More Bags

You can never have enough bags or inspiration for bags!

These are all different and I have shared the patterns over the 

last few years at classes and as you have seen, even though

we all start with the same pattern they all end up totally different

and unique :)

Iren made the "Sweet Pea" Purse above for her Grand Daughter.

Carol made the Pleated Floral Bag.

Gloria made the adaptation of the Windmill Bag and

Julianne made a very large Quilt Bag.Well done they all look fantastic!

See more bags by clicking the written labels below.

Bags With Pleats

These are the same purse pattern enlarged and made with 

strips of fabric and then pleated. 

It gives a fullness to the bag and adds that added detail.

Again the variation is fantastic depending on the fabric you 

choose and the added embellishments.

See more bags by clicking the written labels below.

Beautiful Bags

Creative Textiles is really getting know for inspiring

lots of different bags and several ladies are

getting a reputation for being'Bag Ladies',

in the nicest possible way. 

The top bags are made by friends Val and Jo.

They chose their fabrics together at the Duxford Show 

and then had a bag making day!

They are just a bit bigger than the ipad and have

some wonderful clasps and embellishments on them.

Beryl made the appliqued  hexagon decorated bag.

Love the shape!

The mini hand bags are ideal gifts and Carol has had 

some fun making them.

I inspire at least two bags each month aswell and 

'Show and Tell' just inspire everyone.

See more bags by clicking on the written labels below. 

Brenda's Bag

Brenda has made two "Windmill Bags' now.

One for herself and this one is for a friend.

I just love the floral lining with the taupe and spot outer fabric.

It gives the whole look of the bag a lift.

See more bags by clicking the written labels below.

Sue's Bags

Sue came back off her travels and showed us the collection

of bags she had made.

We all admired the box bag with all the pockets. 

She has a different coloured lining pocket for all

her sewing stuff so it is

easily identified and can be put back in its place.

See centre picture.

The bag pattern is based on the Windmill Bag.

Textile Tuesday

As you can see bags are really popular at class and some 

are now known as 'Bag Ladies'!

Beryl had unpicked some of the binding on her Batik Bag

(Bag in the middle above) 

and added the buttons.

The box style bag used the twisted squares technique.

These small alterations just made the difference.

Its all about finish.

its knowing how to move on a design or how to 

make the best of what you can do.

Val showed us her new Laptop bag she had made,

again an adapted pattern.

It is the fixtures and finishings that make

this look so'Designer'.

You can find good bag fixings at this website

HERE

This is where Val found her stainless steel twisted fixings

fo this bag. 

16 Squares Make a Bag

Brenda has made this bag for her friend for the Summer.

Its beautiful!

Its made out of 16, 5.5" squares and laid out similar to the 

table runners I teach.

There has been a steep learning curve on how to put the

squares and lining together and turn it inside out so that

it looks professional. 

A great gift.

Well done Brenda!

See one of my favourite square bags with a purse

HERE 

See more bags by clicking the written labels below. 

Twisted Square Bag

Beryl has made this bag using the Twisted Square Technique.

I taught this technique at the beginning of the month.

Beryl used batik fabric to make the squares.
There are 21 squares in the main bag and 2 either side.

See my blog post HERE

Square Bags and a Purse To Match

Hilary made her Square Bag with 5.5" squares and then made a purse to match
with smaller ones.

What a lovely set!

I love the way the squares in the purse are placed on point.

Hilary feather stitched around the squares,
which gives it a lovely detail.
See more bags by clicking the written labels below.

Patchwork Bag

Helen saw this bag pattern called "Autumn Days" in 

the Popular Patchwork magazine.

It was designed by Sara Jaskiewicz and Sadie Yeomans.

Helen liked the look of it and decided she would make it with

a charm pack of fabric she had been stashing! 

She found the instructions quite clear and as you can see 

by her bag it turned out well.

Instructions are always a bug bear and it is often making an item

and sharing it you decipher what they mean and

 what alterations you would make next time.

I often have to translate patterns because they are not as clear as we 

would wish.

