Pattern testing for Eco Friendly Shopping Bags

I am horrified to admit that I wrote this post in early October but am now just publishing it!  I was lucky enough to be selected to be a pattern tester for the lovely Jill (she's a Brit living in Australia who writes the awesome blog Creating My Way to Success) when she was in the process of writing her E-book on Eco Friendly Shopping Bags.  More accurately, I was a PATTERNS tester, because this bag actually contains a few other bags inside it as well!  

The bag is made from a lot of upcycled materials, including virtually all of a pair of adult jeans.  I really love using old jeans!  In addition to the upcycling aspect, there are also great features including an internal zipper pocket . . .

. . . and two adorable internal patch pockets using the back pockets of the jeans.

On the outside, there is a hidden zipper pocket too!  I love the flap covering the zipper because it makes the outside of the bag look more polished than an exposed zipper would.  (I took the next two pics before I had added the handles for some reason.)

But wait!  What is that inside that hidden pocket?

It's a pair of reusable mesh produce bags!  Jill's original tutorial for these bags used upcycled machine lace curtains, which looked really cool.  I used a type of tulle instead (because I already had it in my stash) and they turned out pretty fun if I do say so myself.

As if that wasn't enough, there is also a nifty little secret compartment in the bottom of the bag that you access by unzipping a hidden zipper at the side.

Inside is a nice little bag shaped like this.  Well, this is it empty, anyway.

The bag is designed to be filled, as shown below.

But what's inside?  It's a whole bunch (eight, to be exact) of reusable grocery sacks!

I made these from some old sheets (Erin gave my Sonia's old sheets after she got new ones!).  Here's a shot of one up close (which unfortunately does not demonstrate that the bottom of the bag is boxed out so it can sit flat when filled with groceries).

Can you believe all of this fits inside that bag, plus room for all of your normal purse items?

I have been a big fan of Jill's tutorials for a long time now, and I was very impressed with the ingenuity and design of this bag.  She did such a terrific job!  You can buy her E-book from her blog, where you can also find about a zillion other fantastic tutorials for all sorts of neat things.  Thank you for the opportunity to be a tester, Jill, and I hope you sell lots of the E-books!

Convertible/Reversible Bag Tour and Giveaway!

I am so excited I can't see straight.  Seriously.  I'm helping kick off a blog tour for an amazing pattern for the Convertible/Reversible Bag that I helped test for Cozy Nest Design, and it includes a giveaway AND a discount code for the pattern!  My four favorite things on earth are indie pattern designers, downloadable patterns, giveaways, and discounts, so this is like a dream come true.  I feel like I have been pulled up from the minor leagues to shine in the majors.  Check out the awesomely official graphic Sarah (the genius behind CND) created for us:

ANYWAY, this bag is seriously amazing.  And I'm not just saying that because I was a tester and got the pattern for free.  This puppy converts into four different bags.  Maybe it's because my four-year-old son and six-year-old daughter are obsessed with all things Transformers related, but a bag that transforms is all kinds of fabulous in our opinion.  Here is my version of the bag (with Sarah's nifty descriptions overlaid on top):

With just one bag, you get:

• a shoulder bag,
• a cross-body (or cross-over) bag,
• ANOTHER cross-body/cross-over bag in a completely different set of fabrics, and
• an evening clutch.

No, I'm not joking!  Here they are in greater detail:

1.  The shoulder bag:

2.  The cross-body/cross-over bag:

3.  Another cross-body/cross-over bag in totally different fabrics:

4.  And the best part (in my opinion), an adorable evening clutch:

The pattern even includes instructions for a clear vinyl insert you can use so your purse necessities won't get the fabric all dirty.  Seriously cool.  You can also make the bag with laminated cotton, which sounds like a great idea.

