My latest project was one of those things that hits you -- there's inspiration so strong, you just have to drop everything and do it. So last night, when I got home, I just STARTED! So, dinner was a little late, so what? Now I have my own reusable grocery bag!

It went up amazingly fast. Cut two pieces of duck cloth about 20" x 16". Two half-inch pleats in the top of each side. Two strips, 18" x 4" (if I'm remembering correctly -- could be 18" x 3"). I did a lot of ironing here so I wouldn't have to double-stitch the finished hems, so I attached the top strip to the inside of the bag, then folded it over the top lip, and topstitched the bottom edge of it to the front, as I'd already ironed it up a quarter inch or so.

Then I made a faux gusset in the bottom...also called 'boxed corners'. That's where you sew the whole thing together, and then you turn the bottom corners out as points. Gosh, I wish I could explain this better... HELP!

Anyway, it's a really fun, lightweight (less than five ounces, including the handles!) tote, perfect for bringing to the farmer's market! It's made of a light cotton duck, so it's strong, but not bulky. (Although sewing seven layers of it together where the handles attach does create a bit of a lump, it was no problem at all for my 1929 Singer 101!)

Maybe the next one I make, I'll do a tutorial, if anyone's interested.

Posted by Kerri at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Oh, how cool is this? On the 15th of every month, Michael Swaine sets up shop with his treadle sewing machine, and mends stuff for people, right there on the street, in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. If he keeps one person from buying one piece of commercially manufactured ready-to-wear clothing, or helps someone continue to use something they'd otherwise not be able to afford to replace, I think he's done something awesome. :-)

Some local TV coverage.

Posted by Kerri at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have two skeins of sugar n' cream. They've been sitting in my stash since December. Two big ol' balls of the stuff. In bright red. Clown red.

So - here's my question. What the heck do I DO with these? I know I could go the dishtowel route, but man - you can actually have too many dishtowels. Also - I've heard sugar n' cream BLEEDS a lot - and I just don't relish the thought of a dishtowel that makes my dishes dirtier (at least for a little while).

Kerri suggested clown socks, but my feet are pretty small.

What would YOU do with two skeins of bright red cotton yarn?

Posted by Carrie at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Responses have been great to the pouch tutorial! (Even though no one's commented, I've gotten a ton of emails!)

So, here's what I'm going to do.

Make a bag with the tutorial in yesterday's blog post. Add a comment to yesterday's blog post, and post a link to a picture of your bag (on Flickr, or anywhere on the web), or email the picture to me, at missyousewmuch@gmail.com and I'll post it for you.

One randomly selected lucky bag-maker will receive the three fat-quarters from my stash of fancy-schmancy quilt fabric that are pictured here! Each bag is an entry, so enter early and often!

The contest will end Saturday, August 4, at 9 p.m. EST, so post before then!

Posted by Kerri at 04:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I blogged before about this great little sewing store that I found just a few miles from my house -- it's small, and she doesn't have too many bolts of fabric, but the ones she does have are just beautiful. I stopped down there last weekend to get a wing needle to do some hemstitching (more about that soon), and saw this amazingly fun print. She was holding the bolt for someone, but when I batted my eyelashes at her and said I only needed about half a yard, she said it was no problem! I was looking for something fun to do with the print, so I made one of my little signature zipper pouches that I seem to make almost constantly.

I figured I'd do a tutorial on the pouches at the same time, so I brought the camera down to the sewing machine, and here are the results! Feel free to comment here (or on Flickr) if you have any questions on how to make it work.

UPDATE: Add a URL or link below to a picture of a bag you made using this tutorial, or email the picture to me, to be entered into the fabric contest!

Posted by Kerri at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)