Rainy Weekend = Productive Weekend

I got a lot done over the weekend.  The rain was a nice motivator.  I had a lot on my list and I got most of it done.

I did a little dying ....

I ended up going with the aquamarine.  I like it, but I think I am going to try to dye it again with light blue and see if I can't make it a tad darker.  I keep going back and forth with it, but I don't think it would hurt it to run it through another tub of dye.  I had a couple issues in the front with the dye being too concentrated and I rubbed it off with antibacterial hand soap, which amazingly worked, but too well.  I can see a little bit of fading in the dye where I did that and it's bugging me.  Back in the dye bucket it goes .. stay tuned!

I also did some tying-

I made these two different styles of friendship bracelets and felt like a 6th grader all over again.  I must have had a lot of free time on my hands back in the day because these things take for-EVER!!!  I spent most of Saturday watching I Love Lucy reruns and making the heart bracelet.  Its super cute, though!  I intend to cover my ankles in these bad boys this summer and re-live my youth.  I found the tutorial for the heart bracelet here ... Thank you Pinterest!

I finished this dress -

Another maxi style dress.  The blue tank top had a big stain right in the center.  I had the matching fabric, so I went for it and I'm glad I did.  I love it!  I posted about the other maxi dress I made in the past here .  You can find a link for the tutorial I used in that post.  Very easy dress to make and a great way to re-use old tank tops.  I live in these ribbed tank tops, so I see many more of these dresses in my future.

I took some pictures of my plaid collection and got them listed on Etsy!  If you see one you like, just click on the link and it will take you directly to the Etsy listing to purchase.  

Wool Plaid "School Girl" Messenger bag.  This is an original design by Sticky Genius.

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Wool Plaid "School Girl" Messenger Bag with Zipper Top

This is a new style I'm working with that I designed myself.

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I had a little fabric left to make this cute matching coin purse.

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Here is a new product I am offering ... not an original design, but I think it is a cool idea and a great way to use up scraps.  I think I will be making a lot of these to go to D'Boutique, the shop I sell my products in here in Manhattan Beach.

You can Buy Me Here!

I will be making more of these, some lined, some not, but the lined ones will cost a little more.  I just like to offer some not as fancy ones for those who are financially challenged.  They work just the same.  These are nice and cheap!

I also cut up the grey wool suiting and pink floral fabric.  I am making the same two messenger bag styles you see above, as well as, the diaper bag that I showed you all the pattern for in my previous post.  I have a little left for wristlets, coin purses, and the ear bud case, too, so I am sure you will see some of those as well.

I went fabric shopping for my custom order and got all that picked out.  I just need to run down to the garment district this week and get some zippers and more interfacing.  I was able to find the dress pattern I was looking for for my new dream dress (which I posted about previously) and (of course) I found another pattern I HAD to have.  Both were on sale for $4.  SCORE!  Here is the new pattern I picked up:

I'm glad I picked this up because it might be perfect for the fabric I bought today.  A friend of mine, who makes awesome bags for MMA - called Datsusara - (click on the link to check out his site and gear), and I went down to the Hemp Traders warehouse today to check out the fabrics in person.   He uses hemp fabrics for all his gear and I love hemp fabric.  It is one of those textiles that you really have to see and touch in person to know what you are getting.  What a fun experience and a great little business run by people who love what they do.  I highly recommend buying from this company if you are looking into hemp or organic cotton textiles.  They offer several varieties and colors of hemp and organic cotton fabric, webbing, cording, twine, rope, braided cord, yarn, fiber, seed, or oil.  They ship everywhere and do wholesale.  I got sucked into their scrap pile and bought a few different types of fabrics from there, so I could work with the different blends and see what I like.  I use hemp fabric now for my fabric art pieces, but I have yet to make a bag from it.  The fabric is very expensive, so that is the main reason that hasn't happened.  I would ultimately like to find a type of hemp blend fabric that I fall in love with and can use to mass produce, but so far I haven't mastered the art of cloning or gotten my money tree to grow.  In the meantime, I'm going to have fun playing with my scraps!  Here is a sampling of what I got below:

This blue fabric below is the fabric I fell in love with and couldn't leave without a yard - especially when he said is was on close out!  It is a hemp, cotton, lycra jersey blend in sky blue.  So soft and comfy.  I think the pattern I shared above would compliment the fabric well.  We will see!  But this is MINE ALL MINE!!! hahahahahahaha

I totally got sucked into the dyed hemp twine.  Along with my new obsession of making friendship bracelets and anklets for the summer, I use hemp twine to wrap all my orders with and I thought it would be a nice touch to add my Sticky Genius colors to the mix.  He forgot to ring these up and even though I asked him to after the initial sale, he insisted I take them for free.

I officially LOVE Hemp Traders!