Last week something rather unexpected happened to me: my friend Amy asked me if I wanted to go through her late grandmother's sewing supplies and told me I was free to take whatever I could use.  I never met her grandma but she must have been a sewing addict just like me! There were hundreds of hundreds of fabrics, as well as thread, zippers and just everything you can possibly think of.
It took us several hours to look through everything and I found some really nice fabrics, some of which could even be vintage. I decided to show you a small selection of what I brought home. It would just be too much to show all the fabric I got!!

We also found these old, handwritten receipts from 1980! And this pretty little paper box with fabric, a matching zipper and seam binding. I wonder if she got that for Christmas a long time ago? Or if it was meant to be a Christmas present and she decided to keep it for herself (been there, done that!)?? Some of the things we found really made me wonder about the story behind it.

And it gets better: we found hundreds of spools of thread! I decided to keep almost all of them, a lot of them hadn't even been opened yet! If the thread is still usable (does Polyester thread ever expire and get fragile I am wondering?) then I will never have to buy thread again in this life :)

And more fabrics (all not ironed, sorry!):

And there was also this: Mary Poppins!! And her bottomless bag and her parrot head umbrella as well! I have absolutely NO clue what to do with this fabric but I knew I could NEVER leave this behind. I loved Mary Poppins as a kid. Actually I still do!

I also got a whole bunch of seam binding and bias tape in all the colors you could think of. Also some elastic and a few buckles! I especially love the green buckles. I will definitely use them for some of my bags.

I was really moved when Amy offered me to take a look at her grandma's sewing room and I am happy that some of the fabrics and sewing supplies now have a new home in my little sewing studio. Joann Fabrics will not be seeing me for a while, that's for sure!

Hi everyone!
We are already past mid January, I truly apologize for having been absent for so long but I honestly don't know where time went... The only good thing about it is it brought us 2 weeks closer to spring :)
Anyways, I have come up with a easy and relatively short tutorial on how to make an iPad case! My birthday was on December 20 and as many of you know I spent it in Germany with my family. This iPad mini was a gift from my husband, and thoughtful as he is he gave it to me before I left the US, so that I could already use it on my long flight and while I was home!
Of course I needed to make a stylish case for it and I thought I'd share with you. I hope you like this tutorial. This pattern will fit all iPad models, regardless the size.
This tutorial is free but if you would rather prefer to download this complete tutorial as a pdf file you may purchase it here for only $2.
Happy sewing!

Please read all instructions before you begin.
All cutting measurements given are height x width.
All seam allowances are 1/2” unless stated otherwise.

You need:

- Exterior fabric for outer main body: 1 fat quarter (18” x 22”)
- Lining fabric for inner main body: 1 fat quarter (18” x 22”)
- Heavy fusible stabilizer e. g. Pellon Peltex #71F: no more than a 12” x 22” piece (depends on iPad size)
- Fusible interfacing e. g. Pellon 906F Fusible Sheerweight: 1/3 yd
- 1 piece of hook and loop tape (sew-on): 2”
- Elastic: approx. 1/2 yd (I used ruffle elastic for a more decorative look)

  Below I give the exact measurements for an iPad mini case and the formula to calculate the measurements should you want to make a case for different iPad models.

Cut the following fabric pieces:

A) Outer main body (use exterior fabric) – cut this 1x:

For iPad MINI:
9 1/2" x 12 1/4”

For other iPad models use the following formula to determine the size of the fabric piece:
- Take the height of your iPad and add 1 1/2”: this is the height of your fabric piece.
- Take the width of your iPad and double it. Add the depth of your iPad. Add 1 1/2": this is the width of your fabric piece.

(e. g. if your iPad is 9 1/2” high, your fabric piece will have a height of 11”
          if your iPad is 6 1/2” wide and 1/4" deep your fabric piece will have a width of 14 3/4” )

B) Inner main body (use lining fabric) – cut this 2x:

For iPad MINI:
9 1/2" x 6 5/8”

For other iPad models use the following formula to determine the size of the fabric pieces:
- The height of your fabric pieces will be the same as for the main body outer part.
- Take the width of your main body outer part as measured above. Divide by 2. Add 1/2”: this is the width of your fabric piece.

