Another Bag Today, This One Is Fabric Pieces

 Today I planned to use some Home Defense spray inside the house.  Unfortunately when I read the directions on the container I realized I was not prepared to do and wear all that was needed.  So I decided to go to the sewing machine for another project instead.

Over the past year as I collected weaving tools I realized I needed a better way to store them.  The other day I was at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore here in town.  I almost never stop there but about a mile before the turn-off it crossed my mind to go there that day.  So I did. I went to the craft section and book section and found two books--one on spiralizing!  As I walked through the building I thought of possibly getting a small sturdy armless chair to use while at the spinning wheel.  Nothing caught my eye but when I turned down the aisle to leave the store I saw a 2-foot long piece of 8" heavy PVC pipe.  Exactly what I have been looking for!  The price was right so I picked it up, immediately left the store (after paying, of course) and went home to see if my eyes had treated me right.  They had! 

 It was the perfect size for the heddles, pick-up sticks, stick shuttles, and several other things for both looms.  The only glitch was that there was no bottom.  I had already thought I just needed to make a bag with a drawstring which would be a bottom of the bag as well as a top closure.

This is what I made today:

Okay, so it looks pretty icky and it is not as tall as the tallest heddle, but the bottom is closed and I can pick it up and carry it around with me if that is what I wanted to do.  The fabric came into my possession last week as someone was passing along some VERY bright colored yarn and a bag which turned out to have two tablecloths and a big pile of pre-stitched fabrics. I took four of them and made this bag. 

The drawstring was also blue and part of the broken umbrella we had over the table on the back deck to keep the sun off.  I think I talked about deconstructing that umbrella a year or so ago where I used the "uprights" to put in the Money Tree plant pot.  I had kept the fabric thinking that since it is very sturdy fabric it might be good for something.  Well, part of it was good for something!!

Makes me happy!

Sewing Failure

 Today was a pretty good day.  Until I started a sewing project.  It was still a good day, but the sewing project failed.  That does not mean that I will throw it away.  Far from it!  I worked hard.  It is actually usable but just not right.

The plan was to make a new knitting tools bag with a zipper and a flat boxed bottom.

To prepare for this, I watched several of Christine's Home Affairs YouTube posts.  She has a very large play list of mostly sewing "affairs", many of which I have watched.  What is that scripture--"Pride goeth before a fall"?  Well, it is not that I am so proud but I did think I had caught on to what needed to be done.

So I went for it.

Actually I tried to combine several of Christine's tutorials into one project.  Not a great idea, if I do say so myself.

Here the straps are being installed while I am on the telephone. Not the best idea to multi-task, I guess...though I did get them on.  Just not nicely.

Here is the bag finished.  You can more or less see the zipper and the "quilting" that I did to hold the Pellon fleece to the fabric.

This is the bottom of the bag which the biggest fail.  It failed because:  1.  I made the bag too big.  Yes, it is possible to make too big of a bag and 2. After boxing it the first time, also WAY TOO BIG, I boxed it the other direction which is just ghastly. The first boxing was the correct direction but should have been perhaps 1.5 inches instead of 4.5 inches,  After changing the direction to see if it would be better, I decided I had had enough of the bag for today.  This one I will leave as is.  Tomorrow I hope to make a few more.  We shall see.  Maybe they will be better, but I am not counting on it.

So, even though the end of the day's work failed, I still feel fairly good about the day over all. 

One of the biggest wins of the day was that I was able to keep my consumption way under control and also, by a fluke, I saw something about how good celery is for our bodies and since I like celery, I am choosing to believe celery is the magic drug.  At least for now!  I am getting sick of the side effects from pharmaceuticals which promise the world and give no satisfaction.  Not even doing what they swear they will do.

Zipper Top Installation!

 Bags, well, containers of all kinds, actually, are some of my favorite things.  Much to the chagrin of Dear One!  He is so kind about it but he would be so happy if many of them disappeared.  Until he needs one and I have the perfect bag or container for his need...yes, it does happen!

Recently I came into two beautiful bags.  Since they were in perfect condition, I wanted to try to put in a zipper at the top.  So often I have taken "open top" bags, filled them with stuff, put them on the back seat in the car, suddenly put on the brakes, and the bag has fallen onto the floor.  Of course, top down so everything spilled out.  Sometimes this happens not in the car where I can relatively easily find everything, but sometimes  when I am "out" somewhere and things roll away and are lost forever...

So...zipper installation was the name of the game over the weekend.  NOT a professional job, but still...just about everything will stay in these bags now.

After watching probably twenty YouTube videos, I went the cheap lazy route this time and learned that I would have preferred the recessed zipper tops.  Next time.

The first thing to be done was to make a zipper tape tab for each end of the zipper.  This entailed cutting some of the zipper tape which was a little unnerving (in case I botched it).

After the tabs were on (and to do that you cut a piece of pretty fabric twice as wide and three times as long as you want the tab to be--more or less-and stitch the right side of the fabric short end to the wrong side of the zipper tape, then fold in the ends and sides and bring up the "bottom" to match the "top" then stitch around all four edges.  Go to YouTube and you will find a hundred options, some of them pretty clear and easy.) it was time to stitch the zipper to the top of the bag, being sure to leave enough room at each end to push the tabs down inside the bag.

Tonight I am too tired to go into how to do this explicitly...go to YouTube!  It will be much more clear with a video to show you.  A picture being worth way more than my pitiful words, you know.

Here is the first bag where I installed the zipper.  Works great.

This bag was done just the same but I took a picture before pushing the zipper tab down inside the bag.  

The one thing missing on both of these zippers is the large split "key ring" I need to insert into the zipper pull to make the actual zipping/finding the zipper pull easier.  I have a whole bag of them.  I already mentioned that I pulled a large amount of stuff off the desk and put into a big bin so I could actually use the desk without danger to life and limb due to falling stuff...well, I have not yet found the split rings.  Soon, I hope...!

Yarn Arrived

 Sometimes things go very well.  In this case  yarn arrived for a project that I was hoping to start on 18 February BUT too many other project.  Still, I was pleased that a nice project bag appeared. 

I have now printed out the pattern, put it in page protectors and put it aside for when it comes to the top of the queue.  The Jamieson and Smith yarn I wanted to try in also there!