It's in the Bag Baby!

I finished my bag. I have 4 pieces of fat quarters that look identical except for the dye lots. One set is lighter than the other set. I bought the FQ's (fat quarter) at Big Lots for a buck a piece. I love this retro looking fabric. I did have ideas to make 2 matching pillows out of this material for my couch but decided I needed a new bag instead. I'll probably make the other 2 FQ's into a pillow or who knows, maybe another bag since I have 2 handkerchiefs left as well. I was up till about 2am working on this bag. I didn't mean to be up that late but I was so close to finishing that I just had to finish it. I'm really proud of this little bag, mostly because the little square X design to hold the straps came out very neat and pretty without me having to mark sewing lines.

I decided to line my bag after I found a 4pk of army brown, military issued, handkercheifs, while searching for suitable strap material. The handkercheifs are my hubbys from his time in the military so they've been floating around the house for the past 9yrs. Hubby and I will be celebrating 9yrs on the 28th of this month. I wanted to have something made, something celtic for him as an anniversary gift but i've run out of time it seems. I'll have to figure something out.

Here are the pics








Supplies:
2 prewashed Fat Quarters from Big Lots
2 Military issued handkercheifs from hubby right out of the unopened package
1 long slightly stretchy cotton/polyster strap
1 single fold bias tape to match strap- ironed
Double sided iron on adhesive strip 1/4 inch wide
1 single fold bias tape to match or contrast main fabric- folded in half and ironed
Some slightly used clear stretchy elastic from shirts that had it in the shoulder area to hook on a hanger.


I squared up the handkerchiefs then the FQ's. The FQ part of the bag was bigger than the handkerchief lining, so with the elastic I shrunk the opening of the bag some, then added the lining and then finished with the folded bias tape. For the strap, it had more stretch than I wanted but I needed a strap and this was the only thing in my stash that worked. Oddly enough, I don't have many items for making straps for bags, I must remedy that problem. I think I need to make a trip to Joanns soon. I ironed the strap and singed the cut ends with a lighter. I then ironed the adhesive strip right down the center. I ironed out the creases on the bias tape and then ironed it to the center of the strap using the adhesive to hold the bias tape to the strap while sewing the edges down. I still have a bit of stretch in the strap but not nearly as much. The bags edges are encased to give them more durabilty and strength. The linging of the bag is straight stitched and then with tiny close zigzag stitching directly over the stratight stiched line. I think the fabric will rip before the stitching does. I thought about adding a pocket but decided that I really didn't need it. I had the original idea to make it a grocery bag, for those quick trips into the store, now it's just a tag along bag that I carry my lunch and other odd things in to work.


I sewed a few other things in between working on the bag. I worked a bit more on the knit shirt, got the side seams done up, now to do the hemming. With some scraps from the shirt I made little pattern weights. I'd been using some of those large metal fishing weights (3/4oz) in their baggies to help hold things down but wanted something a little nicer. I took the lid from the kitty treat container, made several circles, stitched them together, leaving an opening, and filled them with rice. The rice by itself isn't all that much weight so I took 2 of the fishing weights and shoved them inside with the rice and stiched it closed. WOOOHOOO! I currently have 2 completely done and 2 waiting for the opening to be stitched up. I was thinking they needed a little bit of something on them to make them pretty, like maybe a embroidered simple flower, a crystal, beads or well anything simple to give them a lil more pop.