LEO Tote Bag

It's that time of the year again for Spoon's Secret Lion Final Gift Exchange. For all of you who are confused on what I'm talking about refer to LEO Pillows to clarify. We were at a stand still for a while on what to do. In the end we decided on a tote bag.

I was inspired by this fun floral fabric. It was too thin and busy to be the outer section but would be a beautiful lining for the bag. For the outer section I did choose a nice simple royal blue fabric. I wanted something plain so it wouldn't interfere with the LEO face and the name I was going to sew on.



Using the same template from the LEO Pillows, I cut out the parts for the LEO Face and attached it all together on the royal blue fabric.












I used casual font to print out her name and traced it out with carbon paper. I then attached the lining fabric to the back, sewed out her name and cut it out.


And here is the finished tote bag. I really liked how her name turned out.

Star Tote Bag

This is one of my first projects for sewing class. I found lots of brown corduroy fabric in the garage and decided that free is always the best option. Little did I know, or understand, the difficulties that lay ahead. Apparently one of the characteristics of corduroy, while being sewn, is to not align correctly. A battle of wills, between the basic nature of corduroy and my desire for perfection, ensued and I can proudly proclaim to be the victor of this war, though not without losing a few battles. Not exactly something a beginning sewer would want to experience, but a good lesson none the less. I also found a blue and white stripped fabric to line the inside of the tote bag for $1. I was super excited to implement a star design throughout the bag.

I placed a frayed star patch on the front pocket using the lining fabric. You can't see it here, but I also lined the front pocket, which wasn't necessary for the class but I thought it would be nice. I went through a lot more trouble than my classmates and took longer, but well worth it.

The back of the tote bag I sewed double stars .

This is the inside of the bag. I placed a frayed star patch with the corduroy and also lined the straps. Everyone asks if this bag is reversible. Unfortunately, even if the inside is pretty, I didn't consider the possibility in the beginning and was too late. May I will do it if I sew another tote bag.

This bag was one of my proudest achievements. I really really liked it, which doesn't happen with me very often since I can be somewhat of a perfectionist with sewing (my sewing classmates can attest to this).

I ended up giving this bag to my friend since I'm not a big tote bag user. She was the one that really got my excited about it anyways. Since she's had this tote bag, several people have threatened to steal it and many others asked if one could be sewn for them. I'm deeply flattered by the theft threats. As to doing another tote, I currently have too many other projects on my mind right now to want to sew something I've already done. Maybe sometime when I'm inspired by a fun pattern or design to place on a tote bag I'll do another one.