Purse/Pouch – Page 2 – Sew Bittersweet Designs

Paying It Forward Sewing – The Tohoku Tote

14 Comments / pay it forward, Purse/Pouch / By Melissa Dunworth

A good friend of mine that lives in Olympia asked me for a favor. Would I sew something to donate for her son’s preschool. Each year they do a silent auction to raise funds for the next year and general maintenance. I said yes and asked what she thought would be a good donation item, she asked for a bag.

I had no idea which pattern I would do. I bounced ideas of Kristy from Hopeful Threads and then saw Katie from the Littlest Thistle’s review of the Tohoku Tote as part of Purse Palooza this year. I fell in love and knew this was the tote to make. The pattern and tutorial are by I am Momma – Hear Me Roar.

At Anne’s birthday party I had my friend pick out the main fabric and went from there.

I usually don’t sew with such busy prints so this was a bit of challenge for me, especially when it came time to match up with print in the pleat. I decided to make a little wallet to go with it. Sweeten the deal for whomever wins the purse.

The tote didn’t have a zippered pocket in the tutorial but I added one because I always like a secure place to store my keys when I’m out. I thought the winner might appreciate that.

I used A Valori Wells Designs sewing card called “Little Wallet” that I picked up 3 years ago at Sew Expo to make a matching wallet. The best part of the whole purse and wallet set was that I had ALL of the supplies in my stash, right down to the pearl snaps and the pop of color zipper I added to the pocket. I love when I can avoid a trip to the store and sew with what I own. I even had all of the interfacings I needed!

Finally a simple picture of the tote hanging up. I am very pleased with how it turned out and I hope it fetches a good price for the preschool. In October the school was struck by lightning causing over $10,000 worth of damage, they need every penny! If you are local to Olympia, WA, the auction is this Saturday, Dec 7th, and I can get you more information!

Swap Fun With My Guild

11 Comments / Purse/Pouch, SSMQG, swaps / By Melissa Dunworth

Last night was our monthly meeting for the South Sound Modern Quilt Guild and it was a fun one! In September everyone who wanted to brought in baggies full of their scraps and traded with someone else. The goal was to make a swap gift for someone using that persons scraps (kind of guaranteed they will, at the very least, love the fabrics). There was no limit on what you could make.

When I got my bag all I could see was white fabric. I was initially a bit scared, what was I going to do with just WHITE! My partner though was stealthy, she hid all of her colors inside a nice wide strip of white, lovely oranges and grays. Here is what I made:

I have a ton of orange and gray scraps too, so I added some from my stash. My partner made it so easy on me, she said she didn’t have a zippered pouch and her pin cushion was in need of updating. Voila!

I made the pouch using a QAYG technique, with no pattern or tutorial, just made it up as I went. The pin cushion I just sewed together all of the scraps. I had so much fun making this. If you want a tutorial for the pouch let me know, I will happily whip another one up, it won’t be exactly the same, but you will get the general idea of how to make it.

The awesome part though was when we got to give our gifts, the ladies in this group are just so crazy talented! It was amazing to see what they made with scraps! Heather from Creative Blessings had me and she clearly did her homework! She got me down to a tee.

I felt so incredibly spoiled! She got me my favorite fabric line (Simply Style) and a gorgeous mug rug and cup cozy with a little coffee set! She even gave me some extra flying geese and hexie templates!

This card (which I didn’t read until this morning) truly touched my heart. Heather is incredibly talented with making cards and it made me feel so special to receive one of hers!

And this notebook cover! She designed it herself and could she have gotten my style any better?!? Hexies and flying geese! My two favorite things!

I think Heather needs to do a tutorial for this! It is truly an awesome design. It even has a pouch for sticky notes and a pencil! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

As Heather said in her card, this guild has filled a need in her life that she didn’t know she had, and she is so right for me too. I had no idea who much starting this guild would mean to me, but it truly has been the most amazing experience! Thank you so much Heather!

Pick Me Up!

17 Comments / Purse/Pouch / By Melissa Dunworth

Sometimes you just need a pick me up. Anne’s kidney tests had me in a funk yesterday, and really Tuesday and Wednesday too (hence no blog post yesterday). Sometimes I just wish getting answers was easier, but alas, it is not. We are now anxiously awaiting her test results.

Anyways, I decided yesterday that I needed a pick me up. Meet my pick me up!

Using some lovely Cuzco by Kate Spain that my amazing friend Lyanna from Purple Panda Quilts sent me for Christmas, I made the Noodlehead Gathered Clutch. Now I would love to say that it went together perfectly but it didn’t, mostly my fault, she says that one of the pictures is wrong and explains how to do it right, but I followed the picture (visual learner here). Once I ripped out my minor mistake, it was easily fixed. Like Anna, I spent more time picking out my fabrics than actually sewing the clutch! It went together sew quickly!

Here’s a pic of the inside:

Ignore my untrimmed threads! LOL!

Do you sew when you need a pick me up? Does it help you get out of your funk? It totally helped me!

Have a great weekend! I will be back on Monday with the mid-month check in for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

Reversible Purses

20 Comments / Purse/Pouch, sewing, swaps / By Melissa Dunworth

The last 2 days I have been happily sewing away on a set of purses. I’m only showing you one here because they are completely identical. I followed a fabulous tutorial and pattern from verypurpleperson. I found the pattern on Pinterest by searching for reversible tote patterns. I made this bag as part of a swap group I’m in on Facebook – Sew Swap Share. The challenge this quarter is for a re-usable grocery bag. I decided my partner needed a chic reversible grocery bag made from some lovely home dec fabric by Anna Maria Horner, the design is “Drawing Room”. I already know that my partner is happy with the pictures and can’t wait to mail hers off to her. The extra one will be one of my new bags for farmer’s market and perhaps just around town too.

I’m torn…can’t decided if I like the blue better or the pink?!?

I just wanted to show off the darts a bit. I thought they were a nifty design feature – different take on a boxy bottom if you will.

What did you all work on this weekend?

New Library Bag

12 Comments / Contemporary Cloth, Feathered Star, Hand Quilting, Purse/Pouch / By Melissa Dunworth

Last month Anne and I went to our local library, for Olympia WA natives, that would be Tumwater Library. My goal was to introduce her to the library and get myself a library card (yeah, we’ve lived here for a year and I still hadn’t done that). The cool part of our visit was that even though Anne is only 2, she was able to get a card too! I’m not sure who thought that was cooler, me or her. Which brings me to my next project….

I finally decided that I needed to do something with my Feather Stars and I hand quilted one of them. I put the finished picture out on Twitter and asked my friends for ideas of what to do with them and my friend Debbe from Pieces To Love suggested making a book bag for our library trips. Hello GENIUS! A bag was born!

I wanted there to be some fun whimsy to the bag so for the back and lining of the bag I used some lovely Yuwa fabrics from Contemporary Cloth – after all this is a bag Anne and I will use together and there need to be some little girl touches for her.

I think my favorite touch is the lined inside zipper pocket. A first for me! I followed a fabulous tutorial from my friend Beth at Plum & June. I changed the measurements slightly to fit the needs of my bag, and I can’t tell you how happy I am with how it turned out. It is the perfect pocket for Anne to keep her library card.

Pretty happy with out it turned out. Today we will be going to the library, we have to, our books are due tomorrow! Have a happy hump day everyone!