Professional Duo Complete from Repurposed Ladies Jacket

Posted on January 16, 2012

The recycling and redesigning the women’s tapestry jacket was rather difficult, if I were to tell the truth. Even though things look one way in your head, accomplishing that goal can be a whole different chore. But the jacket has now been completely disassembled and reassembled into two useful items. Here is the tapestry jacket’s photo history…….

Sleeves cut away from jacket and splayed for cutting (in previous post)

The completed iPad cover made completely from the sleeves of jacket (in previous post)

Jacket body formed into a tote - items to complete are only laying on body. Handles, magnetic closure, black belting....

Professional tote/iPad cover set - not sure how to set this up to photograph decent.

Complete tote from tapestry jacket showing off its true color outdoors.

I lined it with a gray embroidered satin lining and couldn’t resist to put a final little touch to its closure – a silver leaf. As soon as that went on, it truly had my name on it. Not sure what will happen with this yet as Bill thinks I should be the one to enjoy this one. He’s one of my biggest supporters, but if this could sell and make a couple of bucks, then that’s what we have to do.

Thank you for stopping by and giving this a final look over! One day it may make it into the Etsy store, but until then I’ll enjoy looking at it and thinking of ways to improve on the upcycling and repurposing of the great thrift store finds we have in our possession. Yep, there is a whole tote full of beautiful sweaters, jackets and suit coats to re-fashion.

Happy Monday and happy crafting everyone!

Sneak Peek at Blue Skies

Posted on November 1, 2011

Since the Double Diamond came off the needles this last weekend, another had to go on the needles to take its place. There were many colors to pick from in inventory, and decided on the blue. It reminds me of the beautiful Nebraska sky that we love. Just a little sneak peek on its progress.

Light Blue - will be a larger felted wool bag upon completion

I am learning some new techniques from the Japanese book I ordered. Some are a bit different, especially in how to make bobbles. But I went back to my own way of doing them to make the little flowering buds you see. The design is the same on the back of bag also. There is always room to learn more technique and give new things a try.

We were happy to see that the creative blog received 979 hits in October which is a new record for TygerLily. We are most thankful for each and every one of you that stop by.

Enjoy your day and get a little creative – it’s good for the soul. :)

Houndstooth Professional (with some bling)

Posted on October 29, 2011

In every effort to get things that have been started, completed, this was the first on my list this morning. Ms. Houndstooth is complete and ready to photo at some point for the shop. These are pics of the handle process, of which you all need to remind me NEVER TO DO AGAIN! I think I have bruising on my ribs from turning those doggone things. :) Anyhow, here ya go…..

The WORST job I ever had to do.....

Securing handles with German glue and casing.

To this gem that sparkled on the deck for us this morning……

Business Glam!

The sequin rosette was the absolute perfect accent after struggling trying to decide if it should be a bow, a knot, or even detachable. The bow looked hideous, but that’s just my opinion. It went in the trash and I salvaged part of it and added the rosette. And yes, these babies are drying with that awesome German glue that never gives up.

Let me know what ya think, and thanks for stopping by! And remember to ‘like’ TygerLily over on Facebook. We are striving for those 100 fans and really want to reward someone with a gift.

Happy Saturday and onward we go to the next project that’s incomplete, and git-r-dun. :)

3-1/2 Hr Vacation And Pretzel Logic

Posted on October 28, 2011

OK, so I am taking 3-1/2 hours of my vacation time this morning to regroup and get back on track.

1. October is about over – forgot to get tags for the car, so THAT line will be uber pleasant this morning. But that’s my own fault.

2. Funny how basic items DON’T make it on the shopping list until they’re gone! Yep, Sam’s Club here I come. Blechhh

3. DID get the fabrics ordered for two commissioned orders for kids art books this morning. Should be super cute. And while I was on Fabric.com I found this FANTASTIC corduroy fabric which is going to line one of the Prairie Bags coming up….

Over-The-Top Orange Corduroy

…….and this beauty – embroidered corduroy! Think I’m in love with this one.

