Project and craft bag

The fabric in this bag has probably had the quickest turnaround ever in my house! I bought it online last week and it arrived on Thursday, by the end of Friday it was made up into a lovely bag. I think the fabric is so cute I couldn't wait to get it made into something.
This is a basic drawstring bag, it has interfacing on the outside fabric and a yellow lining. I used a ribbon for the drawnstring as I have lots of pink ribbon for a project I was doing a few years ago.

Front view

Side view

Close up of cute design

Overall I am really pleased with this bag and know I will use it a lot.

It can fit comfortably a large 100g ball of wool, A4 pattern and the project on circular knitting needles. It also fits a medium size sewing project too.
I have some fabric left over which I will be making into a small case for notions.
What do you use as your sewing bag?

Supplies
1/2 metre of fabric
Blue and white dot fabric from stash
Yellow lining fabric from stash
Pink ribbon from stash

A few gifts and small makes - Make up bags

Here are some small makes that I have done recently. Some are for me and some are gifts for other people.

Make up bags

This is a make up bag which is from Cath Kidson's book 'Sew!' I have made three of these so far. The first one was a present for my Mum, for her birthday last year. She really likes it and says it quite tall so you can fit a lot of toiletries in it. It is made from a Moda fabric which is a William Morris style pattern. The lining is a mottled red called Marbles, also Moda. I used this pattern in green for the binding on my hexagon quilt. I was pleased that I got the zip right on this the first time.

Finished make-up bag

Inside - you can just see the zip edge and fabric

Topstitching on the zip

 The next one was a hen party present for my cousin. This was made from Joel Dewberry’s Notting Hill collection. I find it interesting that I am drawn to the same designers even when I don’t know who has designed a fabric. I saw this in the shop and the idea came to me that this would be perfect for her.
With this one, I managed to work out a way of cutting the outer fabric so that I could use just one fat quarter. This can only be done however if you are using a geometric print or one without an orientation which can be seen as up side down.
I really love the colours of this one.
 

Laying out the fabric for cutting

Pining the zip on

Finished bag

I then made one for me so I am not left out! I have been using a very small make up bag from M&S, but it has got a bit tatty and it was too small for my foundation brush to fit in it. I have it sat on the top of the toilet in the bathroom as it is right next to the sink and the mirror.
I like the fabric I chose, it is quite grey and neutral, but has a bit of colour with the small birds in it. It will be useful to keep my make up in at home, but also my other toiletries for when I go away. As this pattern is only one way up and I just had a fat quarter of this pattern I shrank the size down a bit to fit in. I think maybe I could have made it a bit shorter though. I also changed the way I sewed the zip so it was neater on the inside. In the original instructions you can see the zip piece on the inside and the edge of the lining is exposed. I cut it with pinking shears to reduce the fraying, but for my one I managed to sew the zip so the edges are all enclosed. I think it makes a much neater finish and makes it more durable and less amateur looking.
I haven’t yet sewed the tabs on the ends, but I wanted to take a picture to show with the other versions.

My make-up bag

Inside lining - I have folded the edges inside to make it neater

All of them have been lined with a cotton or polycotton, the book suggested a shower curtain fabric and I like this idea so it is washable for it having make up and toiletries in it. However I didn’t have any.
I will probably make more of these over time as they are a very quick pattern to make. The instructions in the book are clear and easy to follow.

A couple of small projects

I have a lovely bag which I received as a Christmas present a few years ago. It was bought from Accessorize and I love it, it has lots of pockets to put things in and it is a good design. I use this bag in the winter as it is made of wool. As I have used it so much the pink piping on the handles had started to fray over Christmas leaving the piping exposed.

Frayed piping on handles.

I wanted to carry on using the bag and there was nothing wrong apart from it now looking a bit tatty, so I bought some bias binding to replace the pink with.

I took the handles apart, removed the pink fabric from the piping cord, stitched the new navy blue bias binding over the piping cord and then put the handles back together and reattached to the bag. This took quite a while but I am very pleased with the results as the bag looks so much smarter, it still feels strong and should keep me going for another few years.

I also made this little bag for a friend of mine as a birthday present. I love this fabric as it is so bright and fun. I lined it with pale pink felt and put on a bright pink zip.

Cupcakes small zip bag.

Summer bag - Tile Florish

Hello,

This is a bag I finished for myself about Eastertime. I have been test driving it since and am very happy with it.

Pixie bag

Close up of inside lining and magnetic fastener

The fabric is from Joel Dewberry's lovely collection, and the fabric is Tile Flourish in green. I saw this in John Lewis a while ago when thinking of the bag and knew that was the right fabric. Something fresh and bright for Spring Summer, while being a pattern which can go with anything.

The other fabric is a gorgeous pale blue which I bought at the same time, it also has a nice weight to it, not too thin and flimsy.

