Not Your Average Conference...your chance to WIN BIG!

Little Moo Designs is so very excited to be partnering with my beautiful friend and graphic designer, Louise from Radge Design Creative to bring the opportunity to go in the draw to win a virtual pass to artfulbizcon  2016!

Whether you are a new business or well established you need to know about this awesome opportunity.

artfulbizcon is a conference where you can learn ways to grow and develop your business in a creative & authentic way, it is an awesome inspiring event where you can learn new ideas and even look at what is holding you back. This will be my first year attending (virtually) and I can't begin to tell you how excited I am!!

The speaker line up is just amazing!

The conference is taking place in beautiful Melbourne, Victoria on the 28th & 29th May with a virtual pass meaning you can watch from anywhere in the world - or if you want to be there and live in Melbourne you can upgrade you ticket and pay the difference.

Sounding pretty epic right?
If you would like the opportunity to enter to win this amazing virtual ticket here is what you need to do:
1. Entry is via my FaceBook Group; Little Moo Designs Sewcialists.
2. In my FB group you need to comment under the specified post letting us know: What is your best piece of business advice or what makes your business shine?
3. Competition ends: Sunday 22nd May 2016 at 8.00 pm AEST
4. Entry is open worldwide

T&C's: ONE winner will be chosen randomly by Louise from Radge Design. The winner will receive 1 x virtual pass(Value: $197)  to artfulbizcon 2016. The winner can choose to upgrade the ticket to attend the conference, the winner is responsible for paying the difference in ticket costs.

GOOD LUCK!
A HUGE THANKYOU to Radge Design and artfulbizcon for this amazing prize.

Chapel St Shoulder Bag Series: Bag Bling

I consider the small touches that we add to our handmade wares are what really make them shine.

From the fabric choices to the trims to the zipper colour. All these little design pieces go together to make our handmade bags really stand out.

To add to the small details, I love to make bag bling. These little bag charms are perfect for zipper pulls to give your bag the finishing touch.

Here is how you can make your own zipper charms!

Supplies Needed:

- Round Nose Pliers
- Lobster Clasps
- 50 mm eye pins
- Jump rings
- Charms
- Assortment of beads

1. Take one of the pins, one end will have a little loop. Using the pliers undo the loop just enough to slip the charm onto the end. Slide the charm onto the loop and use the pliers to close the loop again.

 

2. Now comes the fun part. Thread your beads in any order that you like onto the other end of the pin. Leave a 1/4" free without beads to attach to the lobster clasp.

 

 

3. Take your pliers and turn the wire over into a loop shape. Attach a jump ring and a lobster clip. Voila! All done.

 

 

 

 

See how addictive these are to make! They are so much fun! You won't stop at just one. 

 

 

 

 

Attach to your bag and away you go! 

 

 

 

 

I can't wait to see your bag bling!

Happy Making,

Kylie x 

 





Show us your Chapel St Shoulder Bag Blog Series- Interfacing.

Today I want to talk to you about the world of interfacings.

This is a big wide world that can often feel confusing and overwhelming. I want to simplify that and share MY experiences with interfacings.

There are 5 main categories of interfacings:

1. Light Weight Interfacing -

Light weight Interfacing is perfect for lining a pocket or other small project where you need to add a small amount of support to your fabric but you still want the fabric to remain flexible.

2. Mid Weight Interfacing -

This is my most commonly used interfacing. It is the perfect strength to give structure however still allowing flexibility. Its great for linings and larger flap pieces.

3. Firm Interfacing -

If you want to add rigidity to your bag then firm interfacing may be what you need to use. I choose to use this in the base of some bags, fabric baskets I have made where I want them to stand up strong.

4. Fleece Interfacing -

 Fusible fleece provides your bags with density and thickness to your fabric layers without too much bulk or weight. It is perfect for the QAYG (Quilt As You Go) method used in bags such as The Tiny Essentials Tote Bag, or small sized bags that you do not want too thick. Perect for backing magnetic snaps to give extra strength and making bag handles firm in strength but soft to carry.

5. Foam -

Perfect for larger bags such as the Tilly Day Tote, foam will give your bag a defined shape while still staying soft to touch. Measuring approximately 4mm thick, you can bend the foam but it will bounce right back. It is quite easy to sew however can make your seams bulky, so for this I cut my seams 1/2" smaller than the bag body, this way the bag still has the structure without the bulky seams.

Depending on the bag you are making will depend on what interfacing you will need to use.

- For my smaller bags (Maya Clutch, Chapel St Shoulder Bag), I tend to use one layer of mid weight Interfacing and one layer of fleece.

- my bigger bags (Tilly Day Tote, Willow Tote Bag), I will use a layer of Foam and a layer or Mid Weight Interfacing.

So as you can see, there is an interfacing for every occasion. For me it has been trial and error to find which brands I love. I have my personal preferences as you will too, it just takes practice to get your bag to be how you like it.

Happy Sewing,

Kylie xx

I made this little table I hope you find helpful.

Perhaps you use different interfacings and know of other brands, if so feel free to leave a comment below and I will continue updating this table.

