I just wanted to shout out a huge thankyou to Toni from Make It Perfect. Once again, thankyou Toni!
Curtains are very difficult to photograph.
The curtain rods had to be antique brass to match the bedside lamps. The curtain rods still need to be shortened. Spotlight were out of the 150cm rods, so I bought 2m rods. I might not cut the full 50cm off though.
I ordered 40 hooks. You would think that would be enough. Nup, I needed 48. So I ventured back to Spotlight who by this time had them in. One of them broke when I went to hang the curtains. So Lincraft have better hooks, just so you know.
(Hence the reason I thought it would be enough hooks, I mean, they were 2m rods!) Of course, they didn't have any in the antique brass, so I got some silver ones. You can hardly tell, but I have brass on order.
You can also make your own bias binding. It is easier than you think. I like to use quilter's cotton. It comes in many great colours and patterns, and it doesn't shrink and twist out of shape when you iron it with a scalding hot iron.
Bias binding is basically just strips, cut at 45 degrees to the selvedge edges. The edges of the strips are then folded to the centre. Lengths of strips can be joined together to make even longer bias binding. Pretty Jane has a really great tutorial to make continuous bias binding.
Once you have made your continuous bias strips, you need to fold them. You can use this technique, which I haven't tried myself, but it looks quite clever. Or you can use bias tape makers. Clover make great bias tape makers. Even though they are about double the price of the other brand that you often see, they are well worth the extra money.
You should watch it, if nothing else, you will be thoroughly entertained. I actually prefer (when I remember) to attach the bias first to the wrong side of the fabric, and then fold it back over to the right side, and then top stitch it down. Sometimes, I will fold all of the bias tape to the front of my project so that there is none on the wrong side at all. This technique actually works really well for an apron. The project shown above (sneak peak, its a gift, I will reveal more later) was sewn with the bias attached first to the front and then topstitched also from the front catching the bias at the back.
For the Essential Baby Bag Swap, I was paired up with Kelly from Western Australia. I decided to do Nicole Mallalieu's Day Bag. The shape of the bag is rectangular, but Nicole includes instructions to bring in the sides to give it this shape.
structure. I used an extra layer of interfacing to the centre panel of the bag, as it wasn't as heavy as the denim side panels.
Nicole has just done a new video tutorial for eyelets as well.
mine beneath the strap that holds the large O-ring on the front of the bag. I decided to do this after I had attached the lining, but before I had stitched it closed. This made the insertion of the clasp quite fiddly. When I make this bag again, I will be inserting the clasp before I insert the lining. Something that I did do that I think was a good idea was I actually added the handle straps last, after everything else was put together. I think they would have gotten in my way otherwise. I still managed to sew something to a strap that I didn't mean to at one point.
Nicole includes instructions to insert a zippered pocket to the bag, but I actually used this tutorial from U-handblog to insert a zippered pocket. Please excuse my blurry photography, I also made this label for the inside of my bag using this tutorial from Pepperberry. I also added to the other side of the inside of my bag a mobile phone pocket, as well as a simple pocket that can be used perhaps for a notebook? 
It actually fits my Palm Pilot, so Kelly, if you are reading this, and you have one of those, that's where it goes. I didn't use any tutorials to make this pocket, but I kind of copied the pocket from one that I saw inside another purchased bag.
I used this tutorial to insert a hard base in the bottom of my bag, and I added purse feet to protect the bag base. Nicole Has just done a new video tutorial for purse feet.
I had lots of fun making this bag, and it was really hard to post it, but I told myself that I can always make one for me some other time.... I really hope Kelly likes it!
As the pattern name implies, there are heaps of pockets. I was forever searching around in my old bag, looking for things (actually, sometimes I would even upend the whole thing just trying to find my purse) so the pockets are exactly what I need.
Okay, this is my first robot. There are a few things that need a little tweaking, and as I was watching the machine sew this litte guy, I could see ways to improve him.
I have this idea. It involves these robots (my own design - do you like?) and my embroidery machine. Unfortunately, I have been having trouble converting these guys into embroidery designs so that I can continue with my project. Its very frustrating....