Hello everybody!
It's been a while since I have last posted but I was out of town and exploring my new country again. And to be quite honest, I was totally sick of the looooong winter of upstate NY, so I escaped to California for a little bit. One of the most awesome things I did was this:
Shopping at Mood Fabrics, Los Angeles!
I love love love this store and you might remember that I went to the store in New York City for the first time, in December of last year. I knew that if I ever make it to Los Angeles I would have to go to the store there. And so I did, on April 2, to be exact!

The store is located at 645 South La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036. It is smaller than the one in NYC but just as well organized! And to be honest, there is still so much fabric to choose from, it gets a little overwhelming. One half of the store has all the fashion fabrics and the other half all the home decor fabrics. I spent about two hours in the store and left with four fabrics.

There is also a huge collection of buttons, buckles, zippers and all other supplies you can possibly think of. I mean look at the picture with all the buttons! Isn't that amazing??

And these are the fabrics I bought:
I started off in the knit section since I love nice cotton knits with prints and they are just so hard to get. This one is definitely going to be made into another summer dress, like the one I already made a couple weeks ago, with the Rochester skyline on the back. I even found this fabric online on the Mood Fabrics website, if you want to check it out.

I also bought this knit fabric with a large scale print:

My favorite is this next one! I was looking for a fabric to make a maxidress using a Burda style pattern and I found this awesome silk fabric:

This is the pattern I want to use. I haven't tried this one before but I think it will look really gorgeous with that fabric. I just hope I won't screw up on this one because I could not forgive myself if I did :)
If you are interested in this pattern, it is in the Burda style May 2013 edition and you can also find it on their website.

This is the last fabric I bought. I am not really sure what I am going to make of this one but I kind of liked the color combo. I could make it into a skirt for instance and it will match a lot of my tops. It is a Marc Jacobs fabric for $ 18/yard, so I couldn't resist.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my new fabrics! I know I do. If you ever make it to LA or NYC you have to check out Mood Fabrics. It is seriously one of the most exciting fabric stores I have ever been to (and that includes stores in Europe). I have been to both of them within four months and couldn't be more excited about it. I hope to be able to go back some time...

Happy New Year to all of you! I hope you had nice holidays. Before I flew to Germany for Christmas I treated myself to a short trip to NYC. I had never been there before so during the two days I spent there I wanted to do some sightseeing of course, but something else - not less important - was also on my list:
check out some fabric stores in the Garment District of Manhattan!!

I didn't really have too much time but I made it to three different stores. The first one didn't really impress me at all, which is why I won't share anything about it. But the two others were amazing!

1. Mood Fabrics
225 W 37th St 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10018
I doubt there will be any sewer who is not familiar with Project Runway or this awesome store. After riding the elevator to the third floor you will feel like entering paradise. At least if you are into making clothing. This store is huge but so well organized! There are actually two floors with an enormous selection of apparel fabrics. I was a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of bolts in each single aisle but they have a very good labeling system which made it easier to find what I was looking for. I particularly wanted to check for cotton knit fabrics and for tweed. I spent about 1.5 hours in the store and two different - very friendly - staff members helped me find the right fabrics for my purposes. This is what I bought:

Two knit fabrics both of which I am planning on making into some sort of summer dresses. I especially love the left one with this phenomenal print and color scheme.
They are both 100% cotton which I love since I am having a hard time finding knit fabrics in my local stores that are not made of polyester. I should have probably bought so much more. But I was scared my suitcase would be too heavy in the end. I guess I will have to come back some time :)

In the wool section I bought this purple tweed fabric. I was looking for something for my mom for her birthday which was at the end of December. She is a sewing addict as well (she is actually the one who got me into sewing, thanks Mama!) so I thought some nice fabric from Mood would be a perfect birthday gift. She likes making short jackets and coats and I think this fabric will look perfect on her.

At checkout they even signed me up for Mood Rewards. Now I have a pretty key chain which I carry around. Even though it might be a while until I come back :)

2. The City Quilter
133 W 25th St
New York, NY 10001

This store is perfect if you are a quilter or bag maker. It has a decent size with a nice selection of cotton fabrics and also some home decor fabrics. They are all sorted by colors which I loved! First of all it just looks really nice and second of all it saved me a lot of time since I would only check out the shelves with my preferred color schemes. I bought four different fabrics here which of course are all going to be made into some sort of bag :)

In case you are interested here's some information about the designers (from left to right):
1. Juggling Summer by Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic for Moda.
2. Ladies' Stitching Club by Liesl Gibson of Oliver + S for Moda.
3. Twenty Three by Eric & Julie Comstock of Cosmo Cricket for Moda.
4. 1000 Cranes by Rashida Coleman Hale for Cloud 9 Fabrics.

