Week 30 or The Man Bag

Last week I made a prototype of a small wristlet. This week I made the commissioned bag. It went rather smoothly and turned out well, if I do say so myself. The customer had requested blue denim with sailcloth interior "for a nautical look." I decided not to use the standard orange jeans thread and went with matching blue thread, to preserve the nautical look.

This bag has all the features of mine, minus the off-center handle and the zipper that gets caught in the lining fabric. So: 6 card slots, wallet and phone pockets, key clip. Final dimensions are 8" x 4.25" x 2"

If you want one, leave a comment and we can talk fabric, features and price.

Week 29 or The Wristlet

It would be great if I could make a living off this crafting stuff. At the rate I'm going, though, I'll be pulling in about $250 a year. Not exactly enough to make a difference. That being said, I did make a couple of sales this week.

One was the Mondriaan Ikea bag. The buyer requested that longer handles be added. I was going to make them red, like the other handles, but I had used up all that material on the poodle skirt for the Grease costume. I had some of the Mondriaan fabric left, so I made them out of that. One side of the handle was the white, red and green strip, the other side was black and red. Not quite the same, but coordinating and with some punch. I was pleased that the buyer said I should put my name on it. Luckily I had remembered my tag, and even added the blog address and week number. I felt so professional!

The other sale was a duct tape wallet. I was paying for brunch at the diner around the corner and the waitress noticed my hot pink wallet and said "You could sell those. I'd buy one." So I made her a leopard print one with a hot pink lining. She commented that it looked so neat and even, which is good because I have a habit of not dotting all my i's and crossing all my t's when it's for myself. I'll blame it on a background in theater, where things really only have to look good from the audience, not necessarily up close and in full light.

Today's project is the test run for a commission. We're calling it "The Man Clutch" but it's more of a wristlet, since it has a little wrist strap. The bag needs to hold, keys, cards, bulky phone and the detritus that accumulates over the course of a day. He decided on a denim exterior and a sail cloth lining, with card slots and a key clip. This is the one he found online, but it's a bit pricey. And it's not lined. And it has no interior detailing.

We settled on 4.5" x 8" x 2", which is just about the size I need to carry most of my daily detritus. At least when I don't have the kids with me. Because then I need room for snacks, water bottles and whatever plastic flotsam (thank you, Cake Wrecks) they pick up in the course of the day. So I made one for myself out of some lovely tan organic denim that's been rotting away in my stash for about 12 years.

It turned out to be relatively easy to make. I looked at Sew Sweetness' zipper-top bag for a bit of direction on how to attach the lining. No big zipper secrets other than to sew the fabric to the zipper one piece at a time. Since I wanted an exposed zipper, I didn't need to follow her instructions for that step.

It turned out that the hardest part was getting the card slots aligned and even. That waitress was right, it's the details that make things stand out, for better or for worse. It bothers me that the strap isn't centered on the zipper. I'll trim the interior seams more closely so things aren't as poofy in the inside. I'll leave a gap in the lining where it meets the ends of the zipper so it works more smoothly. And I'll let the zipper extend down the sides just a bit more, for easier access. But all in all, I think it turned out quite nicely for a first draft.

UPDATE 9/27/2012: It's holding up nicely. The interior "puffiness" has settled down as I've stuffed it to the gills several times over the last few months. This is now my go-to bag and my shoulders thank me for switching from a cross-body bag. It didn't help that it was a bit bigger, I carried a larger ladies' wallet instead of a duct tape billfold, and I kept it completely filled most of the time. One of these days I should wash it to clean up the handle, but other than that the stains are not showing.

Week 28 or The Baguette Bag

I buy a lot of baguettes at our local bakery. They're delicious. They're fresh. They're the only thing my younger child will take for lunch.