 

Interfacings quick reference table:

	Legacy Brand	Heat ‘n’ Bond	Pellon	Vilene	Other
Light Weight Interfacing	L250 Iron On	Soft	809 Décor Bond
Mid Weight Interfacing	L101		809 Décor Bond	G700
Firm Interfacing	L71F	Extra Firm	71F
Fleece Interfacing	L987F Iron on fleece thermolan		987F Fusible Fleece/L-TP971F/101	H630/H640
Foam					Annie’s Soft and Stable/Headlliner

Show us your Chapel St Shoulder Bag Series - Fabric ideas

This post is all about inspiration for your Chapel St Shoulder Bag.

The beautiful aspect of this bag is that the Joey Pocket allows you to make a feature fabric really stand out.
In this blog post I thought I would share with you some of my favourite fabric combo's for Chapel St Bags.

Design tip 1: choose your base fabric.
What fabric will you use for the body of the bag, will it be a plain coloured fabric to really let the Joey pocket 'POP', or how about a contrast to your pocket fabric?
Some of my favourite base fabrics include: Cotton duck in solid colours (great quality!), Essex linen (oh this is my new love!), denim or leather/vinyl if you are up for the challenge.

Here is some design boards I put together with combinations that I love!


1. Kaufman Essex Linen Blend Yarn Dyed Indigo, Vertical Ticking Stripe Ivory Charcoal, Kaufmann Touch of Provence Mediterranean and add some red piping.

 

 

 

2. Michael Miller Jet Black, Polka Dots Black, Michael Miller Cherry Dot Black add a cherry red zipper and piping.

 



 



 



3. Tula Pink Elizabeth Astraea Tart, Kaufman Essex Linen Blend Navy, Tula Pink Elizabeth Tudor Windows Sky

 

 

 

4. Art Gallery Emmy Grace Painted Ladies' Flutter, Art Gallery Emmy Grace Ripples Rose, Kauffman Light Grey  Essex Linen Blend add a musk pink zipper YUM!

 

 

5. Art Gallery Utopia Chatter Pods Menta, Art Gallery Utopia Dreamlandia Illuminated, Denim. (I neeeed this fabric in my life!)

 

 

 

6. And last but not least, how awesome is this Melba Fabric by Ella Blue! It is the perfect Chapel St Shoulder Bag fabric. All Melbourne like! Team with some Essex linen and this is perfection.

 



 

 

Design tip 2: Use a funky zipper, its the little details that really make a bag stand out. These gorgeous zips are from BOO! Designs and the perfect size for the zipper welt pocket in the Chapel St Bag.

 

 

 

And last but not least, consider a contrast for the gusset piece. I love leather and vinyl for this and contrast colours.

 

 

Don't forget to get sewing your Chapel St Shoulder Bag and enter the awesome competition details are available here.

 

Happy Sewing,

Kylie xx



 





 

Show us your Chapel St Shoulder Bag Series - Getting Organised, What's your Sewernality?

I hope by now you have read all about the fabulous competition being run as part of this blog series, if not you can do so here.

In today's blog post I want to talk about sewing styles and sewing organisation.

- Let's have a bit of fun, have you ever stopped to think about what style of sewer you are?
What is your Sewernality...


Are you "Sew Organised": Are you a super organised person that works on one project at a time before moving onto the next? Plans well and thinks through before buying fabric and starting a project. You work step by step and are good at scheduling time to sew.

Are you "Sew Dreamy": Are you a dreamer? You dream about your sewing project, sometimes for days and sometimes for weeks, you picture it even when your meant to be doing other important things, you sew it in your head but you rarely find the time to sew in real life.

Are you "Sew Well Planned": Are you a planner? Do you plan your fabric, hold onto it, match the thread, interfacing, before making that all important first cut?

Are you "Sew Exhilarated": Are you a sewing thrill seeker? Do you love the hype of a new pattern release, sew it within days and have enough fabric in your stash to not need to go shopping. The thrill of a new design really makes your head spin with excitement and you jump in boots and all.

There are pros and cons to each sewing type, but you know what, I think if you are having fun and doing something that you love then that is all that matters. (awwww)

All jokes aside, this post is going to provide you with some fabulous tips and tricks to get you organised for sewing your Chapel St Shoulder Bag or any bag really.

1. Print your pattern pieces. Although this sounds simple you need to make sure you check a few things first, so that things run smoothly.
If you find your pattern pieces are not printing correctly, ask yourself these questions:
- Do you have the latest version of ADOBE Reader (or similar) installed on your PC?
- Is your printer scaling settings set to No Scaling/100% or Actual Size? (This is correct if they are)
- Check the 1" test square measures correctly

Once you have your pattern pieces printed correctly, you need to cut them out and join them at the designated markers sticky tape them together.

OK now for my special trick, if like me you use the same pattern piece over and over, they tend to get ratty and tatty after a few uses. So here is what I do......I laminate my pattern pieces. This makes them last a long long time. Tadah! I told you it was a good one!

But wait there is more.......now bags in particular have lots and lots of pieces for you to cut out, pockets, gussets, bag exteriors, bag linings, strap connectors, straps and zipper tabs! To become sew organised I suggest you printing 1 x copy of the cutting chart out, laminate it and tick off the pieces as you cut them out.

