Honey, I shrunk the handbag!

I knitted this handbag using Sirdar Eco-wool. Didn't bother with a pattern, just used a circular needle - 78 stitches, round and round until it was long enough, then cast off leaving 2 blocks of 9 stitches which became the handle. A little bit of wool left over so knitted a square to make into a pocket.

The plan was to put the finished item through a hot wash to shrink it into a felted bag.

And it came out rather smaller than I expected!

So now I have a cute, dinky bag, lined with cotton...

... just the right size for a lipgloss, some keys and a five pound note!

Definitely no space for raisins, colouring pens, cartons of juice, moshi monsters or wet wipes!

Knitting bag

This morning, in a flurry of housework avoidance productivity I made this.

The lilac fabric is some medium weight cotton I was going to use for some cushion covers, and the lining is from a vintage Marks and Sparks duvet cover.

It has a round bottom (just like me!!) so there is plenty of space for balls of wool and stuff.

And it's deep enough that even long needles don't stick out.

And after I'd finished it I realised that as a bonus...

...it is completely reversible! So you can have the scrummy vintage print on the outside.

Linking up with handmade Thursday at www.whitelilygreen.blogspot.co.uk .

Handmade Thursday; a little handbag

This is a little prototype bag I made for my daughter.

It is cotton on the outside and green felt on the inside; you can't really tell in the photo but that is a Hello Kitty button.

I made it last night, presented it to Poppy this morning expecting it to be cast aside. She is not overly fond of girls's stuff but the desire to carry things around her neck seems to override the pink, flowery aspect.

Anyway, she agreed to have a photograph...

...although she also insisted on choosing her own accessories!

Linking up with Handmade Thursdays at White Lily Green.

It's mine, all mine!

(Sometimes you make something, which is supposed to be for someone else, and you are quite pleased you went a little bit wobbly around the edges, because you really want to keep it for yourself.)

I had a custom request for a make up bag, so I made this.

I love the cherry fabric. It has a layer of polyester wadding (my new favourite thing!!) to give the bag some structure, and the spotty lining is upcycled from an old dress of Poppy's.

Why am I so afraid of zips? (And buttonholes - perhaps I have developing a fastening-phobia.) They always turn out fine when I pluck up the courage to put one in.

Anyway, I'm keeping this, and I promise to make a better one for my customer :)

Loving my new bag

It's the bestest bag ever!

My sister bought me some packs of small fabric pieces for my birthday. I've done a little bit of patchwork but I'm definitely no expert.

I chose 12 of the fabrics, and cut out 2 squares from each - 12 squares for each side.

And I stitched them together - remembering to reverse the pattern so that nothing was upside down. I felt very clever for thinking of that!

I decided to put a layer of wadding and used some turquoise fabric for the other side. 

So this project became my first attempt at proper quilting. It was rather awkward doing the middle stitching - not sure how you'd manage on a piece much bigger.

Here's the inside; I made the trim and handles from some old jeans. This is why the handles are quite short - I have pretty short legs!!

And I even made a tab with a buttonhole. I still have a completely ungrounded fear of buttonholing and avoid them wherever possible.

So, there it is - my new bag, it's not perfect but it's mine, and I made it all by myself without a pattern or even a proper plan.

Ready to be filled with sweet wrappers, old raisins, a biro which doesn't work, old receipts and an odd glove...

Pirate Party bags

My son, Anthony, has decided he wants a pirate party for his 7th birthday, so I have made a bunch of little drawstring bags for his friends to take home.

I hate those little plastic bags of crap which kids bring home from parties. I spend half my life trying to evict plastic whistles from the house, standing on plastic flippy frogs in bare feet, finding stray marbles down the back of the sofa. Even though we have received numerous novelty erasers over the years nobody can ever find a blasted rubber.

I have also been reading The Moneyless Man which has inspired me to cut down on throwaway goods. I figure at least these little fabric bags might be slightly useful, more so than a little plastic bag.

I shall be filling them with pirate treasure, aka chocolate coins and sweets!

Because the only thing my children are ever really want from a party bag is something edible and not remotely healthy.

Pirates have terrible teeth.

Another bag :)

I've just listed this in my etsy shop here.

It is similar in construction to the Cath Kidston bag but with slightly different dimensions and shape.

The fabric is a cotton mix, a remnant of curtaining.

I put a lining in this one, which I think finishes it off nicely. The lining is upcycled from an old shirt of mine.

Cath Kidston bag

 Last Christmas my husband bought me a sewing machine, and a copy of Sew! by Cath Kidston. The book came with the fabric to make the bag on the cover.

After a year of procrastinating - I needed more practice, I didn't have the right colour thread, I was busy making something else... I finally did it last night!

