lilac sandals

24/02/2019 1:36 pm \ 10 Comments \

I’ve made some new shoes!!  the easy way… by doing a workshop!  😉

Lisa of the Shoe Camaraderie came back to Perth to host more shoemaking days, which of course is rather wonderful news for an avid shoe-lover/maker like me!!  I went to her inaugural Perth workshop back in August of last year, and had an absolute blast making these ivory lovelies…  so of course I had to sign up again…  I managed to talk Mum and Cassie into joining me this time, we went along together and all had a fabulous time… BTW though, just want to pop it in right here; the workshop was across the road from the Wild Bakery and that place is DANGEROUS!!  I walked out with a nutty brownie that I’m sure must have had about 10,000 calories.  I nibbled at it over a couple of days though and it was indeed worth every naughty, delectable bite  😉

Anyway!  This style of my new shoes is called the Cosette, and the leather is the absolutely prettiest, most divine shade of lilac/pale blue you can imagine.   Quite heavenly.  When Lisa told me she had sourced it from the Fabric Store, I was just like OH OF COURSE.  Such a beautiful store…. honestly, if a branch ever opened up here I would be totally broke, and staggering home with an obscene quantity of fabric ever week.

Mum made a pair of caramel Astrids, and Cassie made a pair of caramel Freyas.  They both look amazing!!

these are Mum’s shoes; from her instagram

I’m just going to say it; I really really appreciate, not just that Lisa comes over here with such a cool and very fun workshop idea and a chic and elegant product, but also that she offers such a huge range of styles from which to choose.  It’s pretty impressive, actually…  she’s so good at keeping everyone going, explaining the steps the whole class needs to do, as well as helping individuals when you need it too… and at making absolutely sure everyone in the class ends up with a finished pair of sandals by wine and cheese time.  Yes, there is wine and cheese at the finish of the class.  What more could one want?!!

Obligatory progress shots…

…cutting a bazillion teeny skinny strips….

… a pair of little lilac centipedes….

I love that my name is hidden in my sandals! even though no one will ever see it, I know it’s there  😉

just admiring them on the last… nearly finished!

And done!

So, you’re supposed to let them dry for 24 hours before wearing them, but I slipped them on ultra carefully for a quick photo for instagram…. ooo I know; how very naughty! but I seriously COULD NOT resist!  That heavenly colour!  And then immediately slipped them right off again, stowed them reverently in their little cloth bag and dutifully allowed them to languish for a week.

Will I do another workshop if Lisa ever comes back to Perth?  I expect so!!

This how I wore them today in their very first ootd, the first of many I’m sure… and even Sophie thinks they”re pretty cool! look at her checking them out with envious admiration!

Details:

Dress; our Carolyn&Cassie Perth dress, in brown linen, details here
Shoes, made by ME also!

 

 

can I please have some lilac shoes toooooo?

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box of socks, January edition

31/01/2019 6:17 pm \ 15 Comments \

It’s completely bizarre to be donning a pair of socks on a stifling hot day of 35C, which indeedy yes it is today, but I absolutely must! since I promised myself I’d knit a pair of socks for each month of this year, it’s the last day of January and I don’t want to be late!

And so.  I ordered a mystery ball of wool from A Homespun House; from the monthly lucky dip club for November.  I very much liked the idea of this; because the mystery ball of hand-dyed wool also came with a handmade, and most probably, extremely cute, mystery progress-keeper from sucre sucre miniatures, aaaand… well I just felt like treating myself to a mysterious little package.  So I did!  I placed my order, and impatiently and excitedly awaited the arrival of my wool.

The skein was marked “Edeberry”.   Was it was meant to read Elderberry?  *shrug* I mean, not that a name makes any difference to the rose really; because the colours are delicious; a subtle and sophisticated moody range of smoky purples, pinks and coffee colours, with a bit of ocean blue and grass green thrown in for good measure.  And that little troll-progress-keeper?  Soooo cute, oui?… He’s my new knitting buddy,  and he’s called Ramon.

