The updated Margaret Bag pattern is now available in my shop! This great little bag sews up quickly and would make a fabulous holiday gift.
My sample bags are made with some pretty mid-weight solids and prints from Lotta Jansdotter's Echo collection for Windham.
I'm donating all net profits from the sale of Margaret Bag patterns during the month of December to the Oregon Food Bank, so please don't hesitate to buy a pattern to help this great cause.
Future Margaret Bags?
Some of you may remember my Margaret Bag pattern from way back in 2008. It was a fun project and was popular with readers. Unfortunately, I had a crazy amount of trouble with people distributing and republishing the pattern without permission, which led to my retiring it on a permanent basis.
I've gotten so many requests for the pattern that I've wanted to make it available again and, after much consideration, I've decided that the best way to do it is through my shop.
So, if you'd like to whip up a Margaret Bag or two for holiday gifts, check back here on Monday, when an updated pattern will be available for purchase for $5.00. In the spirit of the season, I plan to donate all net proceeds from Margaret Bag pattern orders received during the month of December to the Oregon Food Bank.
My new zip bag pattern will go on sale Monday, November 7. Between now and then, you can enter to win one of 3 free copies of the pattern by commenting on this post.
One winner will also receive this kit, which includes beautiful Ruby Star Spring fabric, coordinating Kona Solids and everything else (zippers, hardware, interlining, etc.) you'll need to make zip bags.
To enter, comment on this post before midnight Sunday, November 6.
Note: Because of shipping restrictions, the kit giveaway is only open to US residents. Pattern giveaway is open to sewers everywhere.
I have piles of quilts in my house, but surprisingly few other handmade objects. So, today I made a couple of zip bags.
I wanted them to be shaped kind of like Ziploc bags. This little one is about 8" tall.
The bigger one is about 10" tall. Both of them are natural linen with orange scrappy patchwork blocks.
I made little pull tabs for the zippers,
and I used the same fabric for the lining.
I also made an attempt at embroidery on the back.
I made some little drawings of my scissors and used this method to transfer them to the linen. I machine appliqued little pieces of fabric to (hopefully) make it look like the scissors were cutting something.
My embroidery could use a lot of work, but I was happy with the designs.
Today I made three cute little weights for my sewing room. It's a project I've been meaning to do for a while, and I'm glad to finally have it done.
So why do I need tiny weights in my sewing room? Mainly to keep big cuts of fabric from sliding off my table while I'm trying to cut them. I thought about buying a set of pattern weights, but I think these are prettier (with the bonus of matching my sewing room).
The weights are also good for keeping piles of cut fabric or templates in one place if a breeze from an open window keeps blowing them off your work table.
My weights measure about 2.5" x 2.5" and are each weighted with 50 pennies. There's a little tutorial below so, if you have runaway fabric and a change jar, you too can make these simple weights.
Here's what you'll need:
*I used flannel because I had it and thought it would be less bulky than batting. You could probably use batting scraps instead. It may just result in a chunkier-looking weight.
Keeping right side facing up, place the 3.5" x 3.5" fabric square on top of one of the flannel squares. Set aside. (This will be the top of the weight.)
Place the right sides of the 2 fabric rectangles together. Sew together along long (3.5") side, using a half-inch seam allowance, leaving a 1.5" opening for turning, and backstitching each time you start and stop.
Press seam open.
Cut remaining flannel square in half and tuck one half under each side of the pressed-open seam allowance. Pin flannel in place and stitch along both sides of the seam, through all layers, as shown above.
This will be the bottom of the weight. Square up to 3.5" x 3.5" to match the top.
Place the right sides of the top and bottom together, pin, and sew around all four sides, using a half-inch seam allowance and backstitching at each corner.
Trim excess bulk from corners, turn right side out, and press.
Now comes the fun part! Fill the weight with 50 pennies. Keep in mind that pennies are generally pretty dirty. Do what you can to keep them from touching the fabric on the outside of the weight.
Once the pennies are in place, hand stitch the opening closed.
And that's it. Your weight is finished. No more fabric on the floor!
Day 2 in my week of gift sewing was all about bags. In the spirit of Sew, Mama, Sew's Green Grocery Bag Challenge, I made reusable bags to house Christmas gifts for Margaret and her two children (my niece and nephew) Lily and Elliot.
I used the ubiquitous Jane Market Bag pattern from Alicia Paulson. It's an instant pdf download so, if you're looking for a last-minute gift that you can sew, I encourage you to check it out. Check out more great bags in Alicia's Flickr Group. (Note: My bags show some minor revisions to the pattern which I'll point out in this post.)
This is the bag for Margaret's gift. I know that a lot of people are "over' owls, but I continue to love them and was pretty excited to find this home-dec print at Fabric Depot last night. (No manufacturer information on selvage and I didn't check the bolt. Sorry!)
The fabric is kind of burlap-esque with a very loose weave. I increased the seam allowances suggested by the pattern and did some additional seam finishing to try to combat raveling. I also interfaced everything but the pockets (because the pockets aren't lined and the interfacing would have shown) with a lightweight fusible.