Courtesy of A & J King Bakery, Salem

I've seen cloth bread bags on other blogs or webshops, but scoffed at them. I already teeter on the line between reasonable eco-consciousness and tree hugging granola freak, and that's only because I live in Massachusetts. If I were farther south, I'd be over the line already and too embarrassed to carry them. In any case, we don't have a breadbox, and most of our bread gets thrown in the freezer for storage beyond a day or two. The loaf breads, when you get them sliced, come in a plastic bag. So I freeze them in those. The baguettes, though, come in a plain white paper bag, which is useless for the freezer. I've been happily recycling the paper bags every week. Except that they're kind of a pain to fold up and stuff into the bin.

So there you have it. The real reason I will be carrying a cloth bag to the bakery next week is that I don't like folding long, skinny bags. As a side benefit, I get rid of an otherwise useless piece of fabric. And I save a tree over my lifetime. And I save some bleach from being used to whiten those bags. And I save the gas used to haul those bags to the recycling center. And to reprocess them. And to ship them back to where they will eventually be used again.

One of my pet peeves is people doing nothing about climate change because they don't believe the science. Forget the climate change part, there are plenty of other, completely unrelated reasons to reduce, reuse and recycle. Like mountain top removal coal mining. Or fracking. Or acid rain. Or resource depletion. Or the destruction of pristine habitats for the extraction of rare minerals. Or industrial accidents like Bhopal. Whatever your reasons are, start with the reduce, then go on to reuse and, as a last resort, recycle things you actually needed and used until they wore out.

This bag was made from material from a friend who was clearing out her house to prep it for sale, so she gave it to me. It's the same butterfly material that lined the teacher's bag a month ago. I'll use the bag until we stop buying baguettes on a regular basis, which might be the day I die, they are that good. Hopefully, when I am done with this bag, I will still be able to bring it to the city's fiber recycling day so it can be made into cotton paper or carpet backing or car soundproofing material or home insulation.


I started by cutting out a rectangle. Then I pinned the wrong sides together and sewed  along the long edge and one short end. Then I pressed the seams open, clipped the corner off, turned the bag inside out, and sewed the seams again. That's a French seam, which seemed appropriate for a bag for French bread. Plus it would keep me from getting stray bits of thread in the bread.

Then I sewed two button holes near the side seam and the fold, about 2 inches from the top of the bag. I turned the top edge down so the buttonholes were barely not folded inside the bag. And I sewed all the way around the bag,  just above and just below the buttonholes. Spelling out "Baguette Bag" using the over-the-top feature of my sewing machine that allows me to sew letters. Lastly I threaded two lengths of cord through the casing I'd just made, with one knot coming out of each buttonhole. Voilà, a Baguette Bag.

Week 27 or The Lego Box

It seems I'm not making bags so much these days as other things made out of fabric to hold things that aren't made of fabric.

Somewhere out there you may have seen a giant bag that opens up into a playmat. You put your toy with a million tiny parts in the bag. When the kids want to play, they open up the bag and, in theory, play with the million tiny parts on the playmat. When they're done, they just close up the bag and all the parts are still in it, not hidden in the pattern of the carpet waiting to bite your feet in the dark or get vacuumed up.

I run the FIRST Lego League teams at my kids' school. Right now we have two 3-gallon buckets (like a 5-gallon utility bucket, but shorter) that get dumped out on the carpet when they start building. Cleaning up takes about 10 minutes out of every hour-long meeting. Not a good use of time. I have to remind them that any pieces they don't pick up will get taken by the kindergarteners who gather in the library before school each day. Pulling eye teeth and herding cats come to mind. It would seem that the big bag would work well in this situation.

But there are other considerations. We work on the same project from week to week, so there needs to be a way to keep the project safe. The 15-inch base plates get set carefully on a shelf out of reach. Everything else goes back in the buckets, which get put in a cabinet, so whatever I make needs to fit with other square things and not spill off the shelf.  We have a LOT of blocks, especially since the school  nurse just donated her older kids' stash from home. (Thank you!!!) So I wanted something that would function more like a box and less like an amorphous blob. And something I could make 3 of, one to test at home and 2 for school.


