Trippin' on ribbon

Being a ribbon whore/hoarder, I have plenty of grosgrain stash to make the (say it in a high-pitched tone) fabulous cosmetic bags!

Sew some ribbons together then add a zipper. With right sides together, sew one narrow side and long side. Make sure the zipper is open. Fold other narrow side and sew.


(Wish like heck I could give credit for the concept but I cannot remember the ribbon craft book title.)

Craft supply suggestion: buy in bulk from eBay.

Check me out

Me! On the home page of CRAFTSTER!!
Totally a surprise. Totally not submitted. Totally a fantastic craft blog day* to see my cat food bags on the Reusable Shopping Bags page! It's on the top row, I tell ya!

Thanks to Moesha for cluing me in to the screen shot save.

Cat food messenger bag

How "green" is this?

A messenger bag I made from a cat food bag and free notions. You heard me.

Cleaned and rinsed cat food bag and then kinda made it up as I went along. Instead of attaching a button or closure, I fashioned a tab with a heavy but sparkly belt buckle from the People Give Me Stuff stash. Give me something and I will eventually use it, I tell you. The weight of the buckle will keep the flap down.

Lining made of quilting cotton with a scrap fabric pocket for interior. "Boxed" the corners for a flat bottom.

Because men's neckties are cut on the bias and thus, not very stable, I zigzagged the crap out of the necktie strap. The quilting effect feels fabu.

One side of the strap was long enough to double on itself to form a pocket with the broad tip plus a cell phone pocket.

Look closely for the tie point below the orange stitched strip.



Opposite side of strap with a toggle closure to hold keys.

Just in case you're afraid that I don't know this bag is as ugly as homemade sin, let me assure you, I do. Heinous, perhaps. I was playing around and didn't wanna "waste" good bias tape and a pretty necktie if it didn't work. Thinking I might wanna make another now that I've learned a couple tricks.

Check out my previous cat food tote.

Oh wait, there's more!

A wallet made of the remaining piece with bias tape and a snap.

That's one cat food bag with practically no waste!

Mama's got a brand new bag

My mom sewed everything in the world, back in the day.
She loved it, she was good at it and there was nothing she couldn't do; be it cheerleader uniforms, ballet costumes, formal gowns, Halloween costumes, quilts, you name it. Her things were well made and fashionable so I didn't even know "did someone make that for you?" could be anything but a positive question. Heck, Mom could look at a dress at a store then go home and make it without a pattern.
Since then she has dabbled and excelled in other interests: photography, drafting, painting . . .while the sewing machine no longer calls her name, she had a bounce back recently, thanks to me, perhaps.
While scouting the department store's place mat inventory for my organizers, she found pretty Ralph Lauren prints and made an overnight bag, make-up bag and tote for flat iron and blow dryer from place mats! She's still got mad skills, I tell ya.

Messenger bag, with interior pockets shown below

Make-up bag with pockets sized for specific products
Tote sized for flat iron, blow dryer and travel mirror

Placemat zipper bag

Purchased a 4-pack of place mats for organizer portfolio but found them too "wimpy" for a crisp cover so instead made a zippered make-up bag with my first ever zipper insertion!! Mind you, I didn't really know what I was doing but I found a blue zipper in my stash. What the hey, let's give it a try.

Sewed grosgrain ribbon on each side of zipper for a wider top.

Love the dimensional space that a boxed corner provides. See interior and exterior photos.

How to box corners HERE.

Craftster purse swap

The Craftster purse swap is over and here is the bag I sewed for my partner. She likes geometric prints and I had such a tough time finding fabric! Finally found this, it is an upholstery fabric, I think, because it unraveled like a beast. The pattern is modified from tiny happy's shoulder bag tutorial. My swap partner likes a really long strap because she wears her bags across her body and I was pondering how to make an adjustable strap . . . .then it occurred to me to use the braided leather suspender/braces given to me by Elizabeth.

People give me stuff, I tell ya! And I use it! Well, Elizabeth didn't quite know that she (via her husband) gave me this, she presumed I was taking her boxes to Goodwill but instead I took out a couple items then completed the drop-off task, as promised. Anywho, I modified tinyhappy's strap, cut the back strap from the suspenders and sewed on some vintage brown buttons with cat eye beads atop for flair. Yay, adjustable straps!

I love using things for other than their intended purpose but more proud that I actually remembered that I had the straps!

Cat food tote bag

Inspired by this

Thinking that folks can make a tote bag from juice bags, why not a cat food bag?

