Messenger Bag Recycle

I found this fun tutorial over on Noodle-Head's site and decided to give it a try.

This simple messenger bag is made using a pair of old cargo pants.

First, get your pants.

Rip out some side seams so you have room to cut the pocket out.

Cut out the pocket panel, front and back and the rest.  I cut to a different size than the tutorial so my finished bag is a little bigger.

Cut lining.  Swear because you forgot all about the strap.

Assemble the lining and outer.

Sew it all together.

Fill with fun stuff.

Feel good about using some stash fabric and reusing an old pair of pants.

If you don't have a pair of cargo pants waiting to become something new, you can just go check out the great tutorial for a shopping tote by the Green Bag Lady.  You can make these great bags with old curtains, tablecloths and bed linens.  There are so many ways to recycle, reduce, reuse.

The Green Bag Lady

If you haven't heard of The Green Bag Lady you totally need to head over to her site and check it out.

I've entered a couple of their give-away events and have won a couple bags.  I won this bag (#31414) just this month.  Here it is with a charity quilt inside.  I'll hand over the quilt to another member of Annapolis Quilts for Kids for finishing.  I'll have to hope I get my great Hawaiian print bag back!

This bag (#27877) I won a few months ago and I sent it to The Coast Guard Lady for the winter holiday.  I also included one I made so she would have more than one.

I went through my stash and found some older fabrics that I've had hanging around for years.  Since this is Sew My Stash 2015 I figured this was a great way to use up some of these fabrics and get them off my shelves.  Not all of these are the large size, a few of them ended up smaller based on the amount of fabric I had available.

The pattern for these is available for free on The Green Bag Lady's site (just look in the sidebar of her site for a link to a pdf pattern and a video tutorial).

I made up 14 bags, ten of them are the large size.  Four of them are smaller bags.  I did all the construction on my serger and the top-stitch finishing the top of the bags was done with my sewing machine.  They make up quick once you've got them cut.

Thirteen of these bags and a stack of cloth napkins will be headed to my cousin.  If more people used cloth napkins and fabric shopping bags the world would be a little nicer.  A boring paper napkin or plastic bag just can't compare to the smiles fabric bags or napkins can make.

What have you sewn for Sew Your Stash 2015 (#sewmystash2015)?  If you have some fabric that you know you won't put into a new project this is a great way to use some of it up and make some great shopping totes that fold up and fit in your handbag.  Save the plastic trees!

To carry all my mad loot!

This weekend I'll be going to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.  I wanted something that would both suit the occasion and be a great sewing project.  I found a tutorial for a fun bag over at Sew Hooked's blog.

I started with some denim I picked up at the thrift store.  I'm not sure how much yardage is there, but it seemed a great beginning for my bag.  With denim, I won't have to worry about interfacing.  It should hold up just fine on its own.

When I pulled the tape off, it left some sticky residue behind, but it didn't really affect my cutting.  Sure, this might be plug for Goodwill, but I do some of my best shopping there.  Besides, I'm not sure you can buy a single yard of denim for that price.

Since I can't make only one of anything, I cut out two bags.  I wanted to make sure that I had a couple to pick from.  Besides, I'm going with a friend and she might like a bag to hold some of her wooly loot.  I followed the basic directions provided by Sew Hooked for cutting and some of the construction.  I made some changes to the construction order and some of the methods to fit in with my own work-flow.  Not everyone creates the same and sometimes what works for someone else just doesn't work for me.  I'll post my construction instructions some time in the future. 

I picked this wonderful, playful floral and the blue which is something like a batik, but just a print.  I had enough that I cut a piece for an inner pocket.  I stitched it down around the middle so it makes two little pockets for the inside.  Great place to hold my wallet and my cellular. 

I picked up a great embroidery design as part of a sale over at Urban Threads.  They have amazing designs.  These aren't those cute and cuddly applique and embroidery designs that are more suited to the nursery than to your shirt.  Great stuff!  This one really works for this project since we'll be looking for fiber (both spun and un-spun) from around the country. 

I used small pieces of some scraps to cover up the fold of the fabric.  It was dirty from being on the bolt so long and hanging out on a thrift store shelf.  I'm not even sure it will come out in the wash, so covering it was the best option.  This adds a little bit of style and hides the imperfection  of the underlying fabric.  It also brings the lining fabric out into view. 

I learned that I would like the strap to be longer on this bag.  It fits, but I'd like to have it fall closer to my hip than my waist.  I'm not an overly tall person, so if it bothers me, it will likely bother taller people.  I'll have to add to it for all future bags.  (Yes, there are more of these in my future.)

I can't wait to head out to the festival.  This bag begs for yarn to nestle inside. 

UPDATE:  The bags were mentioned on the Urban Threads website Flickr Roundup for May.

More Napkins

This is just a quick napkin update.  I made these, along with a couple more stacks (which I failed to photograph) as a hostess gift for dinner with friends.  I love making these.  So simple, so quick and they are well received.

