Bags of Bags for the Craft show

 A Great Selection of Bags

Back again…..

Have been gone a  few weeks,  sorry. 

Six months ago, I lost my husband after 45years of marriage and it has been hard enough to get up in the mornings,  but with great support from family and friends I am getting back to what will be “normal” life, and this includes crafting.

Sewing has been a useful diversion for me and helped me through this difficult time. I started speculatively but as I made half a dozen totes and then 6-8 medium tote bags I started to get large scrap pieces and made these into purses to use them up. 

I have added:        Messenger Bags

                                Glass cases

                                Doggy Poop bags

                                Water Bottle bags with pockets for a phone or keys 

                                Cleansing pads 

                                Phone Wallets

                                Shopping bags 

                                Beach bags 

I am ready for a craft show on Bank Holiday Monday and will spend the next week working on displays for the table.

This first show with the bags will be a little messy as I have a lot of different bags to show, I want to see what bags are best received by buyers. I will then look again at practical makes for Christmas.

All my bags are made from Reclaimed fabrics, I buy end of roll bundles of furnishing fabrics, or use fabrics from clothes no longer in use. My husband loved clothes and so I have made myself some memory items. Some are very practical like the cord tidies.

This one is holding my sewing foot pedal cords and I use others for my iron, and my laminator.

These are made from his pyjamas tops and shirts and are a simple length of fabric with a piece of elastic inserted one end and a couple of buttons added to the outside so you have a selection  of lengths.  

I will have a number if items that have used up the pieces left over from  the bigger projects that will sell for £1, so there has been very little waste. 

selection of tissue holders, cord ties and small coin/jewellery purses.

Bigger purses that can been used for money or makeup etc use bigger offcuts and will sell for £2

Others are particular to me, ( a favourite jumper has become a reading cushion with pocket) 

It was quite straightforward to cut out but difficult to complete as sewing wool is not easy to get straight edges. But as it for me I am happy with the result (definitely not one to sell).

This cushion was made from a sweater that I purchased for my husband and particularly liked. I could not bear to part with it, so decided to make a reading cushion for myself. The main cushion uses the front and back while the pocket is made from a sleeve. 

I have managed an awful lot of sewing in the last few months, and I note the irony, this has only been possible as I have been using the dining table and leaving my machine set up, but then I would not have needed to fill my days in the same way, so I guess there is always different ways of looking at things. 

The sewing machine is currently back in the cupboard and I have started some new paper craft projects. 

I will report back after the craft show and let you know how it went. 

My next posts will be  some of the new paper crafts, so check back if that is what you like.

Happy Crafting

Dee

                                 

                

Sew Useful Bags Mini IPad Cover & Folio FIle

 Project 3 

IPad/Folio Bag

My next bag is a great Folio Bag or IPad case/bag. I have an IPad mini with keyboard and so I thought I would make a bag for it. I am also treasurer for my WI and attend meetings and present accounts, so a folio folder to carry my paperwork would be useful. 

I adjusted the small purse design from Ae PooiM. This require a piece of fabric 14” wide and 52” long. Non directional print is easier to use. On some I have added a handle and others instead of a popper closure I have added a small piece of elastic to the top if the bag that allows it close over a button.

The Blue printed fabric is showing A4 paperwork, (I think this would look lovely in the office meeting),  while the very pretty oriental bird and floral black fabric is showing the ipad mini. The bag for the ipad mini is a little bigger than the pad but this allows some paperwork to be added if required. 

The Blue bag has a handle to allow for easier carrying if you have an armful of other bits and pieces, and the button closure with elastic at the top.

 

And the Black bag has a flat popper closure, ideal for packing into a weekend bag. 

I also make phone wallets 

Back soon with the pictures and sizes for them.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Medium Tote - Project bag

 Medium Tote - Project Bag

This lovely bag is a derivative of the one shown in my last post. 

The pattern shown on on the YouTube video produces a small tote bag and I could not think what I would use it for except as a gift box, so I sized it up to make it a more usable bag for me.

This bag is very quick to make as it consists of 2 pieces of fabric and 2 handles made for the same fabric. I make the handles first and then lay them on the right side of one of the pieces of fabric either end and lay the second piece over the top face down, finishing it the same way as the large tote bag with pockets. You can make it any size you fancy, but may need to add a stabiliser,  if your fabric is thinner cotton, as I use mainly soft furnishing fabrics I do not think I need it. 

