New Tote Bag

 New Bag Inspired by the fabric

Another batch of fabric arrived a few days ago. This purchase was late being delivered and when I opened it I was disappointed as the fabrics were all stretch fabrics. As I was looking for fabric to make bags, stretch fabric was of little use. I sorted out a couple of large pieces that I could use for lining, and a couple of other prints I did not like I put out for the charity bag. But in amongst the last couple of pieces was a metre of green frog print. It was quite pretty and I thought it could be used for a little girls bag. 

Thinking about the fabric I considered the design, the size of the frogs and the colourful print, and decided it would not show it off well if I made a drawstring bag, which is the usual young persons bag. Instead I thought it would look good as a type of tote bag, but instead of cutting the corners I thought I would try an oval base and then add the height of the bag with a single piece of material attached to the base. I made the base piece with a 17cm oval and the main fabric 20”W  x  12H and then a matching liner. 

When I put the bag together I did not like the dimensions but realised it would work if I made it a little shorter. 

So I cut the next bag with the same base size but with a 20” x 9” piece for the sides.

I really liked the finish on this.

If you see the 2 together I think you will agree the shorter size works better.

It makes a lovely  bag for a little girl.

The design was all my own and I now have a cute little tote so that when I make more totes in the spring I will make the adult version in the standard way with a finish of 18 x 18 and a 5” base.  Where the fabric is suitable I will make a matching junior version using my new template. 

Back to Christmas crafting for now.

Happy Crafting

Dee

Letting the Fabric decide the project

New small tote bag for a little

Recently I purchased a couple of lots of fabric on Ebay. As remnant boxes you just get a description of the types of sizes you will get and a weight. 

The first box arrived very quickly and when I opened it up it was a bit like Christmas, not knowing exactly what you were going to get. It turned out to be velvety soft furnishing fabrics and some lining fabric. The pieces were good size and good quality fabrics. At first i was a little disappointed as I use mainly prints to make colourful bags. But the value was definitely there so I packed it away to consider what I would make with it. 

A few days later I suddenly thought about the fabric again and realised the density and backing on the fabric meant it did not fray and therefore any bag made from it would not necessarily need lining. So to prove this theory I went out a cut a quick shopper bag and stitched it up. Just one piece of fabric 18” x 36” and also cut 2 handles 4”x 20” . The handles were made very quickly by folding into the middle and over again and stitching both sides.

Next i sewed the handles either end of the fabric, then stitched the sides. Turned the bag in the right way and top stitched the top of the bag. A very basic shopping bag but super quality and designed cut and sewn in less than an hour and half. 

Here it is 

It’s a lovely shade of blue and a great shopping bag size. 

This cheered me up and i then decided the fabric was too good for shopping bags,  I would use it for tote bags, I would line them and add pockets inside for a useful everyday bag. I don’t actually have time to make these totes yet as I am concentrating on Christmas makes at the moment. 

But I did make some jewellery purses to add to the patterned purses I had made previously and, which, I used at the August Craft Fayre the jewellery gift items I sold (which are sold with a selected jewellery pouch). All the customers chose the velvet purses over the patterned fabric purses,  so I will need to make more for the next Fayre. 

Here is a selection of the jewellery purses used for jewellery sales . I display one of each fabric I have and replace after each sale. 

So what I had thought was a disappointing batch of fabric has turned out to be lovely quality and a pleasure to use.

Back soon with another surprise item.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

 

Getting Ready for the Christmas Fairs

 Christmas Shopping Bags

After the August Bank Holiday Fair I came home and packed everything away, doing an inventory of stock at the same time and then sat down to plan for the 2 Christmas fairs I have booked.

It may seem a little ahead of time, but both fairs are early November, and I have 3 weeks between then and now when I have have other commitments, so it was essential to plan time to make for the tables. 

During some fine weather a few weeks ago I had set up my outside table and used the good weather to cut out fabrics ready to sew. Last week I cleared the dining table and set up my sewing machine and started work on the bags cut out. I try to use a production method, but as I wanted to check through the cut out bags and see what I had I went ahead and made up one shopping bag to get an idea of layout. It’s a basic tote bag design. 

Consisting of 

Outside fabric piece are 18” x 30” 

Lining fabric pieces 18” x 30”

2 handles 4” x 20’

And a Christmas embellishment ironed onto a 6.5” square piece of fabric

• I had six already cut for me to make and it took about 1.5hours to make up. 
• First I prepared the embellishment and sewed it onto the outside fabric 
• Then I made the handles and placed them onto either end of the outer fabric
• Next I sewed my label onto the lining fabric
• I then sewed the lining to the the outer fabric top and bottom only
• The joined fabric is then pulled out and the top and bottom pieces lined up at thr sides so that the outer fabric is one side and the lining the other side. 
• I sew down the 2 long sides leaving a gap in the middle of the lining on one side only, making sure the gap is not too far down and has left room for the corners to be cut out.
• From the four corners I cut a 2.5inch square, allowing for the side seams 
• These corners are then pulled open and and matching up the centres I sew across then making sure to back sew well either end. 
• Then using the gap I turn the bag out, sew up the gap and push the lining back into the bag.
• Lastly I set the stitch length for topstitching and sew all around the top of the bag to finish it nicely.

The bag came out lovely and I sat back very pleased with myself until I turned it over and found a tiny pin-prick hole in the back of the bag, the fabric must have had a tiny flaw in it before I started sewing and I had not noticed it. So this bag, lovely though it is, cannot be sold. 

However the good news is I have my own Christmas Shopping bag. 

Not too downhearted I kept sewing for the next couple of days until I had made another 5 shopping bags which have now been added to the 10 made earlier. 

These are the 2 prints used a lovely fine tartan print and a red star print. 

The other bags cut out and put together over the next few days were gift bags . Perfect  gift wrap that can be re-used year on year to present your gifts . 

These are a good seller and are made in the same way as my tote bags but smaller. Lined and with a 3 inch base and sides.

These bags are so cute and another eight have been added to the stock. 

I need to pack my sewing machine away for a few days to tidy up a little, but I will be thinking about my next makes very soon.

Happy Crafting

Dee