A few recent projects

Here are some items I got done in the last year

They are both the same octagonal bag. I made another two, I must check where I put their photos.

A skirt I shortened from a dress WIP that didn't work out:

There are more, I just need to take proper photographs. But I have been busy sewing.

I made a bag

This is tote-ally unexpected (sorry) but I just made a bag!

I had no intention of getting busy on this, it was a sudden impulse and there we are. A great use of a few hours this afternoon.

I want it to carry crafts stuff around with me, so ideally it should have lots of compartments and side pockets (this one hasn't) but I have so much fabric to use up, making this very plain and simple tote is such progress.

I don't know how I am going to use up all of the fabric and wool that I've accummulated. Not in the next ten years plus, or so, I should think.

So I've got plenty more bag projects in me, next time I can add a little side pocket, or compartments or something.  Perhaps reinforce the handles (I forgot. Oh well) and I could use slightly more sturdy fabric. It's just a big floppy.  Everything contributes a bit to learning something.  So worth it.

But all in all I am really pleased with this one.

The fabric lends itself so well to a bag that firmly says: "I'm all about crafts, please carry me!" - so I reckon it was a given.  I still have some of the fabric left to use for patchwork and quilting as intended. And appliqué: some of those little shapes and motifs would be very cute.

I will highly likely hand-sew a running stitch along the outer shell, just a good quarter inch away from the seam with the lining that shows up at the top.

I made this bag up with a pattern off the top of my head. Having had to wait for a hospital appointment earlier in the year I had the chance to look at the tote bag of a really lovely lady who was sitting next to me, and who I got chatting to (I also really liked her style in clothes: individual and cheerful. She was great!).  She didn't mind me picking up her bag and having a good look at it.  I don't think I've ever had a nicer time waiting for an appointment.

I hadn't seen this construction technique before where you insert the handles lower down than the top edge and basically use the lining fabric (or a third fabric) for the top strip.

I was able to assemble the whole thing (with handles sandwiched in between) as one big roll.  The last seam I closed was the bottom seam of the lining and even there I used my machine for the most part: just pulling the edges together until it squashed up the rest of the bag - then I stopped. That left about three inches or so that I sewed shut by hand once I turned the bag inside out through that remaining hole.

Really enjoyed making this.  I like the result and hope to use it lots.

Some sewing

I just realised that I have a photo of a sewing project that I didn't just attempt but completed.  It's not a garment but something very useful nevertheless:

The inside of my handbag.  This is a pretty cheap bag from one of those luggage stores lining the high street.  I even got a little off because I haggled.  I didn't do that very gracefully but I wouldn't have bought it for the full price.  Which turns out to be a really good thing because the coarse, plasticky fabric that connected the inner lining to the outer shell of the bag just literally disintegrated.

It started to rip in one area and after a very short while these two pieces had developed such big holes that I kept throwing stuff in between lining and shell instead of inside the actual compartment.  It looked horrible too.

I felt very lucky when I discovered that the lining was still attached to the zipper when I took the coarse ripped stuff out - otherwise this would have been much more of a mending job than it was.  There was also a strip of plastic attached to the top of the lining all the way round and this had disintegrated as well: it had ripped and shredded, - bits of it had come off and created quite a mess in my bag.  I got to the stage where I didn't even want to touch the bag anymore, it just felt horrible.

The rest of the bag did not yet show any wear or tear (even though some more of that coarse fabric clads an outer compartment or two) and the outer shell is actually nice and sturdy.  So I removed all the ripped bits and pulled that shredded plastic off too.  The inner lining topped by the zip then lifted clean out.

I sewed two straight strips of my pretty flower sprig fabric (a cheap half meter from an Indian fabric shop in Shepherds Bush) onto the lining, just straight through both layers of lining fabric and the zip material.  You can just about see the two stitching lines in the photo if you look closely. I don't think it looks too bad.

While I had the whole thing out I figured I might as well add an improvement: I made and attached an inner compartment!  This is what you can see in the photo: the inner bit in the same flower sprig fabric is just a pocket that I sewed into the lining, near the top.  It could do with a fastening because this pocket hangs quite far down but other than that it's fine.

I hand-stitched the new flower strips to the grey binding strip that runs all round the top - I had cut the coarse fabric off very close to the inner stitching line.  I could push the new flower fabric underneath the grey tape and just whip-stitch it into place, you can't see those stitches in this photo because the grey edge is tilted inwards.  I could have used grey thread if I'd thought about it but the black thread doesn't show too badly.

I am so pleased with this mending job!  It is a task that needed doing, it is an item I use every day, I achieved it by sewing! (I have such a mental block about sewing that this seems almost the best bit about it!) and I completed it to my satisfaction.  It just feels like an all-round good thing.

It makes me very glad every time I set eyes on my bag.  Seeing that pretty flower fabric makes me think quite often: "I made that!"