I also like to label my pieces as I cut them, I thought you may find these tabs helpful, feel free to print (and laminate) and use them over and over again.

Chapel St Shoulder Bag Helpful Tabs

 - Print and Laminate -

Joey Pocket	Exterior Body	Interior Body
Gusset	Strap Tabs	Recessed Zipper
Gusset Pieces	Zipper Tab	Strap
Piping	Pocket Piece (Optional)	Be FABulous!

Do you have any other handy tips you use to get organised? Share below I would love to hear about them.

Happy Sewing,

Kylie xx

Show Us Your Chapel St Promotion!

I am so excited that my new pattern, The Chapel St Shoulder Bag has been such a hit! To celebrate I have a launch competition and blog series.

The Chapel St Shoulder Bag, a touch retro and all style; she may be small but she sure packs a punch! I am a Melbourne girl at heart, my favourite shopping destination is Chapel Street in Prahran. Filled with hustle, bustle and some of my favourite shopping and dining venues. The Chapel Str Shoulder Bag is an ode to all things Chapel  St, stylish. unique and on trend.

To celebrate the release, I have teamed up with two other amazing Aussie businesses; BOO! Designs and Handbag Hardware Australia to give you the opportunity to win a prize pack that will make your heart sing!!

One winner will receive the following prize package posted:

- 5 x gorgeous zippers from BOO! Designs (you can choose which ones you would like)
- A hardware pack from Handbag Hardware Australia
- A fabric pack from Aussie Based fabric designers Ink & Spindle
- 4 x PDF Sewing Patterns from the Little Moo Designs Pattern Shop!
Is that amazing or what!!

Here is what you need to do to enter:
1. Purchase the Chapel St Shoulder Bag Pattern
2. Sew a Chapel St Shoulder Bag from the pattern, you can use any fabric combinations you like.
3. Take a photo of your Chapel St Shoulder Bag in front of a sign that represents you or your town
(NOTE: Please DO NOT use your street sign for identity reasons, you could use a town sign, a funny sign or street sign you love the name of.....get creative).
4. Send an image of your Street Sign and Bag to Kylie at lilmoodesigns@hotmail.com
5. Competition ends: 1st April 2016 8.00pm AEST
6. The winner will be drawn at random, judges decision is final. Winner will be notified by email, once contact is established this will be shared with their consent.
7. Competition is open worldwide, the prizes will be posted to you (patterns emailed).
8. One entry per person.

Are you excited yet? I am.

Now here is some Bag-spiration to kick you off to a flying start.

The beautiful Susie from Twirl Girl Boutique made this gorgeous arm crook version of the Chapel St Shoulder Bag using Melbourne Based Designer fabric from Ink & Spindle. Isn't it devine!

 

 

I can not wait to see what you can come up with. My FaceBook Group also has lots of information and support if you would like to join, we would love to see you there.

 

Happy Sewing, Kylie xx



 

Chapel St Shoulder Bagspiration for you!

Tomorrow sees the release of one of my favourite patterns yet, The Chapel St Shoulder Bag.
I shared all the details a few days ago, you can read more about it here.

I wanted to share with you the beautiful work of my pattern testing team, who put so much time and effort and are an imperative part of the pattern release process. You will see from the gallery of Chapel St Shoulder Bags below just what talent these ladies have.

A leather based stunner by Twirl Girl Boutique

 

 

The cutest chipmunk in town, Tula Pink Chipper  and Essex Linen by Melisa Jane.

 

 

 Adorable Tilda, this beauty is by Beverley Power Handmade.

 

 

Reeeeeeeow this leopardtastic chapel st is one gorgeous girl by the equally amazing Not Made in China. 

 

 

 

 

Denim and Cotton and Steel looks fabulous by Harley B Handmade.

 

 

Tula Tree Of Life is the perfect feature, by Joyful Creations.

 

 

Sam from Sewn to the core made a gorgeous Chapel St, that pop of yellow is like sunshine!

 

 

Peacocks make a stunning feature on this version by Lini Creations.

 

Crosspatch Creations makes the Eiffel Tower sparkle!

 

 

Country chic and gorgeous machine embroidery by TM Baskets.

 

 

Muted tones are on trend this winter, and Boonlell Bags does this perfectly.

 

 

Jo used the fabulous Ex-Libris Fabric and it really pops with the red piping.

 

 

Laura chose the gorgeous Tula Pink Bunnies for her Chapel Street, isn't she fab!

 

 

 

Sew Fun By Kylie's Chapel Street is the perfect fashion accessory in this J.Pag fabric.

 

Sew Today, Clean Tomorrow has the brightest beauty on the block with her chapel st, I love it!

 

Beautiful Amy added a touch of retro with her gorgeous Chapel St Shoulder Bag, yellow is the perfect pop of piping colour!

 

 

As you can see, the options really are endless for this bag, and I am sure you will agree these ladies have done such an amazing job.

 

The Chapel Street Shoulder Bag pattern will be available March 12th via my pattern shop.

 

I can't wait!

Kylie x