I used my fave, same little old pattern, from a 60’s Patons pamphlet; a nice simple, plain and eminently serviceable pattern.  I like that all the interest is all in the lovely dusky coffee-pink colours..  and this same dusky coffee-pink loveliness will be surely appreciated come the sharply cold grey days of winter…

My box of socks for the year so far!

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a celestial dress, and some other things

26/01/2019 4:42 pm \ 7 Comments \

So, I made a dress… or something?!  I’m not 100% sure about this one.  Is it a dress? or a nightie? or maybe a choirboy/celestial angel robe?  The jury is out!

One thing I am sure of is that it’s delightfully floaty and breezy to wear.  And very comfortable.  Another thing I’m sure of is that on its own it’s scandalously see-through… ! so if I’m going to wear it out of the house it requires at least a petticoat or something.  Fortunately, I made a beautiful Ruby slip once upon a time, a few years ago, from ivory crepe.  I actually wear this slip TONNES, and once again it’s come to my rescue.  Thank you Ruby slip!  maybe I should make some sisters for you!  Take the pressure off!

The pattern I used for the new dress is dress R from the Stylish Dress Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori, and the fabric is a lovely ivory/cream coloured micro-pleated silky stuff from Fabulous Fabrics.  For the yoke, which needs to be more stable and “solid”, I used a small scrap of old jeans, leftovers from the small stack that have previously been harvested to produce this dress and these jeans too.  To keep up with the recycled jeans vibe, I added double rows of topstitching to all the joins etc, using the same coppery-brown Guttermann’s upholstery thread that I’ve used on previous jeans like my beloved Morgan boyfriends.  The yoke lining is the striped shirting cotton that I used for Sandi’s Perth blouse and for Ms Summer’s summer frock.

I’m also wearing with it my matching denim shoes, also made from old jeans #oldjeansfanfromwayback

oh hey gorgeous girl!

I actually had quite a bit of leftover of the pleated silky stuff, so at the same time I traced out the size 8 of the same pattern and whipped up a quick top for Cassie too.

looks a bit small here but it’s far more oversized on my petite little daughter

Actually, this top started out as a dress too, but surprisingly she wasn’t into it as a dress.  I’d gone to great lengths to find a piece of matching cream-coloured fabric for the yoke for hers, and was very pleased to unearth an old cushion cover of a really nice cream coloured cotton damask from my stash.  Normally, Cassie prefers, nay demands! cream- or ivory-coloured tops, so I was a little nonplussed when she suggested the yoke be dyed!  Who is this person and what have you done with my daughter?!  However I could appreciate that the all cream number as a dress was a little, um choirboy, thus the snap decision to lop off the bottom to make it a top.  Fortunately she was satisfied!

 

Soooo, what else have I been up to?  Well, my friend L had requested that I whip up a simple little dress for her, a replica and replacement for a favourite that had worn out.  She bought the green floral from Fabulous fabric, and I found some black silk for the tie.  I really enjoyed making this for her, though the silk I used for the tie was, no joke, the worst stuff I’ve dealt with for a looooong time.  It was so hideously fray-tastic, and just that little bit too grippy to slide right side out very easily.  It took me almost as much time to turn out the tie as it did to draft the dress pattern and make it up!  Exaggerating?  not by much!

I don’t have a picture of her wearing it, but she did have it on for one of our recent morning teas and she looked gorgeous!

again, looks way better on L…

What else have I been up to??

Well, I’ve been wanting to do this for a while…. my pale grey Acton dress has been worn a lot, but I’d been starting to eye it lately with a jaded, “meh” eye.  SO I took the plunge.  Or, I should say, my dress did.  In to the dye-pot it goes!  Et voila!!  Now I’m newly enamoured with it all over again!  It’s just like having a new dress!!  It’s interesting to me how the different components either took or didn’t take, the dye… For instance, the linen shell of course took up the dye superbly, but the grosgrain ribbon shoulder straps did not.   The zip pull even took on a shade of pink, but the zip itself; well, zip.  The body part of the lining dyed up very intensely, but the bodice part did not!

who is that short-haired doggie?!!   she loves her new summer ‘do!!

