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Sunday 17 November 2013

A bag here, a bag there

No Christmas bunting to show you this week as I still haven’t quite finished them. However I do have some bags to show you.


I can’t take the credit for this as my mam made it for me a couple of years ago when she was at her quilting class (I think she was sick of me putting my needlework into supermarket carrier bags....).

Her poor bag kept bulging at the seams with all my needlework stuffed in it so she handed me some fabric and suggested I might like to make something with it. Well, it was more like “here, make yourself a new bag, will you !!!!”.


I really loved the style of the bag so took some rough measurements from it as this would allow me to work round the fabric pattern – I couldn’t cut a Scottie dog in half !!!! To stop the handles from flopping down I stitched four buttons at the base of each strap to keep them in place.

When my mam died I inherited all of her fabric. Some of the larger bits were destined to become charity quilts whilst some of the other bits I’d like to eventually make into a memory quilt. Three pieces of fabric caught my eye though as they would be perfect to make into bags.


I combined the two green fabrics together as there wasn’t enough to make two separate bags.


I love pockets in bags (the more the merrier....) so added a zipped pocket in the lining to keep things, like a purse and mobile ‘phone. I also made a little keyring purse and attached it to one of the straps.


I hit lucky with this fabric as it looks like strips of patchwork sewn together. To secure the fabric to the wadding I simply stitched each side of the strips. If only I could get my own patchwork strips that straight !!!


For the lining I used cream fabric as I thought anything patterned would be overkill. To stop the inside looking too plain I added a small band of the main fabric to the top of the lining and to the pocket zip. Again I attached a keyring purse to one of the straps.
 
There were some bits of fabric left so I made a set of make-up bags.


I didn’t have enough of the dark green fabric to use on all three bags so the two smaller ones are plain while the large bag is made up of patchwork squares.


For a simple decorative finish on the larger of the three ‘patchwork’ bags I stitched three horizontal and vertical lines making the illusion of squares.

Each of the two smaller sized bags has fabric lining whilst both the larger bags have waterproof lining.

As I mentioned in ‘a new beginning’ I’m setting up my own business so the green and the ‘patchwork’ bags will be going into stock ready for when I go live hopefully by October next year.

Have a great week.

Love,

Gertie xx

PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.

15 comments:

  1. Really good bags you've made there - I always look for little pockets when I buy a bag so I too always put some in my handmade bags. I think a plain lining can be good as it's easy to find things in the bag!

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  2. Your bags are beautiful, so much work has gone into them.

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  3. Wow, that's a lot of bags and they all look lovely. I love that you couldn't cut a scottie dog in half :-)

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  4. Pockets are so useful otherwise I end up hunting for things for hours. Lovely bags. The Scottie dog material is lovely.

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  5. Goodness, you have been really busy making these lovely bags. In my opinion you can't have to many pockets they are very handy for all those bits that get lost in the bottom of the bag. Thank you for your nice comments on my blog.

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  6. What lovely bags. I particularly like the greeny floral fabric. The colours are very pretty and unusual.

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  7. so many lovely things! i especially like the stripy fabric, it really does look like patchwork and everything you've made from it looks fab. At this rate you'll be able to open a whole department store by October next year! :)

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  8. Gosh you have been a busy bee, the bags are lovely. All the different fabrics are very pretty, I love the greens. I'm another in agreement about having plenty of pockets.

    Jan x

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  9. Lovely set of bags, I liked the first one, the leaf patterned one the best. Seen on Handmade Harbour

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  10. Lovely bags and gorgeous material, especially the first one. Hope you have a good week.

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  11. Oh Gertie, these bags are beautiful! I wish I had your sewing skills.

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  12. I love your bags, and making sure there are lots of pockets is a great idea - I can never have enough pockets to keep things in. I think the make up bags are my favourite though.

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  13. Your bags are really gorgeous! Love all the fabric combinations you've used and the extra little details x

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  14. Your bags are wonderful. You made me laugh saying you couldn't cut the scottie dogs in half. Sadly I think I would have been thinking the same.
    Ali x

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  15. Lovely looking bags. I really like the gold and green fabric you've used inside the green bag.

    I'm terrible at keeping patchwork straight so that patchwork fabric gets a huge thumbs up from me :-)

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