The Craft Crustaceans

The Craft Crustaceans Welcome and thank you for stopping by! We are a small family owned biz offering a variety of handmade and printed items.

04/18/2026

Another song that was running through my head while making these.
"Follow Me Down" by 3OH!3 featuring Neon Hitch on the Almost Alice album.

Bags are live. Only 2 left!

04/15/2026

Had a song running through my head today while sewing. Found that TikTok had it in their library. 😁
(Her Name is Alice by Shinedown.)

Anyway, the bags are coming along. All of the zipper pockets are done and one of the linings is ready to be sewn up. I have to add the recessed zippers to the other two and sew those linings up.
Once those are ready, I can sew the outer pieces together and then the whole bag should be ready to put together.
I'm so ready to have these done, but I'm not trying to rush them.
There's a "jump" in the video because it's hard to pivot the fabric one handed... 😁

04/14/2026

The saga of the Alice in Wonderland bags continues...
I recut the fabric for the zipper pockets and I realized I didn't have all the zippers that I needed. Placed an order for those... They should be here tomorrow. 🤞
In the meantime, I was able to get all of the credit card slots and the zipper pockets in the linings done. Tomorrow, I can get the zipper pockets on the outer pieces ready for the zippers and get the linings ready. I'm hoping to have all of them finished by Thursday, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.
Once they're done, I have a few other things I need/want to do, but I'm not sure I'll have them all done before next weekend. 🤞

04/10/2026

Yes, I'm awful... I'm also angry and frustrated and 🤬🤬🤬🤬.
This week has been full of appointments again and when I was able to work on the bag, I found the credit card slots don't line up right., the zippers have been giving me issues, and so has the sewing machine itself.
I thought that fabric felt a bit iffy to begin with for the card slots, but I figured I'd try it. Huge mistake on my part.
So - I have to recut the fabric for the credit card slots. I have to get more interfacing for the others which I'll get this weekend. Just about everything else is ready to go...
Fingers crossed for this coming week...
I'm also still trying to get everything ready for RavenCon in 2 weeks! I'm so excited but so nervous at the same time!

I promise I haven't forgotten the bags. 😭 It's been a crazy week full of appointments, senior stuff for the young man, a...
04/02/2026

I promise I haven't forgotten the bags. 😭 It's been a crazy week full of appointments, senior stuff for the young man, and straight up craziness.
To try to make things a little easier and expedite the checkout process at conventions and markets, I got a little Niimbot label maker and while waiting for another appointment today, I am in the process of making barcodes for select items.
I won't be making one for everything, but for items that I would like to keep in my inventory on a regular basis. I'll be putting them into a sticker album where I can find them easier and remove them if needed.

I also fully intend to make it to the Appomattox Farmers Market. Some things have come up for weekends, and soon my daughter's softball games will be starting. I'm waiting for that schedule so I can schedule time at the Market. 😬

I've been cutting fabric and interfacing all day and I'm still not completely done. I still have to cut the fabric for t...
03/27/2026

I've been cutting fabric and interfacing all day and I'm still not completely done. I still have to cut the fabric for the card slots, the zipper pockets and the strap tabs and I hope I have enough interfacing for the card slots...
Instead of using the "regular" lining fabric, I'll be using a solid black to save the others for other bags.
They're getting there!!!

Sometimes I really hate my brain and I really hate this waiting... I'm currently waiting for new interfacing for the bag...
03/25/2026

Sometimes I really hate my brain and I really hate this waiting...
I'm currently waiting for new interfacing for the bags and I don't want to start cutting them too soon because of the possibility of the fabric fraying or me losing the pieces. In the meantime, I've been looking up tutorials on how to make and add zipper overlays to the bags. I could buy some, but I thought I'd design my own to go with the theme of the bags I'm making.
Using cardstock, I've been working with mock-ups of the pattern to figure out size and placement because I need the visual (for my damn brain) and I need to know what measurements I need because I plan on using my Cricut to design and cut them.
The other part was figuring out how to actually attach them to the bags and making the zipper pocket, which is definitely different than how I had been making them, but it *might* make the process a bit simpler.
Back to it...

AND IT'S DONE! Now that I have the pattern down - with a few hiccups along the way, I can start working on others in thi...
03/19/2026

AND IT'S DONE!
Now that I have the pattern down - with a few hiccups along the way, I can start working on others in this style.
I changed a few things, like the size of the strap. The pattern calls for a 1 inch wide strap made using the same fabric, but I used a 1.5 inch wide nylon "seatbelt" style strap. The strap is also adjustable.
It measures approximately 10 inches tall by 9 inches wide.
It has 2 zipper pockets - one on the outside and one inside. It also has credit card slots inside as well.

These bags will be available for sale starting at $45.
I'll be adding this one to the site soon and I'll be starting cutting more tomorrow.

Got a little farther on the new bag. I wanted to have it done - or mostly done - by today, but that didn't happen. I sew...
03/18/2026

Got a little farther on the new bag. I wanted to have it done - or mostly done - by today, but that didn't happen.
I sewed on the foam, but I really didn't like it. It just didn't seem right to me. I guess it was the kind of foam, so I ended up pulling all the stitches and just using the interfacing I normally use for my bags.
I got the zipper pockets started. I'll just have to get the zippers installed tomorrow morning and then I HOPE I'll be able to have it all finished by the afternoon. Fingers crossed everything goes right!!
The pic shows the credit card slots installed on the one lining piece.

Whoops... Well, I had to recut a lining piece and a zipper pocket. I attached the pocket to the wrong side of the lining...
03/17/2026

Whoops...
Well, I had to recut a lining piece and a zipper pocket. I attached the pocket to the wrong side of the lining and of COURSE I didn't notice until after I cut the hole to push the pocket through. 😬🙄🤦🤬
They're ready to go in the morning.

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Farmville, VA

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