Furry Backpack using Swoon Sewing Patterns Lucy Backpack

Did you see Mainely Dad's furry backpack?  Back in August, when he posted his inspiration, I was hooked.  I HAD to have a furry backpack, too.  I ordered 1/2 yard of this faux fur from Mood Fabrics.  Everything else was from my stash, which was very gratifying.  Actually, scratch that.  I think I had to buy some of the hardware, but almost everything was from my stash.

I kid you not - I am quite certain this is my most-complimented creation. Turns out everyone loves a furry backpack, or at least is delighted by my nuttiness.  Most days I use it, someone tells me how much they love it or asks where I got it.  

The second outside fabric is a denim from my stash.  I like the casual vibe this gives.  Not like I'd be carrying this to a wedding anyway.

The drawstring closure is my favorite feature.  It looks very professional and was not hard to create.  I used the same pattern as Mainely Dad - Swoon Sewing Patterns' Lucy Backpack with some modifications.  At first, I tried using a backpack pattern in a book I have, but I had to make too many changes.  The $6 for the Swoon pattern was worth it, and there are many more bag designs there that caught my eye.

The green lining is actually made up of several green fabrics in my stash.  I was happy to do a little scrap busting there.  I also really like the zippered pocket on the back.  It is an easy place to stash my phone and keys.  If you look really closely on this last photo, you can see the flap seam allowance didn't totally catch in my seam joining it to the back.  I keep meaning to go back and hand stitch that to secure it, but then I keep forgetting, too.  Someday...

Summer Purse

I was sooooo proud when I finished this purse, and now I am soooooo sad that it didn't hold up.  I got it in my head to make a "perfect purse" for me.  I wanted it to be cross-body and pretty small, but big enough to hold all my necessities.  I wanted to to be colorful but to go with everything, of course.  I wanted professional-looking leather elements and metal hardware.  

I was able to achieve all of these goals, and I used this bag with delight for about a month... and then the problems with a bag made from cute quilting cotton became evident - it was getting dirty and it became so totally floppy as the interfacing got broken-in that I wasn't happy with the way it looked anymore.  I am really happy with how the leather bits turned out, though.  I love the contrasting colors.

I started out with a pattern from the book Zaka Style, but I significantly changed the proportions and pockets.

The only sewing challenges I had was getting that orange pocket to stay straight without being able to pin or even binder-clip it in place since it wasn't on the edge, and the long leather strip just above the orange pocket.  That strip was one of the last things I did, though, and I think I was just getting tired and losing my patience to go slowly.

I was so pleased with my little cell phone pocket on the back with the magnetic snap.

The straps even turned out pretty well.

I really enjoyed picking my fabrics, and not a lot was needed, so it wasn't very expensive to make.  I also had the scraps of leather on hand as well as most of the hardware.

See?  It perfectly held everything I like to lug around.  It is the floppiness that drove me nuts after a while, though.  More interfacing would definitely help, but the issue of it just getting dirty isn't so easy to solve.  Oh well.  I enjoyed it for a while, and then I went out and bought myself a nice little blue cross-body bag that I've been carrying since.  

Kati Cupcake Flamingo Carry On Bag

This is a little something different.  The pattern is the Carry On Bag by Kati Cupcake.  I am a sucker for a structured bag pattern, and when I saw this one at a local fabric store, Gigi's Fabric Shop, I had to have it.  It helped that I also found this flamingo fabric.  I have had a thing for flamingos since I was a little girl.  My thought was that this would make a freaking adorable knitting bag.  Unfortunately, it has been sitting empty since I finished it because it is HUGE!

I kind of want to just carry it around as a purse, and I may do that on my summer beach vacation, but I still feel it's a bit much for everyday, even for Florida,  I mean, it's bright pink and blue and flamigoed!

The details on this pattern are very nice.  I got all of the metal findings at JoAnn Fabrics.

The straps are really fun and sturdy.

 The only thing I would do different is to better interface the top edge of the bag.  The stiffest interfacing used is in the interior pockets and bottom.  It holds the bag upright very well, but as you can see below, the top edge of the bag, above the interior pockets, collapses a bit.

Here, you can get a sense of the size.  It will be perfect for a big sweater project, or for carrying on a day trip when I am feeling more fun. 

Market Bag from Handmade Style by Anna Graham (Noodlehead)

I got the book Handmade Style for Christmas.  I am finally getting around to making something from it!  This is the Market Bag.

I think the lifestyle sell is that you take this to your local farmer's market to gather up fresh produce, but there will be no dirty organic carrots in my pretty white bag, thank you very much.

The quilting lines kind of took forever, but don't they look pretty?  The leather handles are a really nice touch.  I got mine from Tandy Leather.online and in the process found out there is a brick and mortar store less than a half hour from my home, so that's good to know for the future!

I was stressed about sewing on the handles, but it wasn't bad at all.  I tried with thick upholstery thread, but there were skipped stitches.  Regular thread and a leather needle worked best.

I got the woodland fabrics at a little quilting shop near my mom's house.  I had seen these fabrics before and really loved the colors and cute little animals.  They would make an awesome quilt for an outdoorsy kid.  I have enough left for another small project, maybe a smaller bag.  The tonal white fabric has been in my stash forever, and I am so happy to use it up.

There is one little interior pocket.

It's perfect for essentials for a day of shopping, or...

 for holding your stitch markers if you use the bag to hold the world's largest sweater project.

...

Ruffled Hobo Bag (minus the ruffles) from the Sew Serendipity Bags Book

Well, these are not great pictures, but I wanted to get this out there.  This bag was a labor of love and "making it work."  The pattern is the Ruffled Hobo Bag on the cover of the Sew Serendipity Bags book.  Since my motto lately seems to be sew "Sew Everything!!" I decided to try a bag a few months ago.  Well, actually, this journey started like 6 months ago, but whatever.

I wanted to sew with scraps from my stash, and I wanted it to be something I could carry around every day, so not pink flowery cotton prints for this version.  I settled on a navy wool with  navy leather for the handles, using up some luxury scraps I couldn't bear to part with, so that was good.  I got the silver buckle and zipper pull at JoAnn's for some pizzazz, but I have no idea why I got a plastic zipper.  I should have gotten one with pretty silver teeth.  Anyway...

 Everything came together very nicely, until I got to the straps.  The pattern just wasn't designed for leather and wool. It was designed for quilting cottons.  Duh, Jennifer.  Instead of the sew-right-sides-together-and-turn method of strap-making, I just glued them wrong-sides-together and top-stitched.  No problem there.  However, no matter how I tried, I could not get my machine to sew the handles to the bag!  I have a nice machine and a leather needle, but two layers of leather plus about eight layers of wool plus heavy interfacing were a no-go, understandably so.

So this bag sat around almost-finished for months in my sewing room until I decided to get out the glue and just finish the dang thing any way possible.  I was able to sew the straps on a bit, with many skipped stitches and a very uneven seam, but at least it was pretty secure.  Then, I wrapped a scrap of leather around the handle/bag join and glued that sucker down.  Ideal?  No.  BUT, I did have a cute handmade bag that I carried around for months... until the glue finally gave out and one of the straps detached and I let it go, but not before liberating that cute zipper pull for a future bag.  

The inside is really cute, too.  It is pink polka dots and has nice pockets, but for some reason I didn't take any pictures of it.  I learned a ton  making this bag, and I do think it turned out cute.  It won't be my last.