Brown Embroidered Corduroy

And there’s still a color of Brown Sheep Company’s Burly Spun yarn that’s not worked up into a bag yet, but THIS was the perfect find for the lining to the future handbag….

Prairie Handbag #? corduroy lining CAN WE ALL SAY WOW!!!!

Aren’t those fabrics absolutely wonderful? They are all ordered and I even was able to use a little coupon on my cord fabrics – YIPEEEEE!! I’ll take it!

After my mini-vacation this morning (ha) I hope to get the Barbed Wire Cable Handbag completely off the needles, get the fun little adornments attached that I found yesterday in my “Inspiration In A Bag” and get that baby in the machine to be felted – YET TODAY! :) There is a closure treatment that I want to test on this bag, hopefully to include a little bling, a little leather, some surprises. Have to keep testing to find the absolute best way.

And look what I found when I was digging through some things – the Pretzel Logic Handbag that I never lined. It was done back in 2008, but then things started falling apart and we had to move. So this baby needs to get lined and in the shop soon. It’s rather a bizarre looking kind of thing, isn’t it.

Pretzel Logic Handbag

And I realized I didn’t actually save the Cherry Blossom Handbag photo yesterday to the computer. That explains a lot. But here it is in a messy heap. This needs to get completed today also if possible. Well, maybe this weekend. :)

Cherry Blossom Handbag

OK, my mini vaca starts in a half hour. So here we go! Let’s tackle the day and have a little fun while we do it, okay?

Love to see you all stopping by – you make my day. :)

Houndstooth To Japanese

Posted on October 27, 2011

The duldrums (sp) hit this week quite unexpectedly. Not a lot of enthusiasm about coming home after work and doing much if anything creative. So this blog is for ME as much as it is for anyone reading. It’s time to recharge – just like my camera.

The houndstooth suiting fabric purchased last week is meandering its way into a handbag. I’ve started out using a basic pattern, but I wanted to switch up the top/handles a little, so now I’m rather stuck until I can figure how to actually DO what’s in my head. It’s at a stop until that’s figured out…..

Feminine Houndstooth - Waiting for Handle Treatment

Then as I went to take a couple extra photos this morning, I see the Cherry Blossom handbag still waiting to be sewn up into a bag – it’s knitted – just needs seams, lining and pink handles…….. (now I can’t find where I put the photo)

Then on to a great grab bag of vintage fabrics a friend at work brought in! This puppy weighs a ton and the fabrics inside are incredibly fun and will make great hobo bags, linings and whatnot….

Gift Bag of Vintage Fabrics

And here is an update on the two bags on the needles:

Barbed Wire Prairie Bag #6

Reynolds Lopi "Brick Streets" Prairie Bag #7

More on the Reynolds Lopi yarn later – becoming not such a big fan. But felting may change my mind, so I’ll try to keep that (my mind) open. :)

And my Japanese inspiration book came this week with MUCH taunting from my husband! He didn’t understand why I’d buy a book written in a foreign language. I told him that it’s the ‘study’ of the graphing done – not the words! And the pictures speak millions of words to me…..

A TREASURY of INSPIRATION!

I need to fly – meetings and work are calling………..

Drop me a line – let me know your thoughts. We can ALL use inspiration and some days a good kick in the keester. :) Happy crafting!

Billy’s Sweater Re-Do is COMPLETE!

Posted on October 22, 2011

Men's Sweaters

This was sooooo much fun to do. And I should have really been doing a ton of other things, but I really needed to just have a little fun. Remember the sweater of Bill’s I scored earlier today? Well, it has now been totally reworked into a snap-shut handbag. There’s nothing special about it, no embroidered TygerLily on the inside, no pockets, no nothing. Just a plain jane upcycled sweater purse. Plain and simple. Here’s how the process went…..

Laying on the ironing board - just waiting for that first cut...

Sweater cut, interfaced, zigzagged around and inside fabric picked....

Tubing around top, and nice belly at the bottom.....

