a new bag

 Hi friends.

I wanted to make a bag that was smaller than my purse, but that I could fit my phone in and maybe some cash and ID.  So I looked for some ideas and found a cute bag made from old jeans pockets.  I dug through my stash and found an old pair of jeans that had pockets I thought would work.  I cut the back pockets off along with the fabric behind them, which I trimmed close to the pockets except for the top edge, which I needed to attach closure flaps.  

I made flaps from some fabric I like.  Also, I made a long adjustable strap, so the bag could be a crossover.  I used some hardware from my stash as well.  The flaps close with velcro.  I sewed the two pockets together back to back, but I need to do a little hand stitching in a place that would not go through my machine.  

I decided that the bag needed a little bit of decoration, so  near the bottom edge (on both sides), I stamped a butterfly with archival ink.  Because I was stamping on fabric, some of the ink soaked into the fabric, and wasn't very dark.  

I used a tiny brush to paint the butterfly with acrylic paints, working in stages for the different colors and for both sides of the bag.  I used a stylus to put white dots on the wings.  When all the paint was dry, I went over the black outlines with a sharpie marker to darken them.  Then I gave the butterflies a coat of matte gel medium.  

I really love how the butterflies turned out.  And I'm happy with the bag. 

Thanks so much for taking time to visit today.  Have a wonderful day.  

Rag bag

Hey, everyone! Guess what I made yesterday. A rag bag or actually more of a purse using my big shot & the SU scallop square die to cut all the blocks. I've made a few rag quilts, so I thought this would be a fun version. I followed the instructions found here, but I used the quilting foot on my sewing machine, which makes it so much easier when sewing through several layers.

I did the blocks the same on both sides, so the inside is the same, but without the exposed seams. All that is left for this to be finished is a good wash & dry to get the edges all frayed and shabby. But that has to wait until my new dryer arrives and unless I can slip it into a load of laundry, which has been piling up all week waiting for the new dryer, it'll have to wait until after some of that gets done.

I think I'll make more of these, whether or not I use the die for cutting, I'm not sure. I'm pretty good with a rotary cutter. This one is kinda small, so my next one will be larger, maybe four squares across and three high.

Have a great day.