(e. g. your fabric pieces will be the have the same height as the main body exterior fabric, in this case 11”
If your main body inner fabric was 14 3/4” as measured above your inner main body fabric pieces will have a width of 7 7/8”

C) Heavy fusible stabilizer – cut this 1x

For iPad MINI:
Measurements as given in A). Subtract 1/2" from each of the four edges.

For other iPad models:
Measurements as given in formula under A). Subtract 1/2" from each of the four edges.

D) Fusible interfacing – cut this 2x

For iPad MINI:
Measurements as given in B).

For other iPad models:
Measurements as given in formula under B).

The following parts have the same size regardless of iPad type:

E) Closure tab:

From exterior fabric – cut this 1x:
4 1/2” x 5 1/2”

From heavy fusible stabilizer – cut this 1x:
3 1/2 ” x 4 1/2”


Instructions:

- Fuse interfacing onto the wrong side of the inner main body fabric pieces.
- Fuse heavy stabilizer to the wrong side of the tab closure fabric piece. Make sure to place it centered onto the fabric piece so that there will be no stabilizer on the seam allowance.

1.) Make the inner main body
- Place one of your inner main body fabric pieces right side up and put your iPad centered onto it.
- Place your elastic onto one corner so that it covers the corner of your iPad. It should be positioned loosely, don’t tighten it just yet. Make sure to position the elastic in an angle so that it would cover enough of your iPad to hold it in place but at the same time won’t cover too much of your screen. If you are satisfied with your positioning pin the elastic down on both fabric edges.
- Cut off your elastic and repeat the previous step on the three other corners.

- After pinning down the elastic remove your iPad. Smooth the elastic out to make sure it lies flat on the fabric. You may have to remove some of the pins again and pin it down again.
- Stitch the elastic onto the fabric using a 3/16” seam allowance.

- Place the second inner main body part onto the inner main body part with the elastic attached, right sides together. Make sure that all edges are aligned. Pin in place and sew along the left-hand long edge. Iron the seam open and set aside.

2.) Make the outer main body
- Make the tab closure:
Fold the tab closure fabric piece in half vertically, right sides together. This means that your fabric piece will be 4 1/2” x 2 3/4” after folding. Iron or handpress to make sure you will see the center crease. Unfold again and place the closure tab fabric piece right side up.

- Place the soft part of your hook and loop tape onto your closure tab fabric piece: it should be positioned approx. 1/2" left from the center crease and centered between the top and the bottom edge of the fabric piece. Pin in place and sew the hook and loop tape to the fabric piece using a 1/8” seam allowance.

- Fold your fabric piece in half along the center crease again, right sides together. Pin in place and stitch along both short edges. Turn it right side out.

- Place your closure tab (with the hook and loop tape facing up) onto the outer main body fabric piece. It should be positioned centered on the left-hand side edge of the outer main body fabric piece. The raw edges of both the tab closure piece and the main body piece should be aligned. Pin in place and stitch along the raw edge using a 1/4" seam allowance.

3.) Assemble the iPad case:
- Place the outer main body piece (with the closure tab attached) onto the inner main body piece right sides together. Make sure that the side with the closure tab touches the side with the elastic. Make sure that all edges are aligned and pin in place.

- Sew around all edges but leave an opening of approx. 7” at the side that does not have the closure tab or elastic attached. Trim down the seam allowance and clip the corners. Turn right side out. Fold the seam allowance at the opening down to the inside and iron.

- Find the right spot for the second part of your hook and loop tape:
Take your iPad and put it inside your case. Fold the case in half as if closing it. Take a fabric marker and mark the spot where the hook and loop tape of the closure tab touches the exterior main body.

- Sew the hook and loop tape onto the exterior main body at the spot you marked using a 1/8” seam allowance. You may have to remove the arm of your sewing machine for this step.

