Bag of the Week 26

Boatbag

You Have to Start Somewhere

This may be the first bag I ever made.  When I graduated from college in 1984 my parents gave me a Kenmore sewing machine as a graduation gift.  I took the machine with me when I moved to Texas that year and found a part time job at a local fabric store, Cloth World.  I really knew very little about sewing except what I had learned in my home ec classes in school and what my mom had taught me.  But, being young and fearless I jumped right in and started spending most of my paycheck at the fabric store and sewing anything and everything I could.  I even had the nerve to agree to make a sample evening dress from sequined fabric for the store and a prom dress for one of the other employees.  But really I was quite clueless.  Take this bag, for instance.  My family has a long habit of carrying our vacation supplies in L.L. Bean boat bags when we traveled to our fishing cabin in rural Maine.  (I can still remember when L.L. Bean was little more than a one-room shack where we stopped every year so my dad could buy his Maine fishing license.)  So when I saw this fabric I had the grand idea that I would make each of my family members a unique boat bag using it.  I had some sense in picking out the canvas that would become the bottom and straps for the bag but never considered that lightweight cotton would not make very sturdy walls.  The seams on the inside were double stitched and pinked (this was long before I owned a serger) and, clearly, I had no concept about matching seams. 

I kept this bag for myself but no others were forthcoming.

My skills did improve over time and with practice, and this month I will pack my own vacation belongings into both my L.L. Bean boatbags and this one which has proved to be very useful and functional, if a little floppy.  Some family traditions are worth keeping.

Bag of the Week 25

The Museum Bag

I don’t know about where you are, but here in the greater Washington DC area this week’s temperatures have topped the 90 degree mark.  Summer has arrived for sure.  And the hot, hot colors in this week’s bag just shout summer to me.   

Several years ago my American Sewing Guild (ASG) Chapter sponsored a workshop with Barbara Randle who taught us all how to create The Museum Bag.  It was a great day and a wonderful class.  Barbara is a very inspiring teacher and, even though we were all working from the same kits, each bag had a unique personality all its own.  The bag is constructed using Barbara’s Crazy Quilting with Attitude technique (I blogged about this here) and made from beautiful pieces of silk.  The seams are embellished with decorative stitches and the bag further enhanced with couched fibers.  The bag is lined with a fun cotton print fabric and closes with a magnet.

On Tuesday I’ll be posting a tutorial I’ve been working on along with more project ideas so please check back often.  Hope everyone has a great weekend – try to stay cool!

Bag of the Week 24

Dress up a straw purse with dresses!

Here is a simple way to embellish a summery straw bag.  I created a panel of embroidered designs and attached it to a purchased bag.  I first embroidered the dress designs onto a white background and then satin stitched that rectangle onto a larger checked fabric piece.  I created a satin stitch frame around the outside by stitching through tearaway stabilizer.  When the panel was complete I glued it onto the outside of the purse with fabric glue.  If your bag is unlined you could also stitch the panel onto the purse.  Then use some of the fabric from the project to make a lining for the bag.

These designs come from A Bit of Stitch’s Appliqué Fashion Dresses.  I have used these designs on all sorts of projects and I love them.  Wouldn’t it be cute to make a dress to wear and then use the same fabric in the appliqué for a matching purse? 

Bag of the Week 23

Curvy Strip-Pieced Bag

Remember the Ribbon Handled Bag I blogged about previously (you can find a tutorial for this design here)?  Well, this is another version of that bag.  This time I took my inspiration from Hope Yoder’s Chit Chat Backsack pattern and created the fabric for the body of this bag from her instructions which she calls Curvy Wurvy piecing.  This technique is fun and very easy to do.  The curved strips are layered on top of each other and fused to a foundation.  I added the blanket stitching along each edge for added definition.  The flower appliqué is from Hope’s pattern and is also available as a machine embroidery design on her website.  It is fused into place and stitched with the same blanket stitch.  I added jumbo rickrack in the seam between the top band and the body and added striped ribbon handles.

This colorway is my absolute favorite:  hot pink, orange, yellow and lime green.  You can see a plaid fabric in this project with those colors.  The first time I used that piece of fabric years ago I based my design around those colors and have been using them ever since.  I am hoarding every scrap of that plaid and dearly wish I could find more.  It may be my most-used fabric ever. 

Bag of the Week 22

Mermaid Tote

This is actually a catch up post.  I’ve been a week behind on my bags since the beginning of May when an unexpected trip out of town ate up a week I had not planned for.  So there will two Bag of the Week postings for this week.

Last week I wrote about Nancy Ota’s Screen Play pattern and shared a bag with a decidedly summer theme.  This week I am sharing another:  my Mermaid Tote.  This bag is made from blue pet screen and Michael Miller’s Mermaid fabric which I bought at a quilt store in Virginia Beach a number of years ago.  I have written about this pattern for Week 21 and Week 12 and you can read more about it in those posts.  This picture shows the bottom of the bag which is composed of screen.  This is a handy feature that allows water and sand to filter through.

I made this tote bag to take to the pool and carry home wet items.  It works great for that purpose but I kept losing my keys and pool pass in the bottom of the bag.  Since I had some screen and fabric scraps left over I made myself a little zippered pouch to contain them.  Have fun at the beach!