As a self-proclaimed “Bagineer”, it’s easy to guess what I love to make the most….but sometimes it’s fun to step away from that and give something else a try, which is exactly what I did! Also by doing this particular project, I got to check off an item that has been on my “To Make” list for awhile now! The reason I finally got around to making it was actually because I was inspired by the new line of faux leathers from Sallie Tomato that we brought in! There was one in particular that I was drawn to called Lunar Shimmer….it’s exactly what you might assume, purply-pinky and shimmery…oooohhh ahhhh lol! I took this home the same day it arrived at the shop and I knew that I wanted to use it in this exact project!
Even though I’ve already said this isn’t a bag pattern, it is written by a bag designer that I quite enjoy, Sincerely, Jen! It’s called the Moondance Notepad Holder and it’s exactly what it says it is….a multi-sized pattern that you can quickly whip up to hold a few different sizes of notepads!
It is written specifically to use with a vinyl and requires literally nothing else! A few very smart people have come up with a few different “hacks”, all brilliant of course, but really the only one I felt like I needed to add to mine was a tiny piece of 1/2″ elastic to make a pen holder….so that means I needed 2 “ingredients” to make mine!
As I said, I knew I was going to use the Lunar Shimmer Faux leather and I debated using just that for the whole thing, but wanting to be thrifty, I decided to add in a pop of colour with a bright pink glitter vinyl too! Prep for this is so quick too, you literally only cut 6 pieces of vinyl and 2 pieces of interfacing…that’s it!
And speaking of interfacing, this is where I veered away from the pattern but only out of necessity! Jenny, the Designer, calls for Decovil Heavy, but if you’ve had a need for this product lately, then you know how impossible it is to find! I had scraps of it but not enough so I searched through my interfacings to see what I had and I decided to give Pellon Peltex Sew In a try, knowing full well that it’s much thicker than Decovil hoped that would be ok!
Jenny does include a video so I decided to sew along with her and let me tell you, if you’re looking for a quick little sew, well then this is for you! The video itself is 30 minutes and you could literally let it play continuously and be completely done in under 30 minutes (there’s a couple of spots where she’s struggling with her double-sided tape that you can skip through lol)!
So after that video, this is what I ended up with, my cute little shimmery Moondance…..
Isn’t that super fun?!? I absolutely adore her and I can’t wait to start making some notes, which is exactly what I’m going to use this for! I’m always making notes about all kinds of things when I’m sewing, and they’re not always sewing related lol, think grocery lists/reminders/meal ideas/etc, and by the end of a sewing room session, I have all these random notes all over the place….now they’re all going to be in here!
So, in case you’re wondering, I didn’t love the Peltex in this project and it’s simply because of the thickness. It was harder to get the edges to meet, and stay, because of the thickness, it wasn’t impossible but definitely harder. If you need to clean up the edges so that they’re all the same, you can just use your rotary cutter to trim them up, which I had to do, and they look fine but I’m just thinking that because of the thickness, I had to do more than if I had used a flatter interfacing.
If you’re someone that is bothered by the raw edges of vinyl, then you can do some sort of edge painting but I fall into the “it doesn’t bother me” category lol! I mean sure, if it was a quick process such as grabbing a matching colour in a permanent marker then I’d probably do it but I’m not interested in investing in the paint, the applicator, the crazy do-hickey thingy that I’ve seen people buy that holds your piece to dry…..aye yi yi, that all seems like too much for me for the very few times I would need it! If that’s you, awesome, no negative judgement from me at all, it’s just not for me!
Well, that’s all for now my friends! I’d love to hear if you’ve made one of these, or 100 of them because I could see them being very addictive to make, and if you’re someone that has a business, I bet these would be a great seller! If you’ve made them, I’d love to know what you find works best for interfacing too! Cheers for now friends!
Shawna
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