- Insert the heavy stabilizer into the casing: Slide it through the opening, match all corners and flatten it out. Make sure it sits nicely inside the case (you will be fusing the stabilizer to the fabric in the very last step when ironing your iPad case).

- Make sure that the seam allowance of the opening is still folded to the inside. Pin in place and topstitch the opening close.

- Finish up your case by ironing it thoroughly. At the same time your stabilizer will be fused to the fabric.

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 :)

A couple weeks ago I participated in the Sew Sweetness Bag Contest on Sew Mama Sew and I was really thrilled to see that my Petrillo Bag made it to the TOP 15!! There were about 60 entries and my bag got picked by a jury to be among the top 15 bags of the contest. And here is how you can help me:

Everybody can vote for their top 3 favorite entries among the 15 finalists! So please please please take a look at all the awesome bags - and vote for me :) And then vote for two other bags that you like. I promise it is going to be a really tough choice!
See picture below for my bag :)

Thank you so much everyone!! :-*

I am honored to be a guest blogger for Sew Mama Sew!! My review about bag stabilizers was posted two days ago and you can check it out here!

(They also posted a small bio about me which you can find here.)
If you haven't seen it already I would like to invite you to head over to Sew Mama Sew and check out my review. I am sharing my favorite stabilizer product options for making bags, with tips for the best way to use each product. Those products are By Annie's Soft and Stable, Timtex, fast2fuse Heavyweight, Stiff Stuff, Roc-Lon Multipurpose Cloth and two versions of Vilene Decovil which is more common outside the United States.
I hope you will like my review and that it will be helpful to you with your upcoming bag projects. Which stabilizers do you usually use? Maybe there's more out there, that I haven't tried yet? You are welcome to leave me a comment or post a comment over at Sew Mama Sew! :)

I apologize for being a little late with this but I finally managed to draw the winner of the giveaway! I used Random Number Generator, counting all the blog comments, Facebook likes and new subscribers and this is the result:

Let's see who is the lucky winner:

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

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

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!
I am giving away two of my sewing patterns to one lucky winner! I currently have 14 sewing patterns in my shop 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 four 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!)
What kind of purse do you like most? I preferred smaller handbags until I started sewing my own bags. Now I feel like, the bigger the handbag the better!

There is also the option for two bonus entries:
- You can get a bonus entry if you like charmed Liebling on Facebook
- You can follow my blog via Feedburner (upper right hand corner)

The giveaway runs until December 13th, 8PM EST.
The winners will be chosen by Random Number Generator on December 15th.
Thanks for participating and good luck!

Just in time before I will leave for my trip home to Germany I am happy to introduce you to my latest sewing pattern which is now available in my pattern store: the Rhine Valley Bag!

This bag is named after the region where I lived before I moved to the States. I actually grew up close to the area you see on the right-hand side picture and later moved to Mainz, which is a city right on the shore of the beautiful Rhine River, where I lived for eight years.

I actually made a similar version of this bag in the spring and took it with me to Germany. It was the perfect size for hand luggage on the long plane ride. I finally decided to create a sewing pattern and have to say I really love this bag! It is big, it is spacious but so handy at the same time! I hope you like it as much as I do :)

One of my favorite features is the recessed top zipper. Inside the bag there are two 3D shaped slip pockets which easily fit smaller items like your keys or your phone.

Since I like making pleats I added two pleated pockets to the front of the bag. It is actually one large divided pocket, and each compartment closes with a flap and a magnetic snap.

I used store-bought (fake) leather handles for both of my bags but my instructions give you the option to attach fabric handles with rectangular rings in case you don't want to go with store-bought handles.

The pdf file comes with 21 pages of instructions, 56 color photographs and 5 pattern pieces. All measurements are given in centimeters and inches.
The finished size of this bag is 30 x 45 x 10 cm/ 12 x 18 x 4 in (height x width x depth).

