First, I want to say thanks to everyone who supported me last week with the "sale". It was nice to get a couple of totes sold and feel like I have some momentum pushing me forward into the upcoming season. I wanted to share some of my newest "makes". The first is a tote bag for my Aunt. She is a cowgirl down to her toes and wanted me to make her a bag that reflected that. Well, home dec fabric doesn't usually come in "horse" (at least not on the bolt at Joann's) so I had to look at the cotton. I actually found this fabric and thought it just screamed my aunt's name. I was worried about the cotton not having enough body for a tote bag, so I used black canvas and just inserted the cotton on a panel inside two strips of plain canvas. I really like how it turned out. It opens up a whole new set of possibilities for designs on tote bags and it's something I have wanted to try for a while so I'm glad I had a reason to finally sit down and do it.
The next project I completed was a new set of cards. I have had these snaps sitting around for about six months and had thought I would use them as sprinkles on a cupcake. It only took months of thinking and not actually doing for me to get around to it. I actually love them and think they go perfectly with the background paper as well. But I'm all about options so I left words on some and not on all. What do you think- good call or should I put words on all of them?
Anyway, it feels good to be making things and keeping the creative juices flowing. If you are interested in anything on my blog, feel free to leave a comment and I would be happy to get you pricing.
I found the pattern for this bag on another blog here. I have wanted to switch up my bags and add some more options so I thought I'd give it a try. I actually really like it, but it is much more complicated than my other bags. I think part of my problem is that I stayed up until 12:30 am making it (a night owl I am NOT!) The other part of the problem is my fabric choices. I made the outside of the bag from outdoor canvas while I made the lining out of muslin. They are the fabrics I normally use for my other totes, so I didn't think anything of it. But there are places I was actually sewing through about 8 layers of canvas (my machine was not happy with me). Then there is elastic on the pockets in the inside of the bag. The muslin doesn't stand a chance against the elastic, so the lining is sort of bunched up on the inside. Not bad for a first attempt, but I will definitely have to make some changes the next go around.
