Ol MacDonald had a farm, e i e i o...

My friend Emily asked me to donate a grocery bag to her church fund raiser. I had some vintage craft panel fabric that came with the fabric that my friend Margaret gave to me. It looks like this:
I thought that lovely farm scene would be perfect for a grocery bag pocket. I put a thin layer of cotton batting between the cow and the lining and then did a little free motion sewing around the cow's face, to help her stand out a bit. As you can see there is a little pig on this print too, so I thought that making a little piggy purse would be cute to include with the shopping bag. I used the tutorial here to remind me how to make a zip top lined bag.



I put a 16 inch strap on the piggy purse, which allows it to be looped around the handle of the grocery bag. Now the piggy purse is easily reached to pinch those pennies.

Seven bags for seven sisters

I couldn't resist making a bag for each of my circle sisters. We gathered last weekend near Lake Michigan. Yes, there are only 6 sisters in the photo. The little butterfly bag is for Molly, who has been hard to capture due to her frequent travels. The butterfly bag is filled with notes to her and a butterfly shaped rock.
We love to collect rocks...

More bags for men, from small to large

My son purchased a new sub-compact camera. He thought that the pouches they sold at the store were just not quite what he wanted. He asked me to make him a case, just to protect it from getting scratched while in his pocket. I used some really soft hand me down denim (thanks Cathy) and lined it with a lining material. The button loop is a pony tail band (a tip I picked up at the Sewing Expo). I purchased a package at the drug store, they come in several colors. ; )

Nathan was very pleased with it. He is off now on a two week vacation, so should have plenty of opportunities to slip that camera in and out of the new case.








On the grocery bags for men front, I found some good base fabric at a thrift shop this weekend. For $5 I purchased 4 pieces of denim or denim weight material. I was able to make up two bags on Saturday, which I delivered to our congregation this morning.


I finished one more today, the body of the bag is a light green denim from the thrift shop, very nice weight for a shopping bag. I just couldn't resist the little line of rick rack on the pocket. Does adding rick rack make it less "manly". It is brown rick rack. Does a little bit of green check gingham make is less manly? I don't think so. Anyway, I am sure someone will find it of use. All $ collected for the bags is a contribution to our congregation fund. This is a great way for me to make a contribution while re-using fabric, promoting cloth grocery bags and getting more creative time sewing. Many wins. What a joy.

Bags for men

I was asked to make some more masculine grocery bags to sell at my congregation fund raising table. So I composed one with green corduroy and a GM old truck scrap of fabric for the pocket. The bottom I reinforced with black and white race fabric. So, it is definitely masculine, but it doesn't really go with the "save the environment by using cloth bag grocery bags" theme. Ah, we must live with irony I guess. This one just may have to go to my brother, the GM truck scrap is from a pillow that I made for him. I know he will find a use for it and won't mind the irony. So, I guess I still need to make those masculine grocery bags, it may be awhile till I make any more. I am going to the American Sewing expo for the next two days. I am looking forward to getting inspired about sewing!

My son Nathan's birthday is Oct 7, between his schedule and ours last Sunday was the day to celebrate. He is a record collector, so I made him a record bag. It's just the right size for an LP, I made it narrow in width, thinking he could use this for special records or light shopping. Although I am not sure if Nathan does "light" record shopping.

I had covered a canvas conference bag with black and white polka dot and domino fabric, Nathan's girlfriend admired it, and so it went home with her. It's nice to be able to give a useful gift!

I realized that my grocery bag tutorial does not include how I put the handles on my bags. So I took some pictures of the process and added them to the tutorial.

Art U Wear vest and jacket

I made a wool vest at a class led by Debra Youngs last week. Her web site is here. Debra is a great teacher for inspiring creativity. This vest is based on her right sided jacket pattern 101. I love the asymmetry of this garment. The pocket on the front will be very handy. I put one polished rock bead at the end of the button hole cord, you can see it if you click on the photo. I want to add more beads there. The polished rock is one that my father made, one of his many hobbies was rock polishing and jewelry making. I have several of these polished rocks and am always looking for a place to use them.

At the class Debra mentioned that she has a book coming out soon that will include this patter adaption. I don't see it mentioned on her web site yet.


I took her quilted jacket class last year. The uncut, unwashed fabric and muslin are quilted and then washed in hot water and dried, this makes it pucker up nicely. Her instructions for the quilting are to sew so that there was no more than 2 fingers width between any stitching. This makes a quilted jacket that is not too heavy or hot to wear. It is lined with regular garment lining.
Here is a photo of it, I made it to wear on my anniversary trip to Stratford, Ontario. Here I am with Will Shakesphere.

Jeans to grocery bag

My friend Cathy gave me several jean scraps and worn out jeans to play around with. Here is what I had left of this pair.


And here is the bag that they became. I transferred one of the hip pockets to the outside of the bag and used some other blue denim to finish the top. All of the inside seams were done on the serger.


So, off I go. (Sorry for the over exposed photo.)

Diaper bag gift

Here are a couple of pictures of Jessica receiving the diaper bag. She was very happy with it. The second picture is of Jessica and Merrill. Granddaughter Alexis Mary is due to arrive on October 1st.
You can see more of the making of the bag here and here. This is a really nice design, lots of pockets: open, zippered and with elastic tops. In all, this bag has 10 pockets! The pattern is from Bar-Bee Designs.