Early 'Tbags' from The 'TPot'

2013 Spring Collection





These are the first few bags I have made for this year. Because of the dull miserable weather I decided to cheer myself up with some happy colours.  Hope you agree!





This is my experiment using stripped webbing for the handle.



or not
 
 
 This is not as big as it looks!


This green and silver bag is a lovely evening bag for a ladies night out.




I think these bags are 'as cute as a button'


April 2012 - In the beginning

For the last few weeks I have making a variety of bags for fun. It started as an exercise in learning to sew but very quickly has grown into almost an obsession.
I like the feel of the fabric and putting the different designs together.
My aim is to try and make each bag different whilst using up the stash of material I have managed to get hold of.  I am getting material from local charity shops, my/children's old clothes and upholstery suppliers so colours are hit and miss.

The first bags I made generated a lot of interest and I have had a lot of requests from people to make one for them. I was more than happy to do this for a small fee to cover materials and a donation charity.

I have uploaded each bag picture in the order that they were made and I think they get better the more I do.

Happy browsing.
 


The Blue Bag
This is where the journey begins. This is not my best attempt! The blue was too dark. This is actually an old pair of curtains I found in the attic. The bag is off to the charity shop.




The Pink Collection
This is an unfinished bag but you get the gist. This found a loving home.


One of the pink and green collection


Also found a loving home


Another that found a loving home


Unfinished - just wanted to give someone a idea of
colour scheme.


Good enough to eat!

This is a bag that someone asked me to make. They wanted something with cupcakes on it. I found this very lightweight material and used a fusible interfacing to give the material some strength and then faced it with the same cupcake material on the backside. There must be an easier way!


cakey cake cake


and the filling
Not my cup of tea but I could eat the cake.

Baby Cakey Cake Cake - ahh xx


This was made as a match for the one above for the recipients daughter.  I had to scale down the pattern and made a much similar version.  I have already been asked to make two similar ones for a friend's two girls ready for their holiday so this was a good learning exercise.


Baby Cakey


shows the scale of the smaller bag to the bigger bag
for perspective see later picture (wine bottle)!

Things are getting better!




One of my favourites - the flower material is an old
but loved skirt I recycled!
This is the next batch of sewing I have completed. These include the use of magnetic clasps and zipped pockets.
This makes the bag more secure but still with a 'homemade' look

All of these have also been given a new home.
This one someone wanted to use on holiday so I add a cute sunglasses case on the side panel which should to the job



nice lining - not cheap!

A tweet Bag!


This is my cute bubble gum pink bag

The bag above was a redesign of a previous version (my current bag). This worked out much better


Then there was a flap!


Work in progress on a new flap design
Notice the flap.
This i have secured with a magnetic clasp. This was a design request from my child's friend who wanted a more secure bag for school.


Nice toes
This bag had a front pocket with a popper clasp. It has the magnetic clasp to keep shut and a slip pocket . All my bags have a little label created just for a bit of fun.

Tea and Cake (yum)!

Not sure about the material for this bag but someone liked and it has now been give away as a present.


Tea and Cake

 

Granny Sofa

This is the latest bag I finished today. I really love these colours. The material came from a charity shop and I have loads of it. I have made a Kindle cover out of this too.
This bag is available but I am going to make another one for me.




Granny Sofa


with zip pocket and clasp
Memory Lane!



This is a photo of one of my first types of bags I made. I was experimenting with making Tote Bags.
My daughter is a bit of a hoarder and she will not throw anything away that is 'special' to her.
I had kept a lot of bits of her stuff and we made this bag together
The stripy material was from a dress she had when she was 2 years old which she was still wearing at 8 years (albeit as a tee shirt). The pink and blue dots was a fleece jumper. Some may recognise the logo from a big chain store! This again was a tee-shirt she had to fit a 3 year old which she was still wearing at 8 years old (She is 11 now).

The pink squares was the rest of the tee-shirt and the cat print was from a skirt . She even made me cut out the logo of the dress, a dolphin and the label from tee-shirt to sew onto the bag.
Lastly the handles were from the lining of the cat print skirt - recycling at it's best.
I love this bag and it hangs in her room stuffed full of her teddies!

Mum I want this colour!



Monkey not included
This is a bag my eldest daughter wanted making. She choose the material and how it went together. As a pile of material I was not sure it would work but once it was made up it works really well. The monkey is nothing to do with the bag that's my youngest idea of creative photography!

Swimming Bag (never again)!