Hey, looka, polka dot lining!

The interior green ribbon is a key loop and the tote strap is made from a plaid necktie.

Black and white tote bag

Elizabeth has made some great embroidery gifts for me lately so I made this cute black and white print tote bag for her. Black and white print on exterior and toile inside with gingham pocket. I love using an unexpected lining and I think every bag should have an interior pocket. With that ever growing fabric scrap stash of mine, I can sew little pockets on everything!

No sew tote bag

Through the miracle that is TiVo, Chrysanthemum and I watched Martha Stewart's guest demonstrate making a cute no sew tote bag. Never one to be a rigid direction follower, Chrysanthemum whipped up this tote bag with a leather thrift store belt cut down for the handles. The fabric is an embossed faux leather.
So, how is it a no sew bag? Staples and duct tape! You heard me. Use above link to find directions.

Special thanks to Jodi Kahn for sharing this wonderful craft. To learn more of Jodi's easy-to-do crafts, check out her book, "Simply Sublime Bags: 30 No-Sew, Low-Sew Projects".

Utilitarian denim tote bag

Man, I love making tote bags, what with the straight line sewing and all but this is a heavy duty bag made for heavy stuff, thus, denim from cast-off jeans. Cut 2 legs, turned so that bottom hem is the top edge, split the inside seam and joined them. Removed 1 back pocket and restitched to outside. Ripped off the waistband and used that for the tote strap.

WooHoo - new Skitzo Leezra labels inside the pocket!

Tote bag (grocery bag pattern)

Tried another tote made from grocery store bag pattern that I found on www.craftster.org.
This one is the ultimate in recyclable goods! The outer and liner fabrics are repurposed cotton shirts. Liner fabric (plaid) former front pocket now serves as a handy little pocket for your cell phone or money stash.

Freebie tote bag makeover #2

• Canvas bag with screen print advertisement
• Upholstery sample remnant
• Stencil
• Embroidery

Stitched the chick and "Style is eternal". Backed sample with applique iron-on stuff, ironed on over the undesirable advertisement, zig-zagged around edges, handsewed strange pink yarn trim.

Skitzo Leezra Sent A Friend Over the Edge

So, being an all things crafty girl all hyped up on sewing projects, I sent the grocery bag tote sewing instructions to my good buddy Mallys. Last week I received an envelope with 2 nice drawstring bags and 1 wine bottle bag and this nice note from her.

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1. SkitzoLeezra sends Mallys a really cute and sort-of easy looking pattern for a reusable grocery bag, based on those noxious plastic bags.


2. Mallys reads the directions, which estimate about a yard of face fabric and a yard of lining per bag.


3. Mallys decides to buy some cut-rate fabric to try it out - no need to spend tons of money if the pattern doesn't work.


4. Mallys finds two complementary patterns on the $2/yard shelf at the Evil Empire. Mallys thinks the frogs are cute and the bright pink is festive.



5. Mallys pre-washes and dries the fabric, and every time she walks past it, the froggies make her giggle. "How cute those frogs are, " Mallys says to herself several times a week, "Won't they make a cute bag?"


6. Mallys makes bag #1 for her pal Suki, in which to place thank-you bowls for feeding the kitties while Mallys was on vacation. The sewing of the happy, bright frogs goes smoothly, and except for a little issue with the gusset, all is well. The bag is cute, and Mallys has used the lining fabric for the pocket on the outside of the bag so as to avoid the stripe-matching issue. The stripes are loud and attention getting, and the solid pink pocket is a funny contrast to the stripes.


7. Mallys make bag #2 for Mom because, after all, there's a whole lot of pink frog material left, and because Mom is looking for ways to avoid the plastic bags. Mallys switches up face fabric/lining - the stripes as lining are also cute, but also are getting a little old. This has now been hours of staring at pink and purple frogs - during the washing and hanging, the ironing, the cutting, the sewing. The frogs are sort of like other people's well-behaved children: they're all right for awhile, and then you want them to go home.


8. After two bags, Mallys is dismayed to see that there are, inexplicably yarrrrrrdddddssssss of this material left, and it's getting the tiniest bit tiresome: the frogs get happier and the pink gets brighter with every stitch. Mallys has never been happy nor bright. The material is challenging her self identity and gnawing at her already limited patience.


9. Mallys buys a pattern for gift bags to help use up some of the fabric. She sews a wine bag. The frogs are working on her nerves. There is still too much material left.


