A little Bag And A Bit Of Crochet

Hello lovely peeps. I hope you've been enjoying the spring and all of the blossoms and scents that float around this time of year. Or the beautiful autumn colours and scents if you're in the south 😉. Although it's been snowing and hailing here this week, it was lovely and sunny in my part of the English hills at the weekend. Perfect picnic-in-the-park weather. What better than to sit on a blanket in the sun with a sweet husband, some snacks and a crochet project on the go?

Bliss.

This is my first pair of crochet socks and my second attempt at making them. My first attempt came out a bit small. The toe section would only cover my big toe! I have quite a tight tension when I crochet and apparently a much tighter tension than the designer of these socks. 😊 I had to go up a hook size to get the right tension. Now that I have, they're hooking up a treat. It's growing quickly and fits perfectly. I've now reached the heel section of sock number one and I'm really looking forward to learning how the heel is made. It's always good to learn new tricks.

The yarn has quite a high wool content so the socks will be lovely and warm when they're finished. I just love the colour and the texture of the stitches. yum.

It just so happens that this project fits nicely into another project I finished recently. It is completely accidentally the perfect size.

Two balls of wool, one partially made sock and a hook all fit inside

Maybe I should have embroidered 'socks' onto the front instead of 'stuff'.

I have wanted to make a dorothy bag for ages so had a rummage around in my stash and found this rather nice cream and gold home dec fabric. I bought almost a metre of it for £1 on a market stall and it's been sitting, waiting to be sewn into a bag ever since. The good thing about this fabric is that it's reversible, with the reverse side being a negative of the pattern on the right side which made it an ideal lining too. The lining peeps over the top of the bag a little bit, so it has a lovely flash of gold at the top.

I used a scrap of liberty fabric over a small piece of the reverse (lining) side of the main fabric to embellish the front. My disappearing marker disappeared rather quickly on the liberty lawn so I had to plan out my lettering and visualise the size and spacing of the letters as I was embroidering them. I think it worked out ok. It's not perfect but I'm happy with it. I also used a gold embroidery thread to stitch over the sewing line on the larger rectangle to mirror the gold cording of the drawstring.

I'm really pleased with how my 'stuff' bag has turned out and my sock project definitely looks tidier in a bag than piled in a jumble on my work table 😊.

I used this pattern for the 'stuff' bag, if you're interested in having a go yourself. (The download link is towards the bottom of the post)

Thanks for dropping in. I hope you have a lovely week.

                                                                             *B*

For Pleats Sake! New Bag and a Review

A little while ago I realised I was in need of a new bag.

 Bags are my second favourite thing to sew (after soft sculptures and softies) and as a consequence I have quite a few. I have little ones for coins and cards, clutch purses for party items -cash and camera etc, I have medium sized bags for everyday essentials, but what I was missing was a large-ish bag for just stuffing things into.

Like when you go to the beach and need a towel and book and sun cream or when you're out shopping and the sales assistant asks if you need a bag for your lovely new outfit and you decline the offer as you delightedly think "pfft, not when I have a snazzy bag to tote around with me!"

I decided after looking through all of my bag pattern books that I needed a new pattern to try. Kinda like when you look through all of the dresses in your wardrobe and find you definitely need a new one for that party.

There is a pattern on U-Handbag that I found years ago when I was just starting out in bag making but I had never tried it. Now was my time, especially as it had an added bonus - it's a free pattern.

The For Pleats Sake Tote is quite a simple tote design. No pockets, no closures, zips or metal hardware. No frills. Quick. Easy. Great.

The pattern itself is just a rectangle for which measurements are given. No printing out or cutting around lots of pattern pieces. It came together quite quickly, partly because of the simplicity of the pattern but also because the instructions were so clear.

nice pleats

The pleats were very easy to create but I think a beginner bag maker may need to slow down and take their time to make sure they get the placement right; particularly on the thicker interfaced layer. The trickiest part was sewing the open 'V' at the side. You have the be very careful and precise about where you lower the needle to start sewing.

Open 'V' - the trickiest part of the pattern

I used a home dec weight fabric for the exterior and a cotton for the lining. I chose to sew simple webbing handles as I had some to hand but this bag would rock with nice leather handles with some metal rings. The fabric was given to me so I'm not sure what it is but the lining fabric feels like poplin. I'm happy to use poplin as bag lining as long as it's interfaced on larger bags. In this case the lining has a fusible fleece interfacing. Also any pockets would need to be reinforced to protect against wear and tear.

Speaking of pockets... this bag doesn't have any. There is nowhere to put a pocket because of the pleats but the pleats are necessary to give the bag nice body so... no pockets.

No pockets but space for crochet in the park *happy face*

Pros:
          Simple design, easy to make.

Cons:
          I miss having pockets for smaller items like purse and keys.

Conclusion:
         I love my new bag and I definitely have a hankering to make more.

                                                   

                                                                      *B*



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