Bag of the Week 5

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 of the week 4

With New Years Eve just behind us I want to share a tiny little bag that would be perfect for wearing with an evening gown or fancy dress.  It is just large enough to hold a credit card, ID, key and some cash, and can be worn more like jewelry than a purse.

The components of this purse are made entirely with thread on an embroidery machine.  The design was digitized by Stitch Delight.  This free-standing lace is stitched on water soluble stabilizer which is rinsed away leaving behind the stitched design.  Each purse consists of a front, back and flap.  Each piece is stitched individually and sewn together by machine to finish.  I also chose to create a lining for my purses which I hand sewed into the completed lace purse.  The strap was made by twisting multiple strands of the embroidery thread into a cord using a Spinster.

These designs are no longer available from Stitch Delight though they do have some beautiful purse designs that are a bit larger.