Emblem Duffel Bag

Hello and Happy Friday!!  I'm so glad it's the weekend and I'm excited to share my Emblem Duffel Bag that I had the opportunity to test for Sara of Sew Sweetness. Sara's latest pattern is a great unisex pattern that could work as an overnight bag, a gym bag or even just a "I need to carry a crap ton of stuff around" bag.

The exterior is a fun and bold metallic Echino print that I adore (hello silver foxes!). the handles were made with silver glitter mirror canvas from Mikri World Supplies (LOVE that stuff!!!!) and I made my first purchase from Zipper Island for the hot pink zipper. I ordered on a Friday and got my zips the following Monday! I keep a lot of zips on hand but this one calls for a 30" zip, other than having to order the long zips, the other hardware most bag ladies will have on hand. 

I love the hot pink zipper against the mustard Echino!

This bag was a relatively quick and straightforward sew, and with the exception of adding the tabs on the side for the shoulder strap. That part wasn't overly complicated but it's fair to say that my machine and I weren't seeing eye to eye about how to stitch those tabs down. There might have been a few unpleasantries exchanged along with several broken needles....but that was my fault and not a reflection of the pattern. There are pattern pieces that indicate that you cut away from your stabilizers and interfacings in these areas to avoid just such difficulties, but let's just say that I **might** have overlooked that part until a bit later....oops. 

I super love the boxy shape of this duffle, it's not round like a lot of duffel patterns out there. It also makes for pretty quick construction. If you can make a zip pouch, you can totally  make this bag!

Head over to Sew Sweetness to get your copy of the Emblem Duffel Bag! You could sew up a few over the summer for when fall sports start, or make yourself a new bag. 

Oslo Craft Bag

I've been working on a lot of secret sewing lately, and I'm so glad that I can finally share one of the projects I worked on a while back. This is the Oslo Craft Bag, written by Sew Sweetness for Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine. This bag is not available as a stand alone pattern, so you'll need to grab a copy of issue 34 for the pattern.

Love Patchwork and Quilting is a modern quilting magazine based in the UK that features modern quilt patterns, news, techniques and projects for the modern sewist. Although LPQ is a UK based magazine, you can pick up a copy at JoAnn or select Barnes and Noble stores.

The Oslo Craft Bag is the perfect project to make to store your portable crafts, or to help organize your craft area. With a divided interior, you can store several balls of yarn, your EPP pieces or your current needlework project. This would also make a nice organizer for a nursery (I always seem to have babies on the brain these days), to store diapers, wipes and all the other baby necessities you want within reach. 

The exterior has pockets galore, the front of the bag has three pleated slip pockets they can a hold a lot more than you think. The back has a larger slip pocket that would easily hold your favorite crafting magazine or patterns.Each side has a generously sized pocket, with a snap flap to keep any smaller crafting bits secure.

Foam stabilizer is used to add structure to this bag so it stands up nicely and can handle being toted around with your goodies inside. This wasn't a difficult project, but with the use of the different interfacings and the various pockets it's a bit time intensive. The bag is finished by dropping the lining in and finishing with bias tape, no turning required. 

This bag is a fun way to mix and match fabrics, and has instructions to use vinyl straps and tabs. I made mine with this fun print that the lovely Sara herself sent me, I thought the old fashioned looking notion logos would be perfect for a craft bag. The inside is lined with Art Gallery Elements and I used some scraps for the binding and accents. 

If you have never purchased an issue of  LPQ before, issue 34 would be a great excuse to start your next quilty pleasure! I'd love to hear your favorite sewing or crafting magazine, I've found some of my favorite projects in magazines, so I'm on the lookout for some gems I might be missing out on.

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!!

Beatnik Waist Bag

I was lucky enough to test the Beatnik Waist Bag pattern for Sara of Sew Sweetness. I've been looking for a waist bag pattern for a while, so when Sara emailed me I was ecstatic to be able to test it! 

I went back and forth with my fabric choices and even after I did settle on the text print, I went back and forth about if I wanted to have the pockets contrasting. I seriously need to work on my indecisiveness lol.

In addition to the front pockets, there is a zip pocket on the back and a divided slip pocket inside.

I also used this bag as my excuse to buy a real snap setting tool, good-bye cheap plastic doodad and hammer (which I only had about a 50 percent success rate with)!! Now I'll be adding snaps a whole lot more :)

In the end, I'm happy with how this turned out. I know most of us gals don't use waist bags on the regular but there are times they are so, so perfect...craft shows, sporting events, for runners and when you need your hands free! now you can make your own and not have to buy those hideous ones that are hard to come by in stores!!! Head over to the Sew Sweetness pattern shop and get yours !!!

Park West Bag

I am a complete sucker for bags, and I jump at any chance I can to try something new so I was stoked to be able to test yet another bag for Sara of SewSweetness. Her latest bag was the Park West Bag and it is seriously an awesome, awesome pattern.

First off the size of this bag is what gives it rock star status in my book. As it is, it's a very generously sized bag, with a few modifications it would make a stellar diaper bag or tote. I love the side pockets, they are perfect for stashing your keys and cell phone!

I love the overall design of the bag, the accent pieces, as well as the addition of elements like purse feet and the shape of the handle tabs make it such a unique pattern. I chose to do this one with a print from the line Type as well as a lightweight denim chambray as the accent fabric. I really like how they look together.

This bag was a lot easier to put together than it looks, I think I completed the whole thing in about three hours. Gotta love instant gratification projects!!!

Kennedy Bag

I whipped up a quick Kennedy bag last weekend, as a pattern test courtesy of Sew Sweetness. 

Sara just released this pattern and it's a freebie!! Head over to Sew mama sew to download your free copy of the Kennedy bag. 

This bag was a pretty quick sew considering all the extras and hardware it features.  I love the accent piece and straps on the flap as well as the side buckles! It does require a few button holes and a zipper, but beyond that it's a project a confident beginner could easily tackle. 

I think I will be enlarging this pattern and using it to make a messenger bag. I love the design of this bag! I just listed this one in the shop today.

 

Silver Cinema Bag & Coin Purse

Recently I had the opportunity to test the latest bag pattern by Sara of Sew sweetness. As usual her patterns are so well done, the directions are clear and there are plenty of photos for those of us who are more visual learners.

This was my first time using a metal purse frame, and it didn't come without it's challenges.

I ordered my purse frames from While Baby Naps on Etsy, but my local JoAnn's had the smaller sized frame in stock. Sara recommends Gutermann glue but I decided to go with some E-6000 I had on hand.

The smaller bag was super easy to sew up, but getting it in the frame took a bit of fanagling. I used clothes pins to help hold the bag in the frame while I worked and that helped tremendously.

The bigger bag was also a very quick sew and getting the bag in the frame was a lot easier with this one.

So far the E-6000 is holding up well! 

These would make great Christmas presents and I'm planning on stocking up on the small frames to whip up some more. The small ones took seriously less than 30 mins from cutting to gluing!