For the Love of Shoes!

The brilliant and crafty Betz White wrote up a fun and super easy beginning seamstress drawstring travel bag tutorial, for your fun shoes, right here: http://blog.betzwhite.com/2009/02/shoe-bag-tutorial.html. I loved it so much, I’ve made a few for gifts and a few for myself. The design of the bag is so simple, but with such nice finished edges and ease of construction, that you could follow the tutorial for any type of drawstring bag you’d like. I actually made a few as re-useable cloth gift bags around the holidays, too.

However, my love of shoes grows stronger by the day. From Kelly-Green heels to Red-Strappy heels, I love huge clunky shoes with character and comfort. This passion lead me to my beloved John Fluevog. I have but two pair, and I love those four shoes dearly. I just had to make a shoe bag to carefully transport them between destinations, and Betz’s shoe bag tutorial was just the ticket! The bummer of the deal, is that these specific heels have a very wonderful and comfy rubber sole, that if rubbed against the leather, leaves a dirty looking streak. Horrible!

But what do crafty women do? They improvise! For the love of sewing! The joy and experimentation of sewing is what draws me to the internet blog-land of seamstresses and craft-minded people – I love seeing what everyone is doing, and comparing my own creations and needs to those in this wonderful sewing community.

Here is my Flickr set. The full tutorial by Betz is the way to go, so check out her work and then stitch one up for yourself (and for the love of shoes!)

I can’t wait for heels, skirts, and lemonade this Summer…

Love,

MaLora

Sewing Circles – Math Tutorial

Sewing and math go hand in hand. Recently, I was describing sewing to a friend who said the majority  sounds just like composite engineering. I also see resemblance to building construction, architecture, and engineering in general. You must consider the structure of what you are sewing, the materials you are using, and with careful math and measuring, you build something from the ground up.

Take for instance a simple tote bag, often a beginning sewers project. However, you must consider what will the bag carry or be used for, so that you can carefully select the appropriate materials. Do you need interfacing for strength? Will you have to fuse and bind the layers together? Will french seams be strong enough for the edges, or is there a better method for securing corners? Can the handles be made of metal and leather, or cotton weave, or quad-layered cotton made from the bias? There is so much math in sewing! It’s not difficult math, but it must be precise to create a quality, usable project.

The math I have the hardest time remembering is circles, which can be used in everything from waists to sleeves to yoga or duffel bags. When you sew a circle, and like me, you make the pattern up based on looking at other projects or maybe items you already own, you need to figure out the measurements to cut your fabric. And when you have to account for seam allowance, diameter and circumference come in handy too. So I asked my friend Dave eons ago for help, for a simple equation that I could re-use again for all projects. He even thanked me for asking him – how crazy. Dave made this handy graph that I am super excited to share with you! If you use it, always give Dave and this blog credit.

The basics:
Radius – half the distance across the circle
Diameter – the distance across the circle
Circumference – the distance around the circle
Seam Allowance – always multiply by two as it goes around the entire circle

Equations:
D = C / PI + 2 * seam size
C = PI * (D  - 2 * seam size)
R = C / PI / 2

Yoga Bag Sample: I rolled up my yoga mat and cover, and it came out to roughly 8″, but I like a roomy bag so let’s say I need a bag that is 10″ diameter with a 5/8 seam allowance.

3.14 * (10-2*(5/8)) = 27.475

So I can cut the fabric 27.475 inches by whatever height I want the bag (in my case, 38 inches with a bit of room to spare.

Circle Skirt Sample… Measure your waist to find the circumference. (Or where you want the skirt waist, which I prefer about 6″ down from my natural waist.) Solve for Radius, so if you waist was 30″…

30/3.14/2 = 4.77 inches

Then you can find the center of your fabric (fold into quarters), measure the Radius out from each center corner, marking the radius length. Draw a quarter circle, matching the two radius lines together, cut it out, and now you have your waist! There are full tutorials for this pattern in lots of places… here and here and here for instance.

Happy Sewing to all of you. Spring is here in Seattle, a gorgeous sunny day, and I’m gonna ride my bike to the Ballard Locks!

Love,

MaLora