Custom Envelope Bag

Many years ago I made some envelope bags with the address embroidered on. I think that was pre-blog but I documented them here. At the time one of my sister's friends ordered one from me and then a few months ago a different friend of my sister, who remembered the bags from all those years ago, ask me if I'd make one for her wedding day.

I started by making a paper pattern which I used to cut two pieces of white fabric. The fabric was quite thin so I had my first experience with fusible interfacing which would give the bag more structure and support the embroidery.

I sewed on the name and address and added a few personal details for the bride, like using her wedding date as the postage mark and using one of her wedding colours for the stamp.

Once the embroidery was done I sewed the two pieces of fabric together and then turned the whole thing right side out, which was a bit tricky with the added interfacing. Then I hand sewed the bottom three flaps together to make the envelope shape and added a popper to the top one as a closure.

I bought a gold coloured chain from a jumble sale for £1 which was the perfect length for the bag. I just hand sewed the ends to the inside of the bag.

Here's the bride with her custom bag on her wedding day.

Mean Girls Quote Tote Bag

As I mentioned on Sunday, this weekend my friends and I exchanged Christmas presents during a day of Christmas fun. We've been doing a Secret Santa since we were in middle school and this year I picked out my friend Robyn.

Robyn loves Mean Girls. She could easily do a one woman show of the movie. In fact, while I was working on this project I was getting whatsapp voice messages from her and my other friends quoting the film. 

That's why I decided to make this bag for her featuring a favourite Damien quote, 'she doesn't even go here!' with a stylized image of that part of the movie.

I got the bag from Hobbycraft and used fabric paint to add the image, outlining the words with Sharpie first.

I filled the bag with yummy treats before I wrapped it, as an extra gift, and Robyn loved it!

Map Pouch

As you saw on Sunday I got this awesome map print fabric from the Scrap Store. It's kind of plastic-y and I think it's what people call oil cloth, but I'm not sure. 

I love it so much I wanted to make something with it right away. I chose an easy pouch and made it long enough to fit all of the United States on.

On the back is the North Pacific Ocean. 

I sewed across the corners of the pouch to give it a bit more body.

I used a greenish grey coloured fabric for the lining to match the outside fabric.

These are the pouches I made last year using the same method. When I sold them at craft fairs I put toiletries in to make them perfect Christmas gifts. Things like little bottles of shampoo or shower gel, and a small flannel/wash cloth.

Any ideas on what else I could put in them to market them as gifts?

Jigsaw Pouch Bag

I still had a lot of jigsaw left from my jigsaw bag cover project, so I decided to use another section on another bag, except this time I made the bag from scratch.

Like before, I covered my chosen jigsaw section with sticky back plastic.

I placed the jigsaw on a piece of black fabric and folded the sides over to create a frame around the jigsaw. I'm super impressed with myself that I managed to get the corners to fold with that diagonal line.

I then sewed it all in place.

Then it was time to construct the bag. I used black plasticy fabric for the remaining sides.

Trying to figure out which order I should sew the bag, make the lining and add the zip made my brain hurt. But I got there in the end! Aside from a bit of a wonky zip it turned out pretty great.

I went for bright orange for the lining as I thought black would have been too safe an option, so I picked something that would match the bright colours of the jigsaw image.

There's still jigsaw sections left so expect even more jigsaw projects in the future. I am am getting a lot for the £1.50 I paid for it.

Jigsaw Bag Cover

On one of my trips to the Scrap Store I bought this plain black bag. They were selling them for only £1.

The front flap zips off from the top which was going to come in handy with what I had planned for it.

That's where this jigsaw came in.

I had the idea to cover the front of the bag with a jigsaw, or portion of a jigsaw. So I searched round a few charity shops and decided on this scene. I almost got one of the castle at Disneyland, but unfortunately the dimensions weren't right.

After doing the jigsaw - which was the part of this project that took the longest - I set about picking which part of the jigsaw I wanted to put on the bag. I printed out a photo of the jigsaw as it was easier to see which section would look best on a smaller scale.

I cut a piece of sticky back plastic - my new favourite thing - and laid it over the section of jigsaw.

I unstuck the extra pieces, cut off some of the sticky-out bits and then folded over the sides of the plastic.

