My latest sewing fix has been purses and bags. I started earlier this month when I needed to make Mother's Day presents, and have continued to whip up birthday presents for people
The bags are relatively straight forward. They are made out of curtain fabric samples that came from my grandmother. I don't use a pattern. I determine the size from the fabric at hand minus what I need for the handles. The one to the left was for a family friend's birthday. I also made one in a blue floral for my mother-in-law which I didn't photograph before it was gifted.
The lined, zipped purses I found on Handmade Jane's blog, tutorial here. They are so nice and quick. This one, made again in soft furnishing fabric is self lined, and was made for Mother's Day for my grandmother (the one who taught me how to sew). I did make one in a lovely blue floral cotton for my other grandmother, but I had to post it quickly interstate the morning after I finished it, so no photo.
This one was a Mother's Day present for my Mum. It's made out of leftover scraps from her bridesmaid dresses. It's a beautiful, soft drapey fabric, so it doesn't hold a crisp shape.
Again, no photograph, but I also made one for my aunt for her birthday this weekend out of the same fabric as the bag above.
It's great to have a skill I can put to use at short notice to make presents for people. I am finding it very satisfying. I now have plans to make myself one of these, out o some scrap liberty from a refashion I have yet to blog about. However my zip collection is slowly being depleted, so I will need to stock up soon.
I'm slowly working on redesigning the blog as well. I had a good bit of fun creating the blog header. I don't own any of the patterns shown, but if I did I would certainly be making them up; perhaps I will have to try my drafting skills out sometime.
