Big City Bags Giveaway

I recently won a copy of Sara Lawson's first book Big City Bags in Sew Mama Sew's Sew Sweetness bag contest. Since I already purchased my copy a while back, I'm giving away my second copy. For those of you unfamiliar with this book and Sara's patterns, this book is amazing!

I've already made three bags from this book and am trying to decide which one to do next.

Fireside Bowl Bag

Piccadilly Circus Bag

Lucky Denver Mint Bag

There is a little bit of everything in this book, even if you have never sewn a bag, this book will walk you through some of the details and explains various bag making techniques.

To make it easy to win your copy, use the rafflecopter widget below. This giveaway will be open until Monday February 3rd at 12:00 a.m. EST. The winner will be announced on the blog on Monday.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Fireside Bowl Bag

I am so extraordinarily done with this winter. Luckily, I am feeling better but now I'm on a snow day, go figure. At least I can say I've finally completed a project this year!

I'm slowly working my way through Big City Bags by Sara Lawson, and the Fireside Bowl bag is one of my favorite patterns in the book. I've been swooning over these bowler style bags popping up, I was glad to see one in this book,as it saves me from having to buy another pattern and Sara's patterns are so easy to follow.

As is apparent from some of my other bags I love red and blues together, it reminds me of some mod kitchen out of the sixties and these colors seemed perfect for this bag.

It was a pretty easy sew, the only somewhat challenging part was getting the front and backs attached to the zipper panel evenly (I think I use a gazillion pins when lining up curved pieces. It did require some hand sewing on the interior,  which I'm really not great at, but I think I did ok. 

I did decide to leave off the accent pieces  the pattern calls for, I think it's a beautiful touch but I wanted to keep it to two fabrics. I almost added some piping it but decided against it. 

It's actually a really roomy bag, and I was surprised by how large it is (this is what happens when you don't read the whole pattern, huh?).

Now that I'm snowbound today, I need to decide on my next project. Maybe I'll get up the courage to cut into some of those lovely fq bundles I have! 

Stay warm! 

Fabric and the Bubonic Plague of 2014

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I haven't as much as touched my sewing machine yet this year. It's not for lack of inspiration, or lack of fabric. You see, I think I have contracted the Bubonic plague, or a really nasty sinus infection but either way I don't want to do anything but sit in PJs and feel sorry for myself.

It's a shame really, I've had so many goodies in my mail box over the past week.

So many possibilities, so little energy. I hope it comes back soon, there is still more coming! So many amazing fabrics, I can't wait to cut into them.

A very exciting start to the new year!

I haven't shared the exciting news yet, as I shared before, two of my bags making the top 15 in the Sew Mama Sew Sew Sweetness bag contest. I'm still in complete shock over the outcome... My Lapin Noir won second place and my Piccadilly Circus bag was also a runner up!

I was so excited that not one, but two of my bags made the top fifteen but I really never expected to win anything...there were so, so many gorgeous bags in the contest. 

Thank you to everyone that voted and for all the kind words, I'm really honored that my bags made it! It also means that I will have lots of happy mail soon. 

Considering this god awful weather...below ZERO, coming this week it will give me something to look forward to :)

 

January Bag of the month -- Bye Bye Love Bag

Have you heard about the bag of the month club? It's a fantastic pattern package that releases one new pattern per month by six of the best bag designers out there! It's a great deal for anyone who loves to make bags!

This was the January bag of the month: the Bye Bye Love Bag by Sew Sweetness. It's a crazy roomy tote, that is perfect for toting books or your gym gear. It has two front pockets perfect for your cell phone and lip gloss, an exterior zip pocket on the back and two huge divided slip pockets in the interior. 

I was lucky enough to test the pattern and get it early enough to make a Christmas gift with it. The pattern is fantastic, and as all Sara's patterns it was a breeze to follow and the construction was cake. The only modification I made was leaving the straps flat. The pattern calls for rolled straps but as this is such a big tote and I knew the reciepient carts around as much as she can stuff in a bag, I thought it might be more comfortable to leave them flat.

However, as easy as the pattern is, my machine and I did not get along so well during the making of this bag. I had tension issues and lets just say that I think I'd rather gouge out my eye balls with a seam ripper than pick out double stitched seams from chambray (the accent pieces of the bag) again.

Luckily, despite the protests from my machine I got this one finished in time for Christmas and kept the cursing to a minimum ( just barely).  

Thankfully, my tension issues have resolved magically. They only ever seem to happen when I have a strict timeframe to work with ( like gift giving occasions ). Let's hope she behaves herself for the rest of the year ! 

Happy New Year!!