It's been pretty quiet here lately but I finally have a new project to show you. I finished another knit dress, made from one of the fabrics I bought in LA at Mood Fabrics.
I decided to go with a Simplicity pattern (# 2883) that I had bought almost two years ago. I bought it on Ebay since Simplicity does not sell this particular pattern any more. This was the first time working with this pattern and I loved it!
The pattern comes with only four pattern pieces (well, five, if you count the tie ends; six, if you are adding sleeves): bodice front, bodice back, skirt front panel, skirt back panel. No darts or anything on the bodice. The skirt panels are being gathered at the top. That's it! It took me about three hours to cut everything and sew it together with my serger :)

I cut the length of the pattern down by approx. 1" so that the dress ends right above my knees. Originally I wanted it to be shorter but I figured it would destroy the nice large scale print.

(....Please ignore my cats' litterbox which is showing in all the pictures. Did not intend that :))

And the best thing: I don't have to wait for better weather to be able to wear it. Summer arrived upstate NY and I am loving it!
Are you working on any projects for the summer right now?

Thank you all for participating in this giveaway. What a week of fun it was!
I truly enjoyed reading all your lovely comments! Thanks to those who also gave me a like on my Facebook page and/or subsribed to my blog, it is very much appreciated and I am happy to have a few more followers who will hopefully enjoy being part of my life in sewing land :)

So here is the lucky winner! I used Random Number Generator, counting all the blog comments, Facebook likes and new subscribers and this is the result:

And who is the winner?

Congratulations Carla! I will be in touch with you so you can let me know which of my sewing patterns I should send out to you!

Thanks again to all who participated, it was great fun! I hope to see you around :)
Happy sewing!

I am happy to introduce you to my latest sewing pattern which is now available in my pattern store: the Tech Travel Bag!*
*Congratulations Patti! You are the winner of the contest in which I asked you to suggest a fitting name for my new pattern! There were so many good suggestions but in the end I had to make a decision... it was hard enough, believe me! Patti, I will be in touch with you shortly :)

This is a medium-sized shoulder bag with two handles and a flap. The bag has a zipper pocket and two slip pockets on the inside and another special feature:
a removable tablet sleeve!
This sleeve closes with a zipper and it is padded for more protection for your tablet. It can be attached to the inside of the handbag with two buttons (or snaps). Or you can use the sleeve separately as well. The sleeve measures 8.25” x 13” (21 x 33 cm) so it should fit most common tablets. The idea behind my new design? I usually carry my iPad with me wherever I go and although I keep it in a case it bothers me that it is thrown loosely into the bag and there isn’t a designated compartment for it in my handbags. 

The pdf file comes with 17 pages of instructions, 43 color photographs and 2 pattern pieces. All measurements are given in centimeters and inches.
The finished size of this bag is 9 x 13 1/2 x 6 in / 23 x 34 x 15 cm  (height x width x depth).

Supplies needed:

- Exterior fabric: 11/4 yd or 1.20 m
- Lining fabric: 1 yd or 1 m
- Fusible fleece e.g. Pellon 987F: 3/4  yd 2/3 m
- Fusible interfacing, e. g. Pellon 931 TD:  1 2/3 yd or 1.5 m
- 1 zipper 12" (30 cm)
- 1 zipper 9" (22 cm)
- 1 magnetic snap
- 4 rectangular rings 1 1/4 yd (3 cm) width
- 2 buttons (or 2 snaps)

My pattern testers all did a great job as always! Check out their versions of the Tech Travel Bag:

The first one of my testers to finish the project was Cara. I like the color combo of her bag, contrast colors always work for me! Cara also has a shop on Etsy where she sells beautiful things!

Jenniffer used piping for her bag and attached the handles with rivets instead of stitching them. The colors of her bag are totally my thing :)

Susan picked a taupe colored fabric with a pretty swirl pattern for her Tech Travel Bag.

Pat picked this awesome green fabric for her Tech Travel Bag! I love how vibrant the color is!

Vicky from Vicky Myers Creations made this gorgeous version of the Tech Travel Bag. Vicky especially loves upcycling and always has lots of interesting stuff going on on her blog!

This is Rachel's Tech Travel Bag. Rachel also blogs at Seamingly Beautiful Quilts, so hop over and check it out!

