than your main panel’s smaller side. Press

Fold again in half, with the folded short edges turned inside. Place on the shorter edge of your main panel.

Pin in place making sure the short edges of the cord carrier stay 1/4 inch away from the long edge of the main panel

Cut two 6 ½’’ pieces of ribbon and place each on the long edge of the main panel, opposite to the cord carrier, as the figure shows. Be certain  to place them at an angle and 1/4 - 1/2‘’ away from the short edge.

Put the remaining main panel on top of the first one, with right sides together and pin all around it. Don’t forget to mark where you start and stop, so that you leave an opening when sewing for turning.

 

At this point you should have a sandwich with the 2 main panels, 1 cord carrier on the top and 2 pieces of cotton ribbon on the long edges near the bottom on the opposite side of the panel from the cord carrier.

At this point you can add a tag wherever you want.

Sew all around the big rectangles remembering to leave an opening. Stitch back and forth on top of the cotton ribbon to strengthen the seams. 

Cut any extra ribbon and the corners.

Turn inside out and smooth the seams. This is how it should look now.

Edge stitch the cord carrier. Now let’s work on the straps.

Fold each strap piece in half with right sides together and sew the long edges. Turn each strap inside out.

Now take the remaining cotton ribbon and cut 1 piece for each starp. The pieces of ribbon should be the length of the starp minus 1/2 inch.

Edge sew each ribbon piece to the starp.

 This is how your straps should look like at this point

Now, let’s attach the strap slides. Do this for each strap.

Insert strap in the strap slide as shown in the picture. Fold the end of the strap that is ribbon free ½ inch and again another ½ inch to enclosure the raw edge.

Sew the strip slide in place with a short zig-zag stitch back and forth a couple of times to give some strength to the seam. 

We now have two straps finished

Now let’s place the main piece on top of the towel. Make sure you place it in a bottom corner and follow the finished edge of the towel. Don’t forget that the attached ribbon goes in the bottom of the towel while the cord carrier goes up.

Take the cotton ribbon and turn it inside. Repeat for both sides.

Pin the main piece to the towel half way up the sides.

Mark the place where the cord carrier attached to the main piece touches the towel. This is very important because it will mark the place to attach the other cord carrier directly on to the towel

Take the last cord carrier (at this point this should the only piece of fabric left) and fold the long edges ¼ inch to the wrong side. Press to create a crease. Fold in half and press.

Now, using the pins as guides, place the above mentioned cord carrier and place it on top of the towel.

Make sure you leave ¼ inch for seam allowance and fold the short edges so they meet the guiding pin.

 When in the right position, pin in place and sew the bottom long edge of the cord carrier to the towel. 

At this point you should consider using a matching thread in your bobbin so that it will not show on the other side of the towel.

Sew a straight line along the crease.

After sewing the straight line, fold the edge to the wrong side of the fabric and press.

Mark the middle of the recently attached cord carrier and place the straps starting from the middle point.

Pin in place and baste stitch

Fold the free long edge along the previously marked ¼ inch crease and fold the cord carrier in half again, making sure the long edges are turned in. (As in the picture)

Pin in place and edge stitch, making a double passage on top of the straps to provide more strength to the seam.

The worst part is over and you can now take a deep breath.

Remember we only pinned the main panel half way? Now let’s place the straps between the main panel and the towel.

Make sure your cord carriers are sewed correctly. They should be falling right on top of each other!

Pin in place all around the rectangle, leaving only the edge with the cord carrier free. Sew all around three edges, leaving the edge with the cord carrier free.

Take the safety pint and attach it to the cord. Pass the cord trough the cord carriers.

 

 

Insert the cord stop tie a knot with both cord ends.

And we are almost finished!

Turn your main panel inside out and place the towel inside the space left between the main panel and the towel: that is our backpack!

 Finish the raw edges of the two pieces of ribbon. I finished mine with a zig zag stitch made with contrasting thread. Do as you please at this point. Pass the ribbon trough the strap slides as shown in the picture.

 And there you go, DONE!

 Now it’s time to take it to the pool side, for a ride!

I would like to ask you all not to pin or share pictures of my kids and to please give me credit whenever you use my tutorial, a simple link to the blog is enough. In case you want to make these to sell please let me know. Enjoy! 

Remendar / Mend

 
Mais uns trabalhinhos de usa-as-calças-enquanto-não-te-dão-pelos-tornozelos! Mas por que é que os joelhos vão sempre primeiro? Nada como umas joelheiras “à maneira” para ficarem como novas (e na maioria das vezes estão mesmo!). Desta vez não tenho fotos do antes, só do depois, mas vocês imaginam, certo? Um rasgão no joelho é sempre um rasgão no joelho.

