Tag Archives: BagsForDIane

Setting the Stage: I have a cousin on my mother’s side whom I like very much. He has a lovely wife whom I also like very much, and with whom I share a love of theatre—she has had a long and successful career in theatre education and production; I am a collaborative pianist who works as a rehearsal accompanist for theatre productions at my local university. She texted me over two years ago saying she had found some remnants of two pieces of cotton fabric that she and her parents bought when traveling in Egypt in the 1960s. She wondered … Continue reading →

Two years ago, my mother’s eldest nephew’s wife (i.e., my cousin) texted and asked if I’d make some bags for her and her two sisters out of vintage fabric she purchased years ago on a trip to Egypt. (I may have gotten some or all of the facts wrong, but two years is a long time during a pandemic.) I stay busy as a collaborative pianist at Youngstown State University, and have to make time to sew. And I had to choose a pattern. So I spent the entire summer of 2022 auditioning bag patterns. For the camel fabric, I … Continue reading →

The whole time I’ve been testing crossbody bag patterns, I was thinking about the circus fabric my cousin gave me. I knew I wanted to make tote bags out of the elephant fabric, as there was much less of that fabric, and I needed to stretch it to make three bags. Hmmm, now that I’m looking at these two fabrics again, I don’t even know why I have envisioned it as circus fabric in my head. I don’t even know what to call it, but I sure love those colors! Anyway, I used the Tourist Tote Bag pattern from Sew … Continue reading →

I saw a tote bag somewhere on the internet early last week. Over the past months, I’ve been trying to decide on the best crossbody bag pattern for the vintage fabric my cousin’s wife, Diane, sent me with her request for three bags—one each for herself and her two sisters. But there are two pieces of fabric, and wouldn’t it be nice if I could give each woman two bags. The “Tourist Tote Bag” from Sew Many Creations grabbed my eye and my imagination. All the reviews and accounts of this pattern say it’s easy and quick. Several members of … Continue reading →

Just finished: A new pattern from Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness Patterns. She sponsored a sewalong for this wonderful new crossbody bag. The event took place over four weeks. I was late starting as we were in Texas visiting my Amarillo son and daughter-in-law in their new-to-them home, and then in Lewisville (northwest suburb of Dallas) with my elder son. After we returned, I was able to push through and finish the bag a few days before the end of the sewalong. I don’t believe I’ve mentioned here that my 20-year-old granddaughter is living with us now while she’s job … Continue reading →

The next pattern I tried in my seemingly never-ending crossbody quest was the Lexi Carryall from Joan Hawley’s “Lazy Girl Designs.” I believe I finished the bag the weekend of May 7. It was such a busy time with the final week of classes, then exams/juries week. And while I was snatching time from my schedule to work on this bag, I read on Facebook that Joan Hawley had died, suddenly, on May 3 of a brain bleed. This was the first of her patterns I had worked on in five or more years, and it just felt eerie to … Continue reading →

I may have found The Pattern for the bags for my cousin. I’ve admired Noodlehead bag patterns for years, but have never made one. As I was reaching the end of my test bags for Diane, the wife of my cousin, Ken (link to the blog posts about the test bags) and taking one last pass through all the patterns of the indie bag pattern designers whose work I admire, I came upon Noodlehead’s Hillside Tote from designer Anna Graham, and realized it was the perfect candidate. And now, with the bag finished and having eyed it repeatedly for several … Continue reading →

Why can’t I find what I want?! It’s like the Perfect Man; Maybe the Perfect Bag doesn’t exist? I have heard sewists in the Sew Sweetness FB group talking about the Tower Crossbody Bag since the day the pattern was introduced in 2020. It’s a free bag from Sew Sweetness, so it’s very popular. Who doesn’t like a free pattern?! I’ve wanted to make it, but it never reached the top of my Next Make list. So I decided to make a test bag out of the pattern and, while I was at it, make it out of a fabric … Continue reading →