I’ve been (re)bitten by the bag bug! The bag-making bug. So here’s a little WUW post to share what I’m seeing for “research.”
- Pieced wool suiting fabrics are in my plans for clutches! Click here.
- Creative embellishing is always on my list! Click here.
I seem to catch this bag-making bug when I stumble onto a good sale of sturdy fabric, and also just routinely every few years. It’s a little different this time, though.
- Love this idea for featuring favorite colorful scraps. Grids are always good; I like grids! Click here.
- The bags in this slideshow are featured for kids, but I think many would make adults happy, too. Click here.
I’m not going to buy one thing unless I run out of sturdy interfacing to use inside the layers of the bags. I will use what I have!
- Sometimes you let some great solid fabrics do the work. Click here.
- Sometimes you let some additional colorful fabrics jazz things up! Click here.
Using what I have on hand is perfect. After being on a bag-making supply buying kick for a while when I worked at JoAnn, I’m very well supplied! And I really need to downsize-by-using that stash of stuff.
- Took a short online video seminar from this designer about bag making during “The Sewing Party.” Love her designs. Click here.
Who knows? I may even splurge on a pattern from StudioKat Designs — she’s the ultimate perfectionist when it comes to pattern drafting and testing. I know a pattern from her would meet my engineering-brain standards ;)
There are also these independent and big business patterns to browse at Pattern Review. Enter the terms “purse”, “bag”, or “tote” here at the patternreview.com store.
I also wanted to share a few bags I’ve made before…
Big bags: The Christmas Shopping Tote was useful this year because our county banned plastic shopping bags.
Little bags: for game pieces!
Medium-small bag: upcycled a denim jeans leg.
A subdued gray corduroy and black canvas on the outside, this messenger bag that my daughter Becca and I designed and made together has a more typical-of-us inside!
Another bag that Becca and I designed and made together for her crochet stuff. It’s big, but can get smaller when you tuck the zipper area down inside at the crosswise tuck.
A Simplicity pattern I used, featuring some not-so-bad prequilted fabric.
My 2012 New Year’s Day sewing project. I made it the size I wanted for carrying books around.
This last bag now sports a big orange flower made from rolled rickrack and a button where one strap attaches at the bottom :) And orange buttons on the other three strap starting points. I’ll try to throw a picture up on Instagram in a while! Do you follow our Instagram? Do it!
Creating bags of any kind from scratch, either using a pattern or creating one of those, too, is one of my favorite ways to let my imagination and creativity go wild!
Happy browsing-dreaming-planning! And eventually, stitching!
Gail
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