My Months Long Aloe Vera Project

Fabric aloe vera plant...

It's been mentioned here that hubby and I have houseplants that are over thirty years old. Over the years, I've grown quite weary of watering and tending to them (particularly vexing when we go on holidays, although I must say that during our recent two week absence, my watering setup worked quite well on everything) and have welcomed the fact that several have reached their natural lifespan and given up the ghost, so to speak.

Late last summer, I happily threw out the remains of an asparagus fern that had been dangling from the top of our second floor staircase for twenty-nine years. It had been a housewarming gift and although some people love these things, it was not a favourite of mine. Little leaf "blades" fell from it onto our (carpeted) stairs constantly and the long fronds were actually very thorny and difficult to handle in terms of arranging or pruning.

Of course, once it was gone, the spot where it used to sit seemed like a lonely, empty space. I decided an artificial plant would its place; specifically, one that I had previously deemed something I would never make. From the YouTube channel of Retales de Mil Colores, my choice was an aloe vera plant that would require me to make forty-two leaves!

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Deciding – I made the decision last September – and executing were two distinct phases of this project.

As I found out when I made tulips from that same YouTube channel, I don't have a lot of green fabric. I considered making a denim version for a time, but I ended up searching through my closet for something more suitable to recycle.

A jacket that can be sacrificed for crafting...

Again (as I found out when I made the tulips), I don't have a lot of green clothing. But I did find this little jacket that's a light shade of sage green. (It was part of my work wardrobe and like my pant suits and blazers, this type of clothing just doesn't get much wear from me these days.)

Also – since it's a size 00 – I figure it would have limited appeal as a donated item. So in mid-October, I took my scissors to it and harvested enough fabric to make up over half of the required forty-two leaves.

It's a bit of a time-consuming process no matter what...

The remainder of the leaves would later come from blue/green selections from my Lily and Loom purchase. By the end of October, I had the above plate of leaves all traced out and mostly cut.

At some point in mid November, I gathered up some of my larger fusible fleece scraps and pinned them patchwork style onto the smaller leaves.

Fabric leaves sewn together and turned out with fusible fleece interfacing inside each...

It was December before I pinned the remainder of the fabric to fusible fleece. The pieces were then sewn together along the edges, pinked, turned right side out and pressed.

Doing that for forty-two leaves is a bit of a process no matter how you look at it. Over the course of the first week of December, it got done, slowly.

Pressed and ready for more sewing...

This is one of the few projects I've done that's required an assembly line style of construction, although I didn't quite follow it to the "t". I assembly-lined three groups of leaves. (There are four different sizes, ranging from six small ones to fourteen large ones.) As it turned out, it was a good decision, since my fingers got sore from using the hemostats to turn and the pinking shears to trim.

I did, however, stop after they were all turned and pressed, leaving the final "sewing down the center of each leaf" to be done all at once.

Centers sewn and stacked in "order"...

I harvested fabric from both the inside and outside of the jacket, meaning that some of the leaves had one side that was made out of a (fairly sturdy) nylon satin from the lining. Seven of the leaves feature this fabric on the top side.

The start of the hot gluing process...

The gluing process took place on the weekend of December 7 & 8.

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Check out crafty classes at Creativebug! [affiliate link]

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Here is the finished plant, with all forty-two leaves hot glued together.

Top view...

Even though I scaled the pattern up by 25%, it's nowhere near the size of the old asparagus fern. But it has taken its old place at the top of the stairs. (I imagine that I could add another layer of leaves to make this plant more of a statement piece, but that's a thought for another day.)

I won't have to water this one...

I found a square wooden box that had previously held a fresh flower arrangement as the container.

And it won't drop anything down onto the stairs...

I appreciate the fact that I took another of my unwanted garments and turned it into something else that will give me pleasure.

But for something so inherently simple, this took a long time to complete... not to mention a long time to post! (And further proof that we should never say "never"!)

'Til next... 🇨🇦🍁

Customized "Eggsy" Backpack

My new Eggsy backpack...

Several weeks ago, I posted about a new (to me) YouTube channel that had captured my attention: Miko Craft.

This talented Indonesian bag maker freely offers up quality patterns for our consumption, and it's all done to a level that equals or surpasses many "paid" designers. If you're looking to make a bag and you learn best by video, I highly recommend you check him out.

The project that I'm about to show you was mentioned in that previous post: the Eggsy Backpack. (I'm making the rare move of actually providing a link here.) Under the details section of the video, you can access a PDF containing all required templates.

