Bag of the Week 46

Grip It

Each year my American Sewing Guild Neighborhood Group (we’re called Sharing Threads) has a challenge.  The topic is announced at the beginning of the year and the results are presented at the November meeting.  This year’s challenge was an ugly fabric challenge.  Everyone chose a piece of fabric from someone else’s stash (that had been deemed “ugly” by the owner).  The new owner then turned that fabric into anything they wished.

I wasn’t around for the fabric exchange but I wanted to participate in the challenge so I found a solution that fit the spirit, if not the letter, of the event.  A number of years ago I participated in another ugly fabric challenge and I had a piece of that fabric left.  This is a great example of “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” because I think the teal cotton twill that was ugly to its previous owner is just lovely.  At the time, I was interested in discharge dyeing so I took the fabric and, using a stencil and Soft Scrub cleaner, discharged a design onto the fabric.  The piece you see above was another piece I dyed at the time but didn’t use in my final project.  So I used it in this years’ challenge.

I used Nancy Ota’s Grip It pattern but changed the dimensions to fit the fabric piece I was working with.  I used a coordinating stripe to bind top and bottom edges of the fabric before topstitching it onto the screen panel.  This pattern was so fast and easy.  I made this bag, start to finish (including time to gather all of the materials) in less than two hours.  It is a handy size for carrying books and papers.  It also felt good to use up a scrap that’s been hanging around my sewing room for years.

Unfortunately, a sudden illness kept me from going to the meeting this week where everyone presented their finished projects, and I was so disappointed to miss seeing them all.  I’ll have to take my bag to next month’s meeting where we will be planning all of the programs for the coming year and choosing the topic for our next challenge.  Can’t wait to see what that will be!

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!

Bag of the Week 21

Summer Screen Tote

Our pool opened this past weekend so I guess it is officially summer.  And this bag is perfect for trips to the pool.  It is another of Nancy Ota’s Screen Play bags (which I wrote about back on Week 12) .  The body is made from pet screen and is perfect for carrying wet towels and toys back from the pool or the beach.   The screen bottom lets sand sift right through. 

I absolutely love this fabric, Fruit Ladies by Mary Stewart.  When I saw it I immediately knew I would use it on one of these bags.   The stripe is a Waverly home dec fabric.

This pattern includes four sizes of bags.  This one is the large size (there is still one larger than this one).  Try this pattern and make your own summer bag, perfect for the pool, beach, library or farmer’s market.

Bag of the Week 12

Screen Play with 3D Bugs

What happened to spring?  After several days of beautiful, warm weather the temps here in Virginia will drop below freezing tonight.  But I won’t let that deter me from posting a bag that is full of springtime cheer. 

The pattern for this little tote bag is called Screen Play by Nancy Ota.  I love this bag.  I’ve probably made 6 or 8 from this pattern in all sizes.  The pattern includes instructions for four sizes of tote bag.   The body is made from window/pet screen fabric along with 2 or more cottons. 

My bug bag is based on the medium sized tote and measures 13” wide x 9” tall.   I was fortunate to know about a quilt shop in Virginia Beach that stocked dozens of colors of the screen, and I used pink along with some coordinates I purchased at JoAnn Fabrics.  I stitched the bugs on sheer metallic ribbon using Evy Hawkin’s Applied Bugs designs and applied them to the screen before construction.  I also added beads to the body and antennae for some added sparkle.

The Screen Play pattern is a great canvas for all sorts of creative techniques and it is easy to make a bag that is uniquely YOU.  Watch for future BOTW posts showcasing this pattern again.