Fashion Project Bag

My daughter had her eyes on a bag that I use for my knitting, to take as a project bag for college. But I didn't want to let it go, so said I would make her one of her own. Looking back at my blog it is hard to believe that I made the original bag over 10 years ago. I guess it is doing fairly well, as I use it a lot.

I was hoping to find some heavy weight denim for the new bag, but my local sewing shop didn't have this, but did have two lovely pieces of linen in the remnants bin, which were the perfect size. Like the last time I made this bag the sewing was not too difficult, and the biggest job was ironing interfacing on to every piece. I have now realised what the term "bagging out" means.

Knowing it is off to fashion college, I took a lot of care with my sewing. This time I have got the pockets the right way round, so this time it is a reversible bag. Photo below just to prove this. Last time my cat decided to have a nap in the bag, so I wonder if she will do the same with this one before I mail it off.

 

Lots of other lovely patterns in this book, so I may have a go at another style of bag.

Knitting Orders

I have been doing some knitting to order. I don't do very much of this, as sometimes it is hard to judge how long the knitting is going to take. But having intended to put some of my more popular knits in my Etsy Shop for Christmas, as usual I somehow didn't get myself organised, so was really pleased to get a few unprompted orders.
 

So as you can see my classic 2CV is driving off to someone named Pam

Some of the knits have been for a lady I met through one of the craft fairs that I did several years ago.

This is my Cherry Berry, but knitted in a smaller size for a toddler ...

... with matching mittens

and some baby bee shoes and shoe bag ...

... and finally my blueberry clutch bag, in sophisticated black, with a tiny silver fleck, and tartan silk lining.

I do like revisiting my own patterns from time to time. It is sort of reassuring to see that I can produce the same item. 

Also fun for me if someone wants a slight variation on one of my patterns, which is what I am working on at the moment ...

How to Sew a Small Drawstring Bag

A lot of the things I make for my Etsy Shop come in a drawstring bag: my baby shoes, my fairies and mermaids, my butterfly sets and shell sets. The bags are often not particularly fancy, but I think of them as part of the packaging. And if you have bought something special it is really nice to have a little bag to keep it in.

I have tried quite a few ways to sew a drawstring bag, and am going to show you what I think is the easiest method. If you are making a larger drawstring bag which you are going to use a lot I think it is better to have two strings that you pull at each side, and perhaps to sew french seams, but this is my tried and tested method for a small, simple bag.

First cut out your material. I am not going to give exact measurements for this, as it depends how big you want your bag to be. An easy way to calculate what you need is work out twice the width you want your bag, and add 2 x 0.5cm for side seams. For the length just work out how tall the bag will be, and add 2cm for the top cord channel and 0.5cm for the bottom seam allowance.

In my photographs I am using dupion silk, and have used iron-on facing which I find makes it easier to work with. For a small bag I recommend you use a fine material like cotton or silk.

Pin your material at both sides at the top of your bag as in the photo below. Sew this small tapered seam as close to the edge as you can with a short stitch.

Next fold the material at the top of your bag to make a channel for the drawstring. Sew this with a longer stitch, as this stitching will show as topstitching on the outside of your bag.
 

Then fold your bag in half with the right side on the inside, and with a shorter stitch sew across the bottom and up the side, stopping just before you reach your drawstring channel. Allow 0.5 cm for the seam, but keep in a straight line as you stitch up the side of the bag so you stop sewing exactly at the edge of your material and just below your cord channel. Trim the corners at the bottom diagonally, which will give a neater look when you turn your bag right side out.

Turn your bag right side out. Use a pin to turn the corners out neatly. Then cut a length of cord or ribbon for the drawstring. Make your drawstring at least four times the width of your bag. There is nothing worse than a too short drawstring. Attach a safety pin to one end, and thread this through the string channel.

Tie the ends of your ribbon together, and there you have it a simple drawstring bag to put something special in.

