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vacation fabric: omaha tote bag

I don’t buy a lot of my craft stash new, especially without a sale or a coupon. There are times, though, when I indulge myself and it’s usually on vacation. No matter where we go, either for a week or just a night, there’s usually a yarn or fabric store to visit. I try to buy something that I normally wouldn’t find in Lincoln. Most of the time it is yarn. Last year, when T and I had “date night” in Omaha, it was fabric.

amy butler fabric

All I really wanted for Mother’s Day this year was some time to myself to sew something for me. Kind of self-indulgent, I know, but I always seem to be making for someone else these days and this fabric has been calling to me. I didn’t buy a lot — only 1/2 yard of each. I am planning to make a matching zipper pouch and change purse. To make the most of the floral print, I used some yellow fabric from my stash for the lining. I was planning to box the corners, but I kind of like the squareness without them. What do you think?

stash: floral print was “vacation” fabric, lining fabric from garage sale, batting was a remnant, zipper thrifted from goodwill

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pinquitos change purse

bean bag zipper pouch

I love how these little purses turned out. They weren’t at all what I was thinking, but I really wanted to show off the flowers and mountains. A square zipper pouch was the best way to do just that.

bean bag zipper pouch

I didn’t want to wash them because I was afraid that the color might fade, but I had to because they were kind of dirty. I was worried that they might unravel, so I sewed a basting stitch around the edges before I put them in the wash. Good thing, too! The edges totally frayed up to the stitches.

The bags were a little delicate and I wanted to make them more substantial so I used some cotton quilt batting to give them their shape. I used the front of the bag for the outside and the back of the bag for the lining. To solve the fraying issue, I enclosed the raw edges in a french seam. There were a few holes from the original stitching that didn’t work themselves out in the wash. They don’t look like they are going to unravel, but I dotted them with some Fray Check just in case. These were super fun to make and I finished them in one evening.

recycle: bean bags purchased at garage sale, leftover batting from stash, one zipper was thrifted, one zipper was reclaimed from a garment

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siouxsie t-shirt tote bag

Thanks to some artful sewing inspiration, I’ve finished a project that has been sitting in the to-do pile for way too long.

I wanted to turn one of my ’80s Siouxsie shirts into a tote, but didn’t want a typical floppy t-shirt bag. My friend was planning to throw away (yes, throw away!) this black conference tote. You know the kind: plastic-y canvas material covered in screen-printed logos.

siouxsie before

I used the bag to measure my pieces of the t-shirt and boxed the bottom of both; sewing through the canvas was easier than I thought! Then I slid the t-shirt over the canvas bag, folded down the top and stitched all the way around. I stitched in some velvet ribbon for a tie closure.

siouxsie bag after

siouxsie bag after

This was such an easy way to make a t-shirt bag. I’m really happy with the results and can’t wait to start using it!

recycle: t-shirt came from my closet, tote bag saved from the landfill, velvet ribbon ties from thrifted notions in my stash

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denim messenger bag for christina

I’ve been wanting to make a bag like this for awhile, but just couldn’t figure out the pattern. I fiddled around with a prototype that didn’t work out too well and then abandoned it for a few months. (OK, a year!)

upcycled denim bag

Then my friend Christina asked me to do something with her Fairy Jeans. I did a lot of sketching and research and actually got a lot of inspiration from diy skirt and maternity jean tutorials.

upcycled denim bag

When we went shopping for her wedding gown, she mentioned that she liked the color combination of dark blue and champagne. She also asked me to incorporate one of her finance’s blue silk ties. I used it for the lining of the flap and lined the rest of the bag with tan cotton.

upcycled denim bag

I’m going to make one more of these bags to make sure I’ve got my pattern down and then I’m going to offer it as a custom bag listing in my etsy shop. More pics of the bag in my sewing gallery.