Fabric Container to Hold Crafter's Edge Die Cuts & Plates

As a Design Team Member for Crafter's Edge, I am making a project each month using the Crossover II Die Cut Machine by Crafter's Edge and one or more of the die cuts that I have. This month I used several circles from the 0.5" Increment Circles die cuts (there are eleven sizes of circles in the Circle Die Cut set) and I also used the 1-inch strip die cut, which comes in the 1 and 1.5" Strip Cutters. 

I wanted to create a fabric bin container to hold my die cuts, foundation plate, cutting plate and top clear plates for using the cutting dies, as well as the instruction booklet. This way all my items for cutting are in one place and easy to find. I used gallon size clear plastic zip bags to place each die cut in, along with the cardboard information and photo of the die for each bag. 

So here is what I created and I am very pleased with how cute it looks as well as how functional it is too.

The circle die cuts made it quick and easy to cut several circles in various sizes at once. I also cut 1" strips for the stems (I will show at the end how I did the stems). I cut the leaves the old fashioned way by hand, lol!

Inside the fabric container is very roomy. I made a sleeve that I placed a heavyweight Peltex stabilizer inside of to stiffen the bottom a bit.

This is the other side of the container with more flowers and butterflies I cut out from a fabric print.

I added purse feet on the bottom.

I love that background fabric and thought it was perfect for this project.

Here is one of the die cuts I received, the Gingerbread House, that now lives inside the container. (Stay tuned for a project that I am working on using the Gingerbread House die).

Here are the Circle die cuts that I used. I placed this die cut inside a clear plastic gallon zip bag to keep the die cuts and information for it together. I did the same for each different die cut that I received and they now all reside in their plastic bags inside the container I made. I can thumb through them to find the die cut that I want to use.

The plates and dies in their zip bags residing in their new home. 

I can flip through them to find the die cut I need to use.

There is plenty of room for more dies inside. 

I also added a couple of handles to the container to be able to grab it and carry it when needed. A couple of rivets I also added to each side of the handle as well.

Here is how I made the stems~

I cut the 1" strips for stems and pressed 1/4" to the wrong side. I use Elmer's purple disappearing water soluble glue stick to run along the strip and then press in place. The glue holds it well, but no gumming up the needle when sewing.

Next, I pressed the other raw edge almost to the fold  on the wrong side and glued it in place too. I glued the stem in place and blanket stitched it along both sides. I could also straight stitch the edges too.

I did make one stem for the larger flower wider, by pressing the raw edge to the center on both sides, so that the larger stem measures 1/2" and the smaller stem measures 3/8".

After I made this container, I decided to buy a couple of metal tags that Crafter's Edge sells on their website. This one says Made by Hand and has a heart cutout on it. So as an afterthought, I added it on the handle with some embroidery Perle Cotton. The perfect little touch. I love my container!

 My container is both functional and oh so pretty!

I used the 1" strips for making the flower stems as I showed you above.

 And one of the 1.5" strips for the larger stem.

I used a variety of circles from the Circles die cuts to make the flowers.

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The Tango Tote from Around the Bobbin

I loved testing this Tango Tote from Around the Bobbin. I added a bit of hardware to this tote (the rivets, strap ends and the purse feet), which weren't in the pattern, but easy enough to add if you want to add it.

If you would like to purchase the Tango tote pattern from Around the Bobbin and save 25%, then hurry and get it now while it's one sale. Use the code: TANGO Friday 6/4 through Monday 6/7 for 25% off.

This tote features a nice diagonal separation of the fabrics on both the front and the back of the tote.  The back side also sports a nice large pocket, perfect for a phone or sunglasses. Inside there are 3 slip pockets and a zippered pocket to hold other items and a key leash to hook your keys to for quick and easy access. And it all closes with a zipper closure to keep everything inside the tote. This tote finishes at 12″ H x 18″ W (top) x 7″ D.

I chose a cactus print for one side and a darker print for the other side of this tote. I wanted to pick up a third color so chose to make the handles pink.

I kept the zipper longer and added a pink button on the zipper tab.

The back side has a large slip pocket on the right in the cactus print.

Back slip pocket.

Slightly recessed zipper so the bag contents stays secure and the longer zipper allows for the tote to open really wide to access what's inside the tote as well as see what's inside better too.

A bright yellow lining inside with a divided slip pocket plus I divided it again for a pen pocket as well.

On the other side of the lining is a zippered pocket and behind the zipper pocket is a slip pocket too.

