The SoChick Sling [New Product Sneak Peek!]

  When I have an idea for a new handbag or accessory design, I tend to go through a trial-and-error way of bringing my idea to fruition... several trials later.  Eek!  Probably this is because I am one with a get-it-done-now attitude; why sit and think something through when I can just do, right? Um, wrong... Since I'm in business for myself, I've had to learn to curb that habit to minimize waste and really think through my new product development.  I am so proud to say that from sketching the ideas for this handbag design on paper, to drafting a pattern, and executing it, the final product is exactly what I envisioned... the first time around. *wink*

Coming Soon for Fall: 

The SoChick Sling...

*Note: I reserve the right to change the name of this bag as its kind of a hybrid sling, slouch, bucket bag... which is what my brain was telling me.  Have any fun, fresh, and So Chick suggestions?

Do you remember the chevron fabric from this Fab.Fab.Friday post? Yep... that's how long this handbag has been brewing in my brain!

I've got quite a few fresh fabric combinations up my sleeve for this bag, which are sure to keep it "Everyday Chic for Everyday Chicks".

Plan to see this 'Sling' style in the shop very soon! 

Psst... I made sure to take lots of pictures while making this bag, they'll really come in handy when I write the PDF Sewing Pattern of this bag, too! Exciting, right?! *happy dance*


This is what I Love, this is where my passion lies... designing & sewing something new, and sharing it with you!  ♥

Have a Fabulous Weekend!

XxOo~ Melissa

Fabulous Fabric Friday #9 [Toile Me About It]

Today's Fabulous Fabric:

Toile

This is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

A quick breakdown: The 'Toile' I'm talking about is Toile de Jouy, which is the repeat of a complex pattern, typically scenery/landscapes, printed on a white or off-white background.  Traditionally printed in black, navy or dark red, on canvas.

Source: google.com via Laura on Pinterest

I love the traditional feel of Toile, but more than that I looove the modern spin on it:

With Color:

Source: fabulousfifi.typepad.com via Kim on Pinterest

And fun prints such as this Derby Toile that I found on Spoonflower.com:

Source: spoonflower.com via Melissa on Pinterest

 How Super Fabulous is that!? You can purchase it from the artist on Spoonflower!

Here's my use of Toile, in the first diaper bag I made for my youngest daughter.  We stayed gender neutral when I was pregnant with Natalie (she's not terribly cooperative... we'll leave it at that), so I went with Black & White... but I love the way it worked out, and I have received tons of compliments on this diaper bag... still do, even though I now use this bag for the beach. *wink*

Gotta love the Toile wrap-around pockets paired with pin stripes! 

Official Call to Fabric Lovers!!

Did you see my Call to Fabric Lovers? No? 

Check it out HERE. 

I'm dyin' to hear your thoughts on fabric, what you sew/craft with, what you want to sew/craft with.

Be sure to e-mail me with your Fabulous Fabric finds, I just may feature them here!

FabFabric[at]sochickhandbags[dot]com

 Have a Fabulous Friday!!

XxOo~ Melissa

Inspiration Workshop #11 [Gardening]

It's Thursday, and that means it's time again for Inspiration Workshop with Gussy Sews!  I really enjoy and look forward to linking up with this linky party every week, I've found some great blogs and people from it!  Plus, when work is as busy as it will be the next few weeks, it's nice to have my days planned...woot!  Thank you Gussy for hosting!!

This week's Inspiration Workshop prompt: 

GARDENING

This is a topic I enjoy and have posted about quite a few times before....

From blooming plants In My Garden:

To my Little Backyard Makeover: 

To the jasmine laced secret garden's when I a trip to Savannah, GA:

I love the calm, quite time spent in the garden caring for my plants and coaxing them to grow... and much like with sewing, I love the accomplished feeling when they bloom and show me their happy faces and cheerful color!  My garden isn't huge, but I enjoy it!  Do you have a Garden? What are you growing right now?

Thanks for stopping by; I'd love to have you over again tomorrow for Fabulous Fabric Friday!

See you then. *wave*

XxOo~ Melissa

Pinterest & Fall '11 Color Inspiration

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  I'm kind-of sort-of ready for this busy week month.  I can't believe we're a week into August already?! Whaaaat?!

Lots going on in my world...
School starts back on or around the 25th, with my daughter going into 3rd grade. *sigh* They grow so fast! With that comes Gymnastics and Girl Scouts.  I'm also planning to attend the local farmer's market in two weeks; I'll be working like crazy for that, as well as trying to get some fall product up in the shop!

