Saddened....

We are so saddened by the devastation in Haiti this week.  I cannot wrap my brain around it.  So maybe this will help me feel I am contributing. 

A brief list of several organizations currently working to provide aid and relief......here are some links:

The American Red Cross

www.redcross.org

Text "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10 (billed to your phone)

The United Nations World Food Program

www.wfp.org

The Salvation Army

www.salvationarmyusa.org

Action Against Hunger

www.actionagainsthunger.org

Project HOPE

www.projecthope.org

Partners in Health

www.pih.org

The list goes on, and we all have our own ways to help.  

I am following a blog from a family in Haiti (Troy Livesay and his wife Tara)....if you are interested...the site is:  http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/


Also, I am following  Anderson Cooper on Twitter.  


I hope these links work for you...I have cut and pasted them from the sites that I am following, and believe me, I am no techie. 



So...we can help by being informed.  We can help with our American dollars. We can help by talking about what we are seeing and how we feel about it.  We simply cannot be remote.


Blessings,


Kathy

Metal Hinge Bag Fiasco....

Yesterday I tried to make a pattern and bag...the result was a disaster:

Andy Lyle responded via CABT with the following.  I am going to try it with scrap fabric.  Here is what she says:

I'm sorry, I don't have anything posted to show how I put the leather in. I do have a blog: http://andylylestreasures.blogspot.com/. I'll try to put something on there about the leather lacing soon. In the meantime, I bought the leather lacing at Wal-Mart. I've also seen it at Michaels, Hobby Lobby and on line. I used it in making my Black Suede Little Bag (see a picture of it here with my photos).

When I was working with the first of my flat frame wallets, I decided to try to use something to wedge the fabric into the frame. The leather is what I had handy. Dan at 3DPatternPaper (at Etsy) offers paper rope for the same purpose.

The way I do it is this:

1. Trim the fabric to fit the shape of the frame.
2. Cut a length of leather lacing to the length of the frame opening.
3. Mark the fabric to show where it should fit into the frame to insure that it's place correctly.
4. When ready, using Gutemran's or UHU glue put a bead of glue in a section of the frame.
5. Place the fabric for that section in the frame with the help of something you will use to poke it in (I used my craft sissors, an awl would be good, too.)
6. Place the leather lacing for that section on top of the fabric and cram it in to secure the fabric in the frame. If the fabric stays loose after that, you'll need to crimp the frame. That will depend on the thickness of your fabric and the size of the frame opening.
7. Complete the rest of the frame.
8. After the glue has completely dried, using a craft knife, trim any of the fabric that extends from the edge of the leather lacing.

I hope this helps.

I also found another way to get to the Uhandbag directions. They're at this site: http://www.box.net/shared/869jey4eat. I'm also going to post the pdf copy of it.

Soooo...I'm off to try Andy's technique.  Will post pictures tonight......if I can get my finger unstuck.