Ruffly Tote Tutorial

I have been wanting to make a few of these Ruffly Tote bags for awhile now.  There seems to be so many different styles and colours all over in the Pinterest world.  Very easy to make, and even easier when starting with a ready made tote from Michaels or Walmart.  You can find different sizes, colours, and thicknesses.  The great things is you can also use Stamps and create sayings or any design you want to personalize it to your own taste, or that of a friend.

I decided to make this particular bag for a dear friend for her Birthday.  I fell in love with it while creating it and am sure that it will be the first of many to come.  I have a stack of fabrics just waiting to become stylish.

Here is my take on the Ruffly Tote & a Tutorial to help you achieve the look or a similiar look.  Enjoy!!

Materials needed

Materials you will need:

1~Plain Tote bag (you can purchase these from Michaels or Walmart in groups of 3, or one and in colors)

2~Vintage or new buttons

1~4" wide, and same width as your tote cut fabric for top Band.

4~ pieces of cut fabric that are 4" wide & 1 1/2 times longer than the width of your bag.

1~ Small strip of fabric about 2" wide to make a fabric flower.  Follow the tutorial link for length.

Needle & Thread to sew embellishments and buttons.

Pins to help place fabric on the bag while sewing.

Any other embellishments you want to put on the purse.

Placing top band

Cut a piece of fabric 4" wide and 1/2 inch on either side longer than the tote for seam allowance.  This will be your top band of fabric as shown in the picture above.  Turn under all 4 sides & Press with a iron.  Place & pin the fabric band onto the bag as shown, making sure it fits your tote to its side seams.  Leaving the bottom edge free so you can place the first Ruffle's raw edge underneath.  Don't sew it in place quite yet.  You need to make your Ruffles first.

Cut the corners to get rid of bulk.

Cut a piece of fabric for the first ruffle.  4" again, and longer than the first strip because once you gather it its much smaller. I guess on the measurement for mine, and I think I made it 1 1/2 times longer than the bag. Depends on how ruffly you want it.  If you can cut all your fabrics out together this will save a bit of time and you can plan which colour you want to go, and where on your tote.  Turn under & press again.  Cut the corner on a diagonal to get rid of some of the bulk when sewing it. Now straight stitch your 3 side hems (sides and bottom), try and do the same process for each Ruffle as you go along.  This saves you from switching back and forth between 2 different foots.  As seen & explained below.

Attached Gathering foot

If you have a Gathering foot or Ruffle foot for your machine, attach it to make the ruffles. (If not you can make them by hand.  Using a loose stitch and pulling it to make it gather.  Then run a straight stitch over to keep it in place and easier to work with.)  Read the instruction in your owners manual on how to use your Gathering foot.  Its very easy and this was the first time I had ever used mine.  Basically just sew as usual and the foot does the gathering.  Some machines are lucky enough to come with a Gathering foot, and some don't and you can purchase them separately for your machine.  (Which sometimes can be costly)  If you are doing lots of projects where a Ruffle is needed I suggest its worth it.

Ruffles Hemmed & Gathered.

Your Ruffles should look like this when you are done them.  Hemmed on 3 sides and 1 side (top) gathered and you can leave it raw or hem it as well, it will just be a smaller ruffle than what I have made.

Pin back 1st Ruffle and Sew on 2nd.

This picture above shows the first Ruffle sewn in place underneath the top band.  So now you need to place the 1st Ruffle under the folded edge of the Top Band, and pin in place.  Straight stitch around all 4 edges of the Top Band, and sewing your first Ruffle into place with it.  Pin back 1st Ruffle as shown, so its easier to work underneath for the next Ruffle.  After that Pin your next Ruffle underneath your 1st Ruffle as shown above.  Decide how much of the Second Ruffle you want to show.  I  pinned them about 1 inch apart.

2 Ruffles and a Band straight stitched on

You could leave it just at 2 Ruffles, or continue to straight stitch the other 2 Ruffles on just as you did the 2nd one.  If you leave it at 2 Ruffles there is room for a Fabric stamped Embellishment or a sew on Monogram.

