September 4, 2015: No sew t-shirt tote bag

I knew the afternoon was going to be busy so I figured in the morning I’d better grab the time I had  to make something.  I stuck with the quick, no-sew project theme, I decided to make a tote bag out of a t-shirt. I have seen this floating around the internet for a while but there was something in me that resisted cutting into a t-shirt in case it did not work out.  I had an extra giveaway t-shirt that I got when the Philadelphia Flyers were in the Stanley Cup (Go Flyers!) and since it was a duplicate,  it could be sacrificed.

Thee are tons of tutorials out there for this. To start, you cut off the sleeves, and cut a scoop at the neckline. Secure the bottom of the bag by cutting slits into the bottom of the shirt and knotting them. There are two ways you can make this bag. It can have fringe on the outside, or you can turn it inside out to do the knotting and keep the bottom fringe free.  I chose the fringe-free method and I am glad I did because the slits I cut were short and the fringe would have looked wonky and considerably non-fringe-like.

Although i have no shortage of bags in my house, I always find a way to use new ones. This will probably live in the trunk of my car to be used when I go to the grocery store as I always under estimate how many reusable bags I will need.

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July 27, 2015: Recapturing childhood memories

While I consider myself a child of the 80s, I was an actual child in the 70s. I have a sister who is 10 years older than I am, so I had a front row seat for all the 70s fashions and fads. My elementary school was directly across the street from the high school, and I have distinct memories of seeing girls with purses made out of old jeans, and I thought they were the coolest thing.

After making a start cleaning my closet and trying to be honest about what clothes I was just not going to wear anymore,  I pulled a pair of jeans shorts out of the donate pile and decided to make a bag of my own. I almost didn’t get to finish this since after I cut the seam out of the bottom and walked away for a moment to get some pins, this happened:

This looks like a nice place for a long nap.

I still had time, so I went off to get something else done, and when I walked back into the room, I realized that both of the kitties were going to make it difficult.

Were you planning to work on this?

I lured them both into the kitchen with some treats and was able to finally sew the seam. I also put small boxed corners into it and used the hems of the legs for a strap. It’s more tote-sized than purse-sized, which I guess means that I am too. 🙂

February 2: Thing-a-Day–Repurposed rice sack

I have always liked the graphics that you see on large sacks of rice at Asian markets. I needed a large amount of rice last year to use for making rice hating pads, and have to say, I picked the rice based on the bag I liked the best. This has been sitting in my stash for a few months, with the idea of turning it into a bag.

It was a good time to make it because I can tell the needle on my sewing machine is starting to get dull, and I knew I would have to change it soon.  The woven plastic fabric was easy to sew, but the tiny popping sound it made with each stitch tells me it is probably not the best for keeping a needle sharp.

I also wanted to try boxed corners with this. The sack is a flat sewn rectangle, and rather than cutting it apart to add a bottom, I tried the boxed corner method.  This gives it a nice 6″x9″ flat bottom, perfect for using at the grocery store. TO make the handles, I cut a strip off of the top, hemmed it, and attached.