Para o pequenino coloquei uma mota, do mesmo tecido que usei para a mala da Tita. Motas são a obsessão deste rapaz e ele não podia ter ficado mais feliz. E quando os rapazes preferem levar para a escola as calças rasgadas/remendadas em vez das calças “boas”, sabemos que estamos a fazer a coisa certa!
Para o mais velho dei-lhe algumas hipóteses de tecidos que poderia escolher e acho sinceramente que ele fez a escolha mais acertada. Estas pick ups ficam giríssimas com a cor da ganga. Para não ser simplesmente mais um bocado de tecido costurado às calcas, cosi umas linhas rectas horizontais a branco. É só mais um remendo, mas é um remendo muito cool!

 

 

Some more wonrk on the use-your-pants-until-your-ankles-are-showing! Why do knees always go first? Nothing like some knee pads to turn this pants as good as new (and most often the pants are actually almost new!). This time I don't have before photos, just after, but you know, right? A tear in the knee is always a tear in the knee.

 
For the little one I used a bike from the Echino fabric I used for Tita's bag Motorbikes are the obsession of this little guy and he couldn't be happier. And when the boys prefer to take torn and patched pants to school instead of  the "good" ones, we know what we are doing the right thing!
For the older boy I gave him choice of fabrics and I think he made the best choice. These pick ups are the cutest with the color of denim. To had something more I sewed some white horizontal straight lines. It's just a patch, but it's a really cool patch !

Easy Linen Shirt

Já tinha feito uma destas para o mais velho e quase simultaneamente fiz uma parecida para o mais novo. O molde é o mesmo, os pormenores é que são diferentes. Coloquei também um bolso canguru, mas em vez da barra de tecido nas aberturas do bolso, coloquei uma barra ao longo de toda a bainha. Por vezes tenho uma ideia mas não a consigo concretizar mentalmente. Segundo a minha projecção o acabamento que fiz nesta camisola não iria ficar tão bem como o da outra. No entanto, gosto muito mais deste acabamento do que do anterior. Mais umalição aprendida: experimentar, sempre!
(P.S. sim, o rapaz tem um bigode de chocolate e muita atitude)

 I had already done one of these for my older boy and almost simultaneously made ​​a similar one for the younger. The pattern is the same, the details are different. I also sewed a front pocket, but instead of adding embelishment fabric on the pocket openings, I placed a bar of fabric on the shirt hem and added paralel rows of straight stitches. Sometimes I have an idea in my mind but can't picture is clearly. According to my vision, the embelishments on the first shirt would look cuter than these. However, I like these embelishments more than the previous ones. Lesson learned: don't just picture it in your mind, try it!
P.S. Yes, he has a chocolate moustache and a lot of attitude!

Intrepid Thread

Conhecem a Julie da Intrepid Thread? É uma rapariga super simpática e da loja dela só podem contar com um excelente atendimento bem como uma fabulosa selecção de tecidos. A Julie lança uma newsletter mensal e neste mês de Julho estamos por lá. Querem aprender como fazer uma mochila / toalha? Vão aqui e não se escrevam de subscrever!

Do you know Julie from the Intrepid Thread? She is the sweetest and from her store you can be sure to get the best service and a fabulous fabric collection. Every month Julie releases a newsletter full of goodies and this monthe we are there. Would you like a tutorial on the beach towel / backpack? Here it is and don't forget to subscribe!

Amor de Galo #2

Algumas peças que fiz para a Amor de Galo antes de vir para Oslo.

For the lovely Amor de Galo some special pieces I made before coming to Oslo.

Shoulder Bag

Há uns tempos ganhei num giveaway 25$ para gastar na loja Modern Fabric Studio. Andei lá um bocado a patinar, pois a minha preferência são mesmo os tecidos de criança. Mas lá me decidi por alguns padrões do Joel Dewberry, que há muito me tinha vindo a chamar à atenção. Este em particular é dos meus preferidos e felizmente estava disponível. Encomendei uns sólidos e ainda faltava um bocadinho para completar o vale. Então decidi escolher um tecido Echino para ver se descobria porque são tão famosos. De entre os disponíveis este era o que me parecia o mais giro.

Certo dia estava eu em casa com a minha cunhada a escolher os tecidos para as echarpes e este surgiu lá no meio. Foi amor à primeira vista! A Tita pediu logo para lhe fazer uma mala com aquele tecido. E assim foi! Tem um bolso interior para ajudar na arrumação (tarefa hercúlea em malas de senhora) e a alça é de uma mala pré-existente e que estava jogada no fundo de um armário sem qualquer utilidade. Pois agora ganhou nova vida!

Some time ago I won on a giveaway 25$ to spend in Modern Fabric Studio. I was looking around, with some uncertainty because I mainly buy childrens fabric. But then I decided on some patterns from Joel Dewberry, who had long been wispering on my ear (not Joel, the fabric). This particular is of my favorites and fortunately was available. I ordered some solids and there were some $ left. So I decided to choose a fabric from Echino to see if I could discover why they are so famous. Among the available this was the cutest one.

 
One day I was at home with my sister in law choosing the fabrics for her scarved and it appeared there in the middle. It was love at first sight! She asked me immediately if I could make her a bag with that fabric. And so it was! It has an inside pocket for keeping small stuff and the handle is from a pre-existing bag and was thrown into the back of a closet with no utility. At least now it gained a new life!