Tote Bag

Hello all!  I have been keeping busy here with our ducklings and planting flowers around the house now that the weather is finally warming up. I found a little time a couple of weeks ago to sew up a tote bag that I could use to carry larger items than I would normally put in my purse.  I found this cute Tied-Handle Tote Bag pattern on Craftsy from My 3 Monsters blog and thought I'd give it a try. 

I loved the gathered portion of the bag because it reminded me of all the cute dresses I have made over the years.  I chose to use these pretty prints from Jennifer Paganelli's Caravelle Arcade collection.  They are great spring colors!  If you are wanting to purchase some I have them for sale in my Etsy shop located here.  The best part is that I have them on SALE!  Grab them while you can because they won't last long.

Back to the bag pattern now.  It was easy to sew.  The directions were easy enough to understand and I may have gotten caught up with a step or two but figured them out eventually.  The biggest issue I came across was within the written pattern- I didn't see that it did not include a seam allowance.  On the pattern pieces it states that there is no seam allowance but I overlooked it as having it.  So with this mistake it did mess me up a bit with the curved edges of the handles.  I trimmed things down to work for me.  The actual tote itself is so large that the missing allowances went totally unnoticed.  Keep in mind for sizing that I am very, very short (under 5 ft!) so the bag will look larger on me than it will on a 5'9" person. 

The bag has held all sorts of things the past two weeks.  I used it to carry my camera (very carefully), umbrella, books, cans of flavored water, snacks, and my wallet.  I think if I make another tote that I will make some sort of small closure for it just to help keep things in place a little.  Tell me what you think and leave a comment below!

I made a Swoon Pearl Wallet!

This has been a big week for me because I finally got up the courage to sew a wallet called Pearl by Swoon Sewing Patterns.  I was a little intimidated when I saw all the pattern pieces but I was able to make the entire wallet with only one small mistake that I easily changed.  I took it very slow and read all of the instructions carefully the entire time. 

So this wallet has been sitting on my table for a full 24 hours and I have yet to put anything inside of it.  It's so beautiful that I don't want to use it! 

I wanted to use up fabric that I had in stock so I went with a couple of prints from Joel Dewberry's Atrium collection.  I needed a coordinate but didn't want a solid so I went with the candy stripe from Art Gallery Fabric's Fantasia collection.  The entire interior was going to be the stripe but I changed my mind last minute and switched it to an Atrium coordinate.  I was worried that the stripes would make me cross eyed looking at them.  I purchased my hardware and interfacing from Joann Fabrics. 

I'm not sure that I will ever separate the billfold from the rest of the wallet but it has snaps on it so it can be done.  The only mistake I had made when sewing was putting the little swivel tab on the wrong side so once I saw what I had done I was able to move it before sewing it shut.  The wallet is nice and sturdy but yet it's still soft. 

This last photo is just showing off that wonderful little zipper pouch.  I have an iPhone 6 and it fits perfectly in there!  I never would have thought it possible but it does.  So if you want to dress your wallet up a little you can use it as a clutch and keep all your items in it for the day or evening.  I don't plan on using mine alone so the next one I make I will probably exclude the wrist strap.  I always like to make a pattern exactly as written the first time I make it so that I know exactly how it's supposed to turn out for future reference.  Now all I need to do is make a matching purse!  I have a pattern on hand already and will hopefully get started sewing soon. 

Have you sewn a Swoon pattern before?  If so, which one and how much did you like it?  Leave me a comment below!