I chose this design out of his vast catalog of backpack patterns for its sleek, oval, curvy shape. Also, the way it's constructed immediately gave me ideas for how I could allocate my intended fabric selections (which included my own Canadiana Tiled & Mirrored and the Emma & Mila (Field Carbon) that I first used for my eReader case).

Black, white and red would rule the day for this project!

It's a good size...

For the lining, it's a blast from the past: a 2002 release called Black and White and Read Allover by Cindy Taylor Oates. It came from Jake's care package that I received ten years ago. I've said this before, but it's literally the gift that keeps on giving!

Whimsical eye chart fabric (front lining)...

I believe this is only the second time I've used this fabric for a bag; the first was one of my bodaciously basic bucket bag testers. As so many others often do with certain fabrics in their stash, I guess I've always been saving it for something perfect. This is a perfect colour match for my black, white and red Eggsy. (And I still had/have a lot left!)

Further about the fabric, my Canadiana pieces are a lightweight cotton twill, while the Emma & Mila is a high quality (read "higher thread count") quilting cotton. I left the twill as is, but interfaced the quilting cotton with SF101. I contemplated adding some fusible fleece to some of the pieces but ultimately decided against it. None of the lining was interfaced.

This was a lightly interfaced bag...

The end result is a soft finish that holds its shape, but is definitely squishable for packing or squeezing into small spaces. (I mean, don't you just hate it when someone's backpack is sticking in your face while on a bus or in a lineup?) In these photos where you see the bag standing up by itself, it's doing so without any "stuffing" or extra help.

By the way, as I was looking at the photos of the finished project, it also occurred to me that in the absence of the Emma & Mila fabric, I could have used my own Healthy, Hopeful, Happy design to produce a similar item.

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Miko's tutorial revealed a new (to me) technique for making a zippered pocket with a "clean" interior, i.e., no exposed zipper tape under the opening. The existence of this method is not unknown to me; I've just never cared enough to learn how to do it. I guess what I'm reiterating is that he doesn't cut corners in how his projects are designed.

That said, the process for making this pocket is covered – generically – in a different video, so you'll have refer to a second tutorial when you get to this step. I chose to add a second zippered pocket to the back side of the bag, so that's where I used this more professional method. For the interior lining pocket, I actually did two things differently. I used the basic method (with exposed zipper tape), but I also left the bottom of the lining open – actually cut it open since it began as a single piece – and turned (this half of) the bag right side out through that opening.

Using the bottom of a pocket to turn right side out...

This modification let me skip having to hand sew along the gusset to close up an alternate opening for turning (as indicated at 24:17 of the video). Less hand sewing is always a win in my book!

While we're on the subject of pockets, let me describe the other two that I added. One is right along the gusset and the other is attached to one of the side panels of the rounded front part. The latter was a last minute addition, decided on when I saw how wide that area actually was. It will certainly carry sunglasses and will even fit my cellphone in a pinch.

Simple slip pocket added to gusset...

The gusset pocket is similar to the one I added to my Seth bag. It's even more simple here as it's just one long single piece of fabric, seamed to create a tube (to make the pocket self-lined). It's then sewn to the bottom and basted along the sides of the gusset. I created the illusion of a flap by folding the top part of the fabric over and adding a rivet.

Size-wise, you might think it's hardly big enough to be useful, but not only can cards fit in it (it's deep enough that they won't fall out), it'll also accommodate reading glasses – even sunglasses if they're not the big chunky kind – or a tube of insect repellent, lotion, sunscreen, or hand sanitizer.

Water bottle harness attached to gusset piece...

Staying with the gusset for a moment, one of the things I wanted to add – since the bag didn't have an exterior pocket designed for it – was a water bottle harness.

I used a piece of heavy duty wide elastic for this purpose. (Same stuff that I used for our shinto stool cushions, which are still functioning well, five and a half years later.) I measured to make sure that it would have to stretch just a tiny bit to hold a basic 500ml bottle. If it's not snug, it will just slide out.

On the opposite side of the interior gusset, I added a couple of mini straps. I figured they could hold pens or sunglasses (although in the finished bag, they are positioned a little lower than I'd like).

I eventually attached my red and white key card lanyard to one of them.

By the way, I was quite happy to discover that even though a bottle of water takes away from the amount of room (width-wise) inside the bag, the area in front still offers up a lot of room for things like a pouch or some other organizer. (You can't see it in this photo, but my 3 pocket red and white ribbon pouch is inside.)

Two multi-purpose mini straps attached to opposite side of gusset...

Okay, back to the subject of the other pocket. After completing the front part of the bag (12:52 of the video), I noticed that the sides were actually pretty substantial. Substantial enough to add a slip pocket if I could somehow manage to add it artfully.