Supplies needed:

- Exterior fabric: 1 m or 1 yd
- Lining fabric: 1.30 m or 1 1/3 yd
- Fusible fleece e.g. Pellon 987F: 0.60 m or 2/3 yd
- Fusible interfacing, e. g. Pellon 931 TD:  4.20 m or 4.5 yd
- 1 zipper 46 cm (18”) or longer
- 2 magnetic snaps
- 2 faux leather handles, approx. 55 cm (22”) long

If not using store bought handles you will also need:
- 4 rectangular rings, 3 cm (1.25”) width
- Add 15 cm/ 5” of lining fabric to the amount given above!

Thanks to all the testers who helped me with this project! Have a look at their bags, aren't they all amazing??

Ree from Sincerely, Ree used an animal print for her bag. She says this bag will be perfect for travelling. She acutally made a cute hat using the same fabrics, so please make sure to pop over to her blog and have a look!

Cara from Early Bird Stitches made this wonderful bag. Her items are always so well-finished and I just love the color combo of this one. ,

Tracey from Sew Chubby Cheeks made a "real" travel bag! Her fabric takes up the travel theme and I would say that this is a perfect bag to use as your carry-on luggage :)

This is PJ's bag. The yellow flaps of the front pockets make a really nice contrast to the blue floral print she used for the exterior. PJ also has an Etsy shop, so make sure to check it out!

How cute is the pattern of Susan's bag? I totally love all those happy dots :) Susan used fake leather handles for her bag which give her bag look a real professional finish.

Sarah from Prairie Girl Knits chose this really great color combo for her Rhine Valley Bag. I mean, a big bag made entirely with pink lining? Awesome!!

Silvia used a really cute animal print for her bag. The lining actually shows chicken and roosters! She used fake leather handles for the first time and they turned out really nicely.

Marcia from Sew Inspired chose this really colorful floral print for her Rhine Valley Bag. Marcia teaches sewing classes so I am not surprised that her bags always look so well finished!

I love the pattern of Erin's bag! The tree theme is really fun and the colors match perfectly. I can totally see why Erin says she is a little sad to be giving this bag away!

This is Jenny's Rhine Valley Bag. She chose a floral print for the exterior and says she especially loved making the recessed zipper, as it turns out they are not that hard to make. I am glad to hear that :)

Janet said the suede cloth she used for her bag was a little tricky to sew. She still managed to sew up a really cool Rhine Valley Bag!

Patti used braided handles for her bag. They go very well with the fabric she used, Heritage Studio Collection by Fabric Traditions.

How gorgoeous is that leaf print of Vicky's bag?? She actually had two fabrics at first and couldn't decide which one to use. I like her choice :) Vicky sells awesome things and blogs at Vicky Myers Creations so make sure to stop by!

Tonya used a fake leather for the exterior and matched it with a purple cotton for the lining and the pocket flaps. I agree with her that these two fabrics look wonderful together!

I really hope you like my new design. I always prefered smaller handbags but the big ones are really growing on me :) Are you more of a big bag or a small bag girl? I would love to know!

I posted this free tutorial the other day about how to turn an xxl-shirt into a dress and I finally made a second one! I had to wait for my new t-shirt to arrive, which I got from my choir. I joined the Rochester Oratorio Society last year and I really enjoy singing with them. A couple weeks ago they offered the opportunity to order shirts and hoodies with their logo on the front, I already have a hoodie (in light pink :-)) and since that other shirt for my friend turned out so nicely I decided to order a big shirt for myself and turn it into a dress as well.

For the basic steps to make this dress, please refer to my free tutorial. Below I will show you how I lengthened my shirt, embellished the sleeves and made the belt.

