Der ner der ner der ner der ner Catbag!


I've recently hit some tough times finance-wise, so seeing as I'm such a huge fabric hoarder I've started working my way through my archive pile of fabric to avoid buying any more and to spend time crafting inside instead of spending money outside. I finally decided to make a bag from this cotton flannel fabric - a regular square tote bag seemed too boring so I knocked this up based on a shape I've seen in Matalan in the past! Not bad considering that I was sick as a dead dog with a virus that day - I even managed to line it!


The fabric was from The Fabric Fairy (as always), although I think I got the last couple of yards. Turns out flannel isn't the strongest or most ideal fabric for making a bag; it's best to sew around the seams a few times for extra strength or the fabric will stretch and fray very easily. Or maybe I was just carrying too many beers in my bag that day... It also tends to bobble and grow a lint layer very quickly. Oh well, it's good to experiment and I still have plenty more which I'm thinking might become a pair of pyjama shorts. Besides, doesn't it remind you of a certain Crafty Beggar mascot?!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Repair Cafés at the Green and Thrifty Fortnight!

Image
In February, I had the immense pleasure of being part of the Hampshire Libraries Green and Thrifty Fortnight as a touring Fabric Repair Café. This was an exciting challenge, as although I have been repairing mine and other people's clothes for years (with varying results), in this case anyone and anything could have turned up! The idea was that I was to teach the people who came along how to mend the items themselves with drop in sessions and specific workshops; patching, darning and adjusting children's clothes. Many of the attendees already had some ideas about what they wanted to do so we workshopped those and I taught a few stitches, tips and tricks. I visited Basingstoke, Andover, Waterlooville, Bridgemary and Eastleigh libraries and we had some fantastic results at each one. Here are just a few of my favourite outcomes: And of course I spent some of my down time wisely, by darning one of my own socks: With 45 minutes for each workshop, it was more like speed repairing, bu
Read more

Some People Take A Self-Care Day, I Take 2 Self-Care Years

Image
Wow, it's been over two years since my last blog post! 😅 I've had plenty of exciting crafty adventures in the meantime and have lots to post about, so I'll start with some quick updates to get things going. Back in 2019 I was asked to drop in and chat on the  Culture+  podcast  Women Know Your Place . I resisted posting about this when it first came out because: 1. Fear of hearing the sound of my own voice in a recording (I know you know what I mean) 2. I thought I would come across negatively for talking about personal stuff (sharing is hard and doesn't always pay off) However, having reviewed the recording last week I have decided that those fears were completely unfounded so I'm sharing it now! In a nutshell, I talk about a few of the projects I had been working on at the time and then go on to reveal the reason why I have fallen off the radar a bit. SPOILER: I suffer from a thyroid related chronic illness that I don't talk about very often - if you don'
Read more

Three Pears Of What?

Image
Well last time (if you remember) I promised that when I finished some half way decent sketches on my City & Guilds course I would post pictures, so here we go: Three Pairs I did this one in charcoal, I was pretty happy with the results. One lady in my class commented that it reminded her of the phrase 'two's company, three's a crowd'; except she phrased it more like 'two talk, the third will walk', which (being a notorious loner) I rather liked. The shadow of the stalk (bottom left) is my favourite part. Here I painted my Peace Lily , this time using Indian Ink, which I'd never used before. I liked that I got to start with a clean slate using the ink and I had a lot of fun making this painting! It's not the most technically correct piece in the world with regards to shading and what have you but I like it because the composition works really well. I am kind of pumped to see that I am actually improving somewhat! Additonal: free Halloween
Read more