Fish Extender

Fish Extender? Huh, what is that you might wonder? I thought the same thing when a friend of mine asked me if I would make her one rather than her buying one from Etsy. The first thing I did was to search online for fish extenders so I knew what she was wanting me to make, lol. It's all apart of the Disney Cruise experience, where you hang a pocket (or multiple pockets) outside your room door on a Fish Hook, hence the fish extender name as it extends down from the fish hook. Deb wanted 2 pockets on hers, since she had one roommate. The fish extenders are Disney themed of course being on a Disney cruise. The pockets are for placing gifts inside or messages. Deb is going on the cruise with several family members, although they will all have their own rooms with their spouses or other family sharing rooms.

Since I had no intention of making these to sell for the masses, I found a few images online and enlarged them for the appliques that I used. I sketched out a basic idea of how I wanted it to look and what I would need to sew, although I had to do some designing on the go as I ran into some things that weren't going to work. I made the pockets large because I wasn't sure what might be placed inside of them. Deb's roommate is her step mom and I made her name with Velcro on the back so that when Deb uses this fish extender at home she can replace the second name with the other applique that I made to go in place of a name. If Deb cruises again and has a different roommate, she can Velcro a name to go in that place.

I haven't mailed this to her yet because I am going to take it to my quilt group for show and tell on Thursday first. The cruise isn't until October. Deb is a childhood friend that I have known since I was about 10 years old.

Disney themed fish extender.

I painted over a texture for the background and then quilted bubbles on this part of the piece. I  painted the wording here because it was too small to make it into applique. I enlarged a Disney font for the words. I also decided to place the knots in the red hanging strap on the back, but I did that after I took this photo.

Deb wanted her name above her pocket and she wanted Mickey Mouse on the pocket.

So what better Mickey Mouse to use than Sailor Mickey, since this is for a cruise.

This I made with a Velcro on the back to replace the name above the second pocket when Deb has it hanging at home or is cruising with someone else, then she can replace this with another name and Velcro it in place.

She wanted Pluto on the second pocket. Good choice, since Pluto is Mickey's best pal and his dog. Deb loves dogs too.

Deb's stepmom is June and this is the name that can be removed since it has Velcro on the back.

Here is the name above the pocket.

The backing fabric, binding and the lining of the pockets are all from this fabric line designed by Debbie Mumm. I thought this was a good choice to use pirate themed fabrics.

Cute Debbie Mumm designed pirate fabric.

The whole fish extender.

I added this notepad holder with a notepad for writing notes to rip off and place into other pockets and for leaving a message on the notepad for someone to read as they walk by. I had seen another cute idea online that someone used a dinglehopper (aka a fork) to use as a message holder, so you would place the note into the tines of the fork. The crew can also write a message if they need to as well.

Not bad for a first attempt at making a fish extender. Bon Voyage Debbie! Have a great cruise my friend.
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Two Glenda Clutches

I made one Glenda Clutch last month in green and another one this month in turquoise. This is a pdf pattern by Swoon Patterns. I love having a large flap on a bag to get creative with decorative machine stitches or applique or both. I machine stitched decorative stitches on both of these flaps and I am really pleased with how they turned out.

I learned some things making the 1st Glenda. One is I will never use fusible Peltex again! (Pellon makes this heavy weight interfacing) Argh! That was hard to deal with on the body of the bag and it tends to make the fabric look more wrinkled too. I had the double-sided fusible Peltex on hand, so I used it, but using the sew-in non-fusible Peltex is much easier to work with and it's not as stiff. Not only that the non-fusible is cheaper too, since it doesn't have the glue on it. I didn't like the body of the bag being so stiff anyway, so with the 2nd Glenda, I used a foam stabilizer (Soft and Stable byAnnie, In R Form by Bosal or Flex Foam by Pellon are a few brands), although I did use Peltex on the flap only.

I made some other changes that I will describe as you view each photo.

I stitched decorative stitches on the flap using different thread colors and some variegated threads too.

As you can see the lining on the flap looks wrinkled from using the fusible Peltex.

Inside is a divided zipper pocket that is stiff from using the Peltex. Since this bag is a medium size, I really didn't quite get the reason to divide such a small space inside. In the 2nd Glenda I did not add this divider pocket. I like it so much better, for myself anyway, not to have a divided pocket.

On the Swoon Facebook Group, I saw that someone had added some credit card pockets in her Glenda and I liked that idea, so I added some credit card pockets behind the divided pocket. I should have added a cash pocket behind the credit card pockets, and I did do that on the 2nd Glenda.