If you're looking to make a grocery bag that can be easily folded up (as shown in the pattern) you may not want to add so much interfacing. I was going for more of a project tote and wanted it to be able to stand on its own, hence the interfacing.
The bag lining is a Riley Blake print from Andrea Victoria (which makes me think of how Scarlet O'Hara wanted to name her daughter Eugenia Victoria). You can see in the above photo that I changed up the finishing of the straps and bag top a bit.
I didn't need such big bags for Lily and Elliot, so I made their bags 75% of the pattern size. Even though it's interfaced, Lily's bag is a little more floppy than the others, since I made it with owly Forest Friends Flannel.
I didn't get a great shot of the lining of this bag. It's a Sevenberry cocoa on chocolate dot.
I
Elliot's bag is made with an Echino helicopter print. I took advantage of the wide stripes on that print and cut each part of the bag from a different part of the print.
The lining of this one is a burgundy Quilter's Linen.
And here they are all together! I'm quite happy with the way they turned out.
I used the blocks that I showed on my design wall in the last post to make a set of five nesting zip bags. The smallest bag is 5" square and each subsequent bag is 2" larger (so 5", 7", 9", 11", and 13" square).
The adults in my family decided a few years ago to stop buying gifts for everyone. Instead, we draw names on Thanksgiving and every adult gets a gift for one other adult. I drew my sister, Margaret, this year and this zip bag set is part of her gift.
Here's what they look like nested. The outer layer of all of the bags is lined with batting and quilted in a blocky, allover pattern. I was originally going to do a different style of quilting on each bag, but I quickly decided that the quilting was far too distracting and opted to stick with the same low-key pattern on each bag.
I feel like quilted bags can be kind of funny-looking, but I like that the quilting makes them sturdy and good for carrying things that may need some protection from other stuff in a larger bag.
Here's the 11" bag (and probably my favorite).
And here's the back of that bag. The catalog print (and all of the 60's-inspired cotton-linen prints used in the bags) are Melody Miller's Ruby Star Rising for Kokka.
The 9" bag has little fussy-cut transistor radios.
Here's the radio print on the back.
And here are the 5" and 7" bags.
This is the back of the 7" bag.
And here they are, stacked up, showing the backs.
Here's another shot of all of the bags together. One thing that's frustrating about making quilted bags is that it's hard to make them perfectly square. I'm happy with them though. I think they tend to look better when stuff is in them!
And, since we haven't had a cat sighting in a while, here's a shot of Maeby and George-Michael hanging out and watching me sew!
As part of its Month of Giving, Sew, Mama, Sew! is having a Grocery Bag Sew-Off. You can read more about it here. (There are prizes!)
To get into the spirit of things, I'm giving away three copies of my grocery bag sewing pattern. The pattern is also on sale in my Etsy shop, here.
The lovely photo above was taken by my mother. It's a group of bags she made for her friends last Christmas, using my pattern. She used home-dec weight fabrics for the outside and cotton solids for the lining.
This is also a good pattern for using vintage or thrifted bed sheets, as the poly/cotton blend is both sturdy and lightweight.
The pattern also includes instructions for this "paper" style bag with exterior pockets and a reinforced bottom.
To enter the drawing, just leave a comment on this post. I'll leave comments open through 5:00 pm Pacific.
I was getting tired of the wristlet pattern photos that I was using in my Etsy shop, so I made up some new wristlets and took some new photos yesterday.
Here are the Style A flat zips.
The Style B rounded bags with darts.
And, finally the box-bottomed makeup bags.
Much better! :)
One more thing crossed off the list! Here is the messenger bag I made for my nephew, Elliot's, fourth birthday. I used cotton/linen for the outside and probably shouldn't have, because it's a little wrinkly.
I'm pretty happy with the construction though. It's about 10" x 10" x 2.5". I didn't use a pattern, but just kind of made it up as I went along.
Elliot is a big fan of robots, so I used this Kokka robot fabric, which is also a cotton/linen blend for the lining and details. (I would link to the fabric, but I got it on e-bay and the listing is no longer there.)
The last time I made a messenger bag for a child was for Elliot's older sister, Lily's, Kiki halloween costume and I made the handle way, way too long. This time, I made an adjustable strap and was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to do.
When I was looking for the hardware to make the adjustable strap, I found this reflector that flashes when you push on it. That sounded to me like something a four-year-old would go for, so I bought one and attached it to the front of the bag.
ETA: I found the reflector on the notions wall at Joann, near the plastic buckles. I can't find it on their website.
Just for fun, I added a robot applique to the front. (If you look at the robot fabric showing in the above photo, you can see the robot that this applique is based on.)
Finally, I added a zip pocket to the back. (You can buy purse zippers like this here.)
ETA: Another great zipper source -- this one on Etsy. (Thanks, Sue!)
The pocket is lined with a Michael Miller dot.
Hopefully Elliot will like it!
