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