I came across this pattern browsing fabric photos on flickr one day.

It is by Alicia Paulison from posy gets cosy.  It is a really simple bag, and I probably could have created a simple pattern myself, but I really couldn’t be bothered and I knew this pattern worked.  There is a group on flickr with dozens of them, and they all look good.

I wanted to make two for my little girls kindy teachers.  But when I was going through my stash auditioning fabrics, I came up with 8 different combinations.  So I made them all.  It was a real production line.  I didn’t make them all at once, I just did one step at a time on all 8 bags, just a little bit each sewing session.

I wish I had taken a photo of all of them together. I have already given the rest away.  They went to friends and family and a select few who helped out my addiction and suffered my recent tupperware party.

The door bell this morning announced a delivery from the postman. My project bag swap stuff arrived from Bribroday (on ravelry).

I got a beautiful brown bag that has orange and lime accents – it is so very very me!!!






It was full of goodies.



Including another little project bag that is so sweet and would be perfect for a one skein project. Sorry yarnplanner but I think this will have to be my handbag project bag from now on.

The kids even got something. Hairclips for my little girl and dinosaurs for my boy. Even the box was played with.

Thankyou so much Deb. You have gone to so much effort and I really appreciate it.

I belong to the Australian Swappers group on Ravelry. There is always a few swaps going on. The latest one that I am a part of is the project bag swap.

These are the ones that I made for my swapee. I probably wouldn’t have picked this fabric for myself, but it has sewn up just beautifully. It is from the Andalucia range by Patty Young (she has a great blog and awesome sewing patterns).

They are now headed south and I was sad to see them go.

I made grab bag,

a small zippered notions bag

and what I would like to call a lace project bag.

It is just a simple drawstring bag (the pattern is from Living Creatively) that I put grommets on. I envisage that you put your knitting in the bag then thread your circular needles out through the holes. Then (I hope) that your lace knitting wouldn’t get tangled up with the needles.

I hope she likes them.

I have just joined an Aussie swap on ravelry that involves making a project bag. I promised that I would dig up some suitable tutorials and links.

U-handbag (UK) is a great resource for making bags and it has a great post on bagmaking for newbies.

Nicole Mallalieu is an Australian designer that focuses on hand made bags. Her site has lots of great patterns and supplies and her blog is full of tips, techniques and tutorials. Another good Aussie selling hand bag supplies is tall poppy craft.

Here are 5 of my favourite free patterns that I think would be suitable.

From all people quilt the grab bag pattern (pdf file)

I have made a few of these and they fit a one skein or sock project very comfortably.

Patchyapple has an excellent free tutorial for a boxy bag. It think these fit a small or sock project perfectly.

Martha Stewart has a tote bag using bias binding to hold it all together.

This is the one I made from that pattern. It is good because it can easily fit a magazine or pattern sheets in the side pockets. It is a little tricky to get a hang of using the bias binding though.

This pyramid purse is a free pattern at Living Creatively. It is quite small but I think it could be sized up to make a decent sock project bag. This is very similar to the ever popular sunny-boy project bag.

For a good tutorial for a standard lined tote bag not so fancy nancy has a tutorial for a beach/market bag.

This could easily be made to any size and it has great step by step photos.  The steps to make this bag are fairly simple and is an excellent starting point to make any type of tote – eg add pockets or shorten the handle, or make two handles.

And if you want a tutorial to make absolutely anything go to oneprettything.com. She has a list of tutorials of things to make for crafters and it includes pin cushions, needle rolls, sewing machine covers, post office bags (great for an etsy seller), covered tape measures and cloth labels. Well worth a look.

I hope this helps.

I needed a quick crochet fix after doing lots of big projects.

The fat bottom bag is from the Happy Hooker book. I used my some leftover red Bendigo Woolen Mills 8ply cotton and 5ply wool. I held the two strands together and used a 5.5mm hook. Both yarns were different reds but together they look great.






The bag turned out a lot smaller than I anticipated, but I love it. I fits so much … stuff. Great for just ducking out the door with the necessities.

It is getting so close to Christmas now that I don’t think that it matters if I post about the christmas presents that I have made my family. I am pretty sure they don’t look at my blog anyway.

Last year I took the handmade pledge. This year it seemed all a bit too hard. I don’t have the time and unfortunately with the bad exchange rate, buying on esty isn’t as cheap as it used to be.