I went out a purchased the magazine as I liked the bag shape too!

Working my way through my bag as I blog.

Will show you the results shortly, with my alterations.

If you would like to visit Popular Patchwork's website

click HERE

Cases with Zips

Another virtue in sewing I have been adapting is,

The art of using 'zips'.

For some reason many have been put off by over zealous 

Needlework teaches and have never sewn in or considered doing them since.

I show a very easy bag and here are two different versions of it. 

Made by Jo and Mandy.

The top is the flat bag and the bottom picture shows it with

the zip in the middle and has sugar bag corners.

just made with a square of fabric and your ZIP!

Bags and More Bags

Textile Tuesdays are wonderful for 'Show and Tell'.

We always have a lot of bags. 

I started it off two years ago by making several different bags 

each month and sharing the making of them at class

and it has just taken off. 

We are now officially Bag Ladies!

Some take up the challenge more than others!

Beryl's bag above is made with Amy Butler fabric and looks

wonderful and is a great Summer Bag.

Pat has made hers out of recycled upholstery fabrics and 

it for those awkward and last minute things that when you are going away are always

left over and you don't know where to put or pack them!

See more bags by clicking the written label below.

Cotillion Bag

HeatherAnne has made this wonderful bag made from a kit by Quilters Trading Post. 

It is called a 'Cotillion Bag'. Now 'The Cotillion', is a type of dance made popular in

18th Century France and became very fashionable because it was performed in formation.

 Couples made up a square or opposite lines, making it a very social and very popular.

Now a lady of this time would have had a bag,

 to put her 'other shoes' in and some 

'overnight' things just in case it was a dance too good to leave!

Or a well invitation came her way to stay at the family house!

It made me laugh as HeatherAnne wanted to adapt the bag for her

Church Books! 

A very novel way of distorting a history of a bag!

It makes her giggle and the rest of us that she is taking her dance overnight

bag to Church!

Helen's Bags

As you can see it's been Bag Inspiration Week.

I love the Owl Bag, apparently he is been in the making for

quite sometime and the snow gave Helen the opportunity to finish

him. Isn't he great?

Sandra's Bags

I encourage 'Show and Tell' at sessions and Sandra showed us

all her bags she had worked on due to the snow.

They were all different and made for different

people.

Well done Sandra! They are fantastic.

I particularly loved the Cherry Bag with the matching purse

and The Cath Kidson bag made from a kit.

See more bags by clicking the written tags under this post.

Beryl's Bags

As some of you know who follow Quilters Cottage Norfolk

I love making bags and encouraging others to make bags.

Beryl has been busy as you can see making a selection.

We did have a laugh with her though, as she brought an expensive magazine

because she liked the bag pattern in it (the pastel square one above).

She followed the pattern cut out the template and worked her way through

the instructions, only to find that the bag turned out 6.

A beautiful miniature bag!

The picture in the book was magazine page sized so led you to believe

that you would be sporting it on your arm!

not between your pinkies!

Its beautiful though and Beryl is going to scale the pattern up.

We are looking forward to the full size version.

See more bags by clicking on the written labels below.  

bag Day at Knit Wits

On the 22nd of March I taught a Bag making day at Knit Wits in Dereham. The eight students spent the day making the bag of their choice and some drew out patterns and shared the instructions to many more. I had a selection of bags from, shoulder handbags to large sewing holdalls to folded Japanese style for students to choose from. Everyone had fun. See photos of finished bags shortly.

To see more bag making, visit my tech site and view the bag making video by clicking the link below.
www.art2inspiretech.blogspot.com

Visit Knit Wits shop website www.knitwitsdereham.co.uk

Bag Day @The Gallery

The Gallery Mixed Media Tuesdays are always great fun with lots of sharing, demonstrating techniques and creating of projects. I show and demonstrate each week to inspire and bring along equipment and items to have a try. Above, are some of the bags made and continued on Bag Day.
See a great video on bag making on my tech site.
www.art2inspire.co.uk