Wednesday, August 17, 2011

For Kathy

I went through Nel's fabric that I brought home and here are the fabrics that would be big enough to make a reusable shopping/grocery bag out of:

1)  This is just a little thicker than regular cotton fabric and has a "shine" to it, but it would work fine
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2)  This one is some sort of synthetic, but would also work:
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The rest are regular cotton:
3)
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4)
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5)
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6)
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7)
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8)
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9)
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10)
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11)
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12)
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13)
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A few of them I'd have to find another coordinating fabric for the lining .  I usually use muslin and have both off-white and white already.  Let me know if you like any of them.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Did a little sewing over the weekend.

Inspired by this post on craftster, I decided to try a couple of "buckets".  The first one turned out really bad, not surprising, so that one went in the garbaga, but the others I made were pretty good!  Now just to find a use for them.  lol

First (good) one - the green is a denim-weight fabric and the lining is a much lighter fabric.  Would work fine if you had the right stuff in it, but alone it doesn't stand up very well.  It was really tall, so I folded it over - I think I like that look!
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Inside:
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So I decided to do another one and add some heavy interfacing - that helped A LOT!
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Keep in mind they were supposed to be square, but these didn't turn out very well,  So I tried again!

This one is much better!  I used actual canvas for both the outside and the lining.
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I didn't have any regular brown thread, so tried to use some that was thicker - and that's why the top is funky.  I had the heavier thread in the bobbin.  But I was happy it stands up on it's own!  Again, not sure where I'll use it, but we'll see if I can find somewhere.  I'm also thinking of making some small ones to organize things in the bathroom (q-tips, cotton balls, etc.).

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

More Reusable Shopping Bags!!!

Last week one of our television stations aired this story about Austin banning plastic bags in stores.  So I thought "What a great time to make some more reusable shopping bags"!!!  I bought some more pretty fabric and took a few days to make them.   I decided this time to make a whole set and also include produce bags.

Here are the pictures:
There are three t-shirt bags
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All with button holes and tabs to hold them on the racks at the store
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The produce bags are two different sizes - three large and four small
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The last one I didn't have enough fabric for the whole outside, so decided to make squares for the "quilted" look.  I did use batting in this bag so it's a little stronger.  It also has a long handle - great to carry two gallons of milk (or something similar).
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And they all fold up to be carried together!
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I posted them on my etsy account for sale here.  I have an example of what all they hold there.

And while I was at it, I also posted some other bags that I had made.

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This set of three is also available here.

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This set of two is available here.

And a couple single bags
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Available here.

and
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Available here.

If you are interested in any of these, leave a comment with your e-mail address and I'll send you a coupon code for free shipping!!!!

I still have another fabric that I haven't started on yet, but I'll be making another set.  Pictures will be posted as soon as I'm done!

GO GREEN!!!!!  lol