Halloween Skirt & Tote Bags

For a few days, we had a taste of Fall weather with cool, crisp air and gentle breezes. It was just a tease though. After three days, it felt like summer again with temps in the high 80s! 

That didn't stop me and Ella from heading outdoors to enjoy a local park and dream of upcoming Fall festivals and pumpkins. In fact, I made her a few things to wear and carry with the Blend Fabric collection, Spooky Town by Cori Dantini, to put us in the Halloween spirit!

You'll be amazed at all the adorable things I was able to make with this half-yard bundle of fabric. 

Disclosure: I was provided the fabrics used in this post in exchange for sharing a project I made with them. All opinions are my own.

Pumpkin Drawstring Pouch Tutorial

Is your house the one that all the children in your neighborhood love to trick-or-treat at because you give out amazing goodie bags? If not, then consider using my Pumpkin Drawstring Pouch Tutorial to sew up some fun halloween themed treat bags to fill with candy to give all the ghosts, monsters, princesses, and super heroes that stop by your house this year! They will love you for sure!

Not only are these little 6" x 6" drawstring pouches absolutely adorable sewn in halloween print fabrics designed by Ann Kelle, but they are quick and easy to sew. Plus, they are reusable and ideal for all sorts of other things besides candy. They make great jewelry pouches, organizers for sewing supplies, gift card bags, or even a little first aid kit to keep in the car.

Green Bee Scoop Tote

Recently, I participated in Purse Palooza hosted by Sara of Sew Sweetness. Throughout the month of October, bag pattern reviews were posted by a variety of bloggers and sewers. These reviews provide a great resource for anyone considering making one of the reviewed patterns.

For my bag pattern review this year, I chose to sew The Scoop Tote by Green Bee Patterns. I purchased this paper only pattern as part of a kit from Craftsy (affiliate link). 

This post contains affiliate links through which I may earn a small commission on purchases. 

Road Tripper Duffle Bag

Are vacation and holiday travel in your plans for the next couple of months? Then it's time for you to sew yourself a new piece of luggage! Recently, my family and I visited the white sand beaches of south Alabama, and instead of traveling with my normal large, hard sided suitcase, my things were packed in style in my new Road Tripper Duffle Bag.

Don't let the Road Tripper Duffle Bag pattern by Betz White intimidate you because of the bag's large 20" x 11" x 9" size. Although this is a big duffle, the sewing techniques used to construct the Road Tripper are typical to every basic to intermediate level bag I've ever sewn. If you can sew a zipper and a metal buckle on, then you are good to go!

Field Study Tote Bag by Betz White

Today I'm sharing with you the Field Study Tote bag by Betz White. I recently made this lovely bag for my first contributor post on the Betz White blog. It was my first time sewing one of her bag patterns, and I can't say enough good things about it! Keep reading for more details on the Field Study Tote and to see more photos of this awesome bag!

The Field Study Tote bag is versatile and can be worn as both a large or an extra large bag. There are times when I am on a school field trip with my children or spending a day out at a local fair where I need to carry more items than usual, and the Field Study Tote gives me the flexibility to do just that!

Bunny Face Bag Tutorial

Easter is almost here, and I'm gearing up for Spring by sewing a couple of Bunny Face Bags for my kids. My children love bunnies (what kid doesn't) and love bags (they take after their moma), so it was a no-brainer to put the two together to create these adorable tote bags for Easter.

The Bunny Face Bag is the ideal size for children, measuring approximately 11" x 11", and is perfect for holding books, crayons, Easter eggs, or candy! Have left over fabric from sewing your daughter's Easter dress or your son's new shirt? Then make them a matching Bunny Face Bag to complete the look.

It's a pretty simple bag to make. Here's how!

Sewing Blogger Secret Gift Swap

Recently, I participated in a secret gift swap with a group of sewing blogger friends. We've done this once or twice before, but this year, we decided to wait a few weeks after the holidays to exchange our gifts.