Out came the graph paper, the giant stiff sail, some cotton webbing and a few plastic yard signs from a charity walk, a political campaign and a roofer. One thing I learned is that you don't need a big fat needle to sew with thick upholstery thread. In fact, it just makes the going rougher when you've got very tightly-woven material to deal with. And it gums up the machine something awful when the thread keeps getting caught underneath. That's also why this project has been languishing for 3 weeks.

Just the fabric, without the stiffening boards inside.
Mat is turned over from play side.

So I made a 10" (25 cm) high box to fit around the 15" base plate. The drawing is for an 8" high box, but I realized that would never fit all the pieces I need it to fit. I cut a long, narrow strip, 17" x 58", for the center panel. I cut two shorter, wider pieces (21" x 39") for the side panels, with the velcro. I cut the plastic signs to fit in the rectangular pockets, not the square corners that need to fold up.

Two days later, I added carrying straps. I marked  places on the folded panels where I thought the ends should go. I unfolded the mat and cut webbing to go the distance between the marks.

Note to self: be sure to designate which sets of handle marks go together. It would be very easy to put the straps on in such a way that the box would not fold up.

Stroke of luck: what looked like a very long handle turned out to be just the right length to meet at the top of the box and be easy to grab. Also, a good yank on the handle helps the bag to fold up.

Laziness pays off: No stiffening in the lid makes it easier to conform to the slightly wonky shape of the box.

Now imagine that surrounded by 6 kids, age 5-11, building a cookie bakery or a Trojan Gummy Bear or a bird-powered cheesy popcorn factory.

Week 26 or The Case of the Sail and the Shirt

Is it a bag or just an impostor? Either way, it's what you're getting this week.

We're a big reading family. There's more than one book case for each family member, and they're all full. My husband used to travel with a back-breaking load of books no matter where he went or for how long. When e-readers came out, he hemmed and hawed, not being an early adopter, but he finally got one. When our older daughter, at 8 years old, wanted to read The Hunger Games, we got it on the Kindle and she was able to enlarge the font enough to enjoy and rip through the whole series. Since then, I don't think she's read a paper book. So we got her one of her own, used from a friend who was transitioning in the other direction. It came with a spiffy hard neon green case.

Dad, on the other hand, had a black canvas envelope clutch I made in about 5 minutes one morning as he was heading out the door and wanted something to protect the screen. I say "had" because nobody knows where it is now. For a week he's been carrying the e-reader around wrapped in a tea towel. So I rummaged through my supplies and made him a new one. A scrap of sail too small for much of a bag. The sleeve of one of his worn out button down shirts. Leftover quilt batting from the previous principal's retirement quilt. Last, but certainly not least, and most miraculous of all, a zipper that happened to be the right color and length, and not come from an old project and need work to use!

The stripes are a bit busy to read with, but the sail is so much sturdier and scratchier that I had to use it on the outside. Besides, the case isn't stiff, and there's nothing holding the e-reader in place, so nobody's going to be reading with it in the case.

For guidance on getting the zipper in correctly, as in useable and not with the pull stuck inside with the stuffing, I turned to this tutorial for a wallet that turns into a shopping bag. (That's a project for another week.) The most helpful hint there was to leave a gap to pull the end of the zipper out. The end isn't quite centered, but it's close enough that it closes properly and doesn't look funny. I had to make the lining in two pieces, with a seam down the middle so that it could be turned right-side-out after sewing the zipper in between the two layers. Helpful hint, discovered by accident: baste a bit of the center of that gap so it behaves like a complete piece of fabric instead of something with a big gash in the middle.





I'm still working on a bag/box/play surface for the Lego collection, but I haven't even started on the lid or the handles, so that will have to wait for another week. And this being Week 26, I'm half-way done!

Week 25 or Another Pants Bag

Once again my goal of getting rid of fabric has been thwarted by the failure of fabric elsewhere in the house. These shorts were super comfortable. The pockets were deep enough to hold all the crap I tend to carry around. So they needed a belt, were cut for a man, and did nothing for my figure. I'm generally not the kind of person who cares about that sort of thing. I even put up with the fraying hem for a while. And tolerated the paint stains. But at some point I need to admit that I'm an adult, a mom, and there's no need to look like a poor college student any more. Especially when your kids go to school on a college campus. So off to the scrap pile they went while I took a trip to the classy consignment store for some fresh capri's I can wear like a real mom.

