Foxy messenger bag

It was my boyfriend's birthday at the beginning of June.  This is the first birthday we've celebrated together and so I had no idea what to buy him!  He's very ethical and won't buy anything that's not fair-trade and ethically sourced, so I thought I'd make him something, that way the only slave labour is my own!

This is a free pattern from a blog.  To my shame, I can't find the link.  I was sure I'd put it in a "WIP" pinterest board, but I can't find one on my profile!  It wasn't so much a pattern as a bit of a how-to.  I changed the dimensions and the strap construction and added a zipper pocket inside. UPDATE! I found it Link to free how-to.

His favourite colour is orange, so I wanted orange fabric.  I thought a waxed canvas would look nice and be fairly masculine (not that he cares about gender stereotypes like that, he's rather partial to pink).  It was really hard to find and so I had to forgo looking for organic fabric (which he would usually chose - he's also a bit of an eco-warrier).  The lining also isn't organic as I couldn't find any fox patterned organic fabric that I liked.

The 2 magnetic snaps and the handmade scroll were from Sew Hot at the Bag Retreat which is where I started sewing this.  I also bought the zips there.  I added a zip pocket in the lining, as you have to have a zip pocket.

This is a very special zip pocket though... look...

Bicycle fabric (yep, he's a cyclist, nope, he doesn't own any Lycra), and...

Another, hidden zip pocket!  This time lined in the waxed canvas.  No, that's not a person in a hat at the top of the photo, it's my hand and a blur!  

Apparently I thought you'd like a closer look at the pocket lining!  No, the fabric isn't upside down, the photo is.  Again, it was surprisingly hard to find bicycle fabric and impossible to find organic.  The problem was that 99% of the bicycles had baskets on them!  I didn't want a cutesy bicycle.  

More Sew Hot hardware there.  I messed up this strap.  I like the way I did it - I folded over 1/2" on either long side of the waxed canvas, and slightly more on the bicycle fabric, then sewed one to the other.  No turning!  I hate the usual method of strap making and much preferred this.  Problem?  I forgot to interface and forgot to add fusible fleece!  So the strap is very thin and a bit uncomfortable.  I nearly didn't give him the bag because of this (obviously I'd left it til the last minute and didn't have time to make another), but in the end I did, with a promise to make him a new strap.  I'll do that tomorrow at quilt guild.

I put a few little treats in the bag for him and he seemed really pleased.  I knew that he would appreciate hand made (he loved the crap sloth I crocheted him!) but have no idea if he's just being polite!  He has been carrying it around so he can't be completely mortified by it!

The Bag Retreat

Not last weekend, but the weekend before, was the bag retreat with the inimitable Mrs H, bag designer extraordinaire.  I drove down to South Wales on the Friday morning, arriving just after lunch at the lovely hotel.  Bag making was already in full swing in the bag-making room!  I have absolutely no photos at all of the retreat I'm afraid, I was far too busy sewing, chatting, eating and nursing my hamster bites.  I was bitten by my goddaughter's hamster whilst dropping off Colin for them to babysit.  She got me in 3 places, on 2 fingers and I was still dripping with blood the next day!

This is the Double Flip bag, pattern by Emmaline Bags.  The lovely Janelle was at the retreat, sitting at my table.  I met her at the retreat last year and it was fab to see her again.  Not only is she a top notch bag designer and supplier of the best hardware, she's a fab person too and I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with her.  She supplied one of our free retreat patterns and that's what I chose to make.

The hardware on this bag, including this "handmade" label, is all from Sew Hot who had a pop-up shop at the retreat.  I also bought the faux leather used for the base and handle, and the rest of the bag fabrics from Sew Hot.  The outer is an Ombre Metallic Dot.  No idea who designed it or manufactured it... sorry, I'm rubbish at knowing about my fabric!

Due to the hamster bite, I hadn't been able to cut my fabric and fuse my interfacing prior to the retreat, as had been my plan.  This meant that the entire Friday was spent cutting out and interfacing.  Oh, and eating.  The food was amazing, and very plentiful!

