My Creative Space - Pooh Messenger Bag

I love messenger bags and have found another awesome tutorial - my first bag project was this easy tote. This time it was a surprise for Miss 4, who has been using shopping bags to imitate my shoulder-bag ever since I went back to my part-time job a few months ago ("Bye mum, I'm off to work").

She is obsessed with Winnie the Pooh (unavoidable really as I am too and have been brainwashing her since birth), so I have combined denim offcuts with some Pooh accents. If you do not recognise the applique on the flap, it is from the TV series 'My Friends Tigger and Pooh', which has little in common with the original stories but involves 'super-sleuthing' mysteries. It was a very easy applique, just a question-mark shape I already had from my t-shirts, plus a triangle with rounded corners.

The lining fabric was leftover from a pinboard Aimee made my daughter as a baby shower present (see - since birth!) and Spotlight had the Pooh and Tigger twill tape in a clearance a few weeks ago. I followed the tutorial pretty closely and just made the strap approximately 2/3 the original length so it was child-sized.

It was so much fun that I am trying to figure out what I would like on one for myself - applique? some patchwork? The beauty of the messenger bag is you can embellish the flap however you want. Thanks mmmcrafts for a great tutorial.

Around 200 creative spaces are on show every week at http://www.kootoyoo.com/.

p.s. If you are not a sewer but would like to get a messenger-style bag for a little person you know, these gorgeous ones are currently on sale...

p.p.s. I love these bags by the very clever Cat Taylor

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My Creative Space - Easy Tote Bag

I must have read 30 tote bag tutorials in the last couple of weeks but this one really caught my eye and so I have given it a try... I don't think I have the patience to ever make something as clever as Estella Rose's gorgeous bags or Aimee's Sew Inspired handbag, but I liked the idea of something plain I could applique, that could possibly come out good enough to be a gift...

Because it was my first try, I used material on hand instead of splurging, and I had a piece of denim approx 90cm x 40cm so that became the outer of the bag (folded in half lengthways). The lining is leftover fabric from when I made my husband a shirt many years ago. Colourfool's tutorial is very funny (the title is 'The Greatest Bag Tutorial EVER?') and absolutely written for beginners.

I had another piece of denim for a pocket and used The Longest Year's tutorial for tips. I have been trying to figure out a strawberry design in my head for a while and this is my first attempt at actually doing one, I was quite pleased with it.

So this is the finished product, I made the straps quite long for some reason but it is definitely a tote bag, yay!

We love taking turns doing Creative Space on Thursdays, you can see other people's at Kootoyoo.

p.s. During my 'research' I came across http://www.lazygirldesigns.com/, they sell patterns for gorgeous bags, the Lily Pocket Purse may have to be a future project...

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For Mom :: For Etsy

Mom loves pumpkins all year round. I made this bag to cheer her during this chaotic time in her life.

I made 3 of the following Mermaid bags. I just love these! I will be selling 2 on Etsy and giving one as a gift. They will be $20 each. I will post them asap. ( They have now been posted to my Etsy shop - see right column of this page). The fabric at the top of the tote is some sweet vintage stuff I got from my Mother-in-Law's estate. I hated to cut into it, but it looks so perfect on this bag. I hope they find good homes.

Happy Sewing.
Love,
Jodi

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