Traipsing back & another bag

When my children were young, I made many of their clothes - shirts, shorts, dresses, vests, overalls, you name it. We were, as most couples are, young and pinching pennies, and there was a fabric store in town that was known for selling cheap and inexpensive fabrics. Since kids grow so fast, I shopped there often, especially their remnant table. For my boys, I had a particular shirt I liked to make for warmer weather and I wondered if the pattern were still available.

I scoured my brain and the internet both, looking for just the thing, and I found it. It made me smile because I also made my older son many pair of slacks from the same pattern. I have been saving some fire and rescue fabrics and decided to go ahead and buy the pattern to make a shirt or two out of it. And so I did!

I finished this shirt today. It's 100% cotton, so it may wrinkle a bit, but I hope some young man enjoys it.

Love the band on the sleeves. 

The pattern called for piping and a band on the pocket, but not this time. 

It was a trip down memory lane making this shirt and I think I just might have to do it again.

I had energy to burn today, so I made another Peter Max bag and put it on eBay.

Sewing Peter Max fabric

I've collected vintage Peter Max fabric for quite some time. I had a lightweight piece cut to make a tote bag and finally got around to putting it together today. It's so scary cutting and then putting modern thread and machine to this 1970s fabric - What if I make a mis-cut? What if I stitch it crooked? What if ... ? But sometimes, you just have to do it. (I still have a piece of silk that my mother hand when I was a child; I'm not sure I'll ever cut that!)

So, here we have it, a simple tote with Peter Max face fabric.

You can see the face in the center. Or you can ignore the face and enjoy the artsy fartsy fabric.

On the reverse side, the face is looking the other day and the colors are a bit different.

I made sure to get a signature on both sides (toward the bottom, in the center). 

This bag was lined with a mottled yellow fabric and the pocket was made out of the original PM fabric. I always attach my little tag. It doesn't show because it's on the inside of the bag when all is said and done. 

I'll put this bag on eBay. I have a giant sized bag that I use for a swim tote.  I don't sell them all. One was passed along to an art group in Richmond. Here are a couple more I've blogged about:

Pink tote bag and pieced bag and others.


Whatever your passion, don't let it intimidate you. Dive in and sew to your heart's desire!

Halloween is coming

Time to start sewing for the creeps and goblins. 

I decided to embellish some hand towels with brain fabric I keep around. I've made and posted about making tote bags and potholders in the past, but wanted to try something different. As I had recently decorated some hand towels and wash cloth for a redecorated bathroom, I went with that - hand towels (new towels, of course). It could double as a kitchen towel, but that's up to the user, right? 

I used a smaller brain pattern and did not quilt the folds this time. I machine appliquéd the brain and stitched on the accent piece. A friend commented on one of them, so she got one as a gift! I told her not to compliment my sewing unless she wanted one for herself. 

Also recently, I made another set of pumpkin placemats:

Then I cut up most of my Halloween fabric into 5" squares and sold them on eBay. I kept some of it for myself, of course, but it was time to let some of it go. I have yards and yards and yards and yards of it! You can't have enough fabric, right?

So, get your scissors out, go through your stash, and set your machine to whirring. Before you know it, it'll be Christmas and winter sewing time.