House Placemats - Fabric Review

 Okay, I really could not think of what to call these, until I was taking pictures of them and one of my kids said 'cool house placemats mom.' And I thought  'duh, house place mats!' I know it is super creative, but sometimes I am like that.

Kim from Poppy Seed Fabrics sent me this fabric to review, and I loved it, but I did not know what to make with it. This fabric is called Little Folks Berry cotton laminate. You can get it here. I have never worked with laminate, but I had been doing some reading on it and wanted to try it, so I was excited when she sent me this.

It is super easy to work with, and I had no troubles. I would say it sews like regular fabric - yet you can wipe is clean easier! ;)

 Conan gave me the idea for these place mats and I think it is great. I cut the different shapes of houses that were on the fabric and then used binding in the coordinating color. I am really not that great at binding sharp corners, so don't look too close! ;)

 Aren't they fun?! My daughter has already asked if she can use them for a little party. And the great part, you can machine wash them (cold water), or just wipe them clean. I have not tried drying them yet, so I am not sure what the fabric will do.

After I had these all done, I showed them to my friend and she said that she would have re-covered an outdoor seating with this fabric! Another great idea for laminate fabric. Of course a bag is always an option as well!

You can find this fabric here, and Kim has lots of great other fabrics in her shop. Go and check it out! I love this Christmas is July bundle she has - perfect for a quilt!

Elephant Bag- Fabric Review

Kim over at Poppy Seed Fabrics sent me this great elephant fabric to review. I just loved it. I knew that a bag would be perfect for it.

The fabric is nylon, not something I regularly work with, but it sewed up so easily. It was very easy to work with, and I love the lightness, yet durability it gives this bag.

I just wanted to make a simple bag - somewhat the size of those re-usable grocery ones. I just took some measurements off one of my larger one and I got started. It went together very fast. The nylon does not hold it's shape which is good for this bag because I did not want to look like I was carrying on of those re-usable grocery bags around. But it is very durable and can hold weight.

Once I had the main part of the bag done it really just needed something extra. I asked Conan and he told me to put a elephant one the front of it. I had a little bit of lining fabric left - a simple white cotton - and free handed an elephant.

That was a huge step for me, I've said it before I am not the artist in the family.

I am working on another bag - it is not going well - and it has fabric handles, so for this I wanted to steer clear of the fabric handles.

I saw some rope ones on a different bag and thought they would be perfect to make for this bag! I added those to the bag and now I don't just love it - I really L.O.V.E. it! I used two different sizes of rope. for the wrap around the bottom, I actually unwound the smaller size and them just used fabric glue to get it to stay where I wanted.

 I used large curtain grommets as well for the rope handles. I think they really look great!

This bag is roomy enough for everything, yet super cute and fun. I used it the other day when we had an event to go to, and I was able to put all of the crap that my kids got in it, as well as the other stuff I already had in it. Now that is the perfect bag.

And on the plus side, after a full day of walking around with it, I can either wipe it clean or throw it in the washer to get any stains off of it. This is a great fabric and was a lot of fun to work with.

If you want to get some of this fabric, go here. Poppy Seed Fabrics has lot of different colors, and even some in cotton! Perfect for making everything! Here is just a sample of some of the colors that she has:

Stay tuned for later this week when I have another fabric that Poppy Seed Fabrics sent me to review!

*all of these opinions are completely mine.