I can't wait to get started on sewing with my new fabrics! What is your first project for the new year going to be?? Maybe you even got some new fabrics for Christmas? I would love to know what you are up to for the new year so just leave me a comment if you like :)

I am happy to finally introduce my latest sewing pattern to you, now available for instant download in my pattern store: the California Sunshine Bag!

Back from vacation, back with a new bag sewing pattern! As it turned out, I not only took my new rose petal bag with me on vacation but I also decided to take the bag along which had been my latest project before I hit the road.
I needed a bag that would be big enough for the things I would have with me while exploring two of the most interesting cities of the world: Las Vegas and San Francisco. Especially for Vegas and the Nevada desert this meant that my recently purchased refillable water bottle had to fit in there. I am constantly scared to dehydrate :)

My new bag was perfect for sightseeing in the cities: not only did my water bottle fit in there but also all the other stuff you need to have with you, like wallet, keys, phone, camera, sunglasses, my travel guide...

This was my first visit to the Southwest. I totally fell in love with San Francisco and the Bay area in general. At some point I drove south on Highway 1, exploring the Pacific coast, and I was stunned by the beauty of the area.
Back home it was time for me to name my new bag design, as feedback of my pattern testers came rolling in. I didn’t have to think too long about it: I wanted it to remind me of all the great experiences I made on my trip so I decided to name it the California Sunshine Bag :)

This bag comes with four pockets in addition to the main compartment. It has a large slip pocket on the back and an interior zip pocket. On the front of the bag there are two smaller slip pockets, which are folded into decorative pleats.
The flap closes with a magnetic snap that is attached to a tab. This closure is connected to the flap of the bag with an O-ring and a decorative strip of fabric which is sewn onto the center of the flap. The strap is long enough for the bag to be worn on one shoulder or across the body.

The pdf file comes with 18 pages of instructions, 44 pictures and 6 pattern pieces. All measurements are given in centimeters and inches.
The finished size of this bag is 28.5 x 39 x 4.5 cm / 11.25 x 15.5 x 1.75 in (height x width x depth).

Supplies needed:

- Exterior fabric: 1 m or 1 yd
- Lining fabric: 1 m or 1 yd
- Fusible fleece e.g. Pellon 987F: ½ m or ½ yd
- Fusible interfacing, e. g. Pellon 931 TD:  1 ½ m or 1 ½ yd
- 2 rectangular rings (2.5 cm /1”)
- 1 O-ring (approx. 4 cm/ 1.5” diameter)
- 1 magnetic snap
- 1 zipper, 18 cm (7”)

And now please have a look at the bags my testers made. They have outdone themselves again and I am so grateful for all their help!

Ree from Sincerely, Ree was done with her bag after only five days. She is a true sewing addict and I love how she always embellishes her items, like in this case with the red bows!

This is Susan's California Sunshine Bag. She combined blue and purple batik fabrics which make an awesome color combo!

I love the bright colors of Kristin's California Sunshine Bag and the way the different prints match! You can see the cute floral pattern of the lining even better in the close-up.

I saw Susan's bag and thought: yes, my name for the pattern totally matches her bag! It makes me think of springtime, sunshine and walking through fields of California wildflowers :)

Jodi's bag comes in a beautiful floral fabric in pink and brown shades. Her bag looks so well finished, nice job!

Carol used some awesome constrasting prints for her California Sunshine Bag. I am totally in love with this combination!

Silvia used fabrics by Kaffe Fassett for her California Sunshine Bag. These awesome bright colors make her bag a real eyecatcher!

This is DeeAnn's California Sunshine Bag. She used a dark blue fabric with a rose print and it really looks amazing for this bag pattern!

Lisa's bag looks so elegant, I love the combination of the plain dark green exterior fabric and the lining with the butterfly pattern. Absolutely stunning!

If you like this pattern and would like to make a California Sunshine 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!

Some of you might know that making a new bag for myself every time I am about to travel has become a tradition of mine!
(Click "vacation projects" in the category search on the right-hand side to read about my other "vacation" bags!)
I will be leaving for a trip to the Southwest of the States on Wednesday and while I was going through my clothes last week to decide on what I am going to bring I noticed that I actually don't have a smaller handbag which is pretty enough to be used when going out at night. Unbelievable, I know...

I quickly decided to make a rose petal bag since it has the perfect size and looks classy enough to be used for either shopping or for a night out. I decided to go with a neutral brown cotton fabric for the exterior, which has a slight pattern to it (I don't like plain... boring!). For the rose petals I used that same brown fabric (but I folded the petals so that the plain side would be the exterior side) and added a light pink plus three petals made of a salmon colored chevron fabric.