Is that all?  Finally, I believe it is!

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unicorn

15/01/2019 11:32 pm \ 10 Comments \

So I’m knee deep in wedding-dress biz, which I LOVE, of course! but I took a little time out just to make something fripperous and frivolous and quick and easy, just for me.  Think of this as like a tiny serve of sorbet in the middle of a lengthy degustation…

Cassie bought this adorable rainbow unicorn printed cotton canvas from Spotlight for me for my birthday last year, and there was just just enough to squeak out a cute and totally age-appropriate little skirt, yay!!

I adapted Vogue 8363, an old favourite that comes with great pockets…  I didn’t have enough fabric for the pockets so I cut those pieces from a small piece of white cotton canvas from le stash.  Basically the pockets are this pattern’s saving grace for me since I rarely make use of any other of its features.  In fact, now I’m wondering, have I ever used any of the views in the pattern in the purest sense even once?? and I think maybe NO!  I’ve always tended to make a sort of cobbled together version that incorporates various bits of several views.  I like for mine to have; a) those fab deep pockets, b) a one piece front, and c) to open with an invisible zip along a centre back seam… and this skirt pattern allows for all of these things, with a bit of swift and sneaky pattern piece finagling.

Lining; normally I probably wouldn’t line a summer skirt, but in this case while I was trying it on in the process of making it I discovered the wrong side of the fabric had an almost indiscernible rough texture that somehow caused the skirt to stick to my undies and ride up slightly … yes! very VERY weird!  So I decided to line, and super-luckily I had the perfectly sized piece of mint-green lining in my stash already, inherited from my grandmother’s stash  …  my tips on making a lining for a skirt here

  I agonised over what button to use! this one seemed cheerful and not twee

Oh, and I made a new little T-shirt too.  I’d seen this rather gorgeous apricot-y pink, slubby cotton jersey in Spotlight too, seen it on several occasions actually and staunchly resisted it because… well because I have a rather, shall we say, substantial stash already?!  But it was soooo pretty!  and well one day they happened to have a cheap remnant sitting there, cut for another customer who changed her mind…  so in a weak-willed moment I snaffled it up!  Ooo so naughty.  But it was just such a pretty colour!  I assuaged the guilt by cutting and making it up immediately.

The pattern; my own, if you can give such a grand title as “pattern” to cutting out a few vaguely T-shirt-shaped pieces and bunging them together. I very much like the high boxy collar and the slightly curved hemline.

 

Now it’s back to the wedding dress!!  I’m posting progress shots in my stories on instagram, if anyone would like to follow along… 🙂

Details:

T-shirt; self-drafted, pink cotton jersey
Skirt; adapted from Vogue 8363, cotton drill
Sandals (above); ariel, from an op shop years ago
Thongs (below); fipper, bought in Bali on our holiday

When one wears one’s sparkly rainbow unicorn skirt, then obviously one must go for an elegant and graceful unicornly leap over some puffy cottonball clouds… 😉

So, if I am taking my own picture using my remote control and the timer I can time my jumps to the shutter click perfectly! I’ve got the whole process down to a fine art!  However, when I ask Craig to take the picture, this happens…

faaaaaail!!

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the A-line Perth dress; a short tutorial

08/01/2019 2:04 pm \ 4 Comments \

Perth dress/blouse

So, I popped on my original Perth dress today and I realised this post is way overdue and I’ve been owing it for some time… I’m sorry for being so slack!

I have to admit that a reasonable number of the requests/comments I have received vis-a-vis our Perth dress pattern is that people like my “bouffy” brown prototype, above; and wish to know exactly how this one was made as opposed to the more streamlined final pattern version … I’ve generally taken to just describing it on a request-by-request basis since it’s really quite a simple modification ; but obviously a visual is preferable.