Find the monkey!
This bag is made from a vinyl material that you use for table clothes. Youngest wanted it for a swimming bag. It is quite big but was a pain to sew hence using material to edge and as handles. I most definitely will not be using this stuff again it was an expensive experiment.

Day off School - what can i do?


Cartwheels

This is my eldest daughters very own hand made bag. She stitched by hand because she does not like the sewing machine. The colour should look so wrong but the kind of work.

Summer Breeze


Summer Breeze in the meadow


Pretty flower lining

Just finished this today, I love it.The side and base is like a mock suede material. It was actually the back of some curtains picked up from a charity shop. The blue i bought just a wee amount as it was quite expensive for a makeydo bag - but I had to have it and I may even go back for more!



Flutterby!

Flutterby



has a zip pocket and flutterby pattern lining.

Ice Cream Parlour


Ice cream parlour

Ice cream parlour was a design tweak. I had already made the frame of the bag with a big pocket on the front but the recipient wanted a flap which I added after the fact but it worked out okay. The button on the front is for show only!
The lining is the same as the flap



Rose Garden



A little label


Rose Garden

Perspective


Someone suggested that the bags look small on the blog site and I should give them some perspective. I find 'wine' gives me a lot of perspective. By my calculations you should get six bottles in one of these bags which is always a bonus. Hic!

Yellow Mellow


Back view

The little Black Number

This a a bag which i created for me.  It's my going out bag so it will not get much use!
Very simple design but really hard thick material to work with on a domestic sewing machine.
Will not be doing this again.   The photo does not do it justice.



 

July 2012



The following three bags were made as a special request via this blogsite.  It is such a nice day i took the photos in the garden.  Photography is not my thing but you get the gist.  


A Day at the Beach


Right side


backside

 Dotty about Pink


roses are red

 Turquoise Retro


Daughter No 1 has her eye on this one

I have been making other bags for people but they are very similar to the others already posted.  I am succeeding in making sure each one is different.


August 2012


Here are the latest bags made with a twist on some:

Bunnies in Bags

This bag has now found a new home with a little girl as a birthday pressie.


Little toy bunny fits into front pocket nicely


Green Bunny

Times Two

These two bags were give to the two daughters of a colleague.  They are a smaller version of the bags i make (see baby cakey).  They are off on their first holiday abroad. xxx

Is this a Bag?


This was my first attempt at a kindle cover and it works well.  The flower on the front was achieved by accident.  The only tweak would be be to cover the snap on the inside of the case to protect the Kindle.

In Memory



Here are the latest creations.

In Memory of Judy
 
This bag started life as a skirt.  The material was given to me by a lovely lady who sadly passed away.  I was keen to do something special with the bag and now it is my evening/wedding bag.  That way when I go out she can come with me.   The handles are made from beads and wire.  The bag handles you can buy from stores are really ugly wooden and not at all elegant at all. 
Thank you Judy.xx



Little red number
 
 This bag is made from a large print canvas.  Quite loud.  Not my usual style.


Blue Daisy
This is a cute little bag.  a small bag for going to the shops for a browse.  The flap covers a external pocket and it has a small slip pocket inside and can be fastened internally and externally with magnetic clasps.

Vintage style purse
This bag is made using the same pattern as 'Judybag'.  I wanted to make beaded handles for this bag but the beads i have did not feed onto the wire.  It was back to the drawing board and the answer was this pretty colour coordinate ribbon.  (hopefully it will be strong enough).  Don't worry the beads are not sewn on yet so they look off centre.
 

Boil in the bag bunny!
This bag is smaller than normally but bigger than the kids bag.  The bunny sits in the front pocket. The bunny is coordinated with the material of the bag and looks cute. 
 



Night on the town
This is a small shoulder bag.  This is my first experiment with an external zip pocket and it worked well.  The zip pull is part of a donated necklace and the chain is from a old (not nice) handbag I found in the charity shop.  Chain is not my favourite but the daughter wantes this bag and i could not be bothered to make a handle when she is happy with this one and to be honest a material handle would not have suited the style of bag.  Just need to finish the lining inside for her!

4 comments:

  1. Hi T, think your bags are amazing!!! Can I get you to make x3 for me please? Would like one for my mum - pinks, pale greens, red/cream spots and/or stripes, one for me - blues (pale and navy - dont mind big flower print, spots, stripes - retroish)and then one for my best mate - turquoisy/blue/green ish colours with flowers/spots/stripes. I'm the other Y1 teacher at school (Mrs T) ;) thanks!!!! x

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  2. Hello, wonderful bags! I don't need a bag at the moment but I'll know where to come when I do! Becky x

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