I usually add extra inner pockets to bags, but I didn't need to.  Me and Janelle are on the same page about pockets and it has an inner zip pocket, and 2 slip pockets (to which I added a couple of lines of stitching to also create a pen holder).  There are also the two big pockets that form the double flip, and a secret slip pocket at the front.

I used that gorgeous teal fabric for all the lining, except the zip pocket, for which I used a scrap of red fabric with white dots.  I used metal zips for the first time.  It came on a continuous roll with several of the zip pulls included.  It was nowhere near as scary as I'd thought!

It hangs really nicely when carried.  The main inner is between the two pocket flaps.

Below you can see the secret pocket at the front.  It has a rivet either side of the opening to reinforce the stitching.  I didn't use rivets though as I've had no success at home with them so haven't bought a rivet press.  Instead I used Chicago Screws which were a revelation for me!  I LOVE them and will be investing in different sizes and colours to use on all my bags.  There are screws on the handle too.  This particular hardware is all gunmetal, which, along with nickel, is my favourite.

I finished the bag on Saturday night and spent Sunday cutting out and starting to sew a messenger bag for Z's birthday which is coming up in June.  I got pretty far with it, but haven't finished it since I got home as I'm still decorating and rearranging and decluttering and sorting out my house!  News of that coming to a blog post near you soon....

Yes, it was a lovely sunny day for photos!

Tackling my WIPs - Toiletry tote

As I'm starting to get back in the swing of making (still not every day like I did for years, but at least once a week which is a good start), I thought it would be good to finish some of my WIPs.  We had a meeting of the East Midlands Modern Quilt Group last Saturday and I took along a project that will be celebrating it's first birthday soon if I don't get on with it!

I started this Toiletry Tote by Mrs H back in April at The Bag Retreat.  With another retreat looming in April, it was about time this was finished.  Plus I actually NEED it as my current washbag is falling apart.

This pattern is not for the feint-hearted!  Mrs H writes brilliant patterns and they are easy to follow, but maybe this one was just above my level.  Not that I've ever let that stop me!  Above you can see the pain panel of the bag, all sewn together into a tube with the lining outermost.  One of the side panel lining pieces is on top.  

I didn't get much further than this!  I did sew a zipped side pocked which I clearly neglected to photograph.  Inserting it into the bag is the next step.  A step which completely flummoxed me due to missing out a step earlier in the process!  Luckily Mrs H is a friend of mine and answered my stressed out message immediately telling me I'm a fool!  

I plan to update you on this very soon...

Bag Camp part 1

The lovely Samantha runs an annual Bag Retreat (she's doing 2 a year now!) at a beautiful hotel in South Wales.  The retreat ran from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon and was well worth the money.  We got 3 patterns as part of the package, all meals were included (and they were huge!) plus cake of course and coffee on tap, and a series of mini workshops talking about specific areas of bag-making.  If you are in the UK and like making bags, I'd definitely recommend it.  I've already booked for next April's retreat!

Please excuse the blurry photos.  Mr CA got the camera in the break up (it was his!) and my phone pictures come out really blurry.  They look great on my phone so I'm not sure where I'm going wrong.  

I was a bit lax on the old preparation front, but I prepared 2 of the bag retreat patterns.  The bag you are seeing here is the Fiesta Tote.  It's an easy sew, but it took me most of the weekend.  NOTHING to do with me drinking too much vodka, eating too much cake and gossiping at all.  Nor anything to do with the trip to Pendryn Distillery I took on the Sunday with a lady called Tricia and Janelle from Emmaline Bags.  No, of course I didn't come back tipsy!

I bought the bag bling (the Handmade plaque) at the pop-up shop run by Sew Hot who, very dangerously, let us all run up a tab all weekend and settle up on the last day!  Very tempting...

I absolutely love how this bag came out.  I bought the outer fabric and the lining at the Hobbycrafts show in February at the NEC with this bag in mind, but I have no idea what either of them are, sorry!  It's been my main bag since I made it and it's holding up really well.  I even closed the turning gap!!

