Sew Dresses and More

As I mentioned in an earlier post my daughter’s school is having a craft fair.  Actually, the fair is a pretty big deal in town and a major fundraiser for the school.  The craft fair part of it is relatively small in comparison but there will be about a dozen tables and I will be at one of them. 

I only have one day left to finish getting ready and for the past few weeks I have been sewing like crazy and having a blast.  Who knew cutting up old clothes could be such fun.  I must admit it may even be more fun than sewing dresses.  I have been marveling at the creativness of others I have found on the internet that have reused old stuff to make useful stuff and now I feel like I have found my calling. Okay, I will admit the first time I began cutting up a favorite pair of pants that no longer fit I had no idea what I was doing.  But I really liked the patchwork purse I created from them.  I have gotten braver in the last few weeks, cutting things up and figuring out how to cut pieces big enough to use or piecing them together to make one big piece.

I probably should have stuck with one pattern and made a bunch of the same style bags to sell but I was having too much fun trying out different patterns or altering patterns to make them work with the fabric I happen to have. Because I took so much time figuring out how to make each pattern work, I only have 13 handbag totes, purse totes and inspired bags and about 25 t-shirt market bags.  I’m torn between wanting to have enough stuff to sell over the three days and hoping that I sell out of everything on the first day.  I made some other stuff too, some bookthong bookmarks, friendship bracelets and I had a few beaded pins and crocheted hair ties that have been done for years.  I have them all gathered up and ready to go.  I included a few pictures to give you an idea of what you can do with an old pair of pants or shirt and some imagination.  I’ll let you know how I do at the fair and whether or not I got to leave early.  If not, you’ll be seeing some of this stuff again in my etsy shop.  Of course, I will be making more if I happen to sell out. (I like to dream big!)

Technorati Tags: handbag totes, inspired bags, market bags, purse totes

My daughter’s school puts on a fair every year and each class puts together a basket of stuff to sell in a silent auction.  This year her class basket is supposed to have stuff that is environmentally friendly.  Going Green is something I’ve been thinking about and wanting to do more of anyway, so I thought this was a good time to actually get something done.  I started with crocheting some plastic grocery store bags together to make a mat.  I used up some bags and got it done but I was not real thrilled with the way it looked.  Next I tried making a fabric totes, fabric lunch bag and fabric sandwich bag.  They both turned out pretty well and I sent my daughter to school to try it out the next day.  She got a lot of compliments and some “make me one” requests.  So, I made another one to add to the class basket.  

During the fair they also have some craft tables they rent out for local talent to sell their wares.  I had so much fun making the lunch bags I thought I’d make a few more, rent a table and see what happens.  The fair is not for a couple more weeks, so we’ll see how many homemade projects I can get done.  So far I have several fabric lunch bags, vinyl bags, a handbag/totes made from re-purposing 3 pairs of pants into my own design.  It turned out kind of like a hobo/totes.  I’m planning on getting a few purse/totes, fabric lunch bags, denim bags and who know what else.  I’ll post again after it’s all over and let you know how I made out.  In the mean time, I started a shop on Etsy.comto see what happens there too.  Check out my site and let me know what you think.  There are only a few things on there now but I’ll put more on after the fair.

Technorati Tags: denim bags, handbag totes, hobo totes, purse totes, vinyl bags