This is only the second rose petal bag I have made so far. It is really quick to sew up (I needed about 5 hours altogether, cutting and interfacing all fabric pieces included). Again I decided to go with Roc-Lon Multipurpose Cloth to interface the exterior fabric pieces. This material is awesome, even though it is very thin it gives the bag great body and the bag feels and looks really good! It in non-fusible, so I had to baste it onto the two main body panels and the flap before I could start assembling the bag. I usually don't baste along all edges but just at some spots, to keep the interfacing in place.

I really like this bag! The colors match nicely with my favorite dress which I am definitely going to bring on my trip. If you like what you see you can check out more rose petal bag designs in one of my previous blogposts. This bag is so versatile and works for so many styles, it is really fun to look at all the different designs.

So I will be off on my trip with my new bag, yay! This is my first vacation since February so I am really looking forward to it (my trip to Germany doesn't count. That was going home :)). Enjoy the rest of the summer everyone! Have you been on vacation this past summer? I would love to hear about it, so leave a comment if you like :)

Yes, I'm in Germany to visit my family, yay! Haven't been there in a year, so it was about time.
As mentioned in previous blog posts, it just so happens that I like to make something new for myself every time I travel. Don't know why, but it is really becoming a well-loved habit of mine :)
(Read about my great getaway bag, my piping hot hobo and my mini travel sleeve to learn more about my previous pre-vacation projects!)

When I went to Germany last year I traveled with the great getaway bag as my hand luggage. I really enjoyed carrying that colorful happy bag around but eventually decided not to use it this year, but to use a small suitcase as carry-on instead. Main reason: My big suitcase will be way too heavy when I fly back to the US due to all the Nutella, chocolate and other vital stuff you need in the US as a foreigner :) Last time I had to make my mom send me a package with all the stuff I bought, so this year I will just pack a lot of it into my hand luggage instead. Problem solved, the only thing is that I need a suitcase to pull, I would never be able to carry those heavy things on my arm in my bag.

I quickly decided that to make up for the boring carry-on I would need an exciting handbag. So I made one!

I found this nice fabric and matched it with a burgundy colored lining fabric. I wanted a large bag that would carry all my essentials during the flight (you know, like phone, wallet, book, magazine, sweater…) and could be stored under my seat. My bag measures approx. 30 x 44 cm (12 x 17") and has a depth of 10 cm (4").

I put in a recessed zipper, since I like my handbags to be "hermetically sealed", especially when I am hanging around airports and other places with lots of traffic… you never know.
On the inside there is one relatively large zipper pocket and two slip pockets. The handles (faux leather) are used, coming from an old (and ugly) bag that I found at a flea market last year.

I love the pockets on the outside of the bag! They are basically made of one large piece of fabric, which is folded into pleats in the middle and then topstitched down onto the center of the main body piece of the bag. This creates two pockets on either side, each of which got its own flap with a magnetic snap! I found this kind of front pocket in my Lisa Lam book A bag for all reasons. She has a large diaper bag (called The Fashionista Baby Bag) in there that has those front pockets. They look super stylish but are really easy to make.
The bag is completely interfaced with "By Annie's Soft and Stable". It makes the bag look really professional, yet it it relatively easy to work with.

I love my new bag! My cats do too :-)

Edit: find the free sewing tutorial here :)
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It seems like every time I get ready to go on vacation I feel the urge to make a new item that I can take along:  first my gorgeous travel bag for my trip to Germany last spring and then my super practical handbag, which I took to Berlin. This time I came up with an idea that is clearly related to my (slightly exaggerated) fear of pickpockets… but in my defense: I’ve been there, I know what it feels like to notice that your wallet is gone... and the thief even had the audacity to tie the strings of my backpack in a bow after taking out the wallet!

Anyway, I tried to think of some case or sleeve that would carry only my essentials, since I hate being stuck with a heavy handbag when I do sightseeing or go on a hike. Apart from my phone these essentials turn out be only my driver’s license/ID, green card and credit card plus a little bit of cash. You might even recognize the pattern, it's a mini version of the laptop cases I sell in my charmed Liebling Etsy shop. I basically made a cell phone case, measuring only 8 x 14 cm (3.25 x 5.5"), but I added a strap with a snap hook, so that I can put the case into my pocket and tie it to the belt loop of my pants! Pretty smart, huh? Ok, seriously, I have no idea if this is going to protect me from being robbed. But at least there won’t be any bows as a farewell greeting this time! AND this mini sleeve just looks really cute ;-)