I made a batch of 5 with the same fabrics as the larger totes so anyone wishing too, could buy a set. Having made a few I thought I would add an inside claw clasp to clip keys or purses to so you can find them easier. So some have this added item.. All are finished with top stitching 

The size of the finished bag is approximately 

8” Tall - 15” wide - 5” deep 

Or 20.5cm Tall - 38cm Wide - 13cm deep

and the handles have been lengthened on some to allow them to go over the shoulder

Having finished a selection of these medium totes I came across some fabric that I had purchased from a charity shop. The fabric looked new and had been made up as table clothes, but as they had teddy bears on they would really only be useful for a Teddy bears picnic or child’s tea party. I had planned to make some drawstring gift bags but decided to make them into storage/gift bags. They would be perfect for storing toys or baby items in the nursery or child’s bedroom or taking toys to Grandma, that could easily be packed up again at the end of the visit. 

Doubling up the fabric so it was a lined bag I made the handles first again and then sewed up the storage bags. The print had been cut with bags in mind so worked well for their storage bags showing the bears off well. I managed to make 3 with the fabrics I had and was very pleased with the outcome.

As you can see one bag is empty and the other has books and soft toys in to show it in use.

These will also go in my Etsy shop soon. 

These bags take roughly an hour to make and as I am selling them at £7.95 they are a great price. If the weather stays as sunny as it has been the last couple of weeks it would also make a great picnic bag.

Happy Crafting

Dee.

Great Tote Bag With Pockets

 Tote Bag with 4 Pockets - Great Craft bag 

The next bag I wanted to make was this great Tote with 4 pockets. I thought it would make a useful craft bag. The design incorporates the  pockets with the outside of the bag from a series of folds and so no need to line up the pockets and sewing on the outside before putting the bag together. . Another great bag from Ae PooiM.  Having purchased some lovely end of rolls fabric on Ebay to recycle into useful bags, this 4 pocket Tote Bag was the perfect fit. 

I have added the link for the bag below.

https://youtu.be/Vsjj-Oie-iA

The beauty of this bag is the simplicity. The pockets and bag are made from one piece of fabric, with handles and the lining added. The sizes and pattern pieces from Ae PooiM are easy to make up. I made the first couple of bags as shown in the video, and then decided to adjust it a little as I wanted a little more room between the top of the pockets and the top of the bag. .Once I had a shape I really liked I set about making 5 more and this time I timed the make to see how long each bag took to make. If I wanted to sell the. Bags at a craft fair I needed to have a pricing structure based on cost of materials and time to make.

This size makes a perfect craft bag. The 4 pockets can hold the tools, with the main body of the bag taking the crafts. 

Here is the one I made earlier for my craft club trips.

Pockets have glues, gems, ribbons, ,dies, and glue gun

While the main body has the card,  pens, watercolours, scissors and general use items.

I love the fact that all these bags are made from reclaimed fabrics. They are end of rolls from fabrics used for soft furnishings. This means that every part of the roll has been used with no resources wasted.  

I have now made a few ready for my craft fair in August, and have put some  in my Etsy shop, as well as cutting out a few more ready to make. Next I have to consider a price. Whilst the fabric has been sourced at a great price, I still need to consider the fabric, sewing cotton, wear and tear of my machine (just serviced at a cost of £54, as well as the time taken to make the bag. This large bag requires a length of 52”, and the bag takes 1.5hrs to make. So I looked at other bags on Etsy and have come up with a price. £14.95. 

My next project will be the a smaller tote with no pockets and if there are any pieces off fabric left suitable to make a wallet bag I will add those as well to make a set of bags. With a bot of luck I will have a great collection of bags for future holidays. 

Happy Crafting

Dee. 

The simplest Small Coin Purse and Pouch Bag I have come across

 My next Sewing Project

Small Coin Purse and Pouch Bag

So my new love of sewing had me avidly watching videos on YouTube to find more designs to make. Bearing in mind I am not an experienced sewer, and my machine is fairly basic I naturally looked at designs that were as straight forward as possible.Putting zips in is about as difficult as I want it to be. The next makes are from a YouTuber called Ae PooiM. She has some great videos, very well laid out and no talking just music in the background while the measurement are put on the screen. With her videos, I tend to watch all the way through, taking the measurements as I go and then play it again to make the item. 

The small coin purse is very simple to make and can be made in volume quite quickly so if you make jewellery to give as gifts or to sell these can be made quickly enough not to add a lot to the cost of the item. 

https://youtu.be/Kmzb4O2I5pw

Once I got the hang of the design I could make them smaller and larger enabling me to use up various remnant pieces to the best advantage.