  1. basically; you take the lowest point of the side seam of both front and back, and pivot it out from the armhole point, adding 8.5cm (3 1/4″) to width at the lowest point.  Keep the pocket markings in the same place.

not to scale

2. the other thing about the prototype is that the collar is a little smaller, which I think visually is a good balance against the much more flared-out “skirt” part of the design.  In the final version of the pattern, I thought a more dramatically pointed collar was a better look with the more streamlined silhouette.  Collar stand stays the same.

again, zero scale considerations, sorry.  About 1.2cm (1/2″) is taken off the collar point itself and the difference tapered off to meet up with the seams on each side…

3. finally, I decided to tame some of the bouffe in back by extending the box pleat down from the yoke and top-stitching it down at about my waist level.

All of these modifications are, of course, optional and open to even further alteration if desired.  I love it when I see people adapting the design and making it their own! For example, just recently I saw @thesewingsociety had adapted the collar to be a club collar, which is super cute, oui?!

Anyway, I’d like to thank everyone who asked! I hope this helps a little, and maybe also gives everyone a few ideas for making a different version of the Perth for themselves!

It’s funny; because I personally didn’t like the brown version so much at first, thinking it just WAY too voluminous, to a fault; its only saving grace to me was the top half/neckline which of course I preserved exactly in my pattern.  However over time my brown version has very much wormed its way into my heart after all.  Yes, it is voluminous, but lots of volume in a summer dress has a certain charm of its own which I really really appreciate in very hot weather.  I like being able to “flap” my dress about to create a bit of a cooling airflow as I’m walking.  And of course the covered-up-edness of the top half is great for our full-on sun, meaning less of a need to slather on the suncream and less chance of getting sunburnt too.  In short, I’m really appreciating all my Perth dresses all over again!

the full bouffe!

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2018; a retrospective

31/12/2018 8:38 pm \ 27 Comments \

Ah, it’s the 31st December, when I look back over of my year of making and wearing and do a little analysis… to kick off, some of my favourite pictures/outfits, one for each month.  Several of these pictures are not even “blog pictures”; by that I mean have never appeared on my blog, but may just be an outfit or picture that I particularly liked, or may be because of a particularly lovely memory of that day or something…

January

just a particularly gorgeous day and in my happy place…

February

… because I love this outfit so much

March

…the prototype of my first sewing pattern!

April

… the day of Tim and Kelly’s engagement party which is pretty special I think; so I made a special skirt just for the occasion

May

… in Bali for our friends L + L’s wedding; so much fun!

June

… just because of this gorgeous cockatoo fabric! unfortunately also the day my trusty old camera nosedived into the sand and died, and the beginning of several months of annoying “photo improv”

July

… made a raincoat to commemorate the wettest year we’ve had for like 50 years, or thereabouts…

August

… just had a really nice hike, that’s all….

September

… love first “bare leg” day of the season…

October

… luscious lace, and cheers to a lush, rain-engorged garden…

November

…  our daily constitutional…

December

… my most recent creation!  Thoroughly enjoyed this, and the whole fun experience has sewn some fertile seeds for a new project I’m dreaming of for next year  🙂

What did I make?

So, it’s funny; this year I didn’t feel so productive and could have sworn I didn’t make as much as previous years, and yet when I added it up I made 77 things, including 22 items for others, 2 prs of shoes, and our 2 sewing patterns.  Surprised! and even a little embarrassed?  This is on a par with last years’ production levels, though to be sure some items this year were definitely on the quick and easy side.  Breaking it down: 13 tops/shirts/blouses, 6 skirts, 4 prs jeans/trousers, 9 prs sockettes, 2 prs tights, 2 prs shoes, 6 hats, 1 baby romper, 12 dresses + 2 wedding dress muslins, 3 coats, 1 jumpsuit, 3 sets of lingerie, 2 knitted cardigans/jumpers, 5 bags, and 4 dolls complete with wardrobes.  I know, right?!     In fact, now I think about it, I actually made 3 further items over and above than this, but those things have not yet been blogged since they are all patterns still in the testing phase and I’ve been sworn to secrecy until their release. One of them is a Pretty BIG Thing, though.