For my nephews I made a basic qulit/playmat out of two road panels. It was a pretty quick project. I used some basting spay to adhere some batting to the wrong side of one panel. Then with right sides together, I sewed them up, turned them inside out and then topstitched a border.

As ususal it is difficult to get a photo of a quilt on the floor without ruckus (the cat) being involved.

For little Toby I made him a robot too, because all of the other cousins got one last christmas (see here).

I made my step mum a project bag. Last Christmas I have her something with a simple drawstring basg as the wrapping. I think that she used thatm ore than the gift iteself. So I made her a simple bag using corduroy as the main fabric and some of my favourite scraps for the pockets.

I wanted the pockets to be big enough to hold magazines on the sides. I also really wanted it to have long handles, but didn’t have enough fabric.

I love it so much. I love it so much athat I decided to keep it for myself and I made her another one.

Is that wrong?

Have you seen a pattern that you just HAD to make ….. TODAY!

This morning I saw the Bias Tote Bag from marthastewart.com in Thimble’s tutorial links.

The husband was out and the kids were asleep and I was sure that my stash would turn up something.  I used my clever clover tape maker for the side seams which needed something a little thicker than the 12mm black that I used for the rest.

I hate using bias binding but it looked like such a cute project.  It is going to be a project bag for   …. something secret.  The bias tape was a little tricky and frustrating and my sewing machine just wasn’t in the mood, but I got it finished just as the kids started stirring.

I still hate bias tape and this is why – I am not very good at it.

The tote looks good, but don’t look too closely.  There are a lot of these “near misses”.  I can’t really fix them, so I will just leave it ….. then they will fray, look like crap and I will regret not fixing them earlier.   The bag isn’t going to have a rough life as it is going to pretty much sit over a door handle and hold the project, so it should be fine.

On my first day back at work I took at black leather (boring) handbag. Mum suggested against taking one of my more colourful handmade bags, citing something about ‘good first impressions’. Fair enough. Well I have been there for a week now, time to introduce some colour.

We made a trek to spotlight on Saturday (BIG mistake!) and I found this great red linen print. With it I made an Amy Butler Swing Bag. This is the second swing bag and it didn’t take long to whip up. I didn’t bother with pockets this time but I did box the corners.  The lining is just plain old calico but it works really well.

I also made the Amy Butler Runway Bag. I don’t know if you can still buy it but I won this pattern recently from Ballarat Patchwork.  It is perfect for showing off my new Kirin and Co fabric. It is such a simple concept for a bag and it is so handy and easy to use.  The zip is actually down the side of the bag, it is easy to access and hangs really nice off the shoulder.

So that is another two AMY bags that I have made (that weren’t on my to do list). Even though the photos are pretty average I will also put them in the Amy Butler flickr photo group that is organised by Lisa from Uhandbag. She has a monthly draw where you can win another Amy Butler pattern.

ANYWAY Have you seen the new amy butler patterns? She did an interview with Quilters buzz recently. I think that I will have to get my hands on one of the sofia carry all patterns.

I am addicted to green shopping bags. Have a look here in the bottom of my kitchen cupboard.

I am pretty good at using them too. I rarely forget to take them when I go grocery shopping. My problem is that when I go to a shopping centre (not for groceries) I end up buying another one just to carry that days haul. This has lead to my overflowing cupboard.

I think I have found a solution though, Envirosax has these great bags that roll up small. Now I will be able to keep one in my handbag. The only problem I had was trying to pick a design as the choices are spectacular. You can also get a pouch of 5.

They are an Australian product (in fact, just down the road from where I went to high school!) and super reasonably priced. AND for those of you across the pond you can get them at their US site here.

I made my sister the Amy Butler Yoga bag. The pattern is available from here for free download.

Imagine this pattern adjusted a little, I put some pleats in the centre pocket so that it will fit a water bottle.

Now imagine it made out of these fabrics. I used the mustard morning glory for the main part of the bag and the strap and the mustard wallflower for the pocket panel. Can you imagine how good it looks and how well it turned out? Good; because I forgot to take photos before I gave it to her.

My next Amy Butler will be the weekender. I am going to try and incorporate a half yard of this echino fabric I have in my stash with some standard green co-ordating fabric. I am not sure exactly how it will all go together but I am looking forward to playing with it.

I also have the betty shopper in queue. I think that I will get some funky home decor fabric from IKEA. It is a nice weight and only $12/m which is great because this bag requires so much fabric.