After the shorts had spent several weeks on the pile, I had a morning with a rare combination of time, motivation and space on my desk for my sewing machine. I made 3 bags in an effort to avoid dealing with the real crises in my life. Some people turn to chemicals, other to shopping, but it was too early in the morning for shops or bottles, so I made stuff. The other 2 got posted last week. This week you're left with another pants bag. I love the reactions of the grocery store baggers when they realize you did not leave your clothing purchases in the grocery bag. I find the thought of putting your butt-enlarging groceries in your  old pants. I prefer the khaki-weight bags to the denim ones. They're lighter and more flexible. The denim is heavier to carry but still won't stand up on its own. And these look like I pantsed a Target employee.

Week 24 or The Broken Shade

The cord went on the roller shade in my bedroom last week. After sleeping with the light coming in the window for 4 days, I put up another roller shade. The kind that goes "fwap fwap fwap" when you pull it down really far and let 'er rip! Very bachelor pad, but it works for us.

The old shade was a nice thick fabric, a bit off-white with age, but no rips or major stains. Luckily I saw the potential in it before it made it to the trash barrel. I also found washing instructions when I unrolled it all the way. As it turns out, you can disassemble the whole shade, launder the fabric, wipe down the plastic and put it all back together. You just can't replace the cord. Well, I suppose I could have, but I'd been looking for an opportunity to get rid of that shade since shortly after we moved in.

I made one small, lunch size bag. Which I don't have too much use for, but I'm sure my younger daughter will find some stuffed animals or toys to tote around in it. (So I thought, but it's just the right size and sturdy enough to hold a ream of resumes, a bottle of soda and a banana.) I was going to incorporate the flat plastic pull bar from the bottom as a handle. It turned out I'd need to redo the hem that was already there, so I just sewed on a plain handle.

It looks narrow, but that's only
because the bottom is nearly square.

After making such a small bag, I had lots of fabric left over. I have a large tote with my husband's company logo on it. It's quite serviceable as a swim bag, but it's cotton canvas and if you set it on a wet pool deck, everything inside gets soaked and the bag takes for... ever to dry. I'd been mulling over the idea of making a replacement out of the laminated cotton I bought with the intention of making lots of reusable snack and sandwich bags. I couldn't find it when I had the inspiration, and now I had this thick, plasticy shade material which would do just perfectly. Except that it's off-white and our beaches are definitely tinged with black from the coal-fired power plant in town. Whatever.

The bottom section is tucked into the side seam.
Note the W shape.

The fabric goes from top edge to top edge, with no seam on the bottom to let in water. The box bottom is made by just tucking in the bottom section and sewing the sides straight down. It gives an odd sort of triangle, but it's very efficient. I've seen it on a couple of nice-ish bags, presumably because it's really easy to make the triangles the same size and it doesn't add another step to the construction. It's genius whether you're a Chinese sweat shop or a harried seamstress at home. You fold the fabric into a "W"shape along the side seams. The top of the W is the top opening of the bag. The bottom is the bottom edge. The inner peak is the center of the bottom. The height of the inner peak is half the depth (front to back) of the bag. By varying the total height, the peak height and their relationship, you vary the height and depth of the bag.

Not much of a tutorial, but I made the bag and there's still something to look forward to.

Week 23 or Book Bags

This is a set of two bags inspired by two blogs.

One is Make It Do, which is built around the premise of "use it up, wear it out, or make it do." She has posts about making things, be they food or fiber, and doing things with her family and friends, be it enjoying the outdoors or reading a great book. Recently she made book bags for her kids' teachers as end of the year presents. She had her daughters embroider their teacher's name on a strip of fabric and then she worked it into a book bag. Her son must not be into embroidery because his teacher got stars on her bag. They are very practical, appropriate and hopefully unlikely to end up in the trash next year when someone gives them another. My father was a teacher for 30 years. I have witnessed the rotation of the #1 Teacher mugs. It's not a pretty sight.

The other blog is The Purl Bee. It's not on my daily rotation yet, but maybe it will be. I referenced her tutorial last week, having found it just after posting a bag that could have been made using it. Someone at Craft Gossip must follow her, because her last two posts were both on there. She gives instructions on how to make a lined bag.

Everyone on Facebook is posting about the end of the school year, either that it has already passed or the anticipation. Last year we waited for ever to get out of school. We had about 52 snow days to make up and the school department was negotiating with teachers as to whether they'd rather give up April vacation or summer vacation. We ended up in class until June 30th. This year it's only the 20th. As a stay at home mom, summer vacation is a mixed blessing. It's nice not to have the daily hassle of getting the kids up and out the door and all the other school related minutiae, but now I have 10 weeks of "I'm bored" to look forward to. OK, 8 weeks because they'll be in camp for 2, but still. I'm not rushing the end of school.

So it's early June and while I've been very good about helping out on field trips and PTC stuff and district turnaround issues, I haven't really made anything for the teachers themselves this year. And there's this blog monster to feed, too. Each classroom at the girls' school has a bag. I have no idea what's in it, but they're all the same and the classes are rarely without them. Sometimes the teachers carry them and sometimes it's the students.

I made new ones with the teacher's name embroidered on them. Not heart-melting embroidery done by the hand of a thankful child, but rainbow machine embroidery, just because I can. I put on short handles as well as a long strap. I had thought it would be a shoulder strap, but I pulled an Alexa and just used what was on hand without measuring. So they're really long and can be used across the body like a messenger bag. Except that they've got a portrait orientation instead of landscape. Oh well. Those teachers are smart and can figure it out. Plus I'll be around if they want alterations.



Each bag is lined. One with the embroidery of the teacher's name that didn't turn out well and was oriented in the wrong direction anyway. The other with some lovely butterfly material. The long straps are anchored with more of the same, and I even managed to get the stripes to match up, which pleased me immensely. That little thing sticking out is my label. Even after 22 bags, I still forget to put the labels in the optimal position.

On top of being sturdy and a practical size, they're machine washable and can be used about town if the teachers decide not to replace their standard bags.

Have a great summer vacation, whenever it comes. I'll still be here behind the sewing machine and computer, when I'm not at the playground, beach, museum or library with the kids.

Week 22 or The Mondriaan-Ikea bag

Years ago, I got some upholstery fabric at Ikea. I made a dress for my older daughter and kept the rest. It reminds of the mid/late-career work of Piet Mondriaan, which I love. I just learned there's a whole museum named after him in Amersfoort, the city of his birth, where I happen to have a very visitable cousin! If you're looking for a collection of his works that spans his entire career, check out the Haagsgemeentemuseum, one of several well-curated collections in The Hague. I'm pretty sure they don't let the war criminals wander the museums unsupervised.

I think this is the first time I've actually planned ahead and gotten started on a project well before Friday morning. Woohoo! Also the first time I've really matched up the stripes. It's amazing what you can do when you've got a box of pins and aren't afraid to use them. I even went all-out and lined the thing, too,  in red, to match the handles.

I wanted to make the bag similar in size to a large grocery bag, just shorter. But the  material had a little curve in it that would have meant making it significantly narrower or shorter. So I stuck a pocket over the hole. Which then inspired me to put a pocket on the inside. In a contrasting color.

So after getting started early, I still finished it up on Saturday morning, with one kid curled up in bed and the other asking me which filly collectible is my favorite from each family. I did come out of it with a very sturdy reversible bag with little pockets on the sides and a nice stiff layer to keep the bottom from collapsing completely.

In construction it's exactly the same as the other reversible bag, but the handles are shorter and the materials are both stiffer. And I had to piece together the red side because I'd cut bits and pieces out to make poodle skirts and armhole facings already. You can just barely see a bit of seam at the lower left corner. The other side is rather more obvious with its seams.