Needless to say, my To-Do List doesn't look like this:

Source: whereisthecool.blogspot.com via Christian on Pinterest

(10 points if you know who's list this is... hint: He's a Pink Starfish and his BFF is a fry-cook)

Fall is what I'm trying to plan for, mostly.  This is a big deal for me, it still being summer time and all... I'm big on Summer, I love the heat, the sunshine, the beach, shorts, skirts, flipflops, long days... you get the idea... I tend to not even think of fall until it's actually here, well, that's not going to work for productivity, now is it? *wink*


Enter: Pinterest
I know I've mentioned this site in the past, but if you're still not sure what it is, here's the scoop:

Pinterest is a 'virtual pinboard' where you can pin images, ideas and such from the web into one place, share your ideas/inspiration with others, use it to plan, organize or just keep track of stuff you like.

Here's their About Page

If you want an Invite, I have a few... just ask *wink*


This is what I saw this morning when I went to my Pinterest page:

Lots of pretty and inspiring stuff, right? Right!

...Get on with it, Melissa...

Okay, so I'm using Pinterest to organize my fall color inspiration... 

First, by pinning Pantone's Fall 2011 color pallete:

Source: indieprettyprojects.com via Melissa on Pinterest

(Soooo fabulous!)


Once I knew where things were going with color I started pinning some inspirational photos, so I can plan my fabric choices and designs from there.
NOTE: I am still very driven by my own, personal, style toward fabrics, design and color and will deviate from trends when I see something I like and feel other's will appreciate as well.. this is strictly a jumping-off point for me.


Here's my fall color inspiration:

♥ Bamboo

Source: etsy.com via Melissa on Pinterest

♥ Honeysuckle

Source: etsy.com via Melissa on Pinterest

♥ Phlox

Source: etsy.com via Melissa on Pinterest

♥ Deep Teal

Source: etsy.com via Melissa on Pinterest

♥ Coffee and Nougat

Source: etsy.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Off to tackle that To Do list... Have a great Monday!!

XxOo~ Melissa

Fabulous Fabric Friday #8 [Daisy Chain & My DIY Idea]

Today's Fabulous Fabric Friday is Wildflowers in Navy, from Amy Butler's Daisy Chain line.  I know, I'm a little obsessed with AB Fabrics... I won't apologize for it, its fabulous!

Source: fabric.com via Melissa on Pinterest

This is one of my earlier Daisy Bags... named 'Daisy' after this fabric!

I didn't plan on using this fabric for today's Fab. Fab. Friday post, BUT, as fate would have it... I am.  

Here's why:

I came home to this the other day... apparently someone wanted to look out the window while the girls and I were away and I forgot to lift the blinds.

The Culprit.

Then, last night as my hubby was lowering the blinds, this happened on the opposite set:

Don't you love how I tried to 'fix' them?

Yeah, so now our living room blinds look like this:

Chewed and leaning!

I CAN'T STAND it!!!  It looks even worse from the outside... Don't you feel a little drunk looking at these?  Maybe the effect only works if you're actually standing in front of them in person... I feel like the whole window is leaning to the right. Ha!

Enter Pinterest and a DIY Idea:

Source: littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com via Leigh on Pinterest

My plan is to pick up some yardage of my most fav Amy Butler fabric, along with some light weight drapery lining fabric, and re-purpose my plantation blinds into some pretty custom Roman Shades!  Yippie for re-using!!

According to my calculations, this little project should cost under $50 to do both shades!  If that sounds like a lot, note how much custom designer window treatments run.... Not Cheap.
So, if my plan works out, I'll have custom, one-of-a-kind, roman shades for a steal... yippie!


Now, to convince the husband that we need to paint the living room to match.... *wink*


Have a Fabulous Friday!


XxOo~ Melissa

Inspiration Workshop [Week 10: A Day in My Life...]

Linking again with Gussy Sews' Inspiration Workshop.

This week's prompt sort-of goes hand in hand with my Monday post, i'm doing a lot of talking about me this week, huh?! *wink*

The Prompt:

A Day in My Life

Summer vacation is winding down, and the anxiety that comes with the start of school, fall, the holidays, craft fairs, etc... is just around the corner... I know it!

Here is a typical day in my SoChick life:

Hubby gets up for work and leaves by 7am, I try to roll out of bed by 6:45am because I know little Natalie will be up any minute... not a late sleeper, that one.

First things first: COFFEE

Once the coffee situation is taken care of (usually while it's brewing), I let the pups out:

Wait, JACK!, You're not allowed out...

He knows this, that's why he's not looking at me... 4 out of 7 mornings include me grabbing sneaky Jack Bauer from running out into the yard.  He's known to beat up the neighborhood strays (doing his 'job', I guess).  He's even come home with another cat's claw stuck in his head... true story!