As well as all the pockets, there is a key leash with a swivel hook so you can hook your ring full of keys to the leash and be able to find your keys faster and easier.

while not part of the instructions, I added some Peltex stabilizer and quilted it and then added purse feet to the bottom of the tote.

My fat little birdie approves of this tote, lol!

I am going to be selling at a craft show in early September, so this will go into my inventory, however if you would like to purchase this tote, you can contact me and I would be happy to sell it to you now. Or you can make your own tote by purchasing the pattern from Around the Bobbin, see link with discount code at the beginning of this post.

Happy toting.

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Sew Powerful Purses #53-58

Six more purses finished for the Sew Powerful Purse Project.

I got a couple of the game boxes stuffed full of purses. The first box I got 18 purses in and it was bulging at the seams. The second box I got 21 purses in, also bulging. On the Facebook group some women mentioned they got 27 or more purses into a game box size. I don't know how they did it. Maybe they had a steam roller that they flattened them with first? LOL!!! I placed 6 purses into a plastic bag and slip those into the first box and did that 3 more times (18 purses). The plastic bag helps to slide the purses in better and keeps them clean. So the second box I did the same thing and squeezed in one more purse into each of the 3 plastic bags, so 7 per bag for a total of 21 purses. The women who get in more said they put 9 purses in per plastic bag times 3 for the 27 purses. I will try that next time I have enough to mail, but I got to say it was hard enough getting in 7 purses in each plastic bag.

I started this flap with the small heart quilt block I already had and added strips around it.

This flap was some leftover Twister pinwheel sections I had made.

A couple of decades ago I was going to make a Fortune Cookie Quilt, writing fortunes onto fabric and sewing them into some blocks. Well I did make several quilt blocks, but that quilt never happened. Going through my UFO's I found this strip of fabric with a fortune written on it, so used it in the making of this flap. I also found some of the other blocks with the fortunes written on them and they might one day become a flap for some of these purses too.

The background was something I had pieced together a while ago. It looked too plain for a flap, so I hand blanket stitched these hearts and flowers onto the flap to jazz it up a bit more.

The stack of purses waiting to be sewn into purses is getting smaller each day. I think I will be able to finish the rest of them this week. Then I will make other bags for a while before cutting out the various fabrics needed to go with the grocery sack full of flaps I have made for more Sew Powerful Purses.

It feels good to have mailed off 2 boxes full of purses (39 purses in all). My goal is to squeeze more purses into each box; so I will cut out as many purses at one time that I need to fit into one box and sew that many before cutting out too many all at once like last time. That seems more doable that way and not so overwhelming. 

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Sew Powerful Purses #46-52

Seven more purses are finished for the Sew Powerful Purse Project. That huge pile of cut out purses that have been stacked around my sewing room are slowly but surely shrinking as they are transformed into purses by the magic of sewing. Although, I still have a grocery sack full of flaps that are already made waiting for the other fabrics to get cut out so they can be sewn into purses too. This is an ongoing and never ending endeavor, so they will be finished when they are finished.

Meanwhile, here are the 7 latest purses that I finished:

These flaps all started as small quilt blocks.

4 more purses. The top left was a Twister pinwheel block I made in black and green. Then I added strips of fabric around it to create the flap. The lower left in purse and green is another Bear's Paw block I made years ago, leftover from a quilt I made my daughter when she was in high school. I made quite a few purses using those Bear Paw blocks, since I had made several extra blocks. I think this is the last one.

The purse on the lower right, I used up the last of the Paris print fabric I had. I made a tote and a cross body bag with that Paris print and now it's gone, except maybe for a couple of small scraps. It feels good to use up a lot of my fabric for something so worthwhile.

I might have enough purses made that I can see about getting them into a large game box to mail them off to Renton, Washington. I will take note to see how many fit into the game box, so I will know for the next box when I should start packing them into the box. FYI: you can order the game size boxes from the USPS website for free. They deliver the boxes to you. You receive 25 boxes in a package, so I have plenty of boxes on hand for mailing whenever I have enough purses to mail. And it ships for the same rate as the large flat rate box.

P.S. I just finished sewing together 3 more purses yesterday, so need photos of those and whatever I sew up today. I hope you are enjoying seeing these purses :0)

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Sew Powerful Purses 43-45 for 2021

Another 3 purses finished for the Sew Powerful Purse Project. 

The large butterfly I appliqued from fabric; the 2 smaller butterflies were cut out from a butterfly fabric and then appliqued to the flap.

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