And if you want something a bit fancier you could experiment with your fabric choice, decorate your bag with a little embroidery, or even fasten a bead on the end of the drawstring. Now you just have to decide on something cute to put in your bag.
 

The Blueberry Clutch Bag

I am not very good at evening bags. I tend to have just one handbag that is large enough to contain absolutely everything I could possible need, and that goes everywhere with me. So when it comes to special events, I have often put thought into dress and shoes, only to find I have totally forgotten about a bag, and have to secrete the few things I might need for the night in my husband's pockets. 

So that is what put me in mind to design an evening bag. But the other thing was this lovely sparkly wool. I can't even tell you the maker, as I found it in a bargain bucket, and just loved its deep blue and sparkle.

This is my second design, as I started off doing something similar but with cables running down both sides. But in the end I undid this, as I thought the wool was pretty enough in itself, and didn't need too much fancy stitching.
 

The pattern explains how to sew in a lining. This helps the bag keep its shape, and I think the glimpse of a beautiful lining fabric also makes the bag much more glamorous. My lining is a beautiful piece of Thai silk. If you want to knit a larger bag the pattern also explains very simply how you can do this.

Lady Gaga - Tiny Icon

After Little One said my Cherry Fairies reminded her of Lady Gaga, it put in my mind to have a go at making the lady herself. I have had great fun with her. Her phone hat is sewn in place.

I have thought of a few other fashion or pop icons that I might have a go at making. If you have any suggestions for other Tiny Icons I would welcome them. Some ideas I have had are: Marilyn, Madonna, or Audrey. As you can see I am not very up-to-date. Lady Gaga is heading off to Etsy.

I have made her a little velvet bag to live in, with her name hand embroidered. I thought the deep burgundy suited her. I am going to put a tutorial on shortly on how to make these simple little bags. I've only made tiny ones for my toys, but guess larger bags could be useful for all sorts of things.

Little Seaside Bags

Firstly thank you for all the kind comments on my spiral shell pattern. 

 And now another mysterious set of little bags.

Inside them are some sets of my beach creatures. They could be used as an educational toy, but are also very decorative. A little reminder of happy days at the seaside.

The bags are hand dyed. (You may remember my recent tie dying project which I was being a bit secretive about.) They are a heavy duty natural cotton, with a silk pull cord. Each one contains an individual set of hand-knitted and embroidered beach creatures: a spiral shell, scallop shell and starfish.

The sets are for sale in my Etsy shop. (Apologies that I keep plugging my shop, but I am really trying to make a go of it.) As I have made quite a mixture of colours, you can request a specific set, or just leave it to chance. I will try to accommodate any colour requests.

Set A

Set B

Set C

Also I just thought I would mention that I have set up a Ginx Craft Facebook page, so if you are a Facebook user you can follow me there. You just have to like the page. It is at https://www.facebook.com/GinxCraft  and there is an icon to link there in my sidebar on the right. I am still getting to grips with the technology, but I will link all my blog posts there. At the moment I have just put on some of my favourite photos, as it was looking a bit empty.

Watermelon Bag

I've finished sewing another bag, which I have given to my sister. I was a bit worried that she might not like the fabric, as it is a bit out there, but she seemed to really love it. This is the larger version of the Teardrop Bag, from the Amy Butler book. I lined it with a lime green fabric. The velvet that I used for the strap was really quite thick to sew through, and only just worked. I prefer the size of this bag, and because the top is wider I found it easier to sew.

Detail of the inside pocket and magnetic fastener

The shop where I bought the watermelon material had run out of magnetic fasteners. I usually pay 99p, but when I went to the only other haberdashery in town (in our large department store) one fastener would have cost £4.95. (So much for "never knowingly undersold"!) I had a bit of a fit, as it just seemed too much. So I had a look online, and found a really good site which sold them at a fraction of the price (£4.80 for 10 and even cheaper if you buy more), with no postage and next day delivery. I may never need to leave the house again.) The site I bought them from was http://www.bag-clasps.co.uk/Home_Page.php. I  thought they were a bit nicer than what I have bought elsewhere, as they have a slightly brassy, antique finish.