This year I also started making our soap, and think I’ve made enough for several years’ supply already, lol.  Luckily, we really like using it, and I also gave several bars away during the year, as little gifts for friends and family too.

What did I wear?

I still keep my OOTD blog up to date and tally up the things I wore and frequency thereof.  Documenting one’s outfits is a pretty obsessive thing to do, I realise that, but I still really like doing it.  The clothes I wore the most frequently this year can be summed up in the following:

This collage comprises more outfits than I’ve posted in previous years for this category, but I have an explanation: keeping an outfit tally has opened my eyes to the fact that I tend to favour certain wardrobe items and ignore others… and I’ve been making an effort to “spread the love” around my wardrobe more.  This might seem like an artificial thing to do, like why force yourself to wear something you don’t love as much as another thing? Why not just wear the things you love the most?  But I’ve found that wearing something breeds a love for it, so pulling out not-quite-so-loved things, experimenting with them and finding outfits in which they can shine; is a means to the end of loving them more, thus loving ALL your self-made clothes, MORE; and so getting more wear out of everything.  I loathe waste, and particularly waste in clothing, so I don’t want for things I’ve spent care and energy making to be unworn and tossed out before their time.  So, I wear them.  Make sense?  Well, I know what I mean, anyway.

Apart from various shoes/boots and my self-made black tights, all of which are always worn the absolute MOST in my wardrobe; the most frequently worn item this year was my new mustard raincoat with a total of 31 wears, closely followed by my grey Sasha trousers at 30 wears, my trusty little paprika cardigan at 22 wears, and my pink Kelly raincoat and scarlet Miette cardigan both at 19 wears each…

Favourite creations?

Oooh, this one is always so tough… I mean, how does one choose one’s favourite child?? of course it is impossible.  Having said that though, I think my favourite creation(s) for the year are something a little bit different; our sewing patterns!  Because, yes; of course, during the year Cassie and I released two sewing patterns; our Perth dress/blouse, and our Kimberley rag doll.  The response has been fantastic, for which I am so SO grateful.  We’re fully immersed in plans for TWO more patterns too!  It’s a LOT of work producing a pattern, and I’m eternally thankful to everyone who did support us in this new endeavour this year.  MWAH! to all of you.  Thank you xxx

   

As far as favourite made clothes;  well, if I really did have to pick… it’s nothing special, far from it! but I really enjoyed making, and I really love wearing my “piñata” outfit!  A little bit weird, all very spontaneous, the fabric was such an impulse buy, and I ran it up on my dinky, clunky, plastic-ky little holiday sewing machine, in our holiday house with the bare minimum of sewing supplies.   Maybe all that “wrongness” is what combined to give it a paradoxical rightness … and I have a soft spot for those orange pompoms too!

I also really really love my cockatoo outfit and also my floral trench coat…  I must be having a colourful moment?!

What are my plans for 2019?

So, BIG THING….  the first part of this year I will be making Kelly’s wedding dress! yes that’s pretty huge.  I’ve made two muslins so far… the second one is nearly perfect so with only one tiny adjustment and one further fitting, I hope to actually cut into the real fabric early in the New Year.  Scary!!

muslin number 1

muslin number 2

I am also beholden to make two bridesmaids’ dresses; one for Cassie, and one for her’s and Kelly’s mutual friend G.  I’m going to tackle those after I’ve got the bare bones of the wedding dress all done and dusted though.

For myself, well of course I want to make a mother of the groom outfit for myself!  Yup, pretty excited for that too!!  I know exactly what I want, I have my pattern all ready and lined up, and I just need to find the perfect fabric.

In other, more ordinary, sewing plans; the smalls drawer! I did not make much this year and now find myself in need, so there will be more lingerie this year.  I am also in a very sad sock situation at the moment, my old socks are all darned and darned and even then darned some more.  So my plan is to knit 1 new pair of socks per month.  A dozen pairs of socks!

