Hello, and Happy Tuesday, friends! Last week I was supposed to make three project bags, but I only finished two. The pictures shown are bags made from the Nocturna print by Alexander Henry fabrics. The Large 16″ x 16″ bag is pictured by itself, and the smaller 13″ x 13″ bag is pictured with a coordinating accessory bag. I love this print and hopefully I can make myself a handbag out of it before I sew it all up for other people!
The third bag was going to be sewn on my Singer 301 machine to make sure it could handle sewing bags (and make pretty top stitches). I just didn’t have time to get to the third bag, since we also had a family BBQ/Birthday party for my daughter on Saturday. Half the week was spent sewing, the other half was spent party planning and prepping. It was a great day, and I loved visiting with my husband’s family.
Last week I had the apparel bug bite me… HARD. I have avoided sewing apparel for some time, and I think mostly it’s a “my mom did that and I am not my mom” kind of issue for me. I’ve sewn some apparel in the past, but just had a bit of a mental block about diving in and taking it up (especially knits). I’ve joined several custom fabrics groups on Facebook lately and I’ve seen quite a few patterns I REALLY want to make. The Greenstyle Creations Green Tee is a free pattern you can get if you join their Facebook group. This will be the first one I attempt to make. Another pattern I saw others post their finishes of was the Aspen Pullover from Peek A Boo. It was love at first sight; I fell head over heels! The faux trim and color blocking hooked me!
The Greenstyle Creations Centerfield Raglan is also in my sights. I think all of these will be good beginner knits to start with. I also found a link to download a free eBook from Do It Better Yourself entitled The Beginner’s Guide to Sewing Knit Apparel. I read through a bit of it last night and loved the tips I found.
I saw this beautiful teal floral jersey knit at JoAnns on Sunday, so this will be on my cutting table shortly to make into the Greenfield Tee. While I’m hopeful I will get a decent t-shirt made by the time I’m finished, I’m also mentally prepared for this to be a comfy house-only shirt. I know practice makes perfect, and I don’t want to set myself up for disappointment by thinking my first few garments will come out successfully (but bonus if they do!).
Before I get to sewing apparel, I have a gift to make for my husband’s daughter in law. I just realized her birthday was in 10 days and I wanted to make a bag for her. In 2014 I gifted her a bag I made from the 2014 Bag of the Month Club. It was a pattern from Sew Sweetness called Bye Bye Love (affiliate link). She loved that bag and literally wore it out! (The bag pictured above was made when I was blogging as “Red’s Needles & Threads”.) I found this gorgeous mottled chocolate print with metallic rose gold swirls at JoAnns. Then I spied this beautiful ivory bird print that I knew would be perfect for the lining. I’m going to make the accent on the bottom and the zipper tabs and handle out of brown glitter vinyl. I ordered some rose gold hardware from Sallie Tomato and was thrilled to find they sold a 5mm brown zipper tape with rose gold teeth as well! Hopefully I will receive the order before the end of the week.
I also ordered some of this amazing Alexander Henry A Ghastlie Notion print from Fabric.com through Amazon’s website (affiliate link). I need to make curtains for the craft room, and this fabric could not be more perfect. The light colored background will be great against all of the wood in the room, but the pop of gold in the notions is a fantastic match with the wood. And because I like color, the pops of fuchsia are beyond amazing! I can’t wait to get these done, but first the Bye Bye Love Bag needs to be made!
Well, that’s a whole lot of squirrels I got distracted with this week! Project bags, buying fabrics to make a handbag, a tee shirt, and curtains! So much to sew, and so little time! This week my only goal is to do as much prep work and sewing on the Bye Bye Love bag as I can before the hardware gets here. My daughter is leaving us on Sunday to move to her dad’s in CA, and we have quite a busy week ahead cramming in as much fun as we can before she departs. So I’m not pushing too hard to get all of the sewing done. I may get the tee-shirt cut out as well, so I’ll put that on my list but I won’t beat myself up if it doesn’t get done.
This week’s To-Do list:
- Sewing: Cut out, interface and start sewing Bye Bye Love bag
- Sewing: If there’s time, cut out Greenstyle Creations Green Tee
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Stitch ALL The Things 
I sometimes think I want to make a shirt or two but yet when I have tried to they never look good to me and look to “homemade” if you know what I mean and I don’t wear them!
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Hi Christine! HAHA – I am laughing about the squirrels that distracted you. I can see why you are jonesing to make those apparel items. I just love that Greenleef t-shirt. I know you’ll share the finished project and I look forward to that. ~smile~ Roseanne
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You’ve got some nice squirrels going there! Good luck on the garment sewing. My DIL has asked for help with making a summer sundress, so looks like I’ll be doing a garment or two myself. Enjoy these last few days with your daughter before she heads off to CA!
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