Wednesday's Whimsy

               After boasting about how I productive I am since I started seeing stuff on pinterest,

and vowing to myself to be a better blogger, I fell flat on my face!

I just tried logging on to my blog and I couldn't remember my password!

 Now, that's when you know you aren't logging on enough!!!

The thing is, I have been very productive! I just haven't taken the time to sit

down and document it.

 To my kids in the future: Sorry! We did do stuff this summer.

We didn't just sit at home in our cave-like abode and twiddle our thumbs for

 2 and a half months, though some days felt like that, I'm sure.

More on our summer fun later. On to the business at hand.

Now that half my kids are back in school, I am feeling the need to purge the

mountains of stuff junk that is taking up the precious little space in our house. The

 people around here only seem to get larger, their stuff gets larger and we are near

to bursting at the seams.

"Seams"?

 Haha! How ironic that this post is about sewing. To my horror, I have amassed

hoarded four (big!!!) boxes of fabric.

 Big pieces, little pieces. Denim, muslin, silk, tulle, calico, you name it!

 I just can't force myself to throw it away. 

Even a 4x4 inch square or strip. I just know that I'll use it for something, someday!

It's an illness, really!

It's become epidemic. So I decided to drag out my boxes, sort through the pieces,

and either make something, donate the larger pieces, and/or cut the fabric

 into quilting squares.

You should see the pile of denim jeans I have! I'll probably be able to

make several denim blankets! Our scout troop is having a fundraising

breakfast/5k run/auction that I may be able to donate something homemade to.

Whatever I end up doing or making, the fabric has got to be whittled down!

First Project:

 I saw a cute tote bag on pinterest and decided that it wold be perfect for

some of my skinnier fabric scraps. You know, the edges of the fabric you have left

over after cutting out a pattern? I have loads of those!!! And you know I'm not

throwing those suckers away!!!

The original bag on pinterest had 6 rows of fabric and no initial.

You could really do whatever you wanted to. In fact, you can

leave off the flowers and tie a cute bow in coordinating ribbon around one of the

 handles. That's what is so fun about making your own things. They are YOU!!!

I took an old tote bag to use as a pattern. I layed it down on a big piece of muslin and cut the muslin to size. Mine was about 18"x15" (very big!). Sew both sides together, but

 leave the top and bottom open for easier ruffle placement.

For the ruffles; I cut them 2-1/2"x 30". I did a very tight zigzag along both long edges

to keep fraying in check. You could leave the edges raw (a really cute look!)

or you could cut your ruffle piece

 5"x30" and fold it over for a more finished edge. It's up to you!

Use a ruler to mark your bag lightly with a pencil (you can use a fabric pencil but I was too

lazy to dig through my sewing box-which really was right in front of me, so I just used a

 regular old pencil. The ruffles cover the marks anyways!) where you want your first row

of ruffles to be. My lowest row was about 4 inches from the bottom.

After sewing a basting stitch lengthwise about 3/4" from one edge of the fabric, 

pull the thread to make a long ruffle (do this with all the strips).

Pin your first ruffle to the bag, following the marks you've made.

Use a fairly close stitch to attach the ruffle in place.

Using your pencil and ruler again, mark 1 1/2" from the top of the ruffle you've just sewn on.

 Pin the next ruffle with the top along the marks you've just made.

Repeat this until you've attached all you ruffles.

Sew the bottom of the bag closed and attach your handles.

Embellish as desired. If you want to sew on a fabric letter or name,

use Heat'nBond for easier placement. It works really well if you're nervous about

having your letter(s) lay flat. I, again, was too lazy to dig mine out. Plus my letter

didn't have any crazy angles, so it was easy to pin in place and zigzag on.

I love this bag so much I am making a few more. Believe me, I have plenty of fabric!!!

Your kids are back in school (or almost, anyways) so go make something!!!