Here's how the secret gift swap works. Those who want to participate sign up and provide information on their favorite colors, fabric shops, or other useful information (like favorite chocolate). Then a designated organizer (that was me this time) uses a random method to assign each person someone from the list to make a gift for (the recipient).  Everyone gets a couple of months to decide what to make or buy and then ship it off to their recipient, but not before sharing a few little sneak peeks of the gift first! The recipient doesn't discover who sent the gift until it arrives.

We all love getting gifts in the mail, so it's a fun, fairly inexpensive way to brighten the day of a friend or even a stranger. My friends and I have gotten to know each other pretty well over the last few years, and the gifts we all exchanged with each other really showed that this time!

My Cool Butterfly Sling Purse

A few months ago, I participated in Purse Palooza at Sew Sweetness and shared the first Butterfly Sling Purse I had ever made. Today, I'm bringing home my post and sharing this awesome bag with you all here in case you missed it! Plus, you'll get to read a little history of how I started making bags!

The Satchel Bag for Selfish Sewing Week

I love the idea of Selfish Sewing Week. It's a reminder that sometimes we just need to make ourselves a priority and sew something that we get to keep and enjoy!

When sewing for myself, I almost always prefer to sew a bag or purse. For Selfish Sewing Week, I chose to make myself The Satchel Bag from Sewing Patterns by Mrs. H. This was the first pattern from Sewing Patterns by Mrs. H that I had tried, but I have been admiring The Satchel Bag design for some time now. So glad Selfish Sewing Week gave me the nudge I needed to try it!

The Retro RuckSack Pattern

I really enjoy sewing purses and bags. They are typically projects that are more involved and challenging than sewing a typical child's garment. When I sewed my first purse more than two years ago, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed making it, and to this day, I continue to love the challenge of a purse or bag pattern!

Recently, I had the privilege of meeting Sara from Radiant Home Studio. She contributed her Water Bottle Tote pattern to the Perfect Pattern Parcel #3 bundle, and I chose to sew one up for the pattern tour.  As you can read in my post about my Water Bottle Tote, I was very impressed with Sara's pattern and design skills, so when she asked me to be a part of her Retro Rucksack Pattern tour, I did not hesitate to say yes!

The Totes Ma Tote Bag

My favorite bag designer, Janelle from Emmaline Bags, has just released her newest pattern:  The Totes Ma Tote Bag!  I was thrilled when Janelle asked me to test out the pattern for her.  I already had the perfect Echino fabrics on hand to make up this bee lovers version for my husband's aunt, Jeannie, who is an apiarist (aka beekeeper).  

That's right folks!  I'm giving away this beautiful bag as a gift! I hope Jeannie will love it as much as I do, but don't worry, I already have plans to make myself my own Totes Ma Tote bag as soon as I can make time!  Now I just need to come up with something just as good to make her husband, Terry!  They are both so good to us and our children and give us all the free honey we can eat!  They sell their honey here, at Queen Bee Gifts.

Now, back to the Totes Ma Tote bag.

Snowflakes & Lace with sewVery

Wow!  What an exciting week!  Co-hosting the Snowflakes & Lace Series with my friend, RaeAnna from Sewing Mama RaeAnna, has been such fun.  I've truly enjoyed seeing all the projects our guest bloggers contributed to the series, and I've discovered so many new ways to use lace from those that joined our linky party and pinned to our Pinterest board.  Thank you so much for making the series a success!

As promised, RaeAnna and I are both sharing with you today our ideas for using lace.  For me, I knew immediately what I would make for this series--a Lace & Leather Clutch!

About a year ago, I visited my local Goodwill Outlet Store where you literally rummage through bins to find treasures, and that is where I found this beautiful piece of vintage lace!  The original piece was roughly 18" long, and I found a similar green lace piece that is over a yard long with it.  I assume both pieces are vintage since they were in a pile with several old patterns and other notions from most likely the 1970's. I knew I couldn't let these beautiful pieces end up as trash, so I snagged them for mere pennies!