I roughly glued the jigsaw onto the bag flap and put another piece of plastic on top for extra protection. Then I sewed the two bits of plastic to the fabric. I also added some black trim around the edge to frame the picture.

All that was left was to reattach the flap to the rest of the bag. High-five handy zip!

I'm really happy with the way this turned out.

Because the jigsaw is made up of little pieces the bag flap still has some flexibility.

Now, what to do with the rest of the jigsaw?

Sewing Bag from Grandad Jumper

Going through my stash of supplies I came across this old jumper my Grandad gave me as it has a few hole in it (I used one of his jumpers in a previous project) and these wooden handles I picked up at the Scrap Store.

This is what I made with them! A sewing bag.

I started by cutting of the main body of the jumper to use for the bag.

I now have a less-than-half jumper in case that ever comes into fashion.

I decided to make the bag the same width as the jumper so I only needed to sew the bottom side. I took to the sewing machine and to my surprise the wool went through fine.

 I got a bit fancy when making the lining and managed to put in a pocket on one side which I divided into three.

I sewed the lining and the wool together and put them through the slits in the wooden handles, then hand-sewed them in place.

The last thing I needed to do was cover up the holes in the jumper. I found a crochet doily which I'd found at the Scrap Store and sewed it to a piece of grey felt. I then glued and sewed the felt to the bag.

My Grandad didn't recognise his old jumper when I showed him the bag!

More Make-up Pouches

As warned, I made some more make-up pouches once I'd bought some zips from Ebay.

10 for only £3.80!

I used more plasticy fabric from the scrap store including the cool text one I used on a previous bag.

All the pouches are lined with matching fabric.

The black comes from the under layer of a broken dress my sister was throwing out.

Nothing gets wasted! 

The spotty fabric was not from the Scrap Store.

It's the excess fabric from our ironing board cover which is cool because it means it's slightly padded as there's a thin layer of sponge/foam.

I repeat: nothing gets wasted.

Clutch Purse

Since I'm on a bag making roll I came up with this clutch purse.

I made it the same way I made the make-up pouches, except I didn't flatten the corners.

The materials I used were some tan coloured vinyl material, from the Scrap Store, and the bottom frill off this dress my friend donated to my craft supplies.

I was very impressed with myself that I managed to line up the frill along the seam.

I finished it off by sewing a little zipper tag with a scrap of the tan fabric.

What do you guys think? 

Make-up Pouch

I got this awesome fruit fabric, which is kind of plastic-y, from one of my trips to the Scrap Store.

I don't know why it's taken me so long to think of something to make with it.

All I had to do was look at my Primark toiletries bag for the inspiration. 

 I think this was my first time working with a zip. I only had to unpick and start again once because I'd sewn the fabric too close to the zip. 

I referred to two tutorials when making this bag.

Zippered wristlet/pouch on Heart of Many

and

Toiletry/make-up bag on Craftastical

After the success of the first pouch I made another one, again using plastic fabric from the Scrap Store.

I even got a bit fancy and added a tag that you could attach a keyring to. 

I think hot pink lining was a good decision.  

I'm definitely on a roll now so expect to see a lot more of these little pouches in the future.

Bag #2

After the success of the first bag I made I thought I would try making another.

I got this awesome plastic fabric from the Scrap Store.

In fact everything I used for this bag, with the exception of the black fabric on the bottom, came from there; the straps, the lining fabric, the binding, and zip.

I love that place.

I had an idea in my head of what I wanted the bag to look like and it took my brain a while to figure out how to translate that image into a method.

It was actually quite simple; two sides sewn to the bottom piece with the straps going over the patterns fabric and under the black. Then sew up the sides.

This technique for making the corners of the bag is my new favourite thing.

I originally saw how to do it on this blog post.

I thought this would be an easy way to add a zip. And I was right!

I sewed the zip to two strips of fabric which I then attached to the lining. This saved me trying to attach the zip directly to the lining.

I then added little fabric tabs on either end of the zip to tidy it up.

The inside lining is a little baggy but it works.

And of course I put an inside pocket in for those who always lose their keys at the bottom of their bags.

My Mum thinks the material I used for the straps is actually what they use for chairs to hold the seat.

At least I know it'll be really strong.

I used some black binding over the part where lining meets outside of bag to make it neat.

I got a lot of that plastic material from the Scrap Store, so I wonder what I'll make next.