Bag Lady (FO) Take #2

Yay! A finished project for February. I managed to polish off that fat quarter shopping bag I cut out before Christmas. You know, the one I cut out wrong...

Having made this pattern three times already meant I had a vague idea of what I was doing. It was still a bit fiddly sewing and pressing and turning and top-stitching - but the result was rather pleasing. IBecause I ended up with an extra (centre) seam owing to my cutting mishap, the facings were slightly out of whack. I just added a little pleat/fold to the facing when I pinned it in place. I am mistress of the lazy way. It worked pretty well, so, a worthwhile fudge, and I like the fact that each side of the bag shows two fabrics. 

Here are some awful phone pics. It was dark and late when I remembered to take a photo (note to self: neither of those things makes for good photos). It's gone off to live with my brother, along with the other green one I made earlier. 

Bag Lady (FO)

Christmas was a bit of a crafting disaster this year.  I don't think any of the craft projects I planned actually came to anything, so the only things that got made were fudge and peppermint bark (which were both excellent by the way).

No-one noticed about the crafty stuff. 

Sniff.

Even if I didn't finish anything in time for Christmas, I did start a few things, and one afternoon -  before the big day - I cut out a wee pile of these fat-quarter shopping bags. I was given some fat quarters by my MIL a year or two back, and this seemed like a perfect project for those particular bits of fabric. 

Last week I summoned up the effort to get the sewing machine out and start stitching. For something so simple, there seemed to be a lot of sewing to do, and it took me two whole evenings to progress from a pile of fabric shapes to three finished bags!

Let's just go through the details then. These bags have a handle facing, which is finished at the raw edge (2 seams), attached to the bag fabric (6 seams), then joined at the handles (2 seams), and top stitched (3 seams). After that the sides and bottom of the bag are finished with French seams (6 seams) and the corners bagged out, again with French seams (4 seams). 

Add to that pressing, turning inside/outside and pinning (where required). All together it's a lot of small seams to stitch and restitch, and takes a bit of time. A 20 minute tote this ain't. 

Sigh.

I  cut out 4 bags, but because I am very stupid a design visionary, on the first one I omitted to place the fold of the pattern piece on the fold of the fabric and ended up with some different shaped pieces. I decided to leave my hacked version to last, and made up the other three as per the instructions. 

I say that as if I followed the instructions to the letter, but I didn't. We'll just gloss over the other mistake I made with the French seams shall we, oh, and the fact that I completely forgot about the elastic loops too? Ye-es. 

So, here they are: three pretty cute bags. 

The flowery ones have been sent off to live with my parents. The green one is for my brother, and should soon be joined by the design hacked alter-ego version (when I get off my a*se to sew it up, ahem). 

So, my overall verdict: a nice project to do if you don't mind spending a bit of time sewing seams, and you have some fat quarters to 'use' up. Things might go a bit quicker with the overlocker perhaps, so I might try that for bag four.  (I did pink all my raw edges, just because). 

I like the integral handles and the handle facing - because, well I might be over those webbing or self-fabric handles that most shopping bags have and which inevitably break/wear through. 

I guess the bottom will fall out of these first...

Ready

The bags are now ready for gifting: washed, ironed, ribboned. Tonight they will be filled with a few small chocolate gifts, ready for the big day.

Stash bags (FO)

It's a big week this week. 


On Friday our son - the bean - has his last day at preschool. And, a new big scary chapter in which he starts school, begins. He is most definitely ready for this, but I am not. As the yarnharlot might say: it scares the snot out of me. 


Anyway, that's all for another day and another post, and this is meant to be about the fruitful stash diving and sewing that went on over the weekend. So, as I was saying - the bean finishes preschool this week, so I have been wondering idly about the best way of thanking his teachers. Of course, whenever there is idle wondering, there is idle googling and reading of blogs. 


Kelly at handmade at home hit the spot with her post about fabric bags. I half read the tutorial, and let the idea marinade for a few days. I talked to the bean. He thought it was a good idea.I went diving into the stash and pulled out some likely bits and bobs. The bean  had a look, and made his preferences clear.


So, Saturday evening, I unpacked the sewing machine and the cutting mat and set them up, along with the ironing board and iron. I folded, measured and cut fabric - enough for 8 bags. And then I sat down to sew.


At that moment, that very moment, the planets aligned themselves in a most unfortunate, er, alignment. It was now after 9pm, and the jelly bean - who had snuck a 1 hour nap that afternoon - was not sleepy. Not. At. All. No sir. She was as far from sleep as a 2 yr old can be. So, she was wriggling and getting in and out of bed and generally making us aware that she was wide a w a k e. 


While that was going on, my cousin rang to talk about our Olympic trip and meeting up and life with twins and parenting and Boris Johnson (London mayor) and all the other things that cousins talk about when they don't see each other from one year to the next. It took more than an hour...


It was now near to 10.30pm, and not a stitch had been stitched, and the jelly bean was still very awake. Surrender was the only course of action possible. We made our bed (sheets stripped and washed and hung out to dry at the first glimpse of sunshine earlier in the day) and offered her the chance to sleep with mummy. It was 11pm. I climbed into bed next to a wriggling jelly bean and wondered what sort of useless parent I was for giving in like that. 


It was gone 11.30 when the wriggling finally stopped and the warm feet on my belly could be gently moved away. Asleep, at last.


Sunday morning was slow and gentle and full of sunshine. We pottered about, reading books, eating, giggling. I caught up on my missed sewing session - sitting in my pyjamas at the table, while people around me drank and ate and dressed themselves. I consulted the bean on progress. He seemed happy, so in the evening after they went to bed (exhausted by swimming and cycling and lots and lots of fresh air) I sat down to finish things off. By (my) bedtime, there was a pile of 8 little bags. Start to finish in about 24 hours. Not a bad days work. 

Round Up

Time for a little catch-up. Here are a few of the FOs from late 2009 and early 2010.

Scrap Hat (own design)

Child's banner - one of several birthday present projects for small boys in our family. Made with upcycled shirts, an old dress and some felt....

Green socks - generic top down pattern with grumperina stripe

Yarn - mainly Yarn Yard olive with some scraps of other green sock yarns to make up the pair.

Definitely non-identical twins.

Child's Cardigan (Rowan Family Collection)