I am in disbelief that May is gone, really, it's already summer break here! This is the second month that I completed my bag before the middle of the month, which really surprises me, I have many projects going on at once. I am still carrying my bag for now and smile a little every time that I look at it. Yes, I sure do.
There was a lot of variation with the pleated clutch, some had no stitches across the pleats, some had no pleats at all, and some had long tails for handles!
I loved seeing how pretty much every bag had a floral embellishment on it, I had intended for mine to go on my dress, but I wore a cardigan with it's own decor, but that rosette took around an hour to make by hand and it was not going to go unused!
If you missed my post, here's my clutch:
Highlights:
Tiny pleats, she took her time...
Elegant bags, loving the solids.
If you want to put a big flower in something, make it a purse, not a baby's head...
This is a great idea--piece your fabrics before starting, you will not need so much of one fabric by doing so.
I know that some of the stitchers were dreading the pleats and there were a lot of them, but once you get going on them, they are not bad at all. I've done a few dresses for my daughter with less pleats but much longer in length--these were easy! Congratulations on making your bag!
For May, The Style Stitches Monthly Bag Challenge 2011 sponsors are:
Above All Fabric, who is awarding a $25 gift certificate! Also, if you sew for little girls, she has a sew along starting on the 18th of June.
Fat Quarter Shop, who is awarding a $50 gift certificate! There's always some quilting going on at their blog!
Now, let's announce the 2 winners for this month's challenge.
I used Random Number Generator to select the winners...
Jansie!
and Wildwags!
Congratulations, ladies!
Now, you must SEND ME AN E-MAIL TO CLAIM YOUR GIFT CERTIFICATE. The first person who sends me a message gets to pick first, the second person gets the alternative gift certificate. You can reply to this post if you like, but you must send me a separate e-mail to claim your prize.
My address is jemelliahilfiger AT yahoo.com. I suggest copying and pasting it to get it correct.
If you have not e-mailed me within 7 days, I will draw for another winner.
Congrats to everyone who made a bag for the challenge, told someone about the challenge, or both!
A very big thank you to our May sponsors!
Fat Quarter Shop and Above All Fabric!
Check back tomorrow for June's bag post. We will have an extra sponsor!
I'll admit, I wasn't sure about this bag at the start-- but I LOVE how it turned out. It really is a fun style, and seeing all of the ways that people have made it their own has been so inspiring!
Congrats to the winners!
Posted by: Robin | 01 June 2011 at 11:07 PM
How exciting that we won the drawing. We have never won anything before. Wildwag Girl and I had a lot of fun making this bag. Thanks to Jemellia for hosting this challenge.
Posted by: Eleanor | 02 June 2011 at 07:15 AM
Thank you for doing this challenge. I have yet to participate but I love reading the blog (and I have Amy's book).
I would love a post in which you discuss which prints would make a great pleated clutch. I keep thinking about fabrics in my stash and I'm just not sure if they would be the best for the pleating. Are there any certain characteristics in a fabric that would be best for this pattern?
Posted by: sue | 03 June 2011 at 08:30 AM
Yay! Thank you so much! This challenge was so awesome. I learned a lot and really enjoyed it. :)
Posted by: Jansie | 03 June 2011 at 05:06 PM
Hopefully, you are thinking of doing this month's bag, it has been a joy to sew (yes, I say that about all of them)!
So, I will think of posting what type of prints look best based on what's in the Flickr group. I personally think that most anything looks great, even if the pleats break up the original print, it just turns into something different.
Posted by: Jemellia | 21 June 2011 at 10:14 PM