Marcia says her daughters like her new bag so much, they are trying to put their Kindles in :) It is a beautiful bag, I agree! Marcia also teaches sewing classes and blogs over at Sew Inspired!

Check out the colors of Renae's bag! Not only is the exterior fabric really pretty but look at how that pink lining pops! Love it!

Check out the fussy cut on Janet's bag! Isn't it perfect? Janet says she used Velcro to attach the tablet sleeve inside the bag, which is a great alternative to buttons or snaps.

Silvia also used two very different prints for her Tech Travel Bag. They really go well together, don't you think?

If you like this pattern and would like to make a Tech Travel Bag yourself you can now purchase the pattern in my pattern store. How do you like my new design? I would love to hear your opinion so please leave me a comment below :)
Happy sewing!

Sew Mama Sew is having a giveaway day!! So many great chances to get inspired by fellow crafters AND to win awesome things!
Thanks so much for stopping by on my blog. Today I am giving away two of my PDF sewing patterns to one lucky winner. I currently have 14 sewing patterns in my shop - with another one coming up later this week - and you will be able to pick two of your choice :)

I am addicted to making bags and wallets in all kinds of different designs and if you like making them too, I hope you will love these sewing patterns! Here is just three of them, to see the whole range you can hop over to my pattern shop and have a look around.

To enter the giveaway just leave a comment below:
(if you are a no-reply blogger make sure to leave your email address, so I can get in touch with you if you win)
How many bags, wallets, clutches, purses etc. have you made so far? I think I have made about 200 by now... Or maybe you are new to bag making? I would love to know!

There is also the option for two bonus entries:
Please take a minute and have a look around on my blog. If you like what you see and wish to see more you are welcome to subsribe via Feedburner (upper right hand corner) and/or like charmed Liebling on Facebook.

Don't forget to check out all the other awesome giveaways on Sew Mama Sew.

The giveaway runs until May 16th, 8PM EST.
The winners will be chosen by Random Number Generator on May 18th.
Thanks for participating and good luck!

Hello friends!
Today I am very happy to announce the release of my new sewing pattern:
The Pink Peony Bag! One of the really nice features of this pattern: it comes for free! It is scheduled to be posted tomorrow, Thursday May 8, on the fabulous blog of Sew Mama Sew. Simply head over there tomorrow morning to get the complete pattern for instant download!

This is a beginner friendly pattern so especially if you are new to bag making I would like to encourage you to try this pattern. The Pink Peony Bag is a small and simple bag, yet has a lot of interesting features and a fun design.
It measures approximately 5 1/2“ x 9 1/2“ x 1“ / 14 x 24 x 2.5 cm (height x width x depth).
There are three ways to use this purse: It has a long strap so you can wear it over the shoulder. Simply tuck in and hide the strap and you will be able to carry this little purse as a clutch. Or you may use it as a wristlet by simply clipping on the short strap to a D-ring on the flap.

Supplies needed:
- Exterior fabric: 1/4 yd or 25 cm
- Lining fabric: 1/3 yd or 30 cm
- Heavy fusible stabilizer e.g. Pellon Peltex 71F: 1/2 yd or 0.5 m
- Fusible interfacing (mid-weight), e. g. Pellon 931 TD: 1/2 yd or 0.5 m
- 1 magnetic snap
- 1 D-ring (1/2”/1.5 cm)
- 1 swivel clip

The PDF file comes with 12 pages of instructions, 41 step-by-step color photographs and 3 pattern pieces. In addition the complete instructions will also be posted in the blog post over at Sew Mama Sew.
In order to shorten the waiting time until tomorrow a bit I thought I'd show show you all the gorgeous bags that my testers made. They did an incredible job as always and it is really fun to see how different all their Pink Peony Bags turned out:

Cara from Early Bird Stitches made this one. Hop on over to her Etsy shop to check out more of the wonderful things she makes! 

Kim made two different versions of the bag. She even hand dyed the lining fabric herself and this vibrant color works for both of the bags.  Especially the contrast between pink and green is awesome!

This is Susan's bag. Susan used a fabric with a pretty rose print. And look, the background of her pictures has roses too!

Vicky from Vicky Myers Creations made several versions of the bag. I like the blue fabric with the leaf print that she had already used to make the Rhine Valley Bag.
The pink purses are awesome as well. Vicky made them as Barbie purses for her daughter!

These two versions of the bag were made by Jenniffer. I especially like how she added piping made of the lining fabric to the flap of the blue bag.