Cloth Napkins

I have entirely too much fabric and I've recently found that everyone needs some cloth napkins.  Go ahead and do your own research on how many napkins you and your family use.  The numbers are frightening.

First, I picked out two fabrics that sort of match.  They don't have to be exact matches, since they will become opposite sides of the same napkin.  I want to keep this post short, so I've added the full tutorial to the tutorial section.  

After you've sewn them up, you have a nice little stack of coordinating napkins to use or give away.  Two yards of fabric will yield six to eight napkins, depending on size.  These are approximately 12.5" square.

Here is the stack that I made.  I bundled all of these up together, all 22 of them, and gave them as a hostess gift.  Sure, they don't match, but she is a busy mom of two and doesn't mind the fact that they don't match.  They fit her style.

Recycling Makes Me Feel Good!

I've been playing around with turning thrift store shirts into t-shirt dresses.  I've got all the pictures taken for a tutorial, but I don't have the time to write the tutorial.

Let's just agree that I will tell you how to turn two t-shirts into one t-shirt dress that will make you feel good about saving money and the environment.

Thrift store finds

About a week ago, I went out looking for thrift store finds.  I hit the mother load!  Not every day is like this at the thrift store.  Some days, you'll walk out empty handed.  This time, I was pleasantly surprised by all the great things.

I saw this box sitting quietly, waiting for me, I think.  I carefully stepped up and opened the box, wondering what I would find.  You can never be sure in a thrift store.  I was very pleased when I opened it up, too!

That's right, inside that pattern box 12 patterns were hiding.  I'm not too worried about them being horribly out-of-date.  They're mostly just the basic pattern waiting for the sewer's details to make them really pop, anyway.  Besides, when has a basic t-shirt ever gone out of style?

Total cost:  $6.25
Equals:  Awesome!

Shrugged

I was in Key West when I saw a girl with a hoodie shrug.  I thought to myself "I can make that."  That was months ago.  Today, I got the urge to make it reality.  I picked up this hooded sweatshirt at the thrift store a while back to create this shrug.  Here it is before I started to chop it up.

First, I cut off the bottom ribbing and made a cut about two inches below the bottom of the sleeves and opened up the front, being careful to leave room for the ribbing.

I pinned and stretched the ribbing to fit my new, shaped edge.  It gathers a little more than I like, but it does the job.

Here its, all finished up.  Of course, today the weather is too warm for it, but I'll be set when the cooler evenings start coming around more often.  Project cost:  $5 thrift store sweatshirt + 1 hour cutting and sewing.

Pedal Pushers

It's National Sewing Month and I feel I've accomplished so little.  A quick post about my latest project.

I found a pair of jeans at the thrift store and thought they'd make a great pair of carpi-length pants.  I got out my scissors and took a whack at them.

The prior owner had hemmed the pants using stitch-witch so I used the top line of that as my cutting mark.

Then, I pinned up a short 1/2 inch hem and put in the about 2 inch fold I wanted.  I didn't just want to fold and hem, I wanted to make them look like they were rolled up.

You might look at this and think "hey, aren't those pins pointing the wrong way?"  As in, shouldn't you turn them around so you can easily remove them while stitching?  Of course I should have.  I realized it once I tried to put it onto the machine.  A couple minutes later I was on my way.

It isn't easy taking a picture of your own lower legs.  I tried, and this is the best I could come up with.  Not a great picture, but you do get the idea.  Although, now that the weather is starting to cool down, I should go back to working in fleece.  Gosh, I love how forgiving fleece can be.

Earth Day and the UN-paper Towel

Yes, today is Earth Day. The day I'm supposed to do something good for Mother Earth. I almost forgot all about it.
After chatting with Triple-A on Facebook, I decided I had to do something. I've been meaning to make a few of these UN-paper towels for use in the kitchen. I finally got around to it.
I measured a paper towel from the rack (11" by 11"). I chopped up some flannel left over from making quilt backing. No one need think I'm wasteful when it comes to fabric. If it is bigger than 2" by 2" I most likely have it--and about a thousand of its friends--in a bin somewhere. I didn't dig too deep for fabric, so I only cut a few.
After a couple tries with the serger, I found an edge finish I liked. When I was done--in record time--I had eleven little towels that will take years to find the landfill. Yay for Mother Earth.

I also did one other thing today. I made sun tea. Nothing but pure, free, non-polluting sunshine as an energy source.

Butterflies and Recycling

Okay, just ignore the title. I'm a little off today.This past week, I've been working on this quilt. I don't know why I put such a rush on it, it's not like it has a home. I'm really pleased with how it came out. So pleased, I started another one using the same block layout in different colors. That one isn't finished, yet.I picked up a couple skirts from the thrift shop, intending to convert them into a bag. I've finally gotten around to that particular project.Re-purpose, upcycle, recycle, whatever you call it, it still ends up being a useful bag.