I’ve been thinking about making another kind of bag for my shop and I came up with this one. It’s a little wonky, but it’s just a prototype so whatever. The bag is a lot smaller than my other ones (here a photo for scale) but I’m thinking it could be even smaller. I embroidered some details on the bag that I really like: a running stitch along the whole strap and a hand sewn buttonhole.

The button I wanted to use didn’t fit in my automatic buttonholer, so I had to do it by hand. I was going to do a hand bound buttonhole, but that just looked too complicated and too fancy for a kid bag, so I just used a blanket stitch to go around the buttonhole. Ta da!

I was thinking the bag could be for all those tiny treasures little ones find walking down the street. But “tiny treasures bag” is a little twee, so I need your help. Leave a comment with a better name for the bag and whoever comes up with the best one wins the bag. Sound good? Go.

seems like the friday thing to do. have a nice weekend!

1. IMG_2696, 2. milk, 3. felt, 4. Mr. Radish, 5. old jersey, 6. boat, 7. log cabin baby blanket (folded), 8. birds for fan, 9. Atari Teenage Rabbit

Obviously, I am still behind with the one quilt project, but after a long afternoon in my studio I think I’m almost caught up! The square above is for Sarah (of the small object fame) and it is my absolute favorite. It’s not so big–probably 8 or 9 inches square–but damn those triangles shrink up when you sew them all together. She said she liked Yoshiko Jinzenji, so I picked one of the quilts from “Simple Quilts” and, well, copied it (hey, anyone know if you can still get this book anywhere?).

This little red and white number is for Amy (aka buraellen). She wanted a bit of woodland embroidery, so I copied this deer pattern from a vintage dishtowel I have. I’ve always like his flower crown. In the original there is whole wreath of flowers around his head, but I thought it looked a little much, so I left them out. This square came together quickly and painlessly.  Quilting (as a whole) looks deceptively easy, but it is very much not easy and I think I need some friendly old ladies to teach me.

This last one was a second attempt and a sad one at that, but the first one, oh you really don’t want to see that one. I was running very low on Chara‘s beautiful orange fabrics that second time out–hence all the sashing. I hope she likes it or if not maybe she’ll let me have a do-over.

And January is on my lap right now, waiting for me to finish the embroidery. It was supposed to be sashiko, but it’s looking a lot like arglye at the moment (dammit).

After my small success with the japanese bag pattern, I thought I’d tackle a more difficult japanese pattern. This pattern is from the summer 2008 edition of Cotton Friend (I got it on etsy here). There was a picture for every step, which made it feel a little like cheating (even though I had to read the steps top to bottom and right to left which was totally disorienting). Why can’t all patterns be made for visual learners like me? The armscyes were a little tricky and I have about 5 messed up necklines cut out, but I figured it out and it fits! There is a matching pattern for mama in the magazine, but this mama is pretty pregnant so I think matching my kid would look extra silly now, but maybe next summer…

A friend of mine started a blog a while back called darts and tarts, documenting her (and her friend’s) mad clothes making skills–like this awesomeness–so go check them out.

Erin is responsible for most of my daughter’s summer wardrobe, this year and last.  Her tutorials are easy to follow and super adaptable. I made a bigger size of the Twirly skirt this year, but it seams my daughter didn’t grow that much so I guess it will fit next year too.  Though I’m sure I’ll want to make another one when next summer comes around. I’ve got some more summer clothes for her in the works, but not much planned for my son. Are there any good, stylish tutorials or patterns for boys out there, beside the ubiquitous “easy pants?”

On a completely unrelated note, I’ve been asked to make the pattern for my kiddy messenger bags available for purchase. I would love to do this, but worry about copyright and pattern bootlegging (ha!). Do any of you sell PDF patterns? And if so do you have any advice on the subject?