I can't wait to take it to the Farmers Market in 2 weeks. Just not to the garden. Which is a mud pit right now. My poor strawberries. But I'm sure the slugs and snails are loving it!

Update: Someone else posted a tutorial on how to make a lined bag with a pocket! Here it is.

Weeks 20 & 21 or More Shirt Bags

It's been a busy 2 weeks. We had a big birthday party last weekend, complete with homemade piñata and bean bag toss. Each of those took several hours of work. Not to mention the shopping, invitations, keeping track of everything and trying to talk the girls out of adding yet another complicated activity to the schedule. In the end, we did not have the multi-level jump pad set up, just a couple of little trampolines. Which the guests didn't seem to mind. Add in the drawing board / water balloon target Dad, and everyone's happy. The treasure hunt ended up being plastic coins and rings scattered on the grass by my kids, but again only a few of the older kids commented on how it wasn't much of a "hunt." This week I've been trying to recover, but a very cute school choral concert and plans for a popsicle stand have taken up a lot of time.

I did find a shirt half taken apart already, so I started with that. I gave  away my favorite shirt bag to a grocery store bagger, so I wanted to see if I could make another just as good. As before, I used the body for one bag and the sleeves for another. The body bag folds up for storage and closes with a cuff. I attached the cuff to the side with the button placket, so now it doesn't work for closing the top when it's in use, but it holds it closed better when it's rolled up. It was handy to be able to shut the bag, but I was tired of having them get untidy in storage. I'll let you know how annoying that ends up being. If it's really bad, I can just add a button to the other side and call it a day.

I decided not to add fabric to make the sleeve bag bigger. It was going to be a quick and dirty lunch-size bag, but I ran out of time to finish it in one sitting. So it sat for a day, along with the hem scraps, and inspiration struck. I trimmed the hem section to about 3" wide. I set the sewing machine for "stun" (aka increased thread tension and stitch length to maximums) and turned it into a ruffle. I was going to turn the top edge of the bag to the outside, but the sleeve placket then showed and looked bad. So I used the shiny white webbing to hide the raw edge and for the handles. I made a ton of the ticking stripe handles already, so you'll see them in future bags. 

As with most of the bags on this blog, the handle straps are tucked into the hem on the inside. That way there are no raw edges to deal with. The handles end up being stitched in twice, so they're quite sturdy. And if you have a key clip that's the right size, you can attach it there. It may not look as sturdy as a box with an X, but I have not run into any problems yet and it's a lot quicker to sew. 

Now off to make a chocolate cream pie with Oreo crust (chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, the recipient said when asked if she'd prefer this to a graham cracker crust), attempt to catch my layout in trapeze class, get the girls from school, run the popsicle stand and take them and a friend for swimming and pizza before I collapse in an exhausted heap.

Week 19 or Reversible boutique bag

No long story of my life this week, but I am proud of the bag. At last, an intentional bag finished on time.

There are a couple of lovely consignment stores downtown, and they like to wrap things up nicely, maybe to make up for the fact that you're buying second hand, but more likely because they really like clothes and they treat their customers well. I feel guilty every time they wrap something in pretty tissue paper only to have me shove it in the plastic bag I carry around in my pocketbook. I also don't like taking another giant sturdy paper bag, because I have a whole closet full of them already.

So I took one of those bags and used it as the pattern for this one. I was going for a bag that would look good being carried to the limo by the bellhop at the Plaza. A sleek black lined with a Lily Pulitzer print might have been more appropriate, but this is what I had on hand, and I think it works well enough.

I used some sturdy black ticking for one layer and fresh yellow quilting weight cotton for the other. There's a layer of painted canvas sewn into the bottom to stiffen it and all the layers are sewn together to keep them from shifting and to make turning the bag inside-out easier. The handles are a shiny webbing that looks good either way. I might use a double layer of grosgrain ribbon next time, just to have something wider and more colorful.

Week 18 or Last-minute gift bag

At some point, I was making enough bags that I felt compelled to write down dimensions. Finished, fabric and handle dimensions. What I assumed I'd remember was how to assemble these cut items into a finished bag. Alas, I made an ass out of u and me by sewing the gift bag sideways. The box of Harbor Sweets chocolates still fit, and nobody said anything, so I guess my ass is covered.

