Some Fancy Finished Bags

It's been snowing like crazy here. The third snow storm of February hit today. I finished up two projects in the past few days. The first bag is another Lickety Split bag (again pattern created by Made by Rae). The flap and buttons are not part of the original pattern. This is one is made from the pretty fabric I bought last week at Joann's when I was finally able to get out after the second snow storm. I really love this fabric! I gave this one to my sister-in-law Katie for her birthday. I was tempted to keep it for myself! Did I mention I really love this fabric?

Here's one side:

and here is the reverse:

In the last post I posted some progress show of the Everything Tote I was working on. I finished it this evening. I love it! It's so big and roomy! The pattern comes from Weekend Sewing: More Than 40 Projects and Ideas for Inspired Stitching by Heather Ross.

 

The pattern suggested that canvas or denim be used for the outer fabric. I used corderoy because I had some. I had to modify the pattern a bit because of the added bulk. The "bias tape" style binding/straps are supposed 4 layers thick like regular bias tape, but mine ended up being 3 layers thick. It's double in the front, like bias tape, but when I folded it over the top of the bag, I left the strip flat against the lined, and not folded up. I hope makes sense. I should have taken pictures of this process. Maybe next time. Anyways, since I did it this way, I only broke one needle. Yay! Oh, I also stitched the front and back straps together before attaching them to the bag so I wouldn't have to do any hand stitching.

I also did some applique on the front of the bag. It's a pretty, hippy flower. I was going to hand stitch it, but I ended up using a small zig-zag stitch. I'm happy with the results.

Here's my new Everything Tote:

Here's the nice roomy inside:Here's a close-up of the pocket. I used a fancy decorative stitch on my machine:

Here's a picture of me holding it like in the book: