sewing: romantic tote bag

More back-to-school sewing. A new tote bag, in pretty romantic florals. Let’s see, I used Tanya Whelan for the big roses, Lecien Flower/Sugar for the bright red roses with polka dots, and the border fabric is Walmart. The handles are also Tanya Whelan. To create the semi-sturdy structure, I used Pelton foam interfacing. I wish

beautiful shopping bag

Every now and then I’ll mention my sister’s Etsy shop, especially when she’s made something especially beautiful. Isn’t this shopping bag gorgeous? It’s simple things like this that elevate one’s life. Handmade, with attention to detail. If there’s any slight flaw in her work, she’ll tell you in the description and adjust the price accordingly.

pretty bags (one more time)

My sister, who makes these grocery bags in Japan, says that Japanese postage is increasing in April–so you’d better hop on her great deals before the price goes up! I love this cherry print, it’s so Japanese and spring-y at the same time. Thanks for looking!

pretty shopping bags

What’s better than knowing you are supporting an individual with your purchases? Helping a person AND getting exactly what you wanted, that’s what. My sister sells shopping bags made out of the prettiest fabrics from Japan. She lives in Japan, and I don’t know how but she can buy the fabric AND ship around the

beautiful tote bag

I know we’re getting close to Christmas and we are all shopped-out, but my sister just listed this beautiful tote bag in her Etsy store. She always makes unique items, and her craftsmanship is excellent.  Maybe you will feel like giving yourself a treat with this pretty bag? SOLD, Thank you! She ships from Japan,

MSPT: a Japanese knot bag

I’ve wanted to make one of these since the first time I saw one. And then several years passed, and finally there are loads of tutorials on youtube. Boy, is this a simple bag. First, I wanted to test my hexi skills, so gave those a go. All hand-sewing and a lot of ironing, but

sewing: another messenger bag

I love this rose and dots fabric, it’s made by Lecien but the selvedge edge (I bought a half yard) doesn’t include the pattern name. The design is so bright and romantically shabby chic. I put in another zipper! I made the tab ends longer this time, thinking I’d be able to machine sew the

1-day-project: granny bag

I saw an etsy seller selling these Japanese-style “grandma bag” is what she called them. I thought, “Ah, I have some bamboo handles,” (from a purse that didn’t work out so well) “and the perfect fabric for that!” My sister gave me another stack of fabric fat quarters this summer, so lots of divers fabric

1-day-proects: Phoebe purse

I made the Phoebe purse maybe a year ago and was happy with the results but found it a nightmare to maneuver my over-stiff innerfacing through my sewing machine. With this in mind, I lightly innerfaced my fabric this time. Enough to give the purse some body and structure, but not enough to be extremely

crafty: sewing totes

I usually do not like to make the same thing twice, because where is the fun in that? But I have followed rabbit fabric for a long time, and the amount of sophisticated patterns is close to 1%. There’s plenty of cutesy, Easter bunnies with eggs, traditional-Japanese, and just ugly busy patterns. Sophisticated is very hard