Sometimes, you find patterns for purchase that really aren't worth the money, but this is most certainly not the case with the Convertible/Reversible Bag.  The pattern and instructions make what could be a really complex project and break it down in an understandable way.  There are so many pieces, in fact, that the pattern includes little labels you can stick on to keep everything straight once you have cut the fabric and interfacing.  I mean, check out this photo I shot of the whole shebang before I started the assembly:

YIKES.  It was at that point that I started to fear for Sarah's sanity, because how on earth could that all go together to become a bag?  (Yes, that is my black lab, Connie, chilling out under the dining room table in the bottom right-hand corner -- her idea of "helping" me sew.  I much prefer that to the cats' idea of helping, which consists of lying on top of the cutting mat on the table next to my sewing machine and shedding all over my fabric.  Ahem.)

Despite the intimidating number of components, the pattern instructions are extremely clear and easy to follow.  For a design this complex, that is no minor feat.  Sarah uses neat graphics to accompany the instructions that keep you on target.  I can't even imagine how she came up with this fantastic design AND figured out how to engineer it all.  I was blown away by the terrific method she uses to create the boxed bottom of the bag.  I have made a zillion bags over the past few years, and I had never before seen something like this.  I love how the side of the bag looks with her boxing technique:

So. Stinkin'. Cute.  This was also my first time making adjustable straps using tri-glides, and it was much easier than I thought it would be.  I'm definitely going to do that again with any bag I try to design myself.  Honestly, I'm really kind of bummed that I gave this bag to my daughter's kindergarten teacher (thought she completely deserved a rad bag like this).  I guess I need to get cracking on making one for me.

Discount Code and Giveaway!

For this week only (good through August 2, 2014), you can pick up your own copy of the Convertible/Reversible Bag pattern at a 25% discount by entering the code "bagtour" at checkout.

And now for the giveaway!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Where is the tour going next?  To a bunch of other way cool sewing blogs authored by other bag testers from all over the world, of course.  They all sewed the same bag with very different fabric choices, and it's really neat to see how they all turned out.  I'm kind of in awe of the bloggers on this tour, and hope that no one figures out that I am just pretending to be even half as talented as these folks.  The best part is each day has its own unique giveaway!  Here is the schedule for the whole tour:

Monday, July 28th

Maria of Mia's Creations 

Niki Stringer of Roonie Ranching 

Alyssa Carrion at Keep Calm & Carrion

Tuesday, July 29th 

Lynn Potts of PottsCrafty 

Marilyn Brandt at Shades of Bold

Wednesday, July 30th 

Vicky Myers of Vicky Myers Creations

Liz Schaffner at MOMENTS

Sarah at Cozy Nest Design

Thursday, July 31st

Amy Macdonald with Friends Stitched Together 

Kathy from Handmade Dress Haven

Judith Clauss of Judith Stitches and More

Friday, August 1st 

Jonie Brooks with Knot Sew Normal 

Lorena Rey of my way of... 

Bethany Rapp with Sweet Bee Buzzings

At the risk of making this post ridiculously long, I have to point out that I am a diehard Cozy Nest Design fan as evidenced by quite a number of my past projects.  I truly enjoyed sewing Sarah's patterns, including a modified version of the Petal Cosmetic Bag, the Play and Store, the Sweet Escapes Cosmetic Bag, and the Petal Pocket Purse.  I look forward to trying more in the future, for sure.

Thank you, Sarah, for letting this minor leaguer play in the big leagues for a bit!  I'm one of your biggest fans and can't wait to see what you dream up next.

Petal Pockets Purse for Mia

For our sweet friend Mia's 8th birthday, I sewed her a Petal Pockets Purse, which is one of the other patterns I won from Cozy Nest Design in the Sew Like My Mom giveaway.

I have to confess that I waited until the morning of the party to even start this, so I didn't have all of the exact materials on hand that the pattern specified.  As a result, I skipped a few steps, modified one step, and still came out with an awesome bag.

The directions are written so well that I was able to figure out which steps I could skip (like making zippered pockets out of the smaller petals on one side of the bag -- I just didn't have the right size and color of zippers on hand, and I figured Mia wouldn't know what she was missing).  I can't wait to try sewing another one of these so I can include the zippered pockets, bias tape stripe on the bottom panels, etc.