I used a pattern I bought on Etsy which can be found here. It is the Pixie handbag. A very nice pattern, easy to follow and I love how having the darts in it gives the bag so much shape.

The pattern was reversible, but I have only put interfacing on one side, and am quite happy with having it this way round. Also I added a magnetic clasp to the bag. You can see that inside for the lining we have the pale blue for the bottom half, and the tile flourish for the top band.

I stitched it with a pale blue thread to blend in with the fabric.

I focused on making sure my top stitching was as straight as possible and have been working on ensuring that I reverse stitch at the end of a line and keep threads tidy.

I bought the fabric from eclectic maker a website I will definitely use again. Beautiful fabrics, reasonable p&p and quick delivery which was beautifully wrapped.

New skills and materials used

No new skills, but improving my technique on topstitching, ironing and darts.

Joel Dewberry - Tile Flourish green

Pale blue cotton

Interfacing

Gutterman polyester thread

1 magnetic bag fastener

Shopping list

 http://www.eclecticmaker.co.uk/

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/94730453/reversible-pixie-handbag-purse-email-pdf

Mini make up case

This make is significant for me as it is my first attempt at a zip (please see post in a few days time about this)

My housemate was moving back to Germany last week and I wanted to give her a little gift. I saw that her make up bag was looking a bit worn out and then I came across this stunning tutorial on flossie teacakes website and I just had to make it! The final product looked lovely and her photographs were excellent with clear descriptions at all points. Please see her blog post www.flossieteacakes.blogspot.com/2009/05/lined-zippered-pouch-make-up-bag.html, for more information.

Pattern fabric. Lining. Sew on interfacing. Zip.

So this is the fabric all prepped, pinned and ready to sew on the zip. This was the first time I had used sew on interfacing and I liked it. I found it was soft and easy to work with, and gave a bit more support than the fabric alone.

 

Zip sewn on, hurrah!

Next I sewed up the lining and outer to create the case shape, pulled the bag right side out and ironed flat.

Finished case!

Detail of top of case

Inside case with small label

The finished case is 8 x 6 inches. Now it does not look completely like how it should, especially the zip. The ends are more rounded and not very neat as the ends of the zip just disappear inside the bag. One reason for this is that when I was sewing the zip ends they stuck out outside the edges of the fabric therefore of course they ended up getting tucked inside.

I think the reason for this may be due to the length of my zip. The tutorial said the zip should be 8 inches, and I took this to be the section of zip that closes, maybe it refers to the whole zip piece of fabric. Also when I was attaching the zip ends I made sure that they did not cover the closeable part of the zip and had them on the ends only, perhaps they are meant to cover the zip more. I will have to look into this.

However I am still very pleased. I managed to sew my first zip, it was not as complicated as I thought it would be, and my housemate loved it. I really like this fabric and the bag is a useful size, I think I will make myself one too!

New skills and materials used

· Sewing a zip

· Sew in interfacing

Shopping list

· Outer fabric: Joannfabric, USA.

· Lining: Boyds, Lincoln.

· Label: Callyco, Lincoln. http://www.callyco.com/

Christmas present two

Owl shoulder bag

I am very pleased with this item. I bought the fabric specfically for this project and I was keen to get started on it.

The bag is the smaller version of the first bag I posted about therefore I was familiar with the techniques.

 Cut pieces ready to get sewn together

 Drawing the flap for the clasp

I wanted to make sure the design did not have sections cut off

 

Main bag and lining completed.

 

Attaching top band and strap

 

 Finished bag!

I really enjoyed making this bag, partly because the pattern is so cheerful, every time I was working on this I smiled :)

When cutting the fabric I utilised the design of the fabric. So for the strap I had the owls the right way up, and I cut the flap to show the two owls not cut in half.
I gave this to my sister on Christmas day and she was very pleased with it.
I enjoy working with cord it is a good fabric to work with as it is soft and easy to cut and fold and also it creates more durable bags than cotton alone.
I hope you enjoy the photos.

Christmas present one.

I made two items as gifts for Christmas this year.

The first was a secret santa gift for a member of www.craftsforum.co.uk.

Secret Santa gift

As I am quite new to sewing I was nervous about making this. I chose a pattern in the book Sew called 'Quilted Purse.'

This is a medium size, soft purse, with a button fasten.

New skills I learned were a buttonhole loop and quilting. I did the quilting by hand because I preferred it and was worried that if I had one layer of fabric and wadding, when I put it through the sewing machine the wadding might get stuck.

 Fabric cut and ready

 Attaching the top flap

 Finished bag

Open finished bag

This was a good little project. I enjoyed selecting the lining fabric to go with the outer pattern, and it looks like a pretty purse to keep things in. The quilting gave an interesting effect and did not detract from the design too much.