Months pass and I'm watching Project Runway All-Stars when I see a clutch with a hand strap used with Christopher Palu's Bonnie & Clyde look.  I thought that was such a neat idea, so when I was deciding what to make for our Snowflake & Lace Series, I knew I would sew the same style of clutch.

Since the cream lace I had rescued at Goodwill was wide, it was a natural choice to use it to embellish the hand strap on the clutch.  The clutch itself is just a basic zipper pouch made from wool suiting material I had on hand.  I topstitched leather to the bottom corners of the clutch to add even more texture and color to the bag and then sewed the lace to a strap that is attached across the front of the bag.

The inside is lined with a neutral duck cloth and the wool fabric is fused with Pellon Shape Flex 101 for added structure.

This bag took me about an hour to make, and I just love it!  I have enough of all the materials to make one more identical bag which would make a perfect gift.

Front

Back

Since we started this series, I have had lace on the brain and am beginning to use some of your ideas to incorporate it into my sewing more.  I hope you found some inspiration too!

Please be sure to visit RaeAnna to see the adorable Lace Snowflake Top she made her sweet little girl. Her project makes we want to crank up the embroidery machine again!

Also, you have just a few more hours to enter our giveaway.  We have three awesome prizes up for grabs!  Enter below.  Winners will be selected and announced in our wrap-up post on Sunday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks again to you and all our guests!  Have fun sewing!

My Boyd St. Bowling Bag + Giveaway!

If you follow my blog regularly, you probably already know that I am a HUGE fan of the bag patterns from Emmaline Bag and Patterns.  Janelle does the most amazing job from conceptualizing a bag design, to creating the pattern pieces, to photographing and explaining in detail each step of construction.  In other words, she's very talented!

Well, Janelle's latest pattern for the Boyd St. Bowling Bag does not disappoint.  She teased everyone about a month ago with a picture of her test bag, and I knew immediately that I had to have it!

At some point this past year, Janelle and I started exchanging emails about bag hardware, fabrics, and other sewing related things.  So when I saw a message in my inbox from Janelle a few weeks ago, I wasn't surprised to hear from her, but I was surprised that she wanted ME to test out her pattern for the Boyd St. Bowling Bag!  I was so excited!

Immediately, I knew I wanted to the handles out of faux leather or vinyl.  I had never sewn with that material before--until now!  I was also drawn to the shape and style of bag which is a departure from all the other bags I have ever made.  I'll discuss my experience with sewing vinyl a little later in the post, but first, let's go over more of the actual bag details.

After making the Teardrop Bag, another pattern I purchased from Emmaline Bag & Patterns months ago, I knew I wanted to use canvas or duck cloth again for the lining.  I really like the way the duck cloth holds up without adding any interfacing to it, and it's not difficult to sew with even when layered with the outer bag fabric.

The inside also has a slip pocket and a zipper pocket both made from quilting cotton lined with a medium weight fusible interfacing.  I sewed down the middle of the slip pocket turning it into two smaller pockets perfect for holding my cell phone on one side and mints and lipstick on the other.

For the exterior of the bag, I used two different printed duck cloth fabrics in shades of off white, yellow, and gray that I purchased at Hobby Lobby.  This duck cloth is considerably thinner and softer feeling than the utility grade duck cloth I used for the lining.  I did apply interfacing (Pellon SF101) and fusible fleece to the wrong side of the exterior fabric to help give it more shape and support.

Construction of the bag itself was not difficult and would definitely be suitable for someone who has prior bag sewing skills or an intermediate seamstress.   The design of the bag includes two small pleats on the front plus the curved top piece which is ideal for using a coordinating fabric to match the bottom half of the purse.

Another feature of the Boyd St. Bowling bag that I love is the zipper closure across the curved top with a zipper pull on both ends to make opening and closing easier.  Janelle even shows you a super easy way to cut the fabric for the gusset so that your fabric pattern matches up.  See how the chevrons are all lined up properly in the photo below?

