scripture totes

I finished this a couple weeks ago - just in time to give to Kate for her baptism. (and by "on time" I mean I finished it at 1:00pm in time to go to her baptism at 2:00pm)


These may seem like not the typical "girl" colors - but Kate loves 'cheetah' prints. If it's cheetah - it belongs to her. :) I had some misgivings while sewing it. I almost scrapped the entire thing and started over with some blue fabric ... but Kate loves it. And her smile eliminated all the doubts.

The bag is lined, has a pocket inside, and is big enough to hold a composition note book, scriptures, a couple pens/pencils, and gum. Perfect for an eight year old to carry to church.

The pattern - uh. The dimensions are taken off of Kate's older sister's bag. I put fabric on the handles like the ikatbag tote. I played with the section sizes until I liked the proportions. The font is just one I liked. (So far, each bag has had it's own font.) I need to write down all of the dimensions here - but I keep forgetting to look them up. Maybe later.

I've made two other bags - one as a birthday present for a niece. The next as a Christmas present because a younger brother needed a bag for church too.

Plarn?

Question: What do you do with plastic bags? Answer: Use them to make another bag.

I've been wanting to make a "plarn" bag for a while, but I was intimidated by them. Luckily my sister found a great tutorial on etsy (here) and I knew I had to make one. Bags were collected, folded neatly, carefully cut in 1" increments (yes, I used a ruler), loops connected, how to make a center pull ball was looked up, and a ball of plastic yarn (plarn) was created.

(Check out the cradle! Isn't it the coolest. Dad made it and Mom painted the flowers and the "brand" on it.. Plus I love the doll.)

It's coming along really fast. I'm using a smaller crochet hook than they recommended. (I think it's an "I".) I have a tendency to crochet tightly so I was a little worried that I would make it so tight I couldn't stitch it, but the plastic has just enough give to it that it hasn't been a problem. It's a lot of fun to work on. I took it to book club when it was about 4" tall (I watched "The Blind Side".) and after book club here is what it looked like. I also used this pattern for the increases on the bottom that created the "curves".I think it is also helps form the "base".



I think I want it another couple inches and then I'll start working on the handles. The only problem - I'm out of bags. Time for another grocery trip.

softie, softie, who's got a softie?

After seeing my sister's "selvage whale" - which is _way_ cute (now to save selvages for me!) - I thought she needed some more animal ideas. Plus I know my 'you never sew for me!' nephew needs a monster and maybe a dragon. Here's the listing of tutorials, patterns, and ideas that I've found. I'm sure more updates will come!

Tutorials (some with patterns)
- duck
- hedgehog
- monster
- monster tutorial (no pattern)
- platypus
- humpty dumpty
- goldfish
- sock owl
- owl
- koala bear
- little pocket doll

Patterns to buy:
- dragon (This one is going to be the "exercise reward" this month!
- Funky Friends Factory
- Melly and Me

Look what others have done:
- Peakaboo
- Nosey Nest
- Mariska's blog and her shop that sells Fluffels

May I see some ID?

I still really love this bag. It works great as a nursery bag. I think it will work great for lots of things.

But do you want to know what my favorite part is?

Look:


A label. My label. It makes me giggle. And smile. My sister did a fantastic job coming up with the name. And I love the font. Put the two together and I'm almost giddy when I see them.

How did I do it? Cotton fabric, freezer paper, and a laser printer. No ink jet, so I decided to try it on the laser jet. Iron freezer paper to the back of cotton fabric, cut to 8.5x11, feed into printer. Worked perfect. Now to try twill tape and other fabrics through my printer. I feel the need for more labels.

tote bag times four

Sewing items assembly fashion makes the job go faster - right? WRONG. I found this tote bag tutorial on Ikat Bag's web site and knew I had to make one. (LiEr is amazing and talented and I want to grow up to be just like her.)

It's functional. It's a bag. I love bags. I love to sew them. I love to have them. I love to carry them. Plus I really needed a second bag to haul to church to carry nursery items in (food, books, lessons, new toys, old toys, tissues, things to be fixed, things to do, etc.) This bag looked to be absolutely perfect.

I knew if I sewed one, I'd want to sew one for my sister. (She needs lots of tote bags too!) Then I thought of my sil who admired the bag I sewed for my sister at Christmas, and knew she needed one. And while I was at it, Mom didn't have a bag I made. 4 bags. It didn't sound like too big of a task

The first one went pretty fast. I didn't put the pocket edging on it because I couldn't figure out how I wanted to do it. I also didn't interface the lining fabric because the bag was made of canvas and between that and the thick craft interfacing, I would be okay - right? WRONG. The bag was okay - it was even cute ... but the lining didn't hold it's shape and the pocket was just okay. Ack. Time to start ripping it apart.

I started on the next three bags. I guessed at how to put the pocket edging and _really_ liked it. I liked it enough that I started undoing the first bag completely so I could also re-do the pocket.

They took twice as long as they should have. But I like them. I really like them. I like the edging around the pockets. I like the lining fabric on the handles. I like them. LiEr is a genius. (Have I mentioned how much I admire her mad design skills?)


But I'm never making 4 bags at the same time again. Or at least for a few months. :)