For ease of access, the pocket would need to be angled; for overall looks, fussy cutting the piece would be best. Having a noticeable break in the fabric's print would call attention to the pocket unnecessarily.

Luckily, I had a big enough matching remnant to work with, one that would allow for seams along three sides – the pocket is unlined – so that it could be sewn on top of the existing panel.

Pressing is important, to ensure that the fussy cut stays true after adding the seam allowances. (While Miko doesn't seem to press anything during his construction process, it's always a good thing to press as you go when you're making a bag like this.)

Adding another slip pocket...

This last minute addition turned out reasonably well, all things considered. One could try to add this pocket to the original panel D, but having extra thickness in that zipper area might not turn out so well.

Speaking of piece D, when I was sewing it up, I somehow got it turned backwards and couldn't figure out for the life of me how to make it fit. (This is 9:57 of the video.) I think it was because the image I captured in my Word doc didn't show precisely the extreme curvy edge being matched up with the zipper tape. For some reason, I just assumed it was the other side.

Anyway, one of the commenters on the video apparently had the same problem and when I read it, it occurred to me that I had done the exact same thing!

Straps done my way...

I pondered for a long time about how to make the straps, knowing that I only had so much webbing (recycled from an old duffle bag) and also that I didn't want to buy gold toned hardware to make them as designed. The reality was that this is my bag. As long as I can use it comfortably, having the straps be adjustable seemed unnecessary.

Then there's the fact that I'm not a big fan of using just webbing; it seems like such a utilitarian choice. It's already a backpack – which is utilitarian in style – so why can't it be jazzed up a tad?

That's how I ended up with my fabric trimmed straps. Once I determined that I had enough fabric to cover one side of the webbing, it was an easy decision. And because I didn't have the perfect amount of webbing (slightly short), I used some of the fabric to make anchors at both ends. The raw ends of the straps were inserted into those anchors, which were then secured by topstitching along both edges of the straps.

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Check out crafty classes at Creativebug! [affiliate link]

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If you've been a regular reader for awhile, you may know that I love to make use of recycled bits and discount store purchases for my projects. This one was no different. (I already said that the webbing for the straps came from an old duffle.) The zipper pulls on the front pocket came from a pair of suede boots that I tossed a few years ago.

Never toss old zipper pulls... especially when they look like this!

Other "danglers" that I added to the remaining three exterior zippers – a red handbag and a lock and key – came from my old cell phone charm and from a pair of shoes (that you can see here).

The gold slider buckle that I threaded through one of the straps came from the same $10 thrift store purse that gave up all of the golden hardware for my customized Goddess of the Sea bag. (If you're wondering what the buckle's for, it's a handy place to hang a pair of sunglasses for quick access.) It's free to slide up and down the strap to whatever location.

Can't have too many places from which to hang bling!

The accent ribbon that's used to trim the ends of the main zipper came from a Michael's discount bin (for a buck). The colour match is spot on. The ribbon was sewn back to back to form the hanging loop at the top of the backpack (instead of using more webbing).

A necessity for every bag I own!

Because most of my hardware is silver toned, I had to pay a visit to my local Dollarama to find a gold keychain. I needed a split ring to thread through one of those ribbon zipper ends so I could attach a lip balm carrier. Usually made with non-fraying materials, I zigzagged stitched my Canadiana fabric to resolve that issue.

For those who want to add a label to the front of the bag, do so at 5:00 or 6:42 of the video.

I typically forget (and really don't much care) to add a designer tag to my creations, but when the bag was finished, the front panel just seemed to be lacking something. I decided to make a maple leaf patch and attach it with double sided tape and rivets. Thankfully, the dual access front pocket made that easy to accomplish, even after the fact. (Oh, and by the way, the maple leaf on this patch came from a different version of my Canadiana fabric; it's a fleece used for these mittens.)

FINALLY – and I do mean finally – I wanted a way to turn this into more of a sling bag. Unless I'm really seriously trekking, I'm probably going to carry this bag on one shoulder with one strap. However, I don't like an unused backpack strap hanging loose; it just makes it easier for someone to come along and snatch it.

An example of a simple but extremely functional modification...

With the help of hook and loop tape and some sturdy black elastic – saved from one of my $1 belts – I sewed up the contraption shown here to help keep the two straps together.

And yes, that was the final addition that I made to this Eggsy. (However, it's not the end of the saga — I'll be back with another of Miko's Eggsy projects before the end of summer.)

'Til next... 🇨🇦🍁