I love that the smaller petals are separate from the larger ones to form two very useful pockets!  I could totally imagine slipping a cell phone in one and my keys in another.  There aren't any interior pockets (probably because of the four exterior pockets!) but that would be super simple to add.

I am very proud that I was able to overcome a shortage of bias tape with an ingenious solution.  The interior and exterior are separately constructed and edged with bias tape, and then they are sewn together along the top with the straps stuck in between.  I didn't have enough of the right color of bias tape to edge the interior panels, so I stole a facing technique from garment sewing and used some leftover scraps from the lining to create facings to finish off the edges.  This only works in the case of the lining color matching the bias tape, though, but it resulted in far less bulk than the bias tape would have.  (The lining was supposed to be purple, but I ran out and used the brown instead.)

Toni's Purse and Purse Lining

Look out, world-- Erin is starting to sew!  Inspired by my success with lining the shark pouch, I promptly took my hand-me-down sewing machine home, stuck it in the basement, and ignored it for several months.  Yep.  IGNORED IT.  I was so scared!  I thought I would just ruin any project I tried.  Or, worse yet, I'd do just fine and become hopelessly addicted to sewing (like Niki).  I already have one crafting addiction; I don't need two!

But, I had promised my lovely friend, Toni, that I would attempt to line the purse that I crocheted for her this past spring.  The purse was a "UFO" (unfinished object) that Niki handed down to me in February (along with a ton of yarn).  Niki found the free pattern hanging in an aisle of Hobby Lobby a bunch of years ago, started crocheting it, and then abandoned it not long into the project.  It uses pretty, shiny nylon cord/yarn, and as I found out soon after I vowed to finish this UFO, that pretty, shiny nylon cord/yarn is reeeeeeeeally painful to crochet with.  There is no stretch, it's kind of stiff, and in order to get the stitches tight enough so that there aren't huge holes in the work, you have to pull the stitches really hard.  You can't just use a tiny hook to make smaller stitches because cord simply won't crochet as tight as yarn.  Anyway, I powered through the project, gave it to Toni, and happily threw away the cord remnants when I finished the purse.

After Niki taught me how to sew on her old machine, I again made a vow, this time to line Toni's purse.  She gave the purse back and donated a pillowcase to the cause to be used as the lining.  Several months later, I summoned my courage, and voila!  Here is the inexpertly-lined purse:

Toni wanted to wear the strap across her body (kind of like a messenger bag), so that's why the strap seems a wee bit long.

Here's the first lining that I sewed, which turned out too small.  I went rogue and tried to design my own lining, but it ended up a tiny bit too small.  Laid out on top of the purse, it looked like it would fit, but when I went to hand-sew it into the purse, it just didn't work.

So, I used this crocheted purse lining tutorial and the second attempt went way better!  It's hard to take a good picture of the lining of a purse....  The picture may be bad, but the tutorial was perfect and I consider this lining to be a pretty darn good one!

My next sewing post will be to show off the Princess Leia costume I made for my daughter....  Spoler alert: it went shockingly well!!  Oh my.  Niki may have created a sewing monster.

Odessa's Tea Party Purse

Odessa (the daughter of my good friend, Kym, and one of Charlotte's favorite buddies) is one of the sweetest little girls I know.  I have sewed her a few things over the past couple of years, but somehow I never made her a purse.  She asked me very sweetly for one a few weeks ago, and I finally got around to making it this afternoon.

The purse's design came from a tutorial by Fancy That.  I loved how the top was gathered with elastic to give it a ruffly look without having to actually sew on ruffles.  I quilted the outside (using felt for the batting) with diagonal lines because I'm still too chicken to try any other design.

It's the perfect size to store a few of Odie's treasures, and Charlotte and I decided it would be ideal bag to carry to a tea party.