One thing I love about Europe are the Dutch fabric markets! The Netherlands have always been famous for their fabrics and many dealers go on tour twice a year (spring and fall) to the bigger cities of Germany to sell their stuff. To be honest I even planned my trip to Germany according to their schedule. I knew they would be in Frankfurt on June 10 and so would I! Those markets are heaven for fabric lovers and sewing enthusiasts! Many dozens of booths, each of them carrying a great variety of fabrics, for clothes, bagmaking, home decor and quilting. Some dealers also offer accessories like ribbons, buttons, all kinds of notions, patterns and even sewing machines. The good thing about the Dutch fabric markets is that you get the whole package: quality, variety AND bargains! Gotta LOVE this!!  
I was looking for some more medium-weight cottons for bagmaking. Here's what I found:

They also have a huge range of knit fabrics, plain and colored, all of which are ridiculously cheap! I only bought two cotton knits which I am planning on using for myself, maybe for sleepwear or something. Both pieces are 60" x 60" and I paid 10 Euros (i. e. 12.50 $) which is pretty awesome!

                                            10 zips (all 18 cm/7") for 5 Euros (6.30 $)!!!

If you ever make it to Europe and want to catch one of the markets, here's the link to their official website. Check for "Termine", which is the German word for schedule! I forgot to take any pictures on the market but they have a lot of nice pics posted on their website too, just to give you an impression of the atmosphere!
AND: if you ever go, be sure to bring enough cash as most of the dealers don't accepts credit cards!

I really feel like talking a little bit about my favorite handbag today. It just passed its first real „stress test“ on a trip to one of the most amazing cities of the world: BERLIN!!

It was one of the very first handbags I made and again I used a pattern of Lisa Lam from her book “The bag making bible”. It’s called “the piping hot hobo” and really versatile. It is expandable since it has two popper snaps, one on either side of the bag. I never carried more than a wallet, a case for my glasses and my cell phone in it, so until a few days ago I really had noooo idea how much it could take. Now I can tell you: A LOT!!
So here’s what I wanted to put into the bag. Quite a few things, huh?

Here’s a picture of what it looked like when I went on my trip!

Isn’t that amazing? I put the above mentioned essentials in it plus: a travel guide, a book, headphones, my camera, a chapstick, a calendar (do people still have those, or am I the only one..??), a manicure set, a magazine, my train ticket, tissues (yeah, I know, that’s supposed to be a German thing, always carrying a bag of tissues with us. They have four layers btw, I never get tired of mentioning that ;-)) and I even thought about putting a small bottle of water in there too but decided against it, since it wouldn’t have kept its nice shape.
I attached a long leather strap on the bag, so on my long walks through the city I could wear it like a cross-body bag which I prefer to carrying it on one shoulder especially when the bag gets heavy.
Anyways, I was really surprised about how convenient this handbag is and I’m definitely going to make more of those to sell in my shop as well!

Btw, this is what it looks like with all the stuff in it! Didn't go out of shape at all!

I finally finished my biggest bag project so far. I decided to make a bag for myself for a change and my ambitious goal was the „great getaway bag“, a travel bag from „The Bag Making Bible“ by the fabulous Lisa Lam. It is my favorite bag making book, I love her patterns and instructions and during the last few weeks that book has literally become my bible as I had it on me almost everywhere (well ok, with a few exceptions maybe).
So back to the great getaway bag:
The finished bag measures approx. 11 x 18 x 9" (28 x 46 x 23 cm). I'm planning on using it as my hand luggage on my flights to Europe, I can’t wait to use it for the first time when going home to Germany one week from now. I bet I'm gonna have the prettiest bag on the plane!

I used home dec fabric (100% cotton) and I just loooove the colors! I’m usually not the pink loving kind of girl but in this case I had to make an exception. I found the exterior main fabric first, thought it would look great for this type of bag and then started looking for a perfect match to use for the trims and handles. Found the one with the pink flowers. For the lining I chose a light beige.
For extra convenience there is an additional pocket on the outside, which closes with a flap and an attached magnetic snap.
Inside the bag has two large pockets to keep your stuff organized and a zip flush pocket.
A big plus is the adjustable strap. In Lisa’s original version the strap is attached on top of the exterior of the bag. I found another version by a fellow crafter online and followed her suggestions. You can find it here. Great idea, thanks Kristien! ;-)
She made a good point in claiming that those would be the weak points of the bag, since the strap has to hold all the weight of your luggage. So she decided to sew the handle loops in between the seams of the front/back part of the bag and the side panels (that hold the top zipper).  
It took me a while to finish the bag, altogether I guess it has been, like, ten hours of work (I needed three hours just to cut the fabric and the fusible fleece/interfacing). There is quite a few pieces to this bag, so if you ever think about making it, make sure you label everything, otherwise you will end up being lost in a huuuuge pile of pattern pieces!
I hope you like the bag as much as I do!