Yesterday I had the privilege of being at a party for library construction. I used to work at the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. I bet you didn't know there was a state agency that dealt with libraries. Or a federal grant program that funds things like homework centers and construction. Well, Massachusetts has one of the best, and I was lucky to work there helping administer those grant programs, with an amazing crew of women (and a couple of decent guys, too) at a critical time in my life.

I had been out of college enough years that I should have had a career plan going, but I didn't. I was young enough that I should have had a full set of parents, perhaps even grandparents. But that ended. These women (and men) gave me the support I needed to get through that. (My mom had been a librarian for a short time. She had an MLS and even was the director of a small rural library. But her opinions got the better of her and she couldn't quite keep her mouth shut around the board of directors, so she found another career to pursue. But we kept going to our local library.) They were the mothers I needed when my mother was no more.

There I was, a child with so much to offer, but very little confidence and even less direction. This crew, several of whom are still on the job, took me in and they keep on saying nice things about me, even 15 years later. They encouraged me to take a course on industrial design. (My marker skills can still attest to that.) They got me interested in how buildings work and made me think I might like to be an architect. (I don't really, but I have a better understanding of public building design. Chances are, if you can't find the bathroom, it's because the place is poorly laid out, not because you're a moron.) I learned from them how to run a grant program and they will be there as I move into my first year chairing a grant committee. They're decorating my children's school library with their excess ALA swag posters. Even the ones who came on board after I left have been kind and generous beyond their pay grades. In short, I can't thank them enough for what they've done and who they are.

I really should have planned ahead and made a bag last week. I really should have gotten Patience a present before the morning of the party. I really should have had it wrapped before I had to leave for the party. But I didn't. Oh well. Move on. Work with what you have. Which is a sewing machine, friends who pick up random supplies while they're looking for things for their classroom, and neighbors who sell off exorbitant lengths of fabric for a song. So I made this little sideways bag to put the box of chocolates in, and it went over well. In the making, I was reminded of the first such bag I gave away as wrapping for a present. Mary Litterst, wherever you are, I hope you are still enjoying many a fabulous lunch in a fancy bag.

Week 17 or Braided Handles

Years ago, before I had kids, I did yoga every week. Sometimes even twice! I went so far as to make yoga mat bags to sell at the studio. I even sold a few. I went out and bought material to make more. I cut out parts and finished the edges, did all the simple stuff short of committing to putting together the bags. I think the teacher still has a half dozen that didn't sell before I moved out of town, the studio moved and we fell completely out of touch.

I still have several sets of material that never got sewn up. This week, I was thinking of making one of the many patterns I've bookmarked from my web crawlings. Then life got the better of me and I ended up wracking my brain trying to think how not to make another plain old bag with webbing or matching fabric handles. Or worse yet, another t-shirt bag. Which seem like a cop-out, in addition to not getting rid of any fabric.

The girls are off at a birthday party right now with Dad. As usual, I got tasked with wrapping the present. Instead of reaching for the paper, I reached for the fabric which spills forth from my closet shelves. A pretty, thin, cotton print with pink and blue flowers and green leaves on a white background that barely peeks through them all. I was going for a Japanese look, for the Furoshiki effect. The sellers claim it's eco-friendly, but in my mind that only applies if you're not BUYING MORE STUFF!!! And no way am I shelling out $16+ when I have fabric and a sewing machine with a rolled hem foot. So I took my length of this fabric and cut off a few inches from one side to make it a square. Then I hemmed it and wrapped up the present.

So I'm here, alone in the house at last. You're thinking I get right to business making my bag. Ha! I grab a slice of chocolate chip sour cream cake (trade for an earlier bag) and watch a few minutes of a Sunday afternoon PBS cooking show. Some guy making meringue tubes with 5 raspberries just so and a spoonful of raspberry sorbet. They take like 40 hours from start to finish. I'll file that one away for when I live in the dessert and the kids are off in college.