I think my one criticism would be that I needed one more zip pocket inside, but then I could have added one, I know how to do it!

I had also prepared the Toiletry Tote, another bag retreat pattern, and I took along the materials for the Starlet Clutch from the Bag of the Month club, but I hadn't had time to prepare it and I didn't get to it at all.

I did start the toiletry tote, but didn't finish it and ran into a few snags (see above re: vodka) so I still have to finish it off.  And I will!

I stayed over at the hotel on the Sunday night, then travelled down to Devon the following day with my family to scatter the rest of mum's ashes.  We had a lovely time but it was tinged with sadness of course.  In all I was away for over a week, then there was a bank holiday weekend which goes to explain why I a) haven't been visiting your blogs b) haven't been responding to emails c) haven't been posting and d) haven't made anything to post about!

I'll come back with a post about the toiletry tote when I finally dig it out and maybe even finish it!

Shopping tote in 30 minutes

A month or so ago I was contacted by Becki at Interior Goods Direct who asked me if I'd like to sew some items using some fabric that they would send me.  Of course, the answer was yes!

This lovely bundle was what she sent me. 

They're all long quarter or half yard cuts and they are in a range of substrates.  I've got cotton, canvas, linen, velvet, satin and a few others I can't really identify!  I plan to bring you a series of posts about what I make with some of these fabrics.

I love those clocks on the left and the two fabrics top and bottom right.  There are also some great basic patterns in there in fabrics that will challenge my sewing skills!  That London themed canvas shouted "shopping bag!" at me, so a shopping bag it was!

I was left with just a small remnant, though I did use a striped ticking fabric from the bundle on the handles.  I had to piece them whatever I did due to the cut of the fabric, so I thought I'd throw in something different.  

This is the most basic of basic tote bags, made without a pattern, and making up the measurements as I went along.  It's 15" x 14" with a 4" gusset, gussets are a must for a shopping bag.  I made that by simply boxing the corners.  The handles are really long as I like to be able to put shopping bags over my shoulder as I have tiny hands!

Spot the deliberate mistake?  Yep, should have cut in half and sewn a bottom seam rather than using one long panel of fabric as the main piece!  Yes, it saved time but the whole thing took about 30 minutes so I didn't really need to save the time!

Perhaps not my neatest sewing ever!  Sewing on handles neatly is soooo hard.  I decided not to line it, instead I zigzaged all my seams in the seam allowance to give it a bit more strength.  

If you want to see what else Interior Goods Direct have to offer, and I know some of you make cloths and home furnishings, you can find them in the following places:

Face book: https://www.facebook.com/InteriorGoodsDirect/?fref=ts

Instagram: @InteriorGoodsDirect

Web: www.interiorgoodsdirect.com

Clearly this is a sponsored post as I was provided the fabrics free of charge, however all opinions are 100% my own.

17 WIPs in '17 - a finish

I've been carrying the same handmade bag for a couple of years.  It's this one.  The zip had always annoyed me, being the wrong way round for someone who carries a bag on their left shoulder, and it was starting to look quite tatty. Then, on Christmas Eve the zip broke.  I had to make a new one.

I had a flick through all my bag books and patterns on Pinterest and couldn't find anything that took my fancy.  Nothing was quite big enough for my needs.  I'm one of those people who likes to carry most of their life in their bag at all times!  I decided to draft my own.  I picked this canvas that I'd had in the stash for a while.

I went with a completely contrasting lining, adding some Bike Path at the top for the recessed zip.  I added LOADS of pockets.  2 zip pockets and loads of slip pockets.  I need pockets.  

I sewed up the lining, then did most of the bag construction at Quilt Guild, I sewed the handles but hadn't attached them at this point.  It was time to tackle that recessed zip.  I'd never done one before so I turned to Lisa Lam's Bag Making Bible.  Hmmm, not as clear as her instructions usually are.  I'll try her blog tutorial... oh, well this is different, I'll try A Bag For All Reasons.  Oh, different again!  One's calling for a shorter zip than required, one a longer zip than required, the last a correctly sized zip!  OK, I'll make it up!

