…at least in my crafting room, because outside it’s still pretty cold. I finally started my spring quilt, and so far I have 15 blocks done and only 10 more to go. I’m not entirely sure about the sashing though. First I thought white cotton, then green cotton and now I switched to linen because I think I’d like a bit more variation texturewise. So going through the beige, white and green linen in the store my eyes fell on a chocolate brown one, and there goes my spring concept. I guess I’m not the light and airy girl after all. Here is a sneak peak of the blocks without the sashing, I think I can show you some finished blocks on Monday.

I have a lot of addictions, crafting books and bags being two of them. So of course I was more than thrilled when I found Sew What! Bags. 18 pattern free Projects you can customize to fit your needs and had to pre-order it right away. 

The book starts with the basics: sewing tools, needles and pins, fabric terminology, basic sewing techniques and all the other basics you get in most sewing books. After that, there are 5 project chapters: Warm-up Projects, Totes, Drawstring Sacks, Messenger Bags and Organizers. Warm-up Projects are really simple projects like eyeglass cases and zippered pouches, nothing special or fancy here, which is ok for an warm up.

Totes, Drawstring Sacks and Messenger Bags are just that: the standard version with not much variation. If you never made one of these before, this book is quite helpful, but if you’ve already sewn one of those there’s nothing new here. 

There a some interesting projects in the Organizer section, like the tool apron, the artist’s roll or door organizer but you can easily find pattern for these on the web.

Even though I’m quite new to sewing, I’ve made a few bags in the last 5 month and I really was hoping for some new techniques, like drawing your own pattern using pleats and such. But all bags in this book use a rectangular shape so you don’t even learn how to use darts on a curved bottom (which is a basic IMO). The other thing that really annoyed me was the part about interfacing. Or should I say the non existing part? It was only 4 sentences saying: you don’t need interfacing for the projects in this book, if you choose to use some just follow the manufactures instruction. 

I my opinion, interfacing is one of the most important parts in bag making and I truly think it could make or break your project. I’m still struggling sometimes to find the right type or the right combination of interfacing and fabric.

To sum things up: If you are new to bag sewing or sewing in general, this book could be great for you, because you learn all the basic techniques and how to change the projects to suit your style. If you already made a bag or two you can save our money and buy some pretty fabric instead :)

If you are still interessted in the book, you can check out some sample projects here. I really wish the site would have been online before I ordered it. 

In either case, be sure to check out this great post about interfacing over at U-Handbag Blog.

Flowers and Slippers? I know this seems like an odd choice, but I figured why not. We all could use some flowers and our lives and why not sew them on to some slippers? 

Flower Cluster - make a beautiful bouquet for a belt, brooch or  hair piece

Flower Brooch - a cute Yo-Yo flower brooch

Fabric Flowers - another pretty version with scalloped edges

Scrappy Flowers I - use your scraps to make these pretty flowers

Scrappy Flowers II - yet another way to use your scraps

Summer Slippers - make your own flip-flops

House Slippers - cozy felt slippers

Recycled Slippers - use your old  jeans to make these house slippers

Spa Slippers - we could all use more time at a spa :)

Tie on Slippers - not really practical, but oh so stylish

A few weeks ago I stumbled over this on flickr, and after I found out that these were pendants in the making, I just had to order one the minute I saw the finished product. Two weeks ago it arrived and it was so pretty I couldn’t wait to wear it, and since I was in the office and didn’t have a necklace I just used the ribbon around the box. Well, 4 hours later I got home and it was gone. Somehow it fell off and I was soooo angry with myself you wouldn’t believe. I checked my office, called my yoga teacher - nothing. You should have seen me trying to kick my own butt. I really fell in love with it so I ordered another one, and here it is:

I just love the whole idea of it: the rolled card stock and that she used her drawings as an inspiration. Check out nfall2rt’s Etsy shop and her blog for even more prettiness.

My late birthday presents arrived! I told Tony that I wanted some fabric and that it was up to him to chose it. I was really excited about it, because I had no idea what his taste in fabric was or what he thinks I would like. It could have gone really wrong, but now I can safely say: he’s a great fabric shopper! So yay for Tony, he’s a great catch and he’s all mine :D

Here’s the big stack of fabric I got (only one is still missing) and I’ll show you the single prints over the next few Sunday Stashes, starting today with Alexander Henry, Nicole’s Print, Midnight Snack.

Can you see the bag in this print? I sure do, together with a chocolate brown cord and a curved bottom, yum. I really should stop making bags, but I can’t. Maybe I should start a Bag Making Addicts Anonymous group, who’s in with me? 

Want to show off your Stash? Join the Sunday Stash at 1/4 of an inch.

Wanna see more stash? Check out the Sunday Stash flickr group.

I managed to finished the Amy Butler Weekender Travel Bag and let me tell you,  this is no fun project. As much as I enjoy making bags, this one was just no fun at all. Don’t get me wrong, I really love the bag and all but the process of making it was just plain annoying. But let’s start with the good stuff. (Click on the pictures for a bigger version)

The Good:
The pattern is well written and Amy explains you nearly everything at least once and for us metric people there is a conversion chart which is very helpful. The Bag has an awesome size and shape and I can see myself use it a lot! It’s definitely big enough for a weekend trip or your sewing machine plus fabric and notions. But why bag doesn’t have some pockets on the inside is beyond me. 

The Bad:
The cutting. It took me 3,5 hours to cut everything. I had to cut 22 pieces for the outer shell, including the facing, plus 11 for the lining because I added some pockets. And then I had to cut some more for the cording. Did I mention I hate cutting? I’m not crazy about the lining, and that you have to sew it on by hand and  I really think it could use some interfacing and should be a tad smaller to fit more tightly. I also would have been thankful for a suggestion what to do with a all the bulk from the seam allowance, because it really gets in your way. 

The Ugly:
The sewing. Because of the interfacing it was incredibly difficult to sew the layers together, and I didn’t even use Timtex, I can’t imaging using an even stiffer facing than I did which was Freudenberg T290. And it doesn’t help that 90% of this project is sewn with a zipper foot.  The hardest part was sewing around the corners and I really wish there would have been a more useful tip than “go slowly” in the pattern. Try forcing your fabric with 6 layers + interfacing + another 2 layers of seam allowance into a nice curve. Good luck with that. Another thing that really annoyed me was that the bottom panel is too long, so I had to rip the whole thing off, shortened the bottom panel 1 cm and sew it on again.

Final Notes: 
The bag is HUGE so I added a zipper pocket and another two pockets on the inside, I highly recommend this to keep your things organized. I also made the handles longer and wider and padded them with some fleece, instead of interfacing,  so the bag is more comfortable to wear on the shoulder. For reference: the pattern tells you to cut the handles 3″x48″ and I cut them 4,75″x57″. 

There is no such thing like a 30″ non seperating zipper, so don’t bother looking for it and just buy a longer one and sew a zipper stop. 

Binder clips are your friends unless you want to bent all of your pins. It’s impossible to pin all the layers together and I was really thankful for the binder clip tip in the pattern, so go and get some.

I added 6 bag feet on the bottom, just because I never used them before and I think they’re cute :)

I used fusible tape to close up my bias strips like suggested here, it worked like a charm and I had one less seam to worry about. For more tips on the Weekender check here, here, here and here.

I know this read like a long rant, but in the end it was worth it because the bag is really great. I just wish it would be more fun to make it, because I really want another one but the thought of going through it all over again makes me cringe. But hey, give me a couple of months and I’m probably crazy enough to make another one :)