--- This tutorial is free but for your convenience I decided to offer the complete tutorial as a PDF for download for only $2, if you prefer to have everything in one structured document ---

1. Embellish the sleeves
I didn't want to go with regular sleeves and since I was planning on lengthening my shirt with some nice coordinating cotton fabric I thought I'd be a nice idea to add a small strip of that fabric to the sleeves as well. Another thing I did was attaching a piece of elastic to the wrong side of the sleeve, to get a nice effect. To do this you will have to measure the height of your sleeve and take a piece of elastic of about half that height. Place the elastic centered onto the wrong side of your sleeve, starting approx. 0.75" down from the top edge. Stitch it down to the fabric while pulling it tight, so that the other end of the elastic ends about 0.75" from the bottom edge of the sleeve. This will make the elastic to create crinkles (nice ones!) on your sleeve as shown on the picture to the bottom right.

Next I cut two strips of my cotton fabric (each with a height of 2"), which had the same width as the bottom edge of the sleeves. I put the sleeve and the fabric right sides together and stitched. Next I folded the cotton fabric over to the wrong side of the sleeve, folded down the seam allowance and pinned the cotton fabric down on the sleeve, with the its clean edge being pinned down just about 1/8" above the seam you made in the step before.

Topstitch from the right side of the sleeve to make sure your stitching is even. Stitch approx. 1/8" down from the top edge of the cotton fabric.

I also pulled a strip of elastic through the cotton fabric and tightened it just a little bit, for the sleeve the get a nicer and rounder shape. Stitching the ends of the elastic to the cotton fabric made sure it stayed in place for the next step.

Next I folded my sleeve in half so that the two short edges were aligned and stitched them right sides together. Then I was ready to attach the sleeve to the shirt (see my previous tutorial for this step).

2. Lengthen the shirt
With a height of 5' 9" I am fairly tall and so I had to lengthen the shirt or I would have risked showing to much... and we certainly don't want that :) So I added two 4" long strips of my cotton fabric to the front and the back of the shirt.

3. Adding a belt
I decided to add a little belt to my dress since I didn't quite like the look of it. I wanted it to be fairly long so I actually had to stitch two pieces right sides together along the short ends to get a piece that was about 64" long. I made two of these, so both of my fabric pieces ended up being approx. 64" x 1.75". I put them right sides together, all edges aligned and stitched along both long edges using a 1/4" seam allowance. I used a turning tool to turn the belt right sides out and folded down the seam allowance of both short edges and topstitched them closed.
I acutally put on my dress to find the right height for the belt and pinned it down on the two side seams of the dress. I made sure that the center of the belt was aligned with the center of the back of the shirt. Then I simply topstitched the belt down on the two side seams of the dress.

This is acutally more of a summer dress but I don't think I can wait that long before wearing it. I really like the way it turned out and it took me only about 2 hours to make it :)

Thanks for reading and I hope you like this project :)

Happy Sunday everyone :) It is really cold here and I decided that this is a perfect chance to spend all Sunday sitting on my sewing machine! I bought some new fabrics yesterday - I posted earlier today on Facebook - and will make them into a bag of some sort (what else??).

Just wanted to show you some of my latest creations, all completed last week. Maybe this will give you some inspiration for a Sunday project of your own :))

Fabrics I bought yesterday:
- Flora from the Impressions Collection by Ty Pennington
- Bear Essentials 2 by P & B Textiles (turquoise)
- Classic Elements by P & B Textiles (gray)

The following items I actually made for a review that I am working on right now, which will be posted on Sew Mama Sew in December:

A Classy Clutch:

Exterior fabric: The Painted Garden by Dena Designs for Free Spirit

Lining fabric: Dear Stella

A small purse that can be used as a clutch, a wristlet or worn across the body. This is a new design that I made up rather spontaneously :) I will probably make a sewing pattern from this. It could even be a nice beginner pattern, since it is fairly easy to make but still has a little bit of embellishment and uses some hardware (hence is not too boring. That was my point :))

This pattern is an old Burda bag sewing pattern that I found in my stash. I had a little bit of that beautiful purple fabric left and decided to use it for this bag design (I previoulsy made a California Sunshine Bag with this fabric).

Exterior fabric: "Queen Anne's Lace" from the Piper Collection by Dear Stella
Lining fabric: "Citron" from Garden Pindot by Michael Miller

Happy sewing  and stay warm :)