Kitty cat ball

My daughter loves kitty cats. We don't have a cat. I am allergic to cats, so we will never have one. And, I am not really a cat person (but, she doesn't need to know that). However, she LOVES cats. She pretends to be a cat multiple times a day. She really knows how to purr and "lick" her paws. The last three Halloweens, she wore the same kitty cat costume. She plays with her stuffed kitty cats every day. I actually think she believes she is really a cat.

So, to celebrate her love for kitty cats and her new room, I decided to make a kitty cat inspired ball for her room. The idea came from the book called Surrur - Tee Oma Marimekkosi (in English Surrur - Make Your Own Marimekko). My sister (follow her blog here: http://terhintekema.blogspot.com/) bought it for me a few summers back, and we have made quite a few of these balls since then. Some together, some separate.

I found all the fabrics that have kitty cats in them...and, it turned out that I have a quite a selection, and I also found fabrics that were either pink or red. The color theme for the room is red and white which are her favorite colors right now.

It took a few weeks for me to be inspired to get the ball done, but the pending arrival of our newest member of the family pressured me to finally finish the ball. And, here it is. O loves it. It's a perfect size for her to sit on or roll around. Unfortunately, it is also the perfect size to be thrown around in the room kind of like a beach ball. Luckily, it is pretty heavy, so it has not been thrown too many times...and, partly, also, I hope, because I have been screaming, "EIIIIIIIIIIII SAA HEITTÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ!!!!" (Translation: NOOOOOOO throwing!!!)

If you are interested in making your own, check out the book Surrur - Make Your Own Marimekko. Here is some information about the book Surrur - Make Your Own Marimekko. Unfortunately, it is not available at Amazon any more which is a bummer. It is a great book. Hopefully, you will be able to find it somewhere else.

snack bags

If everything goes as planned, we have a new family member arriving in one week. I have been a bit frantically cleaning, washing, tidying, and sewing the last month or so because life as I know it will soon be over. My sewing machine is packed away. And, my desk is moved to make space for new arrangements. Sigh!

Before I put everything away, I was able to get a few things done. Here is one of the latest obsessions that I had. Reusable snack bags for little and big kids.

My friend had bought some snack bags for her kids which made me thinking that it shouldn't be too difficult to make my own. So, one day I was wandering around a baby store when I noticed bunch of reusable fabric snack bags. I inspected them carefully, may have snapped a few pictures, and left the store with an idea. I didn't buy anything at the baby store, but I did at the fabric store a few minutes later!

I decided to use cotton fabric outside, and inside of the snack bags I decided to line with the water resistant material that is used for reusable diapers. I made a bag lined with the water resistant fabric for my daughter for her swim class, and it is awesome. Most of the time the snack bags won't have anything wet inside anyway unless they are crackers dipped in milk and then put back into the bag. But, even then, I am certain that the bag would not get wet outside.

The wonderful thing about these snack bags is that you can just toss them in the washing machine and dryer with your laundry, and they are good to go again.

I made these two kitty baggies for O. And, I also made two trial ones for me friend's boys. I wanted to test them before I would make more. What we soon realized...after the first use and wash...was that my seam was too close to the edge of the bag, and it easily came undone and created a hole. Since then I have started sewing the seam farther away from the edge, and that seemed to have done the trick.

I tried to take pictures of my process as I made the first bag. They are SUPER easy to make, so no pictures are even necessary, but here you go anyway.

1. I first cut the outside and inside fabric. I made my bags 7 inches wide. That seems to be a good width. And, they are 15 inches long. Although, some of the bags I made are skinnier, there is still plenty of space for snacks for little hands. This is also a great way to get rid of some leftover fabric.

2. I pinned the right sides together. 

Make sure that the softer side of the water resistant material is facing the right side of the cotton material. The other side of the water resistant material is plasctic-y, and I think, probably, would not make it easy for a little hand to get snacks out of the bag.

3. Then you sew around the whole piece. I sewed 1/4 inch from the edge of the fabric. Remember to leave an opening on one of the long edges of the bag so that you can turn it around.

4. Once I was all done sewing around the piece, I cut the corners and trimmed the edges a little bit. It makes the turning easier and the whole piece lays flat better.

5. Here is the piece all turned around. One side is the cotton fabric which is the outside of the snack bag, and the inside is the water resistant material which will keep the bag clean. 

6. The next step is to top stitch the piece. I started from where the opening for the turning was. This way I closed the opening. I sewed as close to the edge as I could. You sew all the way around the piece again.

7. I then folded the piece to look like a snack bag. I don't have exact measurements here, but I just folded it so it looked like a good size bag and flap.

8. Next I cut a piece of Velcro that covered the width of the bag. I put the soft part of the Velcro on the bag, and the hard part of the Velcro on the flap. I pinned them both onto the bag, and sewed around both Velcro pieces.

 9.  I pinned the baggy sides together so they lined up nicely, and then I sewed the edges together to close the bag. I have been now using the top stitch as my guide to create another seam along the edge. The new seam is going to be inside of the top stitch. You will have two seams going side by side. No need to turn the bags inside out to do this.

10. I added my "This and That by Tintti" label while sewing the bags together. And, that's it. You are done. Super easy, huh???

Since the bags were so easy and fast to make, I have been making them for birthday presents for friends. I hope they will get used. And, even if they are not used for carrying yummy snacks, they could easily be used for other treasures - little cars, trains, Pets characters, rocks, marbles, hair accessories, or whatever the treasure of the month happens to be.

Here are some pictures of the other baggies that I have made.