The pattern provides an option and instructions on how to construct a detachable adjustable strap that would hook onto the zipper pulls on either end using a swivel hook and D-rings.  I didn't think I would ever use the strap, so I chose not to make one.

The bottom of the bag is reinforced with a piece of Pellon Peltex 71.  This was my first time to use this type of interfacing, and I was quite pleased with the results.  Again, Janelle's instructions made sewing the bottom together a breeze!  The bottom of the bag is firm and sturdy and has six metal purse feet to not only help protect the bottom from wear and tear, but to also give it that more professional look.

To construct just the bag portion of this purse, I sewed on and off over the course of a day and a half.  Not bad considering I had lots of interruptions from Ella and had to run errands and get my son at school!

Now onto the vinyl handles and tabs.  As I mentioned above, this was my first time to ever sew with vinyl, and I was so excited to try it on this bag!  I found some really nice marine vinyl in the remnant bin at Joann's.  This type of vinyl is so soft and supple compared to the normal utility vinyl  that I think of when I hear the word vinyl.

I love how my vinyl handles eventually turned out!  They really make the bag look store bought and professional!  Don't you agree?

Anyway, Janelle gives very detailed instructions with lots of photographs on how to construct the strap tabs and handles--in both fabric and leather/vinyl!  Again, she taught me several new things and introduced me to some new sewing notions (like double sided wonder tape, upholstery thread, and a sewing needle for leather) that I had not tried before.  I always know that after I finish one of Janelle's patterns, not only am I going to have a terrific new bag to use, but I'm also going to be a much more experienced and knowledgeable sewer!

In order to sew the vinyl on my machine, I sometimes used my walking foot, my regular sewing machine foot, and my regular sewing machine foot with scotch tape on the bottom.  I also used a long stitch length of at least 4.  This part of my bag construction was definitely a challenge, but only because my old Bernina Record 830 from 1974 just doesn't have the power needed to sew through multiple layers of the vinyl.  I had to hand turn the wheel often just to get the needle to sew especially when I sewed the strap tabs to the bag body.  I also had to put a piece of stabilizer on the underside of the bag because the fleece was tangling the bobbin thread and not advancing the stitches properly.

After some lengthy email discussions with Janelle, I believe she decided to rate the Boyd St. Bowling Bag Pattern as suitable for an intermediate to advanced sewer with a note stating that prior experience and knowledge of sewing with vinyl or leather is recommended for those who want to make vinyl handles.   If you have a heavy duty or commercial grade sewing machine, then I would think sewing multiple layers of vinyl would be no problem for you!

Of course, her pattern gives full details on how to make the exact same strap tabs and handles using regular fabric which I know I will use the next time!  My machine should have no problem tackling multiple layers of regular fabric and interfacing.

I'm so looking forward to using my new Boyd St. Bowling bag.  It's gonna hold a lot of stuff since it's so big (roughly 16" L x 10"H x 5"W)!

So, what do you think?  Do you want to make a Boyd St. Bowling Bag for yourself?  Well, as of Monday, it's officially for sale at Emmaline Bags and Patterns along with hardware kits to make the bag in case you don't want to run all over town (like me) to find the supplies!

Janelle is also hosting a contest and offering up a copy of the Boyd St. Bowling Bag Pattern and hardware kit to two winners!  How awesome is that?!  You can enter the contest below and the winners will be announced on Wednesday, April 17th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Oh, and in case you'd like to see all the other bags I've made using patterns from Emmaline Bags and Patterns, just click the links below.  And Janelle just released another cool pattern for the Necessary Wallet Clutch that I purchased immediately!  Can't wait to try it out, too!

The Emmaline Bag

The Steph in the City Bag

The Teardrop Bag

My Boyd St. Bowling Bag has been featured over at The Train to Crazy today!  Thanks, Andrea!

The Uptown Hobo Bag & Giveaway

In the past week, I have officially tested out four new patterns for different designers!  What fun I've had!

