Selfish Sewing 1

It figures that when I have a post I need to leave up for a while, I end up with like 6 projects backlogged that I want to post about.

I have been having some trouble this summer trying to relax. For whatever reason, I just can't seem to let my brain sign out of school. I certainly WANT to let this year go. BELIEVE ME. As a result, I have been going through a bit of a funk sewing-wise. So, I started to think about it, and realized that deep down, I really wanted to sew just for me. The things I make are almost always given away or sold (although less of the selling right now...sigh...), and I really just want to make some things for me. So...I did. My laptop is oversized (accidental...I'll probably never do that again) so it is impossible to find a laptop bag to carry it around in. I pulled out a dark navy blue narrow-wale corduroy and some awesome orange and gold quilter's cotton and went to work. I really should have made this a tutorial it was so easy, but oh well...maybe I'll make another one.
I didn't make the flap quite long enough, but the closure is completely intentional. I didn't want to use velcro and I have been longing to use more grommets, so this is what I came up with.
I really really like this bag, and like I said, SUPER easy. I plan on using it in a couple of weeks for a class I'm taking....along with the great messenger bag I made myself today. I'll post about that tomorrow.

Hope your summer has been relaxing so far!

School Bag for Me

I bought some material a few months ago to make myself a school bag, but I wanted something a little different, so I waited until I had some ideas and had drawn up a plan. Here is the finished product. There are still a few bugs to work out, and it would hang better if I had a normal sized chest, but I still like it. The color is kind of wrong in some of these pictures, it is a moss green corduroy, lined with very light tan-colored linen, and trimmed with black and gold brocade ribbon.


My first college major was interior design, and my favorite class was drafting, so I tend to use graph paper to sketch out all my designs.


this is pretty close to the actual color


I am kind of proud of the top closures, the design is totally my own. I also borrowed an idea from a blog I saw recently (I can't remember which one, sorry!) and used hair elastics for the button closures. I also learned that you should not iron hair elastics.



I found some 3 packs of caribiners at JoAnns a while ago for a dollar a pack and used one of them for the connection ring.

Corduroy and Sage/Silver Shoulder Bag

This brown corduroy and sage/silver shoulder bag is very heavy duty and lined with a silvery sage colored drapery material. The handles are 2.5" wide and 15" from top of shoulder to top of bag and all seams are double stitched. The pocket on the outside is 10" square and the corners are reinforced. This bag is reversible, hand-washable, and completely unique.

Price - $10 + shipping