Sew A Quilted Book Bag

In the previous blog I showed you how to transfer images to fabric. We then painted these images. In today's blog, I am going to walk you through the steps of quilting those designs on your machine, before we sew them onto a book bag. I love to hang these above the beds in the place of head boards. That way the books are always ready at hand in a child's room. Or in mine, for that matter!

Start by setting the colours to the fabric with a hot iron.

Cut batting squares for the painted designs.

Pin the batting squares to the designs to secure them in place.

We will now quilt the designs free hand with the machine.

Set your stitch length to longer. Mine is 3.7. Slow the machine down, and set the needle to end in the dropped position.

Sew all around the edges of the designs. When you reach tight corners, stop the machine, with the needle in the dropped position. Lift the foot, turn the fabric, drop the foot and continue stitching.

When you are done, the quilted design should look more or less like this. Do this with all three designs.

Lay your designs on sturdy fabric. I opted to use denim.

Cut the denim to size. Leave enough extra length and width to accommodate seams and hems, as well as an tube to run a rod through.

It is time to fix the designs to the denim. In order to fold neat corners, fold the corner in as shown.

Now fold the two sides in to meet at the middle.

Pin the corner in place. Do this with all of the corners.

Fold the seams in and pin the designs to the fabric.

Progress photo.

Sew all around the edges of all three designs to secure them to the denim.

Progress photo.

Fold and pin double hems at both the top and the bottom of the book bag.

Sew the rolled hems.

Fold the fabric over to form the bag and pin the sides in place. Make sure both sides are at the same height.

Sew the side seams.

Pin the seams of the fold-over (for the tube where the rod will go in).

Sew the seams.

Fold the bag right side out.

Fold the tube over and pin it in place.

Pin down the center of the designs as a guide for straight sewing when you sew the pocket divider seams.

Sew the tube seam.

Sew the pocket divider seams.

Your book bag is now ready to be hung and to receive its first books!

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.
Jy kan Kom Ons Teken en Verf Tuinstories hier koop.
Jy kan Kom Ons Kleur Tuinstories In hier koop.
Jy kan Tuinstories hier koop.
You can follow Miekie's daily Bible Study blog, Bybel Legkaart, here in English & Afrikaans.
You may prefer to follow the traveling blog, A Pretty Tourist.
For more crafty ideas and great product reviews, visit A Pretty Talent on Facebook.
If you are in a literary mood, follow Miekie's musings, stories and poetry on A Pretty Author - Miekie.
Remember to keep nurturing your TALENT for making life PRETTY.
You can subscribe to any of these blogs and receive regular updates by email. Simply register your email address at the top of the applicable blog.

Transferring Images To Fabric For Painting

Today I want to show you how to quickly transfer three images to fabric, from paper. Once they are transferred I show you how to paint the designs step by step, before we will turn them into a pretty little item in the next blog. The designs I use in the blog, is taken from my book Designs by Miekie 1. See the links below if you are interested in purchasing a book.

These are the three designs I will be working with today. You can simply print them from Your ebook copy and use them for a variety of crafts.

I will transfer the designs to sheeting.

I cut a piece of fabric for each of the designs, making sure I have enough extra on the edges for hems and seams, etc.

I then slip the design under the fabric, positioning it in the centre, so I can trace the design.

I use a black marker to trace the design as it shows through the fabric. The marker is permanent and will not wash out in the wash.

I do the same with the second design...

 ... as well as the third design.

I then gather my fabric paints. Dala has a wonderful collection of mediums available to paint on fabric and it is of excellent quality.

I also gather a collection of soft brushes to paint with.

I start by painting all the areas I wish to have green with Lime colour paint.

I then move on to pink. I use a medium (no. 6) round brush to paint the designs with.

I then paint the areas that I want Yellow.

This is followed by Teal.

Lastly, I paint the background Orange. This time I use a smaller flat brush to paint around the designs. The larger flat brush is used to fill in the large background areas.

Once the paint is dry, the colours should be fixed by ironing it with a hot iron. We are now ready to turn the designs into something pretty. I'll tell you more about it in the next blog.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.
Jy kan Kom Ons Teken en Verf Tuinstories hier koop.
Jy kan Kom Ons Kleur Tuinstories In hier koop.
Jy kan Tuinstories hier koop.
You can follow Miekie's daily Bible Study blog, Bybel Legkaart, here in English & Afrikaans.
You may prefer to follow the traveling blog, A Pretty Tourist.
For more crafty ideas and great product reviews, visit A Pretty Talent on Facebook.
If you are in a literary mood, follow Miekie's musings, stories and poetry on A Pretty Author - Miekie.
Remember to keep nurturing your TALENT for making life PRETTY.
You can subscribe to any of these blogs and receive regular updates by email. Simply register your email address at the top of the applicable blog.

Beef Goulash Crock Pot

The weather is turning colder and it is that time of the year when we start making soups and stews again. This is the ideal time to rediscover the slow-cooker, or crock pot, as it is also known. Today I show you how to make a wholesome Goulash stew that has been fortified with lentils and beans. Loads of veggies are of course essential, as well.

I start today's stew with a 500 g packet of beef goulash that I brought home with me from a farm in Botswana. This goes into my slow cooker.

I chop up 2 onions, 3 large carrots and a handful broad beans.

The veggies are also added to the pot.

I then scoop up roughly a cup of dries soup mix and add this to the pot. You may prefer to mix these yourself by adding a variety of lentils, beans and peas.

I then start adding flavour agents to a small mixing bowl. I add a scoop of crushed chilies, a scoop of green curry, a large scoop of crushed garlic, a scoop of crushed ginger and about a 1/4 cup of apricot jam.

Add some cumin, caraway seeds, aniseed/star aniseed, and season with salt.

Now add a healthy dash of vinegar and a liberal dash of chutney.

Do not forget to add a cinnamon stick! I almost did.

Mix everything together.

Add the mixture to the pot and add enough water to keep the pot simmering for roughly 6-8 hours.

About halfway through the cooking time you can add 1/4 head of cabbage, finely chopped and ...

... 4 chopped potatoes. Close the lid and let it simmer for a few hours more.

By the end of the day, you will have a healthy and hot meal waiting for the family as all of you return home. I like to serve this on barley for some added flavour and nutrition.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.
Jy kan Kom Ons Teken en Verf Tuinstories hier koop.
Jy kan Kom Ons Kleur Tuinstories In hier koop.
Jy kan Tuinstories hier koop.
You can follow Miekie's daily Bible Study blog, Bybel Legkaart, here in English & Afrikaans.
You may prefer to follow the traveling blog, A Pretty Tourist.
For more crafty ideas and great products, visit A Pretty Talent on Facebook.
Remember to keep nurturing your TALENT for making PRETTY things.
You can subscribe to any of these blogs to receive regular updates by email, by simply registering your email address at the top of the applicable blog.