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nature hike tote bags

capri pants turned into totes

You knew I was going to turn those capri pants into tote bags, didn’t you? Not just any bags, however, but bags with a purpose: keeping nature out of my pockets and my purse.

I’m sure many of you can relate to this: Mama, can you hold this rock? Here’s a present for you, Mama. It’s a leaf! I’m just going to put this stick in your purse for later. Did you put my feather in your pocket? Later, as you are digging around for latte money, the barista gives you a funny look as random bits of nature fall on to the counter.

I made two of these: one for my daughter and one for her friend. They’re the same except for the lining. Now when we go on walks together, the girls can carry their own bits of nature. There are all kinds of pockets perfect for acorns, rocks, twigs and leaves. The buttoned back pocket is perfect for storing a shovel. You never know when you’ll need to dig for treasure!

I love how these turned out and will be making more. How perfect would they be for a day of garage sailing or thrifting with different compartments for cash, phone, water and a snack! They would also make a cool craft project bag with pockets for all of your notions.

project details: Pants from my closet, lining fabric from my thrifted stash.

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totes in waiting

upholstery sample totes

Thank you everyone for the sweet comments on my giveaway tote. I’ve been overwhelmed by your responses! They’ve inspired me to make some more totes from my upholstery stash. Last night I put together color combinations for three more bags. Now, if I can only find the time to sew them up!

recycle: All of these are thrifted fabrics. Aren’t they lovely?

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sew, mama, sew giveaway day!

Congratulations to Vicki for winning the Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway tote bag!

. . . . . . . . . .

I’m participating in Sew, Mama, Sew’s giveaway day again. I just love this idea. You can enter my giveaway below and then head over to their website and enter hundreds more! (Yes, hundreds!)

sew mama sew tote bag giveaway

I’m giving away a tote bag. It’s a little smaller than some of my recent bags — the perfect size for knit and crochet, small sewing, and embroidery projects. It would also make a cute purse!

sew mama sew tote bag giveaway

It’s got two big pockets inside and closes with a ribbon tie. The outside and pockets are from a really cute upholstery fabric sample.

sew mama sew tote bag giveaway

How to enter: Leave a comment and tell me how you would use this bag — to hold creative projects? as a purse? something else?

Bonus entry: Subscribe to my rss feed and leave another comment to be entered.

Another bonus entry: “Like” my Facebook page and leave another comment to be entered. (Why did they change that? It sounds even weirder than “Fan.”)

sew mama sew tote bag giveaway

I’ll ship internationally, so everyone has a chance to win! You have until Midnight CT, May 20th to enter. I’ll pick the winner using a random number generator. Good luck!

Now go check out more giveaways over at Sew, Mama, Sew!

recycle: All of the materials for this tote were thrifted (i.e., saved from the landfill).

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custom bag: tropical lunch tote

tablecloth lunch tote

When I posted pics of my Tropical Tablecloth Tote, I received a request for a lunch tote. The bag is a little smaller, but a lot wider to hold lunch containers and a water bottle. I think it’s pretty darn cute!

There are two more totes worth of fabric cut and waiting to be sewn. I admit that I wish I had this idea on my own. Anyone out there looking for the perfect tropical bag? Let me know!

. . . . .

Thank you for all of the great suggestions on the sweater upcycle. I’m seriously considering pillow cushions now, too!

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my creative space

I’ve got some tough decisions in my creative space today. I was given this beautiful hand-knit sweater from my friend Tana. It’s big. Really big. Too big to be refashioned with my ’80s sweater tutorial. She was thinking I could use it to make a felted tote bag. I can’t bear felting it. The stitch work is so beautiful.

recycled wool sweater

This is what I’m thinking: take apart the seams and make smaller bags out of the front and back each. I would serge the edges to keep them from unraveling. I really like the colorway of the yarn, which is Cascade 220. I think I might unravel the sleeves and use the wool for some granny square scarves.

What do you think? What would you do with it?

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my creative space

cat fabric tote bag

In my creative space today is another custom bag for my friend Cathy with more cat fabric! She wanted this one really big to hold her ball winder, swift and tons of yarn.

I made it really big.

Then I was worried that it was too big.

I took it to knitting group tonight and she said it’s perfect!

I just need to finish it up and get it back to her. She’s got a bunch of yarn waiting for it.

Now I’m headed over to Kirsty’s blog for more Creative Space inspiration. You should, too!

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did i mention i made a new purse?

poppy purse soule mama handmade home

Seriously, how could I forget to blog about this?! Last week I made the Mama’s Bag from Amanda Soule’s latest book with fabric to match my laptop bag. I absolutely love it. My only modification to the pattern was to add a divider on the inside. You can see it a little bit on the left here:

poppy purse soule mama handmade home

That’s mostly to keep knitting and crochet projects from getting tangled up in my other purse stuff. At first I thought it was a little small, but once I freed myself from carrying around so many of my three-year-old’s things* in my bag, I think it’s just perfect.

