Fabric Bowls!

A few weeks ago my mom and I went to a quilt convention and although I'm not into quilting at the moment I am always inspired by fabric.  One can never have too much fabric!  There were so many booths that had products and tips on how to alter fabric.  I consider myself a mixed media artist so altering fabric is right up my alley.

As my mom and I were wandering the aisles we came upon these fabulous fabric bowls.  I fell in love!  They had one on display that wasn't finished so one could see the process by which it was made.  My mom and I picked it apart and I knew I could make one.

The pattern is by The Sweet Tea Girls and I bought it but altered it quite a bit because the instructions they gave just didn't work for my sewing machine.  For example they suggested to use clothesline (100% cotton)... I broke a needle.  So I ended up using piping cord.  Also I was to cut the strips 2 1/2", I ended up using 2" strips instead.

The first step was to pick out your fabric...

The second step, after cutting your strips, was to encase the cording with your fabric.

Ande now the fun really begins!  You start your coil and zigzag each coil together.  This was the most fun for me because that's when you see your bowl take shape and you can make it any size or shape you like. 

The thing I liked best about these bowls were the beads that were sewn into the sides.  For that you just leave a hole and go back later and hand stitch your beads (or anything else you want) into your bowl. 

I ended up marking my holes with small safety pins so I could judge where I wanted the next hole to go while doing my zig zag stitch.  You can see one of my safety pins in the bottom left hand side:

 
When I finished my first one I couldn't wait to start another one.  So here is almost completed bowl #2:

And hopefully before my boys get home from school today I'll have strips cut for bowl #3.  But I'm not giving any hints as to the color yet you'll just have to wait and see.