Sewn on Embellishments

 Hand sew on your Buttons over top of where the Handle joins the bag.  Take your strip of Fabric and make a Fabric flower.  You could make this flower bigger if you like.  I've included the link to the Tutorial where I learned how to make a Fabric flower from.
 

Finished Tote

Sew on your Flower and any other Embellishments and you are finished.  It is a beauty I fell in love with.  You could carry on and do the other side if you wish.  There is just so many great ways this simple tote can be beautified!!  Hope this was helpful & would love your feedback.  Please let me know if I left a step out or you are stumped. Enjoy this simple beauty!!

Fabrics used were purchased at Hobby Lobby, USA and Fabricland, Canada.

Here is the link to the Wonderful Blog I learned about through Pinterest, on how to make a Rosette.  I love it and am going to become a follower of her beautiful site.  You will definately love the 2 steps it take to make the flower she has.  I just used Step 1 here.

The Decorated House by Donna Courtney.
http://thedecoratedhouse.blogspot.ca/2012/02/how-to-make-fabric-flower-rosette-step.html

Saying Goodbye to 2012 and Hello to 2013.

Can't believe another year has quickly gone by, and welcoming in a new year already.  Around the world there was lots to shut the door to 2012 for.  Not just sorrow, and heartache from a far but also close to home as well.  On the other hand there was lots to be Thankful, and excited for as well.  Vintage Cove had a successful year doing Markets & fairs, as well as lots of online sales.  Every season filled with new ideas and some brought to life.  I'm starting the New Year off with a full garage of furniture to transform and customer requests to get started on.  I want to branch out, broaden those Horizons at some point this year.  .Maybe start an etsy account, more markets, and more projects out the door and into new homes.  One of my resolutions is to Blog more often than I currently have been, be more organized with less clutter, and start saving some projects for my home as well.

Can't wait to get organized and get started.  Its January now, but it won't be long and spring will be around the corner and so busy I won't know where to start.


Here are some photos that I missed putting onto the Blog, but they managed to make it to my Facebook Fan Page during Christmas.

Part of my Country Christmas Craft Fair display

One of the wreaths I made

Christmas signs that were for Sale.

Side Table in our living room.

Our Christmas tree this year.

IDEAL Canning jar luminaries.

Part of our sideboard in the dining area.

Christmas Tree Handmade decorations

Front door Wreath with one of my signs.

Happy New Years Everyone from my family to yours.

 Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year!!!  Thank you for letting me into your homes.

Harvest Thanks

Well another favorite time of year for decorating is here.  Summer's over, but the fall colors are breathtaking around the Nicola Valley.  Great time for photography, working out in the yard, and bringing some of that beauty indoors.  Whether it be garden or floural harvests.  We enjoyed our Multicolored Sunflowers this season.  Here are a couple photos of some of the decor in our home this past Thanksgiving.

FALL Mantle

Old Galvanized Buckets

Sideboard decor

 

Table Runner

Then we take you outdoors to our Front door Fall display.

Galvanized Fall display comes outside.

Door wreath

Summer flowers mixed with Fall

Burlap & Mums

Stay tuned later this month when we add Halloween decorations to this Fall display.

Silver Spoon Bracelet

I don't claim to be an expert in the making of a Silver Spoon Bracelet.  In fact this is the very first time that I  have ever attempted making one.  So my girlfriend Amanda offered to come & learn how to make one as well.  Trial and error, and a whole bucket of spoons to allow us to do that.   We lucked out on our very first try at one!!  Usually its quite the opposite when trying something new & learning.  The next 2 we were not so lucky.  So here is a full re-cap of our experience....

First of all we needed to heat the spoon up to change the molecular structure of the spoon so that its easier to flatten and pound out with the hammer.  This process takes a while depending on the softness of the Silver, and muscle power.  I would advise some earplugs for this procedure. Our ear were wringing a little with the sound of the hammer, and cutlery jingling all over the counter.  lol.

Heating it up

Amanda Heating the spoon

Diana Flattening the spoon

 We used a piece of scrap wood to hammer out our Spoon on, so not to wreck my workbench.

Using a metal hammer

The spoon tends to get fairly hot after using the Torch on it a few times to keep the temperature right for manipulation.  So a bucket of cold water nearby was handy to use when the spoon was too hot to touch.  When you get to the stage of bending & wrapping the bracelet to the size of your wrist, the water bath came in handy.