The back of Glenda. I used a green fabric that went from a light to a darker green, so while I didn't notice the green difference while working on it, I can see the green is darker on the right side of the bag. This is the way the fabric was dyed.

Glenda Clutch #2 I made with a turquoise hand dyed fabric that I dyed myself.

Machine decorative stitches, plus French knots done by hand and some added buttons too.

Instead of the divider pocket inside this bag, I sewed strap tabs where I would have sewn the sides of the divider pocket. Again someone on the Facebook group did this I thought it was a great idea! I used the foam stabilizer for the body of the bag and I wanted the sides of the bag to have more than the Shape Flex interfacing, so I added fusible fleece to the sides to give it more body. I didn't like how the green one looked on the sides with just interfacing and the stiff Peltex on the body. I didn't even take a picture of the green Glenda sides, lol!

Pretty lining fabric.

While I cannot fit a wallet in this bag if I carry my both my sunglasses and reading glasses, so I added credit card and cash pockets in place of a wallet. No dividing pocket here.

I added a slip pocket with a pen pocket on one side of the bag.

I dyed this turquoise fabric.

One thing when I was figuring out the cash and credit card pockets, I forgot that the bottom curves and when it all got together the bottom credit card pockets are now curving into the bottom of the bag! So my bottom card pockets are sitting on the bag bottom and the cards fit, but not how they should on those 2 bottom pockets. I didn't think this through and tried to figure it out myself. I have since found out that someone did a video tutorial on how to add credit card pockets to the Glenda. So I must make a 3rd Glenda and improve on all my mistakes. I also added a small zippered pocket.

All in all I love this bag. I love the size and the shape of it and that I can get artsy with the flap. It can become a clutch of you remove the shoulder strap, but I would never carry a clutch, especially a large clutch like this under my arm or even with a wrist strap it would be too large. But as a shoulder bag it is great!
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Fiona's Freeway in Purple

After I tested Fiona's Freeway, (from the Easy Street Collection of bags) for Christine of ChrisW Designs, I decided to sell it and one of my blog followers purchased her. Then after she received Fiona, I got an email from her asking if I could make another Fiona in purples. You see she gave the 1st Fiona to a cat rescue place for them to auction off. How sweet is that?! I hope Fiona fetched a lot of money for the cat rescue.

So here is Fiona in purples. I again machine stitched decorative stitches on the flap and added some French knots by hand and a few buttons too. My favorite part of making this bag was creating the flap and that is not even in the instructions, but my own artistic nature coming out to make this Fiona special. It was hard seeing Fiona go, but she went to a good home and that makes me happy.

I chose a batik print for the body of the bag and a hand dyed dark purple for the accent fabric.

Fiona's backside.

I took this before I added the large bead for the drawstring.

Inside is a slip pocket and a zippered pocket.

This is the slip pocket inside. I added an applique kitty to the pocket.

I used a large bead instead of cord stops for the drawstring.

 

To give you an idea of the size of the bag I put Fiona on my dress form.

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Daryl's Drive & Brandt's Blvd. Wallet to Match

I was commissioned to make a Daryl's Drive handbag after a woman I know saw mine. I used a colorful floral fabric for mine and she wanted something bright and colorful too. So I had picked out a nice fabric grouping and then I got a call from her that she had seen a hot air balloon fabric at one of the quilt shops and wanted the balloon fabric instead. Luckily I hadn't cut out anything yet, so I went out and purchased the hot air balloon fabric and bought some extra fabric for me too. This woman also had shown me her leather wallet that was falling apart and I mentioned I could make her a wallet too, but she didn't say anything (maybe she didn't hear me?). I decided I would make her a wallet and tell her she did not need to purchase it as I could sell it if she didn't want it, but after seeing it she bought them both. I think she was very pleased with them and I hope she uses them too. She told me the handbag was too pretty to use and I told her to use it because it was meant to be used, lol!

Both the Daryl's Drive and the Brandt's Wallet patterns are ChrisW Design patterns from her Easy Street Collection, that is why Drive and Blvd. are in the names. And Daryl is named after me (I was one of the testers) and Brandt was named after Marilyn (her last name was used and she is also a tester).

Daryl's Drive Handbag

The woman who purchased this bag used to be a nurse and I had just the right amount of this nurse/doctor fabric to line the bag with. 

The back of the bag.

Cell phone or keys pocket on the back.

Brandt's Blvd. wallet to match.

There is a detachable wrist strap, which you can remove when using as a wallet in your bag. But if you only want to carry a few things and not a purse you can have your credit cards, ID, cash, coins and even your cell phone will fit in a cell phone pocket in this wallet and the wrist strap makes it easy to carry.

They do make a nice pair.

The wallet fits so nicely inside too!

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