A holiday sewing distraction

This weekend I am heading off to the States for a couple of weeks. I'm meeting my parents in Hawaii and then heading to LA to see my best girlfriend of all time who moved there a few years back. I'm super excited to see the three people I love most in the world all in the space of just a few weeks, and to sneak in a cheeky second summer.

 I promised myself I wouldn't leave packing until the last minute but of course that's been an epic fail. I'm sitting here with only one day to go and absolutely nothing is packed or organised. I keep telling myself that it''s not a big deal since everyone tells me the shopping in the States is amazing so a half empty case is probably a good thing.

So what have I been doing instead of packing? Sewing of course. Apart from the Sorbetto tops I made for my Mum, I also decided a new tote bag would be essential. My idea was to make something that scrunched up when it wasn't needed but would go with most of my limited wardrobe options. I didn't use a pattern so this just evolved as the evening wore on. It started off by making 18 different squares from my favourite retro fabrics.

Initially I thought I'd just stitch two sets of nine squares together and that would form the front and back of the bag - simple! After I made the two panels however it became clear that it would definitely not be big enough to hold all the junk I need to cart about on holiday. To fix this I decided to add a gusset in a lime wool mix fabric. What followed at this point was a whole lot of swear words and unpicking but eventually the gusset was in and the corners, although not perfect, were not too bad.

Front

Back

To finish the bag off I added a lining, made the same way as the outer with a gusset (cue more swearing), and included a two-compartment pocket. Lastly I made two handles from an obliging pillow case and around midnight it was finally finished.

 Now if only I could put this sort of effort into the packing! Bon voyage my friends, see you in a few weeks.

Wishing I could look this chic after a full day's travel.

A quick messenger bag

Hello fellow bissums,

sorry for the radio silence. What with it being a glorious Scottish summer and all I've been out in the garden watching nature do it's thing. I've also been sunning myself in Venice for a week and nourished my creative soul and satisfied my desire to eat gelato for seven days on the run.

Anyway while I was in the Veneto, it struck me that the tea towel is surely one of the most ubiquitous of holiday souvenirs. It's a daily reminder of cheery times spent with people you love in (hopefully) unforgettable destinations. But eventually, the poor wee thing gets washed out and stained with lord knows what in the quest to keep your kitchen tidy. What if there was a way to combine everything that is functional and practical about the humble tea towel, with a stylish reminder of good times had on holidays I pondered?

I've had a little habit going for a while now of sorting through piles of tea towels in thrift shops and choosing the best ones to take home to add to my fabric family. I like to take a moment and imagine who purchased each one and how they felt about being in their chosen destination. Or perhaps it was an unwanted gift for someone who wasn't lucky enough to be at said destination. In any case my collection has grown steadily. I was most thrilled to find one of the old school calendar tea towels from the year I was born and some from the part of Scotland in which I now reside. I chose however, for this remake, to use a gorgeous tea towel from New Zealand, my home country which had a pretty collection of stamp images and a map of NZ. I should have taken a snap of her in her original glory before snipping her up.

Handy outside pocket on the back of the bag

Another handy little inside pocket

Anyway, after a little googling I came across a fab tutorial for a simple messenger bag and thought it was the very thing for my project. I used an old pillow case for the lining and a salvaged piece of navy corduroy for the main fabric. It was quick and simple to stitch up, no fastenings or zippers here. Next time you're thinking about ditching a pile of old tea towels think again and get thee to thy sewing machine pronto (like the way I casually dropped in some Italian lingo there?)!

xx

A crafty Sunday

An obliging curtain offered up the fabric for today's little experiment, yet another handbag (you can never have too many). Keep your eyes peeled for handles in thrift shops or you can find a good range on eBay too. I hope you're all finding new and interesting ways to nurture your crafting souls.
x

It's not actually uneven at the bottom, just poorly positioned by me.

A handy dandy pocket is essential for every good bag.

Duvet cover bag

On waking this morning the sun was shining and the sky was blue (this is worthy of mention given the time of year and the fact that it's Scotland) and I was tempted to spend the day pottering in the garden, very tempted in fact. But no, I said! I have crafting purpose today which must be fulfilled - but how?

Lately my hands have been busy crocheting. Since I discovered this craft relatively recently I haven't been able to get enough of it, as my crafting buddy Marion can attest to. Today I wanted to get back to my first love though - sewing. Since making my first 'proper' bag in Design and Technology class in high school (which I still use by the way) I've always loved the craft of sewing. There's something about the instantaneous nature of it which appeals to the easily distracted part of my nature. I like being able to see results quickly and sewing certainly gives you that, even if you end up spending just as much time unpicking what you've just sewn (as I have more times than I care to mention).

Anyway today I felt like making a bag and a quick Google search led me to a tutorial written by a lovely lady named Jodie on her blog Ric Rac. The thing that caught my eye about this was the fact that it said the bag could be made in only one hour, again appealing to the more impatient amongst us. Now I've got to be honest, this did take me more than hour but part of that was definitely due to have several ball-throwing breaks with my beloved pooch, Cleo.

Anyway I've got to admit I'm reasonably chuffed with the results. This is the first time I've included magnetic snap closures (note the cute heart shape) on an item and now there's no looking back - they're going on everything now whether it needs it or not!

A pocket on the inside, just the right size for phone or several lipsticks.

My ingredients for the bag included flower power fabric courtesy of an old duvet cover and an obliging doily from my extensive collection. Onwards and upwards I say, I'm off to get cracking on the next one!