Bags Galore…

I’ve just realised that I have been a  little quiet on the blog over the last week or so.  I’ve actually been overwhelmed with projects, and I have been quite busy trying to get things finished.

A few weeks ago I borrowed Lola Nova’s book from the library.  This isn’t a sponsored post…I’ve included a link for if anyone wants to look at it!  It has some great projects in it and has a bit of a bohemian feel to it.  Lovely photography and fabrics.  I used one of the projects in the book as inspiration for my patchwork bathmat.  There was also a couple of bag projects that I wanted to have a go at.

I needed a bag to take to the library, to hold any books or DVD’s that we are checking out or returning. At the moment, I am using a foldaway bag from H&M.  The pouch for the bag is quite modern and has a geometric print on it.  However, the actual bag is just a thin black polyester.  Adam says that it is ugly and he sighs every time I use it!  The Vagabond bag in the Lola Nova book seems like a perfect bag for library visits.  The only thing that put me off was the bias binding; I declared my hate for it here, but I was prepared to give it another go.

The bag itself was easy to make.  I chose to have a different pattered fabric for the lining and I thought it was good that the pattern used part of a cut out piece of the bag to make the inside pocket.  The bias binding was easier than last time but I’m still not happy with it.  I don’t think it helped that I used a contrasting cotton as I could see all the wobbly stitches.  BUT…I will use it for the library.  I really don’t think that anyone will be looking that closely at in anyway and at least Adam won’t be embarrassed any more!

Following the creation of the drawstring bag (blogged about here), I decided that I wanted another one of these bags using the Alexander henry fabric that I found in an antique store a couple of months ago.  The fabric was a bargain and I LOVE the print!  I also made a larger version of the bag to hold yarn that isn’t currently being used.  While I was on the bag making spree, I went ahead and made an open wide zippered pouch, using the tutorial from Noodlehead, who has so many great tutorials to follow!  This pouch is the perfect size to hold my fine line pens but I needed something to hold my Sharpies to so I made a simple zippered pouch to match.  I didn’t use a tutorial for this as I have made a few so the method it etched in my brain!

I really like how my open wide pouch turned out, so I made a smaller version using some Autumnal themed fabrics, along with a small pencil case, again from the Lola Nova book.  I forgot to take the ‘finished’ photographs of these and had already posted them to a friend!  I did take a photograph at the start of the process so hopefully you will be able to see the fabrics that I used!