10. Mallys another wine bag. That frog is going to send her over the brink. There is more of the goddamned ugly fucking left, and Mallys - whose great grandmother used to tie her hair back with a worn out bras strap and whose grandmother won't throw away 10-year-old Swiss Miss instant cocoa because the fake marshmallows only taste a little musty - can't bring herself to throw away a swatch of material that is big enough to "make something with."


11. Mallys sews a shorter version of the wine bag. She'd like to pack that short gift bag with the guts of this fucking frog who won't stop smiling at her, if only she could get the frog off the fucking fabric and make it real so that she could exact her craft vengeance on this frog who is driving her crazy. AND THERE'S STILL MORE FUCKING FABRIC LEFT.


12. Everything is pink. Everywhere Mallys looks pink, pink, pink. Here a frog, there a frog, everywhere a mo-fo frog. Mallys is muttering in her sleep, dreaming of stripes of happy anthropomorphized frogs that won't leave her alone. There is still more fabric. Mallys sews a drawstring bag and finally, has sewn every last bit of fabric.


13. Mallys is disgusted by the items she has sewn. Too much pink. Too bright a pink. Too much purple. Too many frogs. Frogs frogs fucking frogs.


14. Mallys - embarrassed at the obnoxious choice - gives the "thank you" bowls and froggie bag to Suki. Suki assures her that the bag is hilarious, that the frogs are pink and funny and not - in fact - gunning for Mally's last shred of sanity.


15. Mallys breathes in through her nose, out through her mouth, and employs logic to convince herself that the frogs do not have some sort of $2/yard vendetta against her, actively trying to make her crazy.


16. But now Mallys sees that she has another bag to send her mother, two wine bags, one short gift bag, and one drawstring bag. She will send one wine bag to her mother. She can't unload a second bag on Suki - who claims to like frogs - because drinks wine out of a box and doesn't take wine to friends' houses. What the hell will she do with annoying froggie wine bags galore?


17. Mallys knows there has to be someone to blame: who is responsible for the frogs? Who should pay the price for the frogs? Who owes it to Mallys to take the frogs off her hands? And then it dawns on Mallys.


18. See item #1.

And that, Leezra, is why you will find in this envelope some really fucking bright, really fucking perky frogs on assorted bags that you may or may not have anything to stuff into.

In short, I am making you pay for the mental anguish those frigging frogs have caused me. Now you get to share at the fabric that's so frigging bright I think it has done irreversible damage to my rods and cones. Or, you can do what I've done, and you can pass the bags on - for some "good reason" of course - to someone who you think deserves the happy, loud frogs.

And the wine bag pattern is actually kind of cute in something other than frogs, dressed up with come ribbon, some buttons. I have now sewn waayyyyyy too many wine bags out of leftover fabric, and have purchased new (remnants). Somehow, I pixilated enough to send them to Mom, who starts doing craft shows in mid-September through early December (she paints), and who thinks she might be able to sell some wine bags at those shows. 39 bags later (with another 17 cut out and fabric for 2 more left to sew), I think that, perhaps, I should wait and see if the wine bags actually sell before I buy any more fabric and sew any more stitches. After all, a wine bag is always a handy item to have sitting around for those last-minute hostess gifts, but let's be real: how on earth is Mallys going to get 39 invites anywhere that call for a wine bag rather than a plastic cup and frothy head of beer?

The boyfriend has taken to calling me "The Wine Bag". I tell him that the joke will be on him when I make my fortune from crafts fashioned out of remnants and leave him high and dry, wishing he had a stylish gift bag in which to carry his hostess gift . . .

Enjoy,

Mallys

Doe a deer, a female deer - a handbag

First project completed from a pattern!

Upholstery fabric remnant not large enough so

polka dot fabric pieced

to top of handbag.

Embroidered on both sides of bag plus inside pocket.

Freebie tote bag makeover

Hey, ya know those freebie canvas tote bags from vendors with screen printed advertisements? I love them but don't love the tacky graphics so covered the logo with this fabric remnant.

• Upholstery fabric sample


• Stencil


• Embroidery

Zigzagged the edge of fabric and sewed it to the canvas bag.

Attempted to border it with rickrack. Three times. No rickrack. Any tips for the future?

Tote bag completed WITHOUT cursing and tears

Hello Craft People!

Found a tote bag tutorial on http://www.craftster.org/, downloaded the instructions and sewed up a cute shopping bag from fabric scraps that evening. It turned out so cute that I am carrying it as a purse! The next time around, I will lengthen the handles to comfortably hang on my shoulder.