I do wish I had added boxed corners to the bag -- I'm not a huge fan of the pointy bottom and the boxed corners would have helped the bag stand up on its own.  If I make the bag again -- and I probably will, because this would be a perfect addition to a birthday present for any one of Charlotte's friends -- I will definitely box the corners.  I think I would also use cotton webbing for the handles because I love the finished look that gives to a casual bag.  I just can't sew as straight as I want to and when I make the turned tube handles with stitching down them it always looks too home made for my taste.




Linking up to: ChrisW Designs

Pattern testing -- the All-In-One Bag by Flutter from.Kat

Last week, I had a really fun opportunity to test out a bag pattern for a great sewing/crafting blogger -- Kat, from Diary of a Flutter.Kat.  She sews amazing quilts and other fun things in New Zealand, and her blog has many free tutorials as well as some terrific patterns for sale.  When she put out a request for pattern testers for her new bag, I jumped at the chance and was thrilled that she picked me.

Here is a shot of the "All-In-One Bag" I made (as posted on Kat's Instagram feed):

 

It really was a blast sewing a pattern and being able to make comments.  Kat and I e-mailed back and forth a few times over the past week about various parts of the pattern, and she did make some alterations to the instructions that I and the other pattern testers suggested.  The pattern was already in great shape when I tested it, and now it's perfect as far as I can tell.

Here is a shot I took as I started sewing last week.  I love capturing all of the various pieces that go into the bags I sew.  (Too bad I forgot to lay out the magnetic snap and the material I had cut for the strap.  Just ignore the second lobster clasp I laid out -- I really only needed one.)

The bag has a neat shape due to the darts Kat has you sew in at the top on the outside and on the lining.  It can be carried like a traditional bag if you attach the lobster clasp to the opposite side . . .

. . . or it can be more of a clutch/wristlet if you attach the lobster clasp at the same side.

I should have put cards in the card pockets to show how perfectly they fit.

There is also a divider inside created by an internal zipper pouch -- so handy to corral the band-aids, chapstick, tissues, etc. that I need to carry.

Here is the view from the back.

It's a purse!

No!  It's a clutch/wristlet!

I loved the bag so much that I wanted to try making it again after Kat sent me the second draft of the pattern.  This time I tried the alternate strap suggestion involving a ribbon sewed to twill tape, and I think it turned out pretty cute.  I'm mad because I accidentally put the magnetic clasp on the wrong side of the flap (it was totally my fault -- not the pattern's!) so the brown should have been the underside and the salmon/coral color on the outside.  (Yes, it appears I am on a floral fabric kick right now.)

Here it is converted to clutch/wristlet.

On the other side of the bag from the card pocket is an internal patch pocket that fits my cell phone perfectly.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to test this great new pattern, Kat!  It was fun corresponding with someone on the other side of the world (it's something like 17 hours later there, which is pretty cool).  Best wishes on selling the pattern -- it's worth every NZ$!

Click here to purchase a digital download of the All-In-One Bag pattern directly from Kat (in NZ$).

Click here to purchase the digital download of the All-In-One Bag pattern via Craftsy (in US$).

Girly handbag with piping

I love piping, but I haven't tackled too many projects with it because it still intimidates me.  Don't ask me why -- it just does.  I decided to try this little handbag (The Whim of a Trim Bag from Sew Can Do) solely because I thought the piping was awesome.  So, I took a deep breath and jumped right in.

The outer fabric is home decor weight that I found in  -- where else? -- the remnant bin at Jo-Ann's.  The lining is also a remnant bin find, but it's more of a quilter's weight cotton.  The straps are some I bought in the purse accessories section at Jo-Ann's, and they are the same kind Erin and I put on our crochet purses.

The piping went in great -- I think I have finally conquered my fear of piping.  I love how the tutorial taught me a foolproof way to sew in the piping.  I am going to have to put piping in more projects!  Now if I can only learn to sew straight and keep things pinned properly I will get a better finished product.