Here are the original smaller purses with snap closure

I have even made them large enough to put my phone in. I can make this size with off cuts and bits left from other projects. 

The small pouch I kept to the original pattern and made half a dozen just because I liked the look of them. As I would not use them myself these will probably go in a basket at my next craft fair. 

Small pouches with a zip middle and holding handle

These are so cute and will hold makeup or tissues and money. They can be stitched at the base like the blue bag or left with unstitched sides as the other two. 

So now I am fully into my sewing projects and feeling ready to tackle some bigger bags. Back to  YouTube to see what is available, and what method of bag making suits me best. 

But that is for then next post 

If you want to comment on any of the projects, or get notified when I add a new post, why not click on the follow button at the top of the page.

Happy Crafting

Dee 

Expandable Shoe/Wine bags

Expandable Shoe/Wine bag 

As shown  in my previous post the  first bags I made were these really useful shoe/wine bag. With expanding sides the bags are a great fit for shoes. Easy way of transporting shoes to the gym or packing your dancing shoes for the lovely holiday/cruise.

If you don’t need to transport your shoes, the bags are perfect to present a bottle of wine.

What a lovely way to say Thank You, and long after the wine has been enjoyed the recipient has the bag for re-use.

There are several people on YouTube showing how to make these expandable bags, I followed Christine’s Home Affairs and enjoyed making the first 4 bags from fabric I had gathered over the past couple of years from Charity shops and car boots. I will link her post below.

https://youtu.be/NNu3_Z3du-k

You can see from the picture that the shoes will  fit easily into one of these bags and I would estimate that shoes up to a size 8 will not be a problem after that you may need to increase the pattern size a little. 

I think they are very handy gift bags and  not too difficult to make if you are a beginner, I managed to get hold of a bundle of 15” zips at a good price on ebay and became slightly obsessed with sewing again. I ended up with 8 of these bags and decided to put a few in my Etsy shop

https://youtu.be/Kmzb4O2I5pw

With time on my hands I checked out more bags on YouTube. My next bag was a simple coin purse the video also had a small pouch bag  so I tried a few of each.  I will share them with you in my next post. 

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Sew Useful Bags

 I am back with lots of new crafty ideas

It’s been a while since my last post, and now I am back with lots of new crafty ideas.

Paper crafts as well as a resurgence of sewing bags.

I have always done some sewing since a young child when my mother showed me how to make round drawstring bags and I made them regularly to give to friends with gifts in., ah those wer simple times. When I think about it they were probably made from mums leftover fabrics. After attending a 3 crafts day with my county W.I., where one of the items I made was a bag in just 2 hours my enthusiasm for sewing came racing back. So when I retired a couple of years later I bought a good basic sewing machine that I could use as a work-horse. And that was the start, although not much happened for awhile as card crafting was well established in my craft room. 

Over the first few years of retirement and of course Corona Virus lockdown, the sewing machine came out to take up trousers and a a few mends, and I bought some fat quarters from which I made some pretty origami bags that I still use for my sewing bits and bobs. 

In February I lost my husband of 45 years and Crafting has been a very useful tool on the road to recovery, but more about that in a seperate post. I say this to explain how I came to start sewing my bags. 

Previously paper crafts had been my preferred outlet as projects can be completed in a couple of hours. But as I spent more time around the house, I started to look at crafts that needed more investment and a woman can never have too many bags. 

Another reason for expanding my repertoire was the need to find something that may sell at Craft Fairs. I only do a couple a year but was in need of new inventory to try. I have found cards and paper crafts difficult to sell as so many people make cards nowadays that they are reluctant to buy them, and in the UK, scrapbooking and Journalling are not as popular as in the states. 

I started by checking out YouTube to see what was about and was very interested in a shoe bag made by Christine at Christine’s Home Affairs. I loved the simplicity and the fact that the bag expanded so was big enough to take a bottle of wine and other gifts. 

I made a couple and enjoyed the process.

Plus they really are useful.

Imagine giving a favourite bottle of wine as a gift and presenting it in one of these bags that the recipient can use again and again.

If you have someone who runs, does sports or holidays the bags make great shoe bags. 

These bags were made from reclaimed materials. New materials that were left over after a project, some purchased from Charity shops. 

I love the idea of making something useful from material that would otherwise be discarded, and started to look for other sewing projects. 

Check back for the next instalment of my new fabric projects.

Happy Crafting. 

Dee