Etsy Prototype: Granny Chic? Eco Friendly? Scrappy Tote Bag

 I made this bag to put on Etsy, but the lining annoys me so I am calling it a 'prototype'. I was inspired by this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew because it combines rick rack and vintage lace, both which I happen to have in quantity.

Here's a secret, and another thing that annoys me about the bag: I botched a little section of the rick rack, so I slapped another doily on there! Sneaky.

The base of the bag is made from recycled jeans and Amy Butler scraps. I sewed some pretty old lace on the handles.

This is the back of the bag and I used a scrap of old lace to add some interest. There is also some funky yellow crocheted lace here and there.

The bag is lined with a pretty floral sheet from (I'm guessing) the 70's. The bag came out cute and very sturdy, but the lining doesn't sit right and I just can't abide putting it up on Etsy so I will have to figure out what to do with it.

Repurposed Burplap Bag ~ From Bean Bag to Book Bag

I made this bag months ago, and despite the fact that it is one of my most favorite projects, I forgot to write about it! Over a year ago, a friend sent me a bag o' beans. The beans were delicious, and you know I couldn't throw away that bag! It languished in my stash for a while and one evening I was in need of a quick project to make me feel like I accomplished something. Why is it that laundry never feels like an accomplishment? It never ends, unlike this project. I had this baby finished in under an hour. The lining is flipped over on the outside of the bag and top-stitched down. The bag was cute, but it needed a little something and I had this hideously delightful vintage trim. Does that ever happen to you? You find something that for all intents and purposes is U-G-L-Y, but you just know it will be perfect for something. Anyone? Anyone? I am a sucker for trim, I will tell you that.

Closet Flashbacks: The Garden Bag

One of my most favorite handmade this ever is this fabulous bag! Technically it spends very little time in my closet because I use it so much. Rachel made it for me several years ago and I LOVE it!! When she gave it to me, she told me I could use it to bring veggies in from the garden. Well! The bag was just too pretty for that, and at first I used it gingerly. Then I decided that I would use it and enjoy it. I have used this bag to pick up our farm share, go to the library, carry extra clothes to the beach/roadtrip/farm, and to cart my crafty projects around. It washes well and is holding up great! Its nice when you can get a ton of use out of something, especially when you get to think of your sister whenever you use it!

P.S. You can get an idea of what I have been working lately: canning! I bought a bushel basket of tomatoes last week and have done whole tomatoes, marinara sauce, and Yellow Tomato Jam with Smoked Paprika. I also squeezed in a batch of Blueberry Syrup with vanilla and nutmeg which I pretty much want to drink out of the jar!

Child's Artwork Embroidered Tote Bag

My son had the best teacher for 1st grade this year. I wanted to do something special for her but time was limited and I was stumped. Then I thought of a project I've been wanting to try for a while: turning my kids' artwork into something useful and fun. Except my original idea involved hand embroidery. I decided to 'embroider' it instead on my machine, using the triple stretch stitch. The stretch part is unnecessary but I chose it because it is a wider, thicker stitch that would show up nicely. I stitched the birdcage part of the drawing on wool felt first, then cut the bird out and sewed it on. The whole patch is sewn onto the tote using my machine's blanket stitch. The tote is made of a pair of jeans, lined with some pretty cotton I've been holding on to for a while. His teacher was thrilled with it, and I must say I want to make one for myself now.

Feed Bag to Reusable Bag

For a while now, I have had this idea stuck on my head. I saw a similar one somewhere and have wanted to try it ever since. I used an empty feedbag and lined it with cotton. Next time, I will make it smaller. This one would make a great beach bag bag since it is so big. 

Crayon Bag

A few weeks ago, we had a birthday party to attend. I made this crayon bag for the birthday girl, and my daughter decorated a plain notebook to go inside along with some stickers.

Another Bag

Here is the prototype I made for the bacon bag. I drafted the pattern myself and wanted to see if it would come out the way I expected before I used the bacon fabric. It is fully lined and made of upholstery weight canvas I found at a garage sale. I can't decide if it is vintage-funky-awesome, or borderline my-aunt-had-curtains-out-of-that-hideous-fabric. This bag is also going into our shoe boxes. It is big enough to carry quite a bit.

Fold and Zip Bag

I am so behind posting my crafty projects its not even funny. Maybe one of these days I'll catch up. Here is a bag that took me embarrassingly long to finish because I got annoyed with it and put it in a drawer. The tutorial is from Sew Mama Sew. Here is my beef with this and other fold and zip style bags: it is usually difficult to squeeze them in to the zipped pouch. I omitted the lining called for on this one, and it was still a tight fit. Also, the bag gets very wrinkly in the pouch, which I suppose doesn't really matter too much. Anyway, I did have fun using some fabrics that didn't necessarily match in the name of 'funky'.

P.S. I am saving this to put in one of our Operation Christmas child shoe boxes. It is compact, and bags are always useful.

Bacon!!

Here she is, ladies and gents...the bacon satchel! When we were waiting in line at Obi's with some perfectly sensible floral print fabric, this bacon print jumped out and called to us. I had volunteered to make my niece a satchel and she asked me if she could ditch the floral and go with bacon. Why not, I say! We found some polka dots to go with it, because if there is anything better than bacon, it's polka dots. I drew the pattern up and got to work. We had seen some bags of the same style (minus bacon) in swanky New Hope shops for $$, and I totally knocked them off and made them better. (If I do say so myself ;) I made it reversible, which gives it a nice weight and more options. One side is embellished with rick rack (bonus points!!) because...well, its rick rack, and it reminded me of the ruffly crispy fatty edges of bacon. That sounds weird, doesn't it? Anyway, on the reverse side I whipped out my awesome 1975 Vogue sewing book (thanks, Shay!) and learned myself a new technique. It is a self faced welt pocket, which is pretty darn nifty. After the mental gymnastics required to figure out exactly how it worked, it really wasn't that hard. And to finish it off, I sewed in a 'Shmegan' tag, because that's what my niece calls me. I used label tape from here: Piggy and Dirt.