A Messenger to go

It was a sewing weekend around here. Kids are out of town, so I managed to get a few blissful hours of uninterrupted sewing. Although the time goes by a lot faster than you think - I guess I can't always blame the kids on my lack of productivity. Dear Daughter requested this messenger bag, she is only 6 and just discovered that she likes this kind of bag over say the ever present backpack. So being that her mommy just happens to make these kinds of things, I obliged. So here is the messenger for her. Kid sized, but it will fit a folder of papers, and a few other things. She picked out the fabrics from the stash. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out but I remember why I don't make more messenger bags, these things are pretty time consuming - that would be my excuse for only getting this one thing done Sunday.Being that we live in Oregon ~ you can translate that to mean that it rains a good chunk of the year ~ I decided to laminate it. I hadn't ever tried that before. I used this Therm O Web Iron-on Vinyl. It was pretty easy to use - much easier than I anticipated. It's a little less substantial than purchased laminates but it'll work just fine and it can be wiped clean - another advantage for a child's bag. The fabric is an older Valori wells print that I have always liked, so now it has finally been put to good use.
I added some pen pockets, a zippered pocket and of course a pencil case. My daughter is seldom without her drawing utensils - so she'll be all set.

Funky fall Knot

I tried a little experiment over the weekend - I wanted to see just how far a charm pack would go. Yeah i'm still on the charm pack thing. That's me, can't let it die until it's thoroughly investigated. So here's my version of the ever popular knot dress. I know, I succumbed to the knot dress craze. It's funky but I like how it turned out. Dear daughter is out of town so the jury is still out on whether or not she'll like it. This dress needs oatmeal tights, tall brown boots and a pageboy hat. Yes it does!
This particular charm pack was from Tula Pink's Flutterby line. Not all charm packs are created equal, or at least, some are bigger than others ~ Depending upon how many different prints are in the line. If it's a bigger line, you get a bigger pack. This one is medium sized. So I added a few extra prints to coordinate.

~And there's always enough scraps left over for a little patchwork headband.

Charm Pack Possibilities

Charm packs are those little 5" squares of fabric sold in quilt shops for quilting, presumably - but they also have other uses. Here is one option. Sew up those little squares into a patchwork fabric, add a coordinating fabric and voila! A skirt, a dress - you name it. This is my latest favorite thing to use - I think I'm on garment 3 right now - oh and did I forget to mention that you can find them for under $10 usually - sometimes well under. A steal for all those fabrics and you don't have to buy yardage of multiple prints.

Here's one option made of Moda's Posh print - made into a skirt.
I like the plain pink tee with this already busy skirt, so I added the rosettes to spice it up a bit.
Perfect fall school outfit. This one was intended for the etsy shoppe but my daughter decided she loved it - who knew?! Maybe next time...