Bag of the Week 5
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 6:00AM 
The Ribbon Handled Bag
Before my first son was born in 2006 I used to teach kids to sew at G Street Fabrics. I really loved working with blooming sewing enthusiasts and was always pleased at how proud they were with their creations (even when they were terrible). One week I was called and asked to act as an extra pair of hands in a class for a Girl Scout troop where another teacher would take the lead and plan the project. Sue arrived with a darling little ribbon handled bag that she had received as a Christmas present. And like many of us do when we find something wonderful, she had knocked it off (that’s “copied” for those of you wondering). That day in class we made these little bags, and they were a huge hit.
A few months later I was teaching a class for 8 to 12 year olds and decided to do this bag as the project. I arrived at the store to find a handful of students but nothing set up for me – the store had dropped the ball and didn’t realize there was a class that day. Thank God for Lynn Berry who had brought her daughter to the class. Lynn is a friend of mine and knows her way around a sewing machine just fine, thank you very much. She stayed and helped set up all ten machines. I don’t think I could have done it without her. Sometime later Lynn asked me for instructions on making this bag and, since I had had other requests from parents, I wrote up a tutorial to share with instructions and lots of pictures. You can also find other projects on my Tutorial page (the link is in the righthand side bar). Lynn says she has made a number of these bags in all sizes including one to carry a laptop – they make great teacher’s gifts.
I liked the bag just as it was but wanted to give it a little extra personality so I added a kanzashi flower made from coordinating micro-dot cottons and an oddball button from my button box.
bag, bag of the week, kanzashi, ribbon handled bag, sewing in Bag of the Week, kanzashi, sewing 
Reader Comments (6)
Julie,
Love this posting. I too have taught sewing to young girls and I love love love it.
They are so enthusiastic and do love their projects when they are finished.
Can't wait to look at the tutorial and make one myself.
Debbie
Julie;
I just love what you have added to the basic bag pattern with the flower. I especially like the "leaves" versus doing the same thing as an 8 petal flower. As always, your choice of fabrics, colors and style are wonderful!!
(Can I grow up to be as good as you?? )
Lynn
Warning...Teacher Comment...Delete when Read ;)
Julie,
I've been blown away by your blog, as I've gotten a chance to peruse it this week. I think you are right on track for accomplishing exactly what you said you wanted to accomplish in our first week of the course. You had a vision for your blog when you began it, and I daresay you are coming close to capturing that vision, aren't you?
I hope that the sections we have coming up on building traffic will be beneficial for you, because your blog definitely deserves to be read far and wide by other connoisseurs of creativity. You should be very proud already, madam! ;)
Topsy
I am so impressed with what you are doing with this, that I have few words and NO criticism. You need this "Out There, so go after it." The aesthetics of your blog are simply wonderful.
I love this bag you have created, it's so versatile like you mentioned you can even use it to carry your laptop in. The added flower detail also really gives it that added piazza. Nice work!
I must say your blog site is great, very crafty and the images used are very clear and professional.
I think your bags are wonderful. When I was teaching I liked to look for cute bags to use for my books, papers, etc... A pattern like this in a large enough size-- with perhaps an inside pockets for pens and a calculator, would have been so much nicer than what you typically find.