I added the pink button on the flap because I forgot to put padding over the backing of the magnetic clasp and it was making the fabric look worn there already!  I just hot-glued on the button because I obviously couldn't hand sew through a metal clasp.  The button ties in the lining nicely, which is important because the lining is so visible from the top view of the bag.

The lining matches better than this photo makes it look.  It's really overcast here and my photos didn't turn out so hot.  There is an interior patch pocket that I made from the outer fabric, but I wish I had placed it lower.  As it sits now, the top of the pocket is so close to the top of the bag that anything I put in the pocket would likely fall completely out of the bag if it fell over.

I really do like the bag, but I probably would have preferred a thinner gusset and a line of piping around the top of the bag as well.  It was interesting how the Peltex was inserted after the bag was formed -- I had to stuff it through a tiny opening in the lining and then wrestle with the three pieces to get them straight before the final topstitch on the outside of the bag.  That took practically as much time as constructing the entire rest of the bag.  I probably would have preferred to fuse the Peltex to the bag's pieces before constructing the main portion of the bag -- even though the topstitching is supposed to hold the Peltex into shape, the bottom of the Peltex pieces flap free.  It should be better once I put my stuff inside the purse though.

The original pattern called for adding super cute pleather handles and a spring snap for the flap.  I already had a magnetic clasp on hand so I used that instead.  The only pre-made pleather handles at Jo-Ann's would have cost nearly $20 for two of them, so I chose the fabric ones instead (for less than half the price).  I could have sewn some from pleather yardage, but I wanted a more finished look for the bag.  Too bag my top stitching around the top of the bag looks kind of cruddy because I just couldn't seem to get my tension right due to the bulk of the Peltex combined with home decor weight fabric and interfaced lining.  Come to think of it, adding piping to the top of the bag might have been a disaster.

It would made a cute camera bag if I added some padding, but it is probably too open on top to give much protection to the camera.  It was a fun sew anyway, even though the very last step (adding some tacking stitches to the creases on the gusset) made my machine throw a huge tantrum (I forgot that while sewing through one layer of Peltex was a headache, sewing through two layers is a complete and total nightmare) and nearly caused me to throw the bag out the window.

I'm going to have to keep a lookout for some purse feet, because they would be perfect for this bag.  I have never used any before, but I love when purses have those.

Time to come up with an excuse to leave the house to show off my new bag!

Lauren's Horse Purse

Another one of my favorite little kids in the whole world, Lauren, is having a birthday.... She's turning 2 years old!  I still remember shrieking loudly with joy in a Denny's when I heard the news that her mother was pregnant with her....  Someday I might be allowed back into that restaurant.  Anyway, Lauren loves blue, horses, and purses, so the choice was clear: BLUE HORSE PURSE!

I used this cool free pattern and improvised the mane/tail using a curly-q technique that I love.

The blue yarn is Caron One Pound (plucked from Niki's stash that she unloaded on me when I picked up crocheting again this year) and the rest of the colors are all Red Heart Super Saver.  I used an F hook on all the colors except for the black (it seemed thinner than the blue, so I went up a hook size so the hooves would be the right size in proportion to the legs).

The pattern called for buttons to be sewn on for the eyes.  "Pshaw," I said. "I'll use my beloved safety eyes that I have grown addicted to whilst crocheting my millions of amigurumis."  But because the pattern didn't remind me to attach the safety eyes before I stuffed and closed up the head, I forgot to put them on until it was too late.  Whoops. So, I ended up using button eyes anyway.  Lauren's two now, so hopefully she won't pull off the tiny buttons and eat them.  They're too little to be a choking hazard, anyway!

 
Because I had already used buttons for the eyes, I went ahead and sewed a tiny red heart button on the saddle.  I have no memory where that button came from, but it's been in my button collection for years now and I have always wanted to use it somewhere.  I think it makes for a nice pop of color.

The purse has two uses: You can go out on the town, looking chic.....

....and when you need a little pick-me-up, you can give it a little snuggle.

Thanks for being my model, Sonia!