Thursday, June 5, 2008

Green Tote Bag

A new post! Alright, I promise, I'm going to try to do better with posting. It frustrates me when other people don't post, but I'm worse than most of them! :) Right now I'm making a blouse from butterick pattern B4457. The fabric is blue, and I am making view "A" (That's the pink one in the picture). It is supposed to have pintucks (that's where you take in the fabric on the outside, so instead of it being smooth you have a crease of sorts in the front), but I don't really care a whole lot for pintucks, so I made darts instead (where you take the fabric into the inside so it's smooth on the outside). So far, I have the collar sewn in and am working on the neckline. Then, comes the dreaded button holes!
Hopefully I can finish this soon. Then maybe I can work on finishing my quilt, or the split skirt, or maybe the blue skirt, or perhaps the pajama pants, or the multiple pincushions that are half finished. Arrggghh! My works-in-progress (WIPs) are taking over! I wish I could finish stuff more quickly! Anyways, I finished that tote bag "E" mentioned. I didn't use a pattern, but I followed the directions in the book Bend the Rules Sewing. It gives dimensions and since everything was a rectangular it worked out fine. The only thing I changed was the pocket size. I had read that it was huge somewhere else, and decided to make it a lot smaller. I can't remember right now exactly how much smaller I made it, but it was quite a bit. The flower and part of the arcs on the front are hand stiched. By the way the outside is made of denim and that green polka dotted material is quilting cotton I got on sale. The lining fabric is just some I had on hand, I have no idea what it is. And it does look better in person and when it's full. And what do y'all think of the stitching? Some people like it sort of messy, but some think it needs to be more precise.


And, (I know, I know, this post is getting really long, but I've got a lot on my mine) I got some quilting magazines at a garage sale and now I really want to start a quilt. The hardest part about quilting has got to be picking the pattern and the fabric! There are so many options!
Okay, I think I'm all talked/typed out. I feel better now!

By the way, the flower in the header picture is a picture that "E" took.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That is a lovely tote bag! I think the handstitching looks great! I am definitely going to make one of those soon and am so glad to hear that you love yours. Thanks for the tip on the pocket.