Carol says she likes this pattern so much, she could makes hundreds of these bags :) Well, here are several versions to start with! I like the way Carol embellished each of them in a different way.

Nancy made this cute Pink Peony Bag, which comes in happy spring colors. Just what we need right now :)

Marcia from Sew Inspired made this bag! I love the combo of the different prints. Marcia teaches sewing classes and says that she can see this pattern very well for a sewing beginner.

Margaret used a light blue fabric with embroidered flowers. Very pretty!

Dee made these two gorgeous versions of the Pink Peony Bag. Those will make great evening bags. Dee blogs about her sewing adventures at Dee-Zines, so make sure to hop over and check out her site!

This is Alyssa's version of the bag! A happy light blue batik print, wonderful!

Margaret made two versions of the bag, one of them as a wristlet and the other one as a clutch. I like how they both came out and as you can see they both go very well with her favorite coat!

Heidi always creates a nice collage of her bag pictures when she tests for me. As you can see even a large scale print will work with this pattern. Heidi also has a Facebook page where she shares her sewing projects.

I hope you like all the different versions as much as I do! If you want to make a Pink Peony Bag yourself make sure to head over to Sew Mama Sew and download your free pattern!
If you have any questions about this pattern and/or if you like what you see please leave me a comment below :)
Happy sewing everybody!

Hello friends!
As promised in my last blog post I would like to show you the new bag I made for my husband Chris. He actually sketched the design himself (!) and told me exactly what he wanted in terms of pockets, compartments and the shape of the bag.

The fabric: I was pleasantly surprised that he actually picked something that is NOT black. Not that I don't like black but his wardrobe is dominated by black and the last bag I made for him was black and I just find black fabric incredibly boring and difficult to work with - have you ever tried to sew black fabric in the evening without natural light? Not fun at all...
So, he picked a dark brown vinyl for the exterior and matched it with a cotton fabric for the lining.
As for sewing the vinyl: I have to say it was easier than I thought and I didn't have any problems with the fabric at all. I used a leather needle (14/90) and Coats & Clark Extra Strong Nylon Thread. And yes, this thread IS strong: at some point this thick thread cut into the plastic of my sewing machine and I will have to get it fixed soon since it is not working properly any more... I suppose this project was a little bit too ambitious for my poor machine after all (I have to admit I still sew on a pretty simple model - maybe it is just time to upgrade?).

There is a zip pocket on the back of the bag which I extra sewed in a way that the cotton fabric used for the pocket pieces would show a bit. It kind of looks like piping and again I was so surprised how easy it was to sew the zipper into the vinyl!

As you can see Chris wanted an asymmetric shape for the flap. The funny thing is that he is still convinced that he came up with this feature even though I am pretty sure he "copied" the flap of my Rose Petal Bag, haha! Oh, well, I let him have his moment :) The strip of lining fabric on top of the flap was my idea and he liked it, since it brings a little diversion to the exterior which otherwise would only be dark brown.
I think it looks really funny when the flap is up to see the positioning of the magnetic snap closures.

Inside there are several compartments:
There is a divider in the center of the bag. It is the first time I made a divider that reaches across the whole width of the bag and is attached to the sides and the bottom panel (meaning the two parts of the bag are entirely seperated and there is no opening at the bottom like you would sometimes find it with dividers in sewing patterns).
The divider is padded with Annie's Soft and Stable to protect a MacBook.
On the one side of the divider I added two slip pockets. These are the perfect size to hold a notepad and a NOOK.
I also added three pen holders and two compartments for a bunch of business cards, Chris' and mine - he always carries my business cards around and passes them on to people whenever he can. I find that very sweet of him.

That is Chris carrying his new bag. He did not want me to show his face :( He's usually never shy like that but oh well.. I respect his wish for privacy of course. At least you can see the proportions of the bag.

I hope you like this bag. Chris took it to a business trip to Germany and told me that he is getting a lot of compliments for it. I don't know if he is making this up but I am happy that he is enjoying it so much. He has always been so supportive of my business and I like the fact that he comes to me when he wants a new bag or wallet :)

I may turn this bag into a sewing pattern some time soon. Would you be interested in a pattern for this bag? Do you have other features that would be important to you for this kind of office/messenger/laptop bag? Just let me know and I'd be happy to include this in my design.

I hope you all have a lovely Sunday!