Bagged, baby!

At long last, the bag I made for our friends from Amy Butler’s new book “Little Stitches for Little Ones” arrived in northern New Mexico and I can now share the photos…

This one is dubbed the “Modern Nappy Bag” and is really something — its absolutely enormous! And it certainly doesn’t look like your run-of-the-mill diaper bag.

I used fabric from Amy Butler’s newish line of home decorator weight cotton sateen, August Fields. Some woodgrain fabric of the same weight from Joel Dewberry’s Ginseng line looked like it was made to match, so I lined the whole thing and made the many, many pockets with that…

I had a lot of fun making this bag, and hope the recipients enjoy it and are able to get some use out of it. What I like about it is that even if it’s a no-go as a diaper bag, it would be great as a tote bag for shopping at the farmers market or for a day trip where you need to pack a few things. It just doesn’t look “diaper-y.”

I also made the accompanying changing pad in a an organic terry cloth that was the same light blue color that was in the woodgrain fabric, and back it with the woodgrain. It’s meant to be quilted in a grid style, but I quickly last my patience with that. I am just sooooo not a quilter In fact, while I respect quilting as an art form, it is one of those things I just don’t have the temperament for at all. I did manage to do some horizontal quilting before I got frustrated, so it looks pretty decent. Needless to say, I can’t imagine I’ll be doing anything remotely quilting related anytime soon.

Funnily enough, this is the first baby gift I’ve ever made. Because I really don’t presume to know what folks want or need, I usually rely on that handy-dandy Target registry for these types of things. And, honestly, there hasn’t been anyone that I’ve been good enough friends with to merit making a baby gift. I hope that doesn’t make me a terrible person…

Which reminds me of an incident from earlier this year. One of my former coworkers was planning a baby shower for another coworker. And the first coworker asked me to “make up one of those nice bags” for this person to put all the other gifts into. She was referring, to the Amy Butler High Street Messenger Bag, of which I’ve made several. I was flabbergasted. Not only was I shocked because of the time and expense a bag like that would take (people really don’t understand how expensive fabric is and how much effort and energy it takes to make something quality–I’ve accepted that), but I was doubly surprised because I wasn’t particularly close to the potential recipient. You have to be pretty high up on the list to get a handmade gift–particularly an elaborate one like a bag that’s, face it, pretty physically tiring to make with all the layers of fabric and whatnot. The friend that I made this bag and changing pad for (actually, the bag is for the friend’s wife, but whatever) was just about my only work friend that I had when I was working at The Job From Hell several years ago. (Seriously, it was bad. You try going to school board meetings that last until 11:00 p.m. and tell me it’s not hell.) And I also know that my friend really appreciates things that are made by real people. So it’s really a two-fold criteria for these things with me: 1.) I gotta like you a lot. 2.) You gotta appreciate stuff that’s handmade.

I’m wondering if I’m the only one who is like this? Are the rest of y’all nicer than me about the handmade gifting thing?

~Sarah

Edited: I forgot to mention that a friend of mine stopped by the house right after I finished this up and mentioned that the bag was big enough and the right shape to use “Paris Hilton Style.” By which she meant that you could carry a small dog around in it. Hilarious! (And very true.)

Sewist’s Block

You probably remember my Hot Patterns Jeanious Jeans that I was so gung-ho about… The ones that were looking totally awesome?

Well, I finished them up, complete with the hot pink pocket and waistband lining.

And some funky pink twin needling on the hem.

Pretty fresh, huh? I thought so, too. And they fit great. Seriously, Hot Patterns’ fit works really well for me.

Anyway, I wore these jeans/trousers to work the day after I finished them. I got a number of compliments on them, including my favorite,

You made those didn’t you? I can tell because there’s hot pink lightning bolts on the ass.

I guess normal people would be annoyed by a comment like that, but it was meant in the nicest way possible. (For the record, I wasn’t thinking lightning bolts, I was just going for something geometric and even possibly “designer”—whatever that means.)

Anyway, I was feeling pretty good about my fancy pants, and Josh picked me up from work that day. I hopped in the car and the second my butt hit the seat I hear,

RRRRRRIIIIIIIIIP!

Yep, my jeans, that I’d worked so hard on, and was so proud of, ripped—and ripped big. Good thing we have heated seats—that’s all I’m saying.

Anyway, upon inspection, I remembered something I’d noticed when I was sewing these jeans. You see, this was some super cheap denim that Josh had bought at The Despot for a project that he’d thought the better of. So, I commandeered it for my first pair of Hot Patterns Jeanious Jeans. And at one point, when I was doing some topstitching on the yoke or somewhere, and noticed what can just be described as a fabric “nub.” I though, “weird,” and sort of pushed it out of my mind.

I’m thinking that was a mistake. The nub seemed to be the epicenter of the tear—with the fabric basically “running” up and down.

This whole episode has totally gotten my head out of the sewing game. I just can’t seem to get anything going. The only thing I’ve managed to make since this near-catastrophe is my “Not Knitted” Burda World Fashion sweater. It’s stupid because I know that this had nothing to do with my sewing ability, but nevertheless, I feel like I’ve lost my sewing mojo.

I can think, think, think about sewing. Help Josh with sewing. Even cut out another pair of Jeanious Jeans. But when it comes to putting thread to needle to fabric, I just can’t get my head around it.

Maybe it’s Sewist’s Block?

~Sarah