First up was a door curtain for my son's flat.... Problem 1 - they had bought some fabric but not enough..!! Just liked the look of it and thought it would work somehow... Enter Mum!!
They wanted the curtain to be thick enough to keep out the draughts as it would be in place of a door.. So my best idea (and most cost effective) was to make an extra deep hem with a contrasting fabric... Any excuse to visit Ikea!!
Result ... some lovely velvet...
Problem 2... the fabric is not very wide so header tape would gather it up too much.... So my first attempt at Eyelet Ring Curtains.... which I am pleased to say worked out very well...
Project 2 was a birthday present for my niece's little step-son who was 4... I had seen a couple of similar ideas for Toybags/Playmats used to store Lego and thought this would be ideal for him. The fabric I found was very boyish with cars & roads on... I cut it around so that he could 'drive' his toy cars around

The bag is wadded so that he can use it as a playmat on hard floors and the toys can be left inside when it is time to pack it all away..
and can be hung up for storage.... by gathering the cords up through the grommets (another first..)
I hope he likes it.... I am going to have to put a couple of cars inside to make it more exciting I think for a 4 year old....
If anyone asks me "can you just make one for....." then they can think again... It went together really quickly but when I added up the cost of materials etc the price gets silly.... It would work with cheaper fabrics of course but then it wouldn't be such fun for a little boy...
My last project of the week was a bag for my Daughter in Law's birthday... I had found some great fabric on Spoonflower and wanted to make her a large book bag for school.. (she is a Teacher..)
They have my 'grand-dog' Harvey and I bought some Jack Russell fabric, along with some Dr Who K9 and Tardis prints (she is a big fan..) But my personal favourite was a print with cute dogs on... I thought they were dogs portraying shoes.... (in convo with the prints owner I found this was not how she designed it.. it was just how her dogs stretched out..) I still like the shoe idea myself.. What do you think?
My first thoughts were to make a bag featuring Harvey mixed with some vintage style fabrics... but I didn't like how it was going....
Plan 2
I made plainer panels for the outside of the bag using the Shoe-dogs and some Essex Linen and used the quilt as you go method to line them with the panel I made featuring Harvey and the K9 fabric... So the bag is presentable on the outside (& therefore more useable I hope) and personal on the inside...
The pattern is pretty much made up as I went along... I quilted some side gusset panels and the base in a black linen, then popped a zip in the top and used my favourite method for sturdy fabric handles.. ( I may do a tutorial on this soon - but black isn't the best colour to photograph..)
If I say it myself... I am chuffed with the result... not sure how a young teacher about town is going to feel about it.. but I hope she likes it.
I am off to order some more of the Shoe-dogs...
So a bad back week turned out pretty good.....Except I still walk like an 80 year old......