Water Bath

Cracked spoon

We were working away on a spoon & unsure why it cracked.  There could be many reasons why.  Too Hot, not hot enough, or that this particular spoon had more Electro Plate than Silver, and it was too hard to flatten.

In the Vice

The last bend

 We used the Vice to start bending the bracelet.  Covered it with material, as to not make any markings on the Spoon.  For the last part of the bending process, we had to take it out of the vice and do it by hand with 2 sets of pliers.

Almost finished project.

other side

Finished Product

 The great thing about this bracelet is it could be worn either way.   Spoon side up or decorative handle side up.

Another idea for jewelry is pendants.  After flattening the spoon, cut off the handle with a hacksaw.  With a Sanding stone on my Dremel tool, I rounded the edges & got rid of any sharp edges.  Then used a brush to soften the sanding stone marks.  While its in the Vice Bend it to get the loop for a necklace chain.  Buff it and its all ready to wear or engrave.

Getting rid of some rough edges

Pendant loop

 The next type of bracelet I'm going to try making involves this step shown below.  You will just have to wait and see what happens with that one.

Giving an Old Shed new Life with an Old Window

This old Gardening shed has been moved so many times, that you would need both hands to count them.
Everytime we move it we get smarter.  This last time we used my Dad's business truck, that has a crane on the back.  We let it do most of the lifting, and assembling it this time was quite fast as well.  We got it done before dark & all ordered Pizza to celebrate.

Assembling the shed.

 
When my girlfriends and I went on a roadtrip to Abbotsford last December for the Christmas Vintage Market, we also made a stop to a Salvage place in Cloverdale, BC.  We were on a mission for ladders, and windows.  As luck would have it they were having a sale, and it helps to bring cash to barter.  So I couldn't resist buying my Lead pane window right then and there.  I had a couple ideas of what I would use it for, but used it all this time as a decoration in our open concept dining area.

Easter Display using the window

 Which I quite liked, but I ultimately had to use it somewhere useful.  So I decided to use it on my Gardening shed, that needed some character and natural light inside.  So my husband nicely offered to put it in for me.  I was quite surprised how fast he did it.  On a Sunday afternoon, and it was ready for me to paint before dinner.  I was on the other side of the yard painting the girl's playhouse and already had the paint out.  I love projects that are fast and almost instantly gratifying.

Window fits

 He had to use Tinsnips to cut through the exterior.  Framed it inside for the window to fit and to be attached.

All framed in and painted

 We had some wood kicking around the garage from other projects.  So we used the scraps to achieve the look that we wanted.  Sometimes it pays to hang onto chunks of wood that are otherwise firewood.

 Now that we liked the window so much we are going to do some decorative pieces on the corners, and around the door.

Wine Bottle Waterers

Well now that summer has finally decided to grace us with its presence, the flowers are needing the extra waterings.  Especially the ones that are on our front South facing deck in Pots.

"Miller Time"

My girlfriend Amanda shared this wonderful idea with me to take empty wine bottles or beer bottles and fill them with water & stick them upside down into the dirt. You may have also seen them on Pinterest as well. They work great, even better than the glass globes that I also have.  When its hot the wine bottles last longer & you don't have to keep filling them up.  Wonderful plant babysitters when you are away for a couple days, & don't want to bug your neighbour to come and water for you.  Also when you would rather be outside sipping on a cold one enjoying your deck & not having to water while you are out there.

Chianti

Everyone I'm sure has many bottles hanging around their garages headed to the Bottle depot that could be re-purposed.  If you don't?  Well you better get busy on making some empty ones, this summer.  LOL

Clear Wine bottle

I soaked some of the bottles to remove the labels.  Some I left because the labels were nice, had the year on them, & if they get used for years to come it would be neat to have the year the Vintner made it.  Making Vintage for the years to come.

Cerveza

Amber Wine bottle in a Canner Pot

The more decorative and different the bottles are that you find, the better.  What a cheap way to look after your plants.  You've already used the contents and only costs you the deposit by keeping them.

Our Front entrance will be the next recipient of the bottles too.