I am making these bags at the moment as gifts for my friends and relations, but also as a way to teach myself some bag making techniques.  Knitting is still really my thing. But eventually I do want to sell a few bags on my craft stall, but as so many bag patterns seem to forbid their sale, I have decided that the best way to avoid any problems is to design my own bags. So I wanted to ask other more experienced bag-makers out there a few questions: Do you design your own bags? Are there any patterns out there that do give permission for sales on a small scale? I would be really grateful for any advice, as it all seems a bit of a minefield.

A Philosophical Bag and An African Skirt

The fabric of my latest bag made me think of the quote about the tree falling in a forest, with no one there to hear it. If no one hears it, has it made a sound?

This is my second attempt at making a bag from Amy Butler's book. It is the small teardrop bag. Again I found the cutting out and interfacing the fabric hard work, but really enjoyed the sewing. I love the shape of this bag, and its pleat, but I think the larger version might make a more practical bag.  I like a bag with room to keep a purse, book and numerous other things. My first go at fitting a magnetic clip, which was fairly simple.

Although I have a big box full of fabrics, I found it very hard to find two that would go together well. A lot are things like old curtains, or bits left over from other projects. So I cheated a bit and used the edge of this African waxed cotton for the handle and top band, and the main part of the fabric for the bag.  It is a rather busy pattern, which I am not sure would be to everyone's taste, but I think is rather unique and beautiful.

I love this fabric, which I bought a long time ago in Shepherd's Bush for a skirt project when I was doing my City and Guild. I had to buy a lot more fabric that I really needed as the picture on the wrap around sections of the skirt had to match exactly. 

So here is my African-inspired skirt. I am rather pleased that over 13 years and 2 children later it still (just about if I hold my breath) fits. It was the first garment I made on my fashion course, and my first go at designing a garment and blocking a pattern. The regulations of the course meant all the garments had to have a theme, which led to a few rather unusual outfits.

It has one major design flaw, that it is not comfortable to sit down in. You end up with a beading imprint! So it languishes at the back of my wardrobe, but it took so much work, especially the beading which was all done by hand, that I cannot bear to part with it. And I have made so many different things from the fabric that I had left over, which is really lovely to work with.

A Very Very Big Bag

I've been trying to limit the knitting, and do a bit of sewing. As well as my pile of wool, I also have an enormous stash of material, which really needs to be made into something.

My sister gave me (at my request) this book of bag patterns:

At the back is a wallet containing all the patterns. So I thought I would have a first go with what looked like one of the simpler bags: the Reversible Shopper. 

And here is the final product.

The material was a lovely Liberty print, which I bought years ago thinking I might make cushions from it.  I would say that the hardest part seemed to be the cutting out - being reversible there really were a lot of pieces, and they all needed interfacing. I have a little stock of interfacing, but that all got very quickly used up, and I had to go and buy some more. After this the actual sewing of the bag was a bit of breeze.  I did make the mistake of putting both my pockets on the outside, when in fact one is made to be on the inside, so the bag is truly reversible. 

My only problem is I'm not quite sure what to do with my bag now. It really seems too nice to use as a grocery shopping bag. 

I had envisaged keeping my current knitting projects in it. At the moment I keep my knitting in a rather scruffy paper bag. But as all my projects are quite small I think they would be a bit lost in this big bag. It is really really big.

I may have a go making a scaled down version of this for a knitting bag. I am toying with the idea of keeping my stash of wool in it, but at present I have my wool in shallow baskets, which I really like, as it is really easy to find a particular ball without rummaging and unwinding them ...... 

But I guess you could keep anything (or anyone) in a really big bag like this.

I may post some more of my attempts to make bags  .... 

Also "hi" to everyone at Handmade Harbour's Handmade Monday. Have to say you are one of the friendliest link groups I have come across.