Oh, I have a blog....

Bet you guys thought I was buried under a pile of fabric somewhere! Well, that's not the case... I've just been busy procrastinating.

I'm almost done cutting all of the material for Miss Kira's quilt—I know I said that about a week back, but I'm easily distracted and somehow always manage to pick up extra projects here and there. So, in my defense, here's the rundown on the past week:

I was sick of ironing and measuring and cutting, and ironing and measuring and cutting... so I took a little break from the quilting process and tackled my first bias tape project. Why? Well, the Austin Room to Read chapter is hosting a benefit this weekend, Room to Rock, and a little birdie told me they were in need of some raffle items. I couldn't resist!



If you're in Austin this weekend and find yourself twiddling your thumbs Sunday evening, come join me at Momo's on W. 6th! If you get there in time, you can enter the raffle and try your luck at winning this little guy:



It's the bias tape tote bag that I've been wanting to make! The outside fabric is a dark-wash denim, and the inside fabric is a ridiculously bright plaid. I love it! The total production time ended up being about 7 hours, of which 6 were spent trying my hand at the DIY bias tape process... I just can't seem to escape the measuring and cutting and ironing (and ironing and ironing and ironing) routine! So much for taking a break! In case you didn't know what all goes into bias tape, I shall enlighten you:

-cutting fabric (on the bias) in strips that are four times the size of the desired end result (I think I started out with half a yard of the denim.)
-sewing said strips together and making sure they're straight (If you haven't purchased a seam ripper, you will definitely need to consider obtaining this little tool at this point... you'll need it.)
-ideally this will form an incredibly long—and seemingly never ending—piece of fabric.

But wait! There's more!

Note: I don't have a fancy bias tape maker, although I think now I understand why they are priced so high.... They're worth it! Geeez! I almost pulled my hair out over this process. And if you're not fond of ironing, like myself, then you'll want to stay away from bias tape. I was at the iron for about three and a half hours...

-the next step required a really long needle and a fabric-covered ironing board. I had to create a gap about an inch and a half long for the fabric to pass through
-then I had to pull the fabric through the little hole that was half its size, and iron as the fabric folded in towards the center of the strip (soooo—my fabric must have been special, because it sure couldn't fold properly without my assistance—I had to stop and shift the fabric and then iron every four inches or so. Bah!)
-THEN (if you actually manage to get all of the fabric through that little gap without dying of a heat stroke from the wafting steam) you have to do it again.... only this time you pass the fabric through an even smaller hole.

Note: I don't have any pictures of this first part of the bias tape making process. I definitely took pictures, but in my heat-induced delirium I apparently couldn't tell that they weren't up to par... so, sorry guys!

-I eventually noticed that my fabric was actually starting to look like bias tape! After doing a little happy dance (and getting another glass of wine—maybe that's why it seemed so hot...) I had to start rolling up the bias tape so that it would hold its form.



-And then somewhere around 11pm on night two, I was done!



Isn't it pretty!?!

So I cut out the sides of my tote bag.



And got to sewing!



Within an hour, I had a fabulous tote for Room to Read to raffle off!



I would love to make more of these bias tape tote bags in the future—with the help of a fancy bias tape maker, of course! Unless anyone else has a better “how-to” up their sleeve? I'm all ears!