Fall type 'tree' cotton for the lining that's now sewn in.....

One side of 'snap' closure pulled through fabric tube....

Opening done and chain handle clamped on....

All finished and ready for a nice fall trip somewhere..... hmmmm

Now that it’s done, I’m not sure what to do with it. It’s different. It’s something that’s been recycled. I like it, but not sure I want to keep it……. Best thing is to sleep on it. But it sure is a different kind of bag. There’s a Budweiser sweater still sitting in the recycle pile… wonder how that would look in this style? hmmmmmm

Nightie Night Everyone! Thanks for stopping by. zzzzzzzzz

Score!

Posted on October 22, 2011

While getting my ducks in a row this morning I noticed my husband’s sweater shelf had been cleaned and straightened. Hmmmm. So I asked him what he did with them, and he proceeded to say he put some aside for me to make purses out of if I wanted. What a guy!!!! So I dig through the pile and pick one out. He said, no, don’t use that one….yet. I picked another one and got the same response. In other words, he isn’t quite ready to give them all up to me yet. LOL. But I did get permission to take THIS one to the sewing room and I LOVE it. And when it’s done I may keep it for myself.

Can you just picture this completed? Add a fabric flower or leather something and it will be a knockout.

Keep watching for updates. You never know what’s going to pop up around here.

Houndstooth, Tweed, Leather and a YoYo

Posted on October 21, 2011

Yes, a yoyo. A new rendition to an old classic. The red heart object you see in the photo is a squishy rubber heart on an elastic string – a YOYO! This is the gadget that my husband brought home after working his Business To Business booth on Wednesday. Have to say, the guy is pretty good at making it work, too.

But I really wanted to show you the beautiful suiting fabrics that Joann‘s had at 50% off yesterday on my quick trip over there. There will be some very classic and professional type handbags that will come from these. The fabric on the far right is actually a dark brown and will be the lining to the Red Bush Cable Handbag this weekend. It feels like wool, but it’s not. Should be an excellent lining that will take lots of wear.

Suiting Fabrics and a YoYo

The fabric on the left isn’t real leather, but a ‘pleather’ fabric. It’s fairly lightweight and hopefully it will sew up into some great purse handles and even a bow or two. That remains to be seen. But at half off, I purchased two yards to keep in my stash for future projects.

Shipment of fabrics should be here by the time I get home from work. And that just means more orders to fulfill and 48 (almost) hours of TygerLily craft room time. And yes, the TEAM Tygerlily is well aware that half the team will be holed up and working on product. :)

Watch out! It’s Barbed Wire Coming Your Way

Posted on October 5, 2011

A lot got done while Season’s Royal Messenger Bag was getting a good start at drying to shape this afternoon. There is a golden poppy wool that went into my hands first, and almost made it to the couch arm to work with. And then an idea came into my head. Barbed wire. My husband makes fun of the word and has from the day I met him. He likes to pronounce it Bob wire, just to irk me I’m sure. Plus, what type of fencing do you see the most out on the highways of the heartland? Yep, good old barbed wire. Keeps what needs to be safe, safe…. And keeps harm away. Perfect theory behind a handbag, don’t you think? So the gold poppy got put away and some gray 100% wool bulky Ironstone from Las Vegas, New Mexico, got pulled out. This will end up being a smaller bag, and there’s going to be some surprises at the top, I hope.

Extremely excited with this start. I have never used this brand of wool before, so the felting process is unfamiliar. But we are going to go with the flow here. Things happen for a reason and it’s good to try new elements.

Keep watching! Surprises may be in store.

Monday Teaser

Posted on October 3, 2011

As I was taking a break from working on Season’s Royal Messenger Bag yesterday…. getting some ice water with lemon, taking the dog outside…….. sitting looking around at what’s out our back door….. something came to mind. Coming in, I told Bill the idea for the next bag had been born. And he proceeded to say, “Well, you’d better get on that right now before you forget exactly what it is!” No kidding, that’s what he said. So here’s a little teaser of what’s coming up next……….