One pattern is the Uptown Hobo Bag from Rose at the blog Rose Is A Rose.  The Uptown Hobo Bag is her first purse pattern up for sale, and I am so honored to be able to help her out with testing.

Rose did a wonderful job of creating a stylish, spacious, and very functional bag.  It's roughly 14" wide, 11" tall, and 4" thick.  Believe me.  You can put a lot of stuff inside this bag, and the large flap helps keep it all safe and sound.  I've been using mine for the last several days now and I absolutely love it!

The pattern pieces are simple and clearly marked, making it a cinch to cut out all the fabric and interfacing required.  Rose then guides you through each step of constructing the bag, including installation of either a magnetic snap or turn lock for the closure, with detailed written instructions and labeled photos.  She really did an excellent job putting the whole package together!

For my Uptown Hobo Bag, I used quilting cotton for the exterior and reinforced it with a layer of Shape Flex interfacing and fusible fleece.  The lining is made of duck cloth with no additional interfacing added to it.  I've used duck cloth as the lining of the last two bags I've made, and I love how it holds up!

For the purse strap, I used some marine vinyl fabric that I purchased as a remnant at Joann's.  It's very supple and looks and feels like real leather.  This was my first experience in sewing with vinyl, and I can definitely attest that it was a challenge.  Rose's pattern does not call for leather or vinyl to be used, so you won't find any tips or tricks on how to sew it in there!  I just searched the web and  used some advice offered up in another bag pattern I tested at the same time (that I'll share with you soon).  I think the vinyl was a nice addition to my version of the bag, and I would use it again for a bag strap like this one.

On the interior of the bag, I kept things simple and only included a slip pocket for my phone and mints.  I debated whether or not to add a zippered pocket to the exterior that I could keep my phone or keys in for quick access, but opted to just stick to the pattern this time!  However, Rose does offer up full instructions for how to install an optional zipper pocket to the interior of the bag.

Overall, the Uptown Hobo Bag was a simple, straightforward purse project that offered up instant gratification.  I was able to complete this bag start to finish in one afternoon.  It's definitely a project suitable for a novice purse sewer or an intermediate beginner.

Would you like to try making your own Uptown Hobo Bag?  Then either hop on over to Rose's blog to purchase your own copy of the new pattern, or enter my contest below for a chance to win a copy.  Thanks for stopping by!  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This bag has been featured on the following blog parties:

   

Dangerous with Scissors Sewing Bag

My super talented friend, Heather from The Sewing Loft, asked me to test out a new machine stitched embroidery design she developed--Dangerous with Scissors!

It took only 20 minutes to stitch up on my Brother PE770 embroidery machine and another 30 to 40 minutes to make this sewing bag.

What a super cute quick project!  And I needed a little bag just like this to carry some sewing to work on while I wait for my daughter at dance lessons!

If you'd like to snag this fun embroidery design for yourself, head over to The Sewing Loft where Heather is generously offering the file for free when you subscribe to her newsletter!

To make my bag, I cut out two pieces of canvas fabric that were roughly 12" wide by 18" long. Since this fabric is already very thick, I only used a piece of tear away stabilizer as backing for the embroidered side.  After stitching out the design, I sewed the canvas pieces together to make the simple bag then inserted the gussets at the top for the handles.

I had thought I would buy some rope to use for the handles, but at the last minute I decided to just use some fabrics I had on hand that had lots of purple in them which matched the thread I used for the Dangerous with Scissors design.

I cut out three 1" strips of fabric the width of the fabric (roughly 42") and then braided them together. Slip the ends through the gussets and tie them off with a sturdy knot.  These handles ended up being just the right length for me in case I want to carry the bag on my shoulder.

This cute Dangerous with Scissors embroidery design would also be ideal for use on a zipper pouch, apron, pillow, or t-shirt for a sewer or a hair stylist. And don't forget, Heather's offering the design file for free when you subscribe to her newsletter at The Sewing Loft.