Malotke Sews

Similar to the makeup bags I have written about, this little bag was constructed in a similar way. I chose several fabric swatches that I liked together and then laid them out on a cut piece of silver lining fabric. Then I pinned the swatches and sewed them to the lining. I used white thread and a straight stitch to piece the bag together. After I had essentially a double sided rectangle, I sewed the zipper and sides.  It's a small project, fairly easy and quick. I've made quite a few of these so they're no longer time consuming. I did have a few that I messed up by trying out different construction methods. I found one that works well for me and I intend to make a few more with the swatches I have left. Finished bag: Front & Back sides.

First step: Pick a zipper to get a general color scheme. Then figure out which swatches look good together and which patterns work well without overpowering the others.  Next sew the little squares together with some overlapping others.  Stitch the two sides to a single piece of cotton, giving the bag a nice lining. For this bag I found a scrap of brown corduroy from an old show I worked on (saved some scraps for my portfolio) and used it to add some more texture to the bottom of the bag.  After I sewed the extra piece to the bottom I then added the zipper and voila! Finished a tiny makeup bag, or coin purse, or just small miscellaneous bag. For this bag I followed the same general plan. Pick a zipper, lay out swatches, sew swatches together, add a lining, and finish by sewing the zipper to the top. Here they are together, two colorful makeup bags. This type of project is something I can do in a day and feel as though I really accomplished somet...

Pet Bed #1 With fabric swatches I created a funky blue and green feature that I could sew to a plain cotton rectangle. I laid out all the little swatches and worked on a few at a time. I chose to just do a zig zag stitch along all of the edges of the squares. Some overlap others and all of their edges are raw, no serging. I wanted to make something fun and colorful. I enjoyed mixing all of the patterns and prints together while sticking to a general color theme.  Pet Bed #2 My dog loves this bed too! I filled it with leftover tulle so it's not lumpy but more of a soft pillow for him to lounge on. Now my dog isn't big on sharing, so I decided to use as many blue squares as I could and make another little pillow for the cats. I sorted my swatches to see what was left and laid out all of the blue ones to see how they could work together. I sewed them in rows of 5 at a time to a large piece of cotton fabric. After I finished sewing the swatches I then finished the pill...

Organizing my last swatches A while back I was lacking in feeling creative. I was in a rut. No ideas, no exciting projects. I decided I needed some new fabric to help spark ideas. I went online (there are very few fabric stores where I am) and discovered I could get free fabric swatches from several different websites. I may have gone a little overboard and I ordered a LOT of free swatches. I tried to get a variety of color, patterns, and fabric selections. I think I ended up with around 100 fabric swatches varying in size. It was a rush to get them all in the mail, sort through them, and see which ones could work well together. I decided to do a few small projects with the swatches. I made a few small makeup bags with the colors based on the zippers I already had in my stash. I also made 2 dog beds for my pets. I created my own fabric by piecing the swatches together for one main side and then sewing a pillow out of leftover fabric scraps. I then filled the beds with leftover t...