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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Bag Lady--Sewing Lesson 1.2

I'm very attracted to easy patterns that involve a lot of rectangles! Bags work well with this trend. I'd worked on my own at home a few weeks ago, progressing on the "Easter Bag Totes" I'd started making with M @ hidden in the hem last month. I wasn't too sure how one of them had turned out but the kitty cat bag for I was looking pretty good. (Here's a flashback to the fabric I bought last fall.)


I'd decided to go ahead and invest in a self-healing cutting mat and rotary blade for cutting. I was going to wait until closer to my birthday but Jo-Ann's had them 40% off PLUS I had an additional 20% off all items (including sale) so for 60%, it seemed like it was as good of a time as any. I'd found a new, smaller bag pattern online (love me some Pinterest) and used up some scraps cutting pieces to work on at Mylinh's the next time we sewed together.

Mylinh and I set up her kitchen into a little sweat shop last night, lol (according to her husband, at least). Then she helped me finish up the Easter bag totes for the nieces and I got to work on my handy dandy tote bag. She had to help me brave the world of bobbin threading and there were a few small hiccups but overall, I was so happy with what we accomplished.

There's a sneak peak at the Easter tote..."E-ows" for Miss Izzy to put all sorts of books and treasures into.

The new bag is uber-cute! I can say this since I didn't come up with the pattern. Though it doesn't have the elegance of the tote bag I'd made for the girls, it was smaller and more practical for every day use. In fact, the bag folds up and an elastic band holds the bag into a little pocket sized bag you can stick in your purse or glove compartment anytime you need a small bag to carry some miscellaneous items from the farmer's market or a few books on audio you've picked up from the library. (I just listened through the Percy Jackson series and am now working my way through Harry Potter as I knit and sew away.)

Okay, in reality, that little tote bag took me forever to make! I can't say I exactly whipped through it last night. M's husband was expecting a closet full of clothes with all of the prep and set up M put into our sewing night. But I made another one here at home this morning and I cut my time at least in half so I am getting faster...slowly but surely. ;0)



Oh, and the cats seem just as interested in sewing as they do knitting (sigh).


There's usually at least one tail swishing or furry body on a piece of fabric I need at any given time. When will my kitties start to realize that they aren't kittens any more?

I'm proud of myself for getting outside of my comfort zone and taking on a craft I'd always wanted to learn, though I couldn't have made it this far without M's help. Next on our list...baby items! Woot woot. Time to get all cute and cozy. In the meantime, my readers, what is a craft skill you've always wanted to learn but have never taken the time to attempt? 

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