Tag Archives: Claremont Bag

regarding lingerie and shopping totes

24/05/2022 12:13 pm \ Leave a Comment \ Carolyn

I made some pretty new underwear… I bought this super cute Snugglepot and Cuddlepie cotton jersey from Spotlight at the very end of last year. Such a beautiful print, yes? Slice of my childhood, right there, I just could not resist!

I am in need of padded underwired bras during winter, because I tend to favour merino T-shirts at this time… thus I made another one. This brings my bra numbers back up to a respectable number so that I don’t have to hunt around looking for enough things to go into a wash every few days! Honestly, when the kids leave home, that’s something you don’t take into account!

I used my old favourite, MakeBra DL 03 again. Although I lately bought the Emerald Erin Black Beauty pattern and am aiming to run up a trial run of it sometime soon, when I get the time for that sort of thing again. Right now, I only have the time for a tried and true.

The two set of matching knickers are once again the cloth habit Watson briefs. Sorry to be so predictable!

The neon yellow picot elastic was also surprisingly from Spotlight; i say surprising because it’s pretty unusual for them to stock something so…. not-basic. Ribbon, also from Spotlight. The pale green strap elastic was from Homecraft Textiles, of course. I would have LOVED to find neon yellow strap elastic too, but beggars cannot be choosers around these parts!

While I had the yellow raincoat leftovers from Theo’s raincoat (previous post) I also cut out a Claremont shopping tote for myself, thus using up the very last scraps, which felt awesome. I’ve been needing a new shopping tote for quite a while, since my older one is pretty shabby now. I did have to piece the bottom bit due to lack of fabric but that’s ok, I double flat-felled all seams for extra strength so I’m confident it will all hold up well. I also didn’t have enough fabric for the facing, so just finished the edge with some mustard poplin from my stash, and the yellow zip is an inherited oldie from stash.

in situ in Coles, awaiting the grocery haul

mission accomplished…

Hurray! I’m really ripping through the stash lately! Feels so good!

obligatory pocket photos…

In my #use30 challenge update, the lingerie used 0.5m, and the bag also used about 0.5m… bringing my total up to 24m used, and just 6m to go. I’m so stoked at that number, it feels truly reachable at last!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: accessories, bag, Carolyn & Cassie Pattern Co, claremont bag, cloth habit, lingerie, makeBra DL03, own design, watson

claremont shopping tote

24/09/2019 2:59 pm \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

There’s a new pattern in Le Shop!!

So, last Christmas I made a few shopping totes, one for Kelly and one for Sam’s lady L, and they were quite nice if I say so myself! Kelly in particular carried hers around a tonne, bringing it around practically every week, packed full of her stuff. She reckoned it was an incredibly useful size… 🙂 Shortly afterwards I received several requests from lovely readers who were interested in the pattern which made me feel, yeah we can do this, and; well, wedding sewing did put pattern-making on the back burner for quite a while but ta da! finally we made it happen… and it’s now live in our shop!

I asked Cassie to name this one, and she decided upon Claremont, after our favourite shopping centre. Well, I should qualify; our actual favourite places to shop are like; Fabulous Fabrics, and Potters, and Spotlight, but well, you know 😉

Specifics; the Claremont is an unlined, shopping tote with box-base and cut-on handles, with two options for internal pockets . The base measures 30cm x 20cm (12” x 8”); the height of bag not including handles is 33cm (13”). The length of the shoulder straps enables a person to sling the tote easily on the shoulder and to still be able comfortably access inside the tote while you’re wearing it. The cut-on handles makes for a very strong bag that can withstand a quite heavy load of shopping.

The totes I made for Kelly and L were quite simple with no pockets, however for the pattern itself we added pattern pieces and instructions for two internal pockets; an open pocket for your phone, and a zipped pocket for your keys. I ran up a pocketed version for a birthday gift for a friend, using a really lovely Spindle and Ink canvas; this is called Flowering Gum in Bluestone and Stream. Isn’t that a gorgeous name?! It’s designed by Lara Cameron.

The pattern is available to purchase in digital pdf format; and also; in consideration of the fact that I understand that lots of people prefer paper sewing patterns, and/or do not easily have access to printing it out at home, or just don’t want to; we are also making available an actual paper pattern too.

This is unavoidably a more expensive option, sorry! so sweeten the paper pattern deal; with the first five paper patterns sold I’m throwing in one of our pattern company labels. These are produced by the Dutch Label company, and I currently only have the five. Anyone who has bought from them knows and no doubt loves the very high quality of their work! I’m thinking of ordering more!