*It is a Mama’s Bag after all!

stash: Fabric came from this remnant sale. Book is from the library, but after checking it out twice, I think I should probably just buy it. There are so many things I want to make!

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custom bag: laurel burch fanciful felines

custom bag

My friend Cathy loves bags, loves fabric and loves cats. When she saw my faux leather bag, she wanted the same thing, only bigger and with two handles. She’s going to use this to store and transport her mini swift and yarn winder. (Yep, she loves knitting, too!)

tapestry bag

thrifting: Most of the bags I make for Cathy are from thrifted materials. She’s the only one I know who goes to Goodwill more often than I do. I forgot to ask her if that is where she got this tapestry, but I’m betting it was! It’s a Laurel Burch from the Fanciful Felines collection.

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adventures in sewing with faux leather

custom handmade faux leather bag

I know I say I’ll sew anything if it fits under my presser foot, but I’ll admit I was a little anxious when my friend asked me to make a zippered messenger bag out of faux leather. It was soft and thick and had a woven polyester backing. I decided to make small zipper pouch first to test it out. Here’s what I learned:

  • Folded faux leather creases and you can’t iron it. You can try using a press cloth, but it will warp.
  • Faux leather sews up nicely. I used a heavy duty needle that went through it like butter.
  • Corners are kind of tricky, especially the zipper corners. It was hard to get them square.
  • If you need to pin your pieces, do so in the seam allowance or you’ll have holes in your finished bag. Same goes for ripping seams. You’ll need to stitch exactly over the little holes to hide them.

The first thing I did was unfold the fabric and roll it up. When it was time for me to sew, most of the creases had disappeared.

Next I adjusted my usual messenger bag pattern to avoid some of the corner trickery. Instead of lining up the strap with the side seam, I moved it over about an inch on each side and sandwiched it between the outside fabric and the zipper.

custom handmade faux leather bag

The zipper was also a challenge. Usually I just sew right over zippers, but this one was too thick. I covered the ends with some extra fabric, so when I went turned my corners right side out, they weren’t bulky.

Mostly importantly, I went slow and used paper clips to hold my pieces together. I did have to rip in two places, but managed to stitch over the little holes. I’m really pleased with how this sewed up. It was a cumbersome project to get through my presser foot, but the finished result looked fabulous. I especially love the top stitching detail.

custom handmade faux leather bag

review: This project has got me thinking about faux leather in general. I know that animal rights organizations prefer it, but what about our earth? Here’s what I’ve found so far:

Polyurethane is much more environmentally friendly in both production and after-care. PVC contains chloride and does not biodegrade. In landfills, it leaches toxic additives and when incinerated, it emits carcinogenic dioxin. Leather production is a chemical-laden process that uses heavy metals. Polyurethane is biodegradable and is designed to deteriorate after usage.

Read more at Brentano Fabrics

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my new laptop bag…and all the details

laptop bag

During the past week, this bag has carried my laptop through the airport, been my purse to a wedding, and toted stuff to the beach. That’s a lot of jobs for one bag. I’m happy to say it performed all of its required duties wonderfully. And it looked pretty darn cute, too. Here’s how I planned the design:

Size
Most importantly, this bag needed to be large enough to fit my laptop, but small enough to meet airline carry-on luggage guidelines. I checked the FAA and NWA website and both set my limit at 45 linear inches. Mine turned out to be 13.5 x 16.5 x 4 inches, or 34 linear inches. Part of me wished I had made it a little bigger, but there’s less room for your bag under an aisle seat, so in the end, this size worked great.

laptop bag

Inside
I wanted a separate sections for my laptop and my other things. I created two pockets and added a tie to the laptop side. When I used this as a purse, the laptop side was filled with fun things for distracting my daughter, like coloring books, story books, stickers, etc. At the beach, it held my book and knitting project.

laptop bag

Outside
A zipper closure was essential. I didn’t want anything to fall out during airport screening and I didn’t want any sand getting inside. Durability was important, also. The outside is an upholstery fabric and the inside is a cotton canvas.

How-to
This bag is basically an oversized zipper pouch with handles and two inside large pockets. It seems silly to write up a tutorial when there are so many great ones already out there. For this project, I referenced the following:

Adding the handles was easy. I just sandwiched them between the outside fabric and zipper when I was sewing it all together. I reinforced the handles with a few rows of extra stitching.

stash: Fabric came from this remnant sale. Zipper was thrifted.