Next, I feed the animals and grab a bite to eat myself, if Natalie isn't up yet... today she was not.

I have gotten into a terrible habit of not eating breakfast right away in the morning, which I pay for come 10am... this morning I had a fresh peach with cottage cheese, Yummmm!

I'm pretty much always multi-tasking in some way, this morning it was by playing with Conrad while eating b-fast:

Yes his toy is pink, he took it from his big sister, Marilyn... don't judge. *wink*

Natalie woke up around 7:15am and came down to have some peaches and cottage cheese, too:

Then she had a yogurt smoothie, but you'd never know by looking at her, Ha!:

Once Trista rolls out of bed and has breakfast, it's to the computer to review e-mails, update the day's To Do list, and blog while the little chicks play.

Then, it's shower and getting ready for the day... usually all of this happens by 9am.

Next, I'll get in about an hour in the studio to plan patterns, look at fabric, update and check off my To Do list (checking off is way more fun *wink*)

Lunch happens around 11:30am and so do the house chores.

We will typically run errands, take a drive to my Dad's, hit up the beach and what not, after lunch, if I'm not busy sewing... even if I am, we try to get out of the house at some point.

When we get home, we'll grab a snack, finish some house work and I'll bring my laptop to the kitchen to browse for fabric, answer e-mails, etc.

I like to start dinner around 6pm; Hubby makes it home between then and 7pm.

After dinner, the girls wash up and we all just chill out in the living room until they head to bed... which, since it's summer and all, has been too late lately!

If I have orders to get out, I'll head up to my studio once the girls are in bed and stay up as long as my eyes allow.  I try to keep a rule about not sewing when I'm too tired, because then seams come out all wonky, and I'll end up having to rip them out and redo them the next day anyway.

Want to know something else that's around the corner??  My 1 year Anniversary of being a full-time independent small biz owner!  Actually, yesterday marked one year from me leaving my full-time job to pursue my dream of owning my own business and being more available for my girls... Sept 1st is the Grand Opening Anniversary of my online shop... stay tuned!

XxOo~ Melissa

Sewing Tip Tuesday [ Seam Guide/Gauge ]

Let me start this post by saying, you really don't need any fancy gadgets or machinery to sew, which, in my opinion, is a wonderful thing.  A good ol' needle and thread... and patience, can take you far.  However, as in life, it is so nice when you do come across something that makes life easier; in my case, the Seam Guide Presser Foot that came with my Singer Sewing Machine.

This is by no means something you need to have, but oh how nice it is!

What does a Seam Guide do, you ask? Well, it guides your seams...  nice, smarty pants *wink*.  

A Seam Guide allows you set the seam width you're looking for, we'll say 1/8 inch; when you butt your fabric up to it as you sew, the guide ensures you are keeping with that 1/8in seam. Yippie, straight seams! It is also super fabulous for top stitching handbags! (Cough, Cough)

Straight Stitchin' = Neat and tidy edges

A guide can be purchased separately or one may already come with your machine.  You can get one that screws into the stitch plate of your machine, or one that comes on a presser foot (like mine).  As far as I know, both adjust with a dial, but don't necessarily come with measurements.  (This is where a small ruler is handy to have near your sewing space.)

In all honesty, I did not know I had a seam guide for a long time.  I would say that I was using my Singer for a good two years before I realized what that presser foot was for!  I'm all about getting something made using what I know how to work with and just taking it from there... why waste precious sewing time trying to figure out what that funky lookin' foot is for?! Ha!

The range, how large of a seam width you can stitch, isn't as far with the Seam Guide Presser Foot as I imagine it is with the kind that attaches to the stitch plate of the machine, but this is easily adjusted by using the little dial on the foot along with moving your machine's needle either to the left or right.

I now use my Seam Guide Presser Foot when I sew the finishing top stitch around my handbags, bag handles/straps, binding, for prepping blocks on a quilt with 1/4in seam allowances (because, let's face it, it's important to be precise with your seams when it comes to quilts, or the whole thing will come out wonky!), and when I'm adding embellishments where I need to stitch close to the edge of the fabric.  Keeping your lines straight is a huge factor when you want your end result to have a professional finish... even if you aren't in the biz, it's still nice to offer up a gift to someone that has them saying "You made that?!". *wink*

I used my Seam Guide, when stitching this strap,
 to stitch close to the edge of the fabric, to ensure professional results.

Here are some other handy tools that I ♥ because they make my sewing life a little easier!

XxOo~ Melissa