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A Make a Month – June

July 8, 2010 By 11 Comments
For June’s make I finished another version of the messenger bag I first made for the trip to Japan. It’s still such a useful size, though I noticed that my purse has become so fat with cards again that it no longer fits. I’m not going to make a whole new bag to deal with it, because my purse is really just another cupboard I need to get in and tidy. One day…

Tokyo Messenger

I started using this as my ipod grab bag when I go to the gym. The bag I usually leave the house with these days is so enormous and full of half bitten rice cakes, teething toys and muslin cloths that it actually feels like a special treat to sling something over my shoulder and barely notice it. I’m so easy to please these days – show me a clean set of sheets, fresh pyjamas and a written promise that I won’t have to get up for the baby and I am asleep before you can fluff a pillow.

Tokyo Messenger

The main difference with this one and the second one I made last summer is that I didn’t interface quite so much (oh I know!), and while I was at first a bit unhappy with the resulting soft feel of the bag, now I’ve used it for a couple of weeks I’ve really grown to like the slightly slouchy shape. I also left interfacing off one of the handle pieces, and this makes it much easier to adjust the strap. I also changed from using one magnetic snap in the centre to two invisible magnetic snaps at each corner of the flap, and I am soooo in love with them. They make me so happy I would probably use them for clothing, if I ever needed a pair of quick release trousers or a skirt a la Bucks Fizz.

Tokyo Messenger

Tana Lawn lining! How indulgent. The sections are now even in size, since it was just overcomplicating things to have different widths, but it makes very little difference to their overall usefulness. I’m still overawed at my ability to stuff it so full of things that I can exclaim loudly that I have definitely lost my keys, before upending the bag and finding they were in there all along. I could slim down the things I need to take out with me to a credit card, phone and my keys, since that’s usually all I ever use I’m out, but you never know, do you? And that’s how I know I’m turning into my mother.

Tokyo Messenger

Still loving the back pocket.

I’m really pleased that I’ve made it half way through the year and I’ve succeeded in making something from my stash, with various effort and deadlines, for every month so far. Back in January, making one thing a month was actually quite a stretch for me, and it proves how much easier Fitz is to look after now that it feels definitely do-able, so that if I fail it will be because I chose to sit and watch crap telly or go out to the pub instead. Now there’s a stick to beat myself with for the rest of the year…

Filed Under: A Make A Month, Bags, Finished Things, Sewing - 11 Comments

Pulling it together

August 23, 2009 By 10 Comments

mini messenger bag

I think I cut the fabric for this back in May, possibly April. I can’t say exactly why I let it fall behind on the wip pile, since I was very excited by it at the time, and since I decided to sit down and dig my teeth into it this weekend I’ve been very excited by it again. This is a slightly modified version of the mini messenger bag I took to Japan with me last year, a bag that I wore every day for two weeks, stuffed with maps, guide books and my travel journal.

It was perfect for the trip, but as a bag there were a couple of issues that needed to be ironed out. One thing that didn’t need adjusting is the strap length – when it’s as short as it can be, like it is above, then it’s a dinky shoulder bag, but at full stretch you can wear it easily across your body.

japanese lining

In honour of its origins I used the cherry print fabric I bought at Tomato in fabric town in Tokyo for the lining. I completely adore it, but sadly it’s now gone. Luckily Mr J asked me yesterday when I would like to go back to Japan, so that’s ok then.

back zip pocket

I kept the back zip pocket since I found it so useful for my travel card and mobile phone. Not that anything helps my poor track record when it comes to hearing my phone and answering it when it rings. I’d get a cheaper tariff but it’s always me calling other people back…

central dividing pocket

I did simplify the way I make the dividing zip pocket for the interior, though I want to make another tweak.

open pocket

I do so love compartments. A bag without compartments in my hands soon becomes so unruly that I fear putting my hands in, just in case new life forms have evolved among the receipts, loose change and scattered crumbs lurking at the very bottom. But in this bag purse, book, map, make-up, pens, keys are separated so that they’re much more easily located.

I’m going to crack on and make one from some of the suiting I got from Fabrics Galore way back when for this very purpose, but before I can make a start, I have to eat a hearty portion of Mr J’s apple and blackberry crumble. Isn’t it lovely when you can see Autumn approaching through the medium of puddings?