It went pretty well, although I skipped the buttonholes on the strap and just stitched it to the bag. I put the buttons on as decoration only.

I am pretty pleased with it, the fabric is nice and spring-like - a little reminder that brighter weather is on its way.

Pillowcase rescue; the mission continues...

I loved this lonely pillowcase when I saw it in the charity shop.

I just knew it could have a happy new life as a reusable carrier bag.

It folds up teeny weeny to sleep in the bottom of your handbag.

And I even made it a little pouch to keep it warm and snug ;)

(I am thinking setting up a pillowcase refuge in my sewing box, rehabilitating the prettiest and funkiest so that they can once again lead useful, appreciated lives!!)

Here is my tutorial  so you too can rescue a pillowcase.

Pillowcase sack; handmade Thursday

This is really easy way to make a drawstring bag which is ideal for a Christmas sack.

I bought some red pillowcases, turned the top over and stitched it to make a channel for the drawstring - that's it!!

J for James; must do an A and a P next.

The applique was a little more difficult, but only because I had to be very careful not to sew the two sides of the bag together. I've chosen fabrics which are not specifically Christmassy so this bag can be useful all year round.

More handmade Thursdays at White Lily Green.

How to make a bag out of a pillowcase

This is one of my favourite upcycling projects. I'm sure there are lots of tutorials on t'internet about how to make a bag from a pillowcase. I'm not saying this is the best way, but this is the way I do it!

First you need a pillowcase; they are really easy to pick up in charity shops and I love the chintzy floral prints.

Then you need to chop it into pieces. 

The bottom piece is the main part of your bag - I measured this to be 18 inches deep.

The two smaller pieces will be the handles; mine are 3 inches deep.

(The top part is leftover; ideal scrap for applique and patchwork projects.)

Take your two handles and turn the ends under and pin.

I top stitch these together, rather than sewing it inside out then struggling to turn them back again.

Here they are all stitched, ready to attach onto the bag part.

Turn the bag part inside out (hopefully you've realised by this point that the beauty of using a pillow case is that it is almost a bag anyway!!) and turn over and iron the top edge down, slipping your handles under in the right place.

Stitch all around near the raw edge. (I cut mine with pinking shears to avoid fraying but you might need to do a double hem here.)

Then turn your bag the right way out and topstitch all around the top, making sure you go over the handles. This will give them extra strength and stop the top of your bag flopping over.

Ta-dah!

(And it folds up all teeny tiny so it's fab for popping in your handbag when out shopping.)

Bunkbed bag

This is something I've been meaning to make for ages (and a girl needs a break from applique occasionally!!)

It is basically a rectangular bag, divided into two pockets and attached to the bunkbed rails with buttons on straps. This is actually the first time I did buttonholes on my sewing machine. Don't know why I thought it might be difficult...

But anyway, now Poppy has a little bunkbed bag, perfect for a bunny and and a book :)

Applique name bag; handmade Thursday

As a child I used to love having things with my name on.

This is for a little girl called Ella, a surprise gift to say thank you.

More handmade Thursdays at www.whitelilygreen.blogspot.com.

Ahoy there!

I made this pirate applique a few weeks ago, but I couldn't blog about it until the birthday boy had opened it! This was very difficult as I am naturally a big show-off!

I do love drawstring bags - useful for practically anything!

The pirate fabric was purchased on ebay, and the green and blue spotty cotton was left over from another birthday project.

The sea and sky came from my scrap box, and the boat hull was cut from an outgrown shirt.

And the teeny fish buttons were a lucky find while rummaging through my box of scrapbooking embellishments.

A perfect present for a special little boy's first birthday :)

The drawstring bag is a wonderful thing.

Quick and simple to make, useful for holding practically anything!

The one on the left is upcycled from some vintage curtains I bought in the charity shop. I might use that to transport my gym stuff.

The right hand one contains felt tips and a drawing pad - another birthday party present. The drawstring is a colourful shoelace.

Sod the housework; I'm sewing!

 Today I made myself a summer skirt from some cotton I bought at Birmingham Rag Market. I didn't follow a pattern but it's turned out quite well. I might shorten it a bit more; it's hard to tell when you're trying something on with socks and boots instead of little flippy flops!

 And the shops are full of patriotism, ready for the Royal Wedding at the end of the month, so I decided to try and make a Union Jack applique.

I used some scrap fabric (some old curtain samples) and cut it with my pinking shears to save too much hemming and wundawebbing.

And I sewed the finished panel onto a bag.

The cream cotton is from a pillowcase I bought in a charity shop, and it's lined with one of my husband's old work shirts, so there's some upcycling for you too!!