And, ta-dah!  For the handles I just used the piece of canvas I had left, at full length.  After carrying this round for a few days, I knew they needed to be shortened.  Have I done it yet?  Of course not!!

So, the bag you are seeing has been carried around and shoved around and thrown on the floor numerous times.  It's holding up OK, except for the top.

See how it doesn't stand up properly?  I used Bosal headliner fabric for the lining/wadding.  It's got loads of body and works great in the main bag, just not this top bit.  

Here's a peak at that recessed zip and the lining in place.

I gave the top a good squeeze here to try and make it stand up... no go.  I'm not sure how to fix it.  I could do several lines of quilting, which may help or may make it fold over more, but I'd have to remove the hardware first.

I will take it to bag camp and see what the experts say!

This was in my list for 17 WIPS in '17 and it's my first project completed!  At the minute, I'm project monogamous, so have no more progress to show.  I'll check in again next month, hopefully with another completed project or two!

Linking up to:



GO HERE

a bookmark and a bunny

I must have finished this at the beginning of January.  I know I was planning on showing it to mum when I next saw her, but then I never did.  I think now that mum has gone, you really are the only audience for my makes as very few people are interested!

This is a Michael Powell design, I bought the kit from his stall at Harrogate.  I've always wanted to stitch one and so I went with a bookmark as that was within my budget.

The two pictures above show the bookmark with all the cross stitch done.  Doesn't look great, does it?  All you need to do is add a little magic... i.e. backstitch...

Much better!  The kit included the tassel to add to the top, and the felt for the backing.

I just carefully stitched this in place so it was neat on the front, not so neat on the back, but considering no one will ever see it, it doesn't really matter!

I bought a panel and a layer cake of Thicket a while ago.  I finally got round into making one of the bunnies up into a simple little stuffie.

I used my Sew Together bag to give you an idea of scale, because of course everyone has one?!?

And here's his back side.  Thankfully clean, unlike poor Harry's.

Necessary sewing

It was time to make myself a new lunch bag and September's meeting of the EMMQG was just the time to do it.

Above is the new lunch bag.  Below is the old lunch bag.  I made it back in April 2013 and, reading back through that post, I hated the Lamfix lining from day 1.

Look how manky that is!  It's been through the wash a couple of times, but it was gross and I was embarrassed about it.  Check out the inside:

Putting it through the was caused the adhesive-oilcloth-type-stuff that I'd ironing onto the cotton to peel away.  In some places, like where I'd attached the handles, it had ripped.  Over time more and more bits had ripped off.

And then the zip pull broke.  It was time.  It had to be done.

I didn't need a pattern this time, it's a basic pouch with handles.  I also decided there was no need to have a wipe-clean lining as I'd never needed to wipe it clean, it was more important that I could put it through the wash.  The main fabric is a gorgeous Rowan fabric, possibly Amy Butler?  It was given to me by Kerry-who-abandoned-me.  I used some Littlest on the ends and some Art Gallery elements.  The colours all matched perfectly, though I can't decide if they are blue or green!  

I did a diagonal cross hatch quilting to attach the fabric to the InsulBrite.

This time I attached the handles to the outside only, before I added the lining, and I put a strip of wadding in them to give them more body.

I don't know what the lining fabric is, I've had it in my stash since my first sewing days.  I made this one a couple of inches bigger in each direction than the previous one as some of my plastic sandwich boxes were a tight fit.

Hmmm, what was I trying to show with this photo?  I must have thought you'd want another look at the lining.  

One this that was not an improvement over the original - the ends of the zips.  What a mess!  I was really careful to make sure that the ends of the zip had a fabric piece on them big enough to be included in the seam allowance, with enough left over to sit neatly.  Didn't happen.

I don't know what the ends of the zip are so bulgy!

As I seem to be going for some kind of world record of number of photos of one lunch bag in one post, here's another!