Filed Under: Bags, Finished Things - 10 Comments

Tax Return Inspiration

January 28, 2009 By 8 Comments

Of course I should be filing my tax return, but the idea of doing it turns me into a three year old, sticking my fingers in my ears and shouting ‘I don’t wanna!’ Which is absolutely true – I don’t wanna, but I gotta. Know this though – I didn’t get where I am today by doing things when they should be done.

Instead I thought I’d think about the next project I want to do (and no, I haven’t finished the blanket). Last autumn I became a cat sitter, when my own cat sitter went on maternity leave and needed someone to carry on with the business in her absence. I visit the cats at home while their owners are away, which means the cats don’t have to go to a cattery, and the house gets a daily check too. It’s a great job in so many respects – it’s local, doesn’t take up the whole day and gives me access to so many more cats than I could have in my house. But after I spent this morning scrabbling around in the bag I was using for the keys, and then the gloves, and then the rubbish bags, I realised I’d been a fool not to take advantage of the obvious need for a special bag. With compartments. And pouches.

inspiration

Out with the project notebook, the japanese bag books, and the green and blacks. Isn’t it hard to work without chocolate? I thought that on the whole this would be a good project to tackle some of my own personal sewing demons. I know we all have them – mine seems to be going anywhere near the sewing machine at the moment – and it’s always good to push them out of the way, because for the most part you find out they aren’t so scary.

I need a pouch for the spare scoop I take with me, and a pouch for the keys. I’m thinking oilcloth for the scoop pouch, possibly lined with some shower curtain type material I have lying about. I’ve been buying remnants of oilcloth for ages and have ideas for toiletry bags and all sorts, but never seem to be able to cut into the stuff, so that’s one demon. The key pouch will be a fold over style, with three clip hooks for me to attach keys to, and I’ll attempt to bias bind the edges. Demon number two and the whole reason I’ve never made a quilt. In fact I’ll go one better, and use one of those bias binding makers I’ve got.

handles

Looking at the japanese books reminded me of the handles I picked up in Japan, and have never got around to using. These sew-on handles feature quite prominently in japanese craft books, but for some stupid reason I’ve shied away from using them since I came home. So much for demon three – I will choose a pair and use them. I’ll see how I feel about demon four, which is attempting some reverse applique to decorate the outside of the bag, which I have just decided will be made of linen. It might be one thing too far, but you never know.

materials

Decisions about materials made, and it’s back to the notebook for me. Sometimes I think the planning is most of the fun…

Filed Under: Bags, Sewing - 8 Comments

Beginning the New Year again

January 9, 2009 By 8 Comments

How nice it is to be upright. You might remember that Tina asked me to make doorstops for her mum for Christmas, as requested by her mum, who is not shy in the slightest. You might also remember that Tina’s mum grades her christmas presents in order of best to worst. Well, no, I didn’t come top: that honour went to some old issues of Red magazine. She did like one of the doorstops enough to request a bag in the same fabric for her birthday…

bag for a mum

This is the first real bit of sewing I’ve done since before Christmas, and lawks, it was fun. I think I’d lost some of the fun part to the effort of remaking the same things for the fair and for presents, and  not having made anything for ages made this old favourite feel quite fresh. A rest is as good as a change, which they don’t say, but sometimes I could do with being reminded.

a little helper

I had company the entire time I was doing it too – it had clearly been a long time since I’d done anything remotely interesting…

Filed Under: Bags, Finished Things, Sewing Tagged With: , , - 8 Comments

Before I went…

September 22, 2008 By 4 Comments

I grabbed hold of my carry on bag today, thinking that it must be about time to empty the poor thing, and I realised I didn’t get around to showing you it. That would be because I was handstitching the lining to the exterior at 11pm the night before my flight out…

It’s based on the sophia, I suppose, but when I made the last sophia I realised that it just wasn’t big enough for everything I wanted to put in it on my travels. I drafted a new pattern from scratch but constructed it in much the same way, partly because I’d done it twice before and couldn’t be bothered thinking of a new way to do it. I’m possibly most pleased by the addition of that slip pocket on the front there, where I stashed my passport for easy access while running around the airport. (And I do run around airports – I love ‘em.)

Inside I lined the walls with slip pockets of different sizes, and put in a clippy line to have somewhere to keep my house keys safe for our return. I managed to squeeze in books, pens, big socks, a cardigan and a pair of jogging bottoms for my in-flight comfort, so this bag more than did the job I wanted it for. The only problem I have now is wondering where to put it – I’m rapidly running out of bag storing space.

Filed Under: Bags, Finished Things, Sewing - 4 Comments
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