Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Sewing: A Little Girl's Bag

Somebody I know turned 4 this weekend and I wanted to make a little something for her. I had lofty dreams that clashed with my limited skills and available time. I tried anyways. Four hours later I had a bag and had learned a few things.


1) Plan ahead and make time for the project. Rushing creates mistakes. I made some really stupid and ugly mistakes I didn't have time to fix because I rushed. The seam attaching the liner is crooked, the flower and leaves could've been attached in a cleaner (and just as secure) way. I should've ironed out the old crease in the strap fabric. (rushing when all you have is a phone camera is especially bad!) I could go on. It was a learning experience.


2) The rotary cutter and big rectangle ruler my mom sent over are AWESOME! I can't cut straight to save my life, especially when I'm rushing. These things saved me big time! That disappearing ink pen is fantabulous as well. Pinking shears make cute leaves. Yay for imports!


3) The web is a great help in my learning-to-sew venture. I used one tutorial to figure out how to create a flat bottomed bag like this. I used another tutorial to figure out how to make and attach a bag liner. Heather Bailey provided me with a tutorial on making a super fast fabric flower that was perfect.


4) Bag liners are not as hard as I thought and hide a multitude of sins. I'm all about liners now!

This project cost me nothing, which was awesome! The bag was made from the same stack of curtain remnants as my sewing machine cozy. It's liner was the liner from the old curtains, perfect coordination! The pink fabric was something I picked up in a free bucket at some yard sale in the States and it came over when we moved here. The buttons and other stuff came from the one-day-I'll-learn-to-sew box as well and I'm glad we brought it!

My 4yr old friend was quite pleased with her gift and I now have a bag template for a few other little people. Little people are easy to please and generally don't notice the seams, so I will continue to practice on such a forgiving audience for now!

5 comments :

My Owl Barn said...

That's a very cute bag. I love that pink flower.

Lucy Loves Fabric said...

CUTE bag!!!! I love the addition of the button, oh I love buttons! It's a great colour scheme too!

Lucy x

Allison said...

Very cute! I just love working with a rotary cutter and it has totally changed the way I sew. Now I wouldn't do anything without it. Have fun with the next one!

Monika said...

It turned out really nice! Thank you for your kind and encouraging comment on my blog! Have a nice day, Monika

Epp said...

Crafting is fun, isn't it?! Such a cute and sunny bag. love the pink/yellow combination.

And you're right - kids don't complain about the quality (unless the thing literally falls apart, which happened to me once with something I made for my niece - the hastily attached crochet flowers just dropped off the bag, one by one). AND there is one more great thing: you can always experiment with colors and materials, and if you create something that is way too colorful for yourself, you can rest assured that you are on the right path! ;-)

I'm adding your link to my blog list on koopdegrace, if you don't mind.

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