And, yes, I have plans for two new patterns this year.  The groundwork has been laid, and I just need to get in and on it; and tidy a few things up.  Well, there’s a LOT to be done, to be honest, I only hope I can get enough time together to do all this… obviously the wedding dress is my number one priority.  🙂

Anything else?

Well, finally and of course most importantly of all, I just want to say THANK YOU! to everyone who reads my blog and who takes the time to leave a comment, I am so grateful for each and every kind thought.  Thank you all so very much, and I’d like to wish all the best to everyone for a safe, happy, peaceful and wildly creative 2019!  Mwah!  xxx

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a knitting advent-ure

29/12/2018 1:07 pm \ 24 Comments \

I’ve knitted a magical, rainbow, unicorn of a jumper/sweater!

But, what is this, Carolyn??  I didn’t know you were into magical rainbow unicorns?!  Well, of course there is indeed a story behind this…

my little “troll” progress keeper was my constant companion and cheerleader… 😉

So, in the past few months, idly hanging around on youtube I randomly got into the world of knitting youtubers, and watched a few videos… I think it was Katie of Inside Number 23 who introduced me to these wonderful things called knitting advent calendars …  I thought they sounded like such a fun idea! at roughly the same time I’d been to Calico and Ivy checking out all the wool and other yummy eye candy they always have in there and seen and admired some gorgeous wool hand-dyed by a local lady going by the name of Dingo Dyeworks, and I mentally tucked the name away.  Later on, in search of an advent calendar, I found that the same Dingo Dyeworks had produced one for this year.  SO naturally… I bought one!

day 1; and I’m ready to party!!!

The advent calendar came in the form of 24 cute little boxes, each with a mini skein of wool inside; the colours of which were a complete mystery.  There is also a 25th box, which is much larger and contains a full-sized skein of the same sock yarn, but I decided to base my “advent”-ure project on the 24 mini-skeins.  The only thing you knew about them was that they were all on the Dingo Dyeworks “ridgey-didge” base; a fingering-weight 85% fine merino 15% nylon superwash, which I’d checked out in Calico and Ivy and liked.  SO I laid my plans… to make a jumper, or sweater.  I bought from C + I a skein of similar gauge yarn in an undyed cream colour and did a few swatching experiments, made a few calculations and a plan, decided I could indeed make a whole jumper from sock yarn.   I knew knitting just a little bit every day would be perfectly manageable, and fairly painless.  In fact, I always find the lead up to Christmas so full of stress and madness that I welcomed the thought of carving out a little bit of time in each day, to just devote myself to a quiet, happy and mindless project just for me.

If you follow me on instagram, you might have seen my daily “unboxing”, a single example of which is above… I had so much fun just opening the yarns and seeing that day’s colour!  Honestly, even without the daily calming and meditative knitting session, and notwithstanding that I now am the proud owner of a divine new jumper – the texture of which is so baby-soft and so squishy, and basically too too heavenly to even describe…  just opening the days’ little box each morning was also such an enormous joy for me.  I also posted a picture in my stories each day of the day’s progress.  If you want to see them all, I’ve saved the whole process in my permanent stories, called “advent”-ure, at the top of my page  🙂

day 3… 🙂

I started from the bottom, and knitted the same number of rows on each sleeve and the body section each day, and then when I got to the appropriate place to start the yoke, joined them all together and continued in the same way, decreasing raglan style up to the neckline.

day 14…

Before opening the first skein I wasn’t 100% sure there would be enough yarn in each little skein to do the width of stripe I wanted, in this case my plan was to “fill in” between the stripes with a few rows of the undyed yarn I’d bought for the cast-on… but after day one I’d happily determined there was plenty! in fact I estimate I only used roughly a half of each skein, even for the widest sections.

day 17…

I’d decided to just knit each colour as it appeared and not second guess anything at all! so the delicious Unknown of it all was exciting and fun; but I have to admit there were one or two days I was like “whaaa??”   However I’d checked out the Dingo Dyeworks advent calendar from 2017, which was so so beautiful, and I just had to put my trust in this years’ being beautiful too.

