More bags

Churning out one per day. It takes approximately just over 2 hours to complete one.
At the moment it is a nice diversion from things and I am taking my time making them. I have even been making up some zipper pulls from my bead box. My signature is the dragonfly charm on the zipper pulls, although I find I can be talked into mushrooms, giraffes and turtles :P

They almost equal my knitting WIPs.

Some things I have learnt part 2:

•  The handles are better with the heavier Shapewell (finally found out what it's called) it's a devil to turn in the right way but has a much better finish.
• Zipper pulls are fun :)
• After sewing the lining and the outer, before you cut the corners, sew through all layers just over the zip and pull tabs, this gives a neater finish for the interior right near the zip:

Before: Messy.

Now it looks way better!

My favourites, the big one is for jumpers.

Zipper pull for smaller bag.

Large bag's zipper pull.

Latest bag from this morning, the silver in this one is metallic.

It's fun finding beads that compliment the bags.

Miss A's mushroom bag,

She even found a button that matches.

Find the cat...

Where is Andy??

Andy loves cat caves, he will either make one himself or meow for us to help him.  It is better if we help because he literally digs himself into one. Nothing is safe, blankets, quilts, dressing gowns. He will stay in them for hours!

  

  

I will call it a day now and go knit on my honey cowl.

New Obsession

Uh Oh
I feel another obsession coming on.
Haven't dragged the sewing machine out for years, but it still works :)

I made a Boxy Bag :)

I used the tutorials from :
http://dragoknit.blogspot.com.au/2007/02/box-bag-tutorial.html  I like how she sews all the fabric together at once, not sew the outer to the zip, then sew the lining to the zip. All at once, one seam to sew.

and here:
http://www.trulymyrtle.com/2012/03/box-bag-tutorial.html
This tutorial has no raw edges inside and looks really good.

Materials:
2 fat flats from spotties at $2.50 each - bargain. Cut the shorter side down to 40cm. $5.00

40cm zipper to match            $1.80

45cm of grosgrain ribbon for pull tabs and handles.  $1.35

Thread to complement the fabric (very important not everything can be sewn with black thread lol)  Plenty of thread left for another bag.  $2.68 for 100m  $1.35 for one bag.

40 cm of  heavy interfacing called Shapeform it is like a woven lining material that irons onto the fabric, for the outer fabric. This was the most expensive thing but I have left overs for another bag ( I bought 1.5m of it at $12.95 per metre)  $2.60

40cm of lighter Shapeform for the lining.  Again, I bought 1.5m at $9.95 so heaps left. $2.00

Costings: All up it cost me $14.25 based on the materials needed for one bag. Materials for 6 bags for under $90.

DISCLAIMER: Just in case I step on anyone's toes though I doubt that I would.....

This costing was for my interest only, I like to know how much I spend and whether it was worth it to keep persisting. (it is they are fab!)
This is by no means meant to diminish any one else's work, I have used really cheap materials for mine.
What others are charging is totally worth it, they have the skills to make their bags look very professional with top notch finishings, mine are just wacked together at the moment.

I hunted for someone in Australia and couldn't find anyone that made them so I thought I'd have a try, and so glad I did ....awesome tutorial!

A 52x40cm piece of fabric will make a  25x5x5cm bag (inches: 10x5x5).

I love our new house!

Our kitchen table is ideal for spreading out sewing stuffs. The amount of light is amazing.

Fabric all squared up lined and ready for tomorrow.

Oooh creepy bug boxy bag.

This bag is for Miss A who didn't mind that the first one was a bit wonky.
(I didn't quite centre the pull tag). But it's my baby and I don't wanna give it to her.
Very happy with results for a first time go and I know where and how to improve future bags.

No raw edges inside!

Some things they don't tell you:

• Do not sew so close to the zipper.

 Next time I will:

• Not sew so close to the zipper. It is not a competition to see who can get closest to the teeth, your fabric will end up jamming the zipper and you will have to unpick ALL the seams to fix it. (This is why sewing once is good here).
• Make sure all pull tabs and handles are centred - don't be lazy they don't centre themselves and they move - check them.
• Securely backstitch all tabs and handles when sewing across them. Don't be lazy, backstitch, securely.
• Cut 2 inch squares for the corners (Yes, I work in both metric and imperial measurements).
• Hmm maybe top-stitch along the zip to ensure rogue fabric does not get caught in zipper.
• Make sure all seams are consistent, I think this is why the lining got a bit skewed. I was all gung ho about sewing those suckers down. Half inch seams are cool - consistency is the key.
• 45cms is good for the handles (33cm) and pull tabs 2 at 6cms.