I know I want to use the scrap of flowered furoshiki to make the handle. It's so thin that it needs help to be up to the task. I debate doubling it, adding a layer of plain webbing in the middle. Nah. I go for a braid, since it's just wide enough for three strips that will go through my 1" bias tape maker and just long enough for cutting in half and making two handles.

Then I look at the yoga mat bag bits. Brown corduroy, tan denim, maroon with elephants. At last I spy the black windowpane check. It's rather thin and probably would not have made a good mat bag, but it was a present and you don't just throw away fabric. Well, its moment in the sun has arrived. The black is a nice foil for the spring-like handles. I was really happy to find that the edges were all finished, so I didn't have to sew French seams or break out the borrowed serger again. Attached to it were a rectangle originally destined to become a water bottle pocket, and a black circle that was to be the bottom of the mat bag. I put the circle back on the shelf and decided to add a little inner pocket to an otherwise standard grocery bag. If you're not picky about wrinkles, you can turn it all inside out and stuff the bag into the pocket. I would include a picture of that, but I just spent 10 minutes ironing the edge into place and I'm not about to waste that time.

All in all, I'm happy with the way it all turned out. The only thing I don't like is that the windowpanes are a little wider than they are tall. Which is only because I used it with the selvedges running around the bag instead of top to bottom. If that doesn't bother you, it's all yours. The finished bag is 10" x 5" x 13" high. A little smaller than my other grocery bags, but still large enough to hold more than Market Basket baggers ever put in a plastic bag. And as Edward Humes, author of Garbology, said in his interview with Terry Gross, in response to the question "paper or plastic?": ""The correct answer is neither, if you want to have the best solution." This one is light and thin enough to stuff in your backpack or large purse.

Week 16 or More t-shirt bags

I hope this doesn't become the "What Crazy Shirts Did We Get This Week" blog. My husband works as a computer programmer. Clearly his co-workers' computer skills have not expanded to include photoshop or any sort of graphic design. This shirt was what the team had made for themselves. Sight unseen, my husband thought it would be fun if we all had one! Now we each have a shopping bag.

Here's my original t-shirt bag post. And here's the second version. Let's hope I don't have to resort to this again.

Week 15 or Aunt Edna's Couch

As promised, a bag that looks like it would blend right in with your Aunt Edna's couch. No need to all shout at once, there are a dozen more bags' worth of this fabric waiting for a purpose.

It's a standard grocery bag, with thicker handles than the last one and a flatter profile. I like the way the roses lined up nicely in the middle of the bag. That was completely accidental and made me very happy when I noticed it. If you look closely, you'll see that it worked out on both sides!

Happy Orthodox Easter to one and all. I spent a lot of time making bread for that this week and last. We have a tradition of sending a loaf of it to my mother in law and godmother in law. Normally I'll find or create a box to mail it in, but I didn't have time this year. Luckily, I did have some bubble wrap, the two lovely bags from last week, and a big roll of plain paper. They should arrive today, just in time.

Coming up is school vacation week, which isn't nearly as much fun when you're a parent, but I'll get to see some other parents I haven't seen in a while, so that will be nice. If the kids cooperate. Which they do from time to time.

Week 14 or the Easter bags

About a year ago, I got a bunch of material at a yard sale. A home decorator was clearing out half her house and was selling off bolt ends. I got some red ticking that got made into a Christmas tree skirt this past December, to replace the length of burlap that had been doing the job. And some black ticking. About 7 yards of robin's egg blue woodland floral print cotton that I think should have been named Aunt Edna's Couch. Bonus: it was labeled as 3 yards, but was actually closer to 7! And this lovely pastel green plaid that just screams Easter to me.

It matches the nasty wallpaper the
former owners used in my sewing room.

Without further ado, I give you two basic grocery bags. I didn't measure the corners for the box bottoms, so the bags turned out a little narrower and deeper than I'd wanted. The material is light enough to take anywhere and strong enough to carry 2 gallons of milk. There's enough material left to make three more, but they'll have to have webbing handles.