The Phoebe Bag

 Completely in love with this bag and FREE pattern, thanks again to ArtsyCraftyBabe.  You HAVE to make this!!  The pattern is clear and easy to follow without too many instructions to bog you down.  I used the fusible fleece as is a suggested variation to make the bag have a firmer form.  I also love the Michael Miller Peacock Parade fabric that I just bought from Fabric.com.  It's whimsy, but versatile.  The colors are vibrant, but well grounded by the charcoal black background.  BTW, they are a great company.    I searched coupons on the web for them and got $20 off my order - and the prices were already great.  Plus they have free returns if I don't like something!  

So here you go:  The Phoebe Bag by Rebeka Lambert at ArtsyCraftyBabe!!  

The Back

The Back again :-)

Apply-your-heart kitchen towels!

 More scraps of my favorite plaids!  These are dollar-store tea towels with a little "heart" put into them! Who doesn't love hearts?  Just cut out your shape, apply heat and bond, and use some embroidery floss to seal the deal!  The basic idea came from ArtsyCraftyBabe and there are plenty of shapes you can use where I got mine Here.  This is such a great house-warming or holiday gift!  Just change up the color and style!!

I just used a simple stitch that also looks fine on the back...

The left one here is not stitched yet, the right one is done!!

All ready to be a little present for someone special!

Pretty-Pleats Bag

Some fall suiting material at my local fabric store inspired me to make a bag; and I was determined it should have some pleats!  I found an online free pattern that I really liked, and voila!!  Here are some pictures of my results, as well as a link to the pattern.  Three coordinating materials made it fun for me, and I used fusible fleece to line both the outer part and the lining to make a more firm bag, as well as adding a homemade fabric flower and button.  There is a small cosmetic/travel bag in the last couple of photos that I also made from my corduroy shower curtain and lined with extra plaid.  If anyone is interested in tutorials on any of the flower I used, just let me know and I'll add those links as well!  These were so much FUN!  And

The link:

The Pleated Purse from My Spare Time

Shower Curtain Re-Purposed to Baby Tote Bag

So the inspiration for this bag also came from Simply Sublime bags by Judi Kahn, however I had to make a few changes to achieve what I was really going for...  This is actually a corduroy shower curtain that I found on clearance at TJ Maxx for $7.00.  The material is heavy and has a vinyl type backing making it very durable, but also a little hard to sew.  But you can't beat the price on that!  Plus those huge gorgeous grommets were already in place.  I followed the basic instructions from Judi's book on making a shower curtain tote, and then added a lining out of modern baby fabric, stitching the lining in so that the outer ribbon was also attached by and hiding the top-stiching.  The bird applique is a free pattern that I found on the web at one of my favorite blogs LolaNovablog Here. I just added some thin fusible interfacing to give the applique stability and then hand-embroidered the birds on, adding buttons for the eyes.  That is where the thickness of the fabric almost caused me to cry...My fingers were sooo sore afterwards!!  Anyway, it turned out great, and my friend loves it, so I'm happy!

The First Bags

These are my first few attempts at making functional creativity.  The original design patterns are from the book Simply Sublime Bags - 30 Low-sew, No-sew Projects by Jodi Kahn.  Let me just say, I LOVE this book.  If you are interested, Amazon sells it for a great price and you can even look through the book online.  One of my problems, though, is that I can almost never make something without changing something.  So, I followed the basic ideas provided in the book and then ended up finding that with a basic pattern the option for creativity is endless...  That's when I got hooked on sewing.  More pics to come!!

The top bag is made of flowered corduroy that I sewed buttons on to create dimension.  The bottom of the bag is a quilted brown outdoor canvas, and I just used fabric-tac to adhere the polka-dot ribbon over the seam.  The inside is lined with a canvas/type leather I bought out our local thrift store, and the seams inside are covered with red duct tape, as is used frequently in the above mentioned book.  I love how the bag looks, but I'm not perfectly happy with the integrity.  I know what I'll do better next time, though!!  :-)  That is what is sew-addictive!!

This is the book!!