Crafts or Bust?

So I'm out of work again. That means more time for sewing. Although I'm hoping to have a new job soon. In the meantime, I thought I could sell some purses for some extra cash. But I haven't had too many people interested in what I do have already up. Do I just start making more stuff and hope that people will become more interested? Or do I just make things for myself and never sell anything? I guess sometimes it takes money to make money. I'd have to buy materials to make more purses. Sure, I have some fabric. I could make maybe 6 or 8 purses. Is that enough to start with? I think whatever I choose, I'll make excuses not to do it. That's just the way I work. Pathetic. I've gotta change that, for sure. Maybe I'll just make the purses with the materials that I've got and hope for the best.

After I make a few of them, I'll probably post pictures of them up here for all the readers I have. Ha! I will also put them up on my Artfire store. I seem to have gotten some views on what I have up there, but no takers.

Hopefully it will work out. Thanks for reading.

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Don't Shoot the Messenger

So I found an adorable Messenger Bag tute online a while ago and I've been wanting to make it for a long time. I didn't have any heavy weight fabric at the time. Then I remembered I had and old pair of corduroys somewhere. I had used half of one leg to make something else months ago. The dimensions of the fabric I got from the pants were slightly smaller than what I needed, but I made do. It just came out as a tall skinny Messenger Bag. But I really really love how it turned out.

The little pink fringe adds a little touch of feminine and the brown corduroy makes it strong enough to hold anything. The knotted handle is a cute little addition, making the strap adjustable without extra hardware added. It adds a little character too.

I need to work on my photography skills. But I think you get the idea.

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Hand It Over!

So I was looking for a small hand bag that was easy to make, and not too complicated. Something I could just sling over my arm and go. A lot of the patterns I found were complicated or required heavier fabric than the quilting cotton that I usually buy. Then I remembered I had a pattern that could be scaled down very easily and gave it a try.
I've made this pattern before just a much larger version.
Lula Louise: Reversible Shoulder Bag

So I scaled it down to fit on 2 fat quarters (1 outer, 1 lining).

I wish I would have made the strap a little bit bigger because it doesn't fit around my arm as comfortably as I would have liked.  But it is a really cute little bag.

And it's reversible! So it can match whatever my mood is.

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Custom Tshirt Purses

So for my first post I thought I would showcase some of my favorite items to make. It started out as just a trial thing. I was low on fabric, then I saw the bag I had set aside of old clothes to take to Goodwill. Found a couple of shirts that I really hated to part with, but they just didn't fit anymore. So I used the fabric to make a purse.

It's a cute little purse. I've improved the design a little, like making the strap less stretchy.
I recently made a couple of Tshirt purses for a friend.

I played with the design a little bit for each of them. Different sizes, and the red one has squared corners. It was a fun project to make and I think they turned out pretty well.

They are really simple to make. I found a great tutorial on About.com

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