New Skills Acquired

My recent trip home also included a sewing lesson. My mom bought me a sewing machine for Christmas several years ago and for the large part it remains unused. I have tried to start several projects - I started with a couple small flannel rag quilts that I gave as gifts. they were actually well received and I didn't have to do much more than sew a straight line. So on the heels of that success I figured I'd become a quilter, always set goals right? I did end up sewing one complete quilt top and a partial second but slowly just lost interest. Probably a case of too much too soon and not enough finished product.

I've always wanted to sew more, but I've never been sure what to do or how to get started. So while I was at my mom's this year I decided I needed a sewing lesson. I wanted to learn to make something that I'd actually use and that could be finished in one setting. My mom and I decided to try a small project bag and set off to the fabric store. I love the fabric store and I think that is the reason I've always wanted to sew. So with supplies in hand we sat down and figured out how to construct this things and started sewing away. You can see the result in the photo above.

I think we ended up making 21 of these little things and they are perfect to hold a small project or even a spindle. I should have taken a close up picture, but these bags have a drawstring and a cord lock. They are also fully lined and can be reversed. Some of the bags in the photo were planned as gifts and for an upcoming swap and maybe a blog contest or two. I haven't decided if I'm going to post a tutorial on making these little things or make some more and try to sell them on etsy.

The small bags were such a success that we decided to expand the operation and go for a larger tote/market type bag. We made another trip to buy fabric and supplies and decided to base our project on a free pattern my mom picked up at JoAnn's a while back. We modified the pattern so we could use some fun quilters cotton. We ended up lining these bags too. These bags have already been hauled all over already and have even made a trip to the grocery - no more plastic bags for me. The last one we made got longer handles so it can be worn over the shoulder. Oh, and I only made one yarn purchase during my whole trip (not counting spinning fiber of course!) and i ended up with some Regia sock yarn that matches the colors in the orange bag on the right.

And just because we had a few minutes leftover, I asked about putting a zipper into something. So after another trip to the fabric store for zippers and a few stitches later, we had these! I love these little zippered pouches and it was a perfect way to use up some of the leftover fabric from the other projects. So watch for some more sewing projects from me. And those long forgotten quilt tops? They were sent to my mom for finishing. She is a wonderful quilter and almost has one complete!