day 20…

It is a little different, to be sure! and while not all the colours were what I might have chosen and there was even a coupla days where I truly wondered where this was all going!  Would this advent-ure be irredeemably unicorn-ly?!  However I’m very happy to admit that my fears were unfounded and I feel like my finished sweater is now one of my loveliest and, dare I say, the prettiest that I have?! and the colour-story worked out quite beautifully in the end.  I’m still about 99% convinced days 16 and 17 were mixed up! but that’s neither here not there really, since you can’t really tell that in the end result.

aaaaand, day 24!

Knitting on this every day was, as I’d hoped, a calming and peaceful, meditative and fun! interlude in the lead-up to Christmas for me, so I am so glad I decided to do this … yes, it resulted in a smaller pile of me-made things I could give my loved ones; I bought a few presents for my family this year and I refuse to feel guilty about that! and I still did manage to make a few things.  And I have a beautiful and unique new jumper!

back, indistinguishable from the front actually, but you know…

Details:

Jumper; my own design, made from the Dingo Dyeworks 2018 advent calendar
Skirt; Vogue 1247, made from curtaining fabric, details here
Thongs; fipper, bought on our holiday in Bali

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rope market bag

27/12/2018 2:41 pm \ 7 Comments \

< So this is embarrassing… I made this bag in October… last year!  It has sat up in my laundry, only awaiting the handles; and the following draft post has been sitting forlornly in my drafts folder ALL THAT TIME.  But no more!  I finished the handles last month, polished up the draft post and just bunged in some pictures and bammo…  DONE!  Finally! >

hehe, anyone who knows me knows that I don’t make bags very often… it’s the one luxury I BUY! but I saw this tutorial by Amy over at Heather’s blog Closet Case patterns and just thought it was super chic and cute!! Coincidentally, when I pinned it I found that a few years previously I had also pinned a similar tutorial written by Erica over at honestlywtf.com! Guess it was a sign… for me to get on and DO it!

 

I’ve been carrying my shopping in generic carry bags rather than plastic shopping bags even before the placky-bag bag came in, because I’m such a bag snob, hehe, and while I do have a quite a lot of perfectly serviceable plain ones stashed in the boot of my car I decided I wanted a nicer one for when I wanted to look more classy-like in the supermarket.  Probably just because I wanted to give this awesome tutorial a go more than anything else, to be honest…

I bought 3 bundles of this cotton rope/cord from Bunnings and just had at it… my first fold is 20cm, and I started sloping the sides after just 10 rounds, because I wanted my bag to be wide, but flattish.  The longer your first fold, the wider the bag, widthwise, and the more rounds you stitch before sloping the sides up, the “fatter” your bag will be.  My bag itself is two whole bundles of 25m, and then I decided I wanted leather handles rather than rope ones…. I had a small scrap of deep chocolate brown leather from when my friend V was cleaning out her stash.  I punched the holes for the stitching using the leather tool I bought from Skinhuset in Copenhagen during our visit there a few years ago, and handstitched using a leather needle and deep chocolate brown Gutermann’s upholstery thread.

 

I also wanted some little internal pockets inside the bag; one side has a zipped one for keys and the other has an open,  more accessible one for my phone… these are made from a stiff, cream-coloured cotton broadcloth, actually the same stuff I used to make my rag-doll Sally… and I just zig-zagged them down inside the bag.  Because there’s all the mad crazy zig-zagging going on on the outside of the bag already, you don’t really notice a little bit of extra zig-zagging for the pocket attachments.  The perfectly matching “rustic” chocolate-brown zip came from an old pair of jeans that I previously cut up for another project…

so that’s it!  I really really love it, and think it will come in handy not just for shopping, but just for anything and everything, really.  So far I’ve used it precisely once, when I took it to my local Australian Sewing Guild meeting, to hold my sewing stuff.  It worked!

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