Veni..Vidi..

Where did I go?! What did I see?! I am talking about my Bangalore trip! Although this post is very delayed..I am still feeling the Bangalore Ravelry Meet in my nerves! What a fun meeting it was to meet the Bangalore Brigade on March 14th! I am really jealous of the fact that they have a strong and steady craft group that meets in real life! sigh! Sanhita and Rupi took care of my transport to and from the meeting place! The CCD at Koramangala that day was filled with ladies going gaga over fiber FOs.. and, as expected, we were oblivious to the surroundings!

Vimala crocheted this gorgeous pinwheel doily for me! Its a very Karmic doily because I started the same pattern with the same thread and gave up on crocheting with thread. I gave this thread away to Vimala in a Karma Swap and, she started the same pinwheel pattern with this thread and finished it without knowing that I had given up on the same pattern. When she found this out from me, she decided to gift it back to me! Life really came a full circle for this doily and its very special to me as I can't work with thread to save my life! Here is the doily:



Its gorgeous, isn't it?! Thank you Vimala!

Rupi made a crayon roll for Alvin! He loved it and is still using it!Thanks Rupi for thinking of Alvin! Here is the Crayon Roll..



Suma had got us all Tea from Srilanka when she was there recently on a trip. Anu had made us all crocheted bookmarks. I don't have a pic for both of these.(Bad blogger!!) It was a lovely meet and I didn't know how 2 hours flew!

After the meet, Me, Rupi and Sanhita went to Commercial Street to the Classic Fabric store and I binged on gorgeous fabrics! I have started sewing them up too! I wish we had a place like that in Hyderabad too! There must be..only I don't know about it yet!All the more reasons to move to Bangalore! ;-)

While in Bangalore, I stayed at my friend Shilpa's place. I wanted to make Shilpa and her Mom some handmade Hostess Gifts.. I finally found the right thing to make for them! Guess what I made.. Bags! I strongly believe in the fact that a girl can't have too many bags! Since felting is my new thing, I made hand-felted bags out of the Buttonhole Bag pattern. Its a cute and girlie pattern! Here are the bags after I finished lining and embellishing them.



I was lucky to get the perfect buttons and lining fabric! I added lining and zipper closures to the bag. I took help from friendly Ravelers to find a way to line and add the zipper closures. I don't like bags that don't have secure closures! here is a close-up of the lining and the zippers.




It took me a week to make these bags.. cos, I was slow and I worked on it only a few hours after work in the evenings. The toughest part was lining it and adding the zipper closures. I sifted through the length and breadth of the Internet looking for ideas or tutorials lining a knitted/crocheted bag with zipper closures. There were many to line the bags but none had a provision for zippers. So, I winged it on my own. Here is a tutorial on how to line a knitted/crocheted bag and add zipper closures.

• First, I attached the zippers to the bag. With the zipper open, I first pinned one side of the zipper to one side of the bag's inside. then, I pinned the other side similarly. I zipped and unzipped, and adjusted many times to make sure I like the fit. then, I hand-stitched the zipper to the bag with tiny back-stitches a little lower on the zipper band. This is so that, when I put the lining on, my zipper hand-stitching will be concealed.

• Then I made the lining using this tutorial from futuregirl. I followed the tutorial to the dot. I made this using my sewing machine to make my life easier.

• Then, I pinned the finished lining to the insides of the bag with wrong side of the lining and inside of the bag together, pinning them at many places, so that it conceals my previous hand-stitching. I did this step by turning the bag inside out, and then pining the lining with its right side facing you. Make sure that the wrong side of the lining and the inside of the bag are facing each other.(this is important. otherwise, you will have the lining attached the wrong way to the insides of the bag!)

• Then, I whip-stitched the lining to the zipper band just above the previous hand-stitching. Zip and unzip the zipper now and then to make sure your lining isn’t getting caught in the zip during the process.

• Now, sit back..relax.. zip and unzip the bag.. and admire your handiwork!!

I am sorry that I didn't take photos for each step. I hope the wordy tutorial is helpful to you all. Leave a comment if you need more clarification.

I have a surprise coming up for y'all.. and, I will let you know when the time is right..I am very excited about and I am hoping its worth the effort I am putting in!

TC,
Josie