Monday, November 23, 2009

Grocery Bags Number 1: When things go wrong

I've been wanting to make some fabric grocery bags for a while.  I want to be green but I can't bring myself to carry those unfashionable HEB green bags... Total YUCK! (Just kidding! - We actually have a few of those kinds of totes that we use)
Anyways, I picked up some khaki denim and cute fruity (as in apples and lemons) fabric. I didn't want to use a pattern for this because I figured I'd just cut up a plastic bag and base it off that.  I tried that and my project ended up sitting on the floor unfinished, like this for weeks.


 "I feel so unloved!"

This is what happens when I don't think my project all the way through before I start on it.  Once I got this far I realized that this was not going to come together the way I wanted it to.  The handles weren't going to be right, the lining was all weird and it just wasn't inspiring me to work on it anymore.  Poor grocery bag!  I did finally get back to it.  I told Stephen I'd have it ready for our next share of farm fresh veggies - and I did!  It was totally completed but we forgot to bring it...  Oops!

Anyways, there were several mishaps along the way making this darn bag.  For example, some people take the pins out of their fabric before they pass a pinned section through their sewing machine so the needle doesn't hit the pin, but my mom never taught me to do that, so I never do.  It was never a problem with my old machine, but I've hit a lot of pins with my new one and have a lot that end up "N" shaped from the impact.  However, what happened to me making this bag was something I didn't even know was possible.




Left: good,  Right: BAD!

The "pin" on the right started out just like the pin on the left, but after I sewed over it the metal part had mysteriously disappeared...  I assume it's lost inside my sewing machine somewhere, and since it hasn't caused any problems yet, I'm hoping it's not in a damaging spot.  I still don't take my pins out before I sew over them by the way.

That is really the most interesting thing that happened during this project.  I ended up finishing it off with a few visible seams (I hate that!) because I was just so sick of it sitting around unfinished.  All in all it ended up a useful bag and I've carried delicious groceries in it a couple of times.  Not my favorite project, but I guess it was a success in the end.  Maybe I should stick to baby stuff after all!!!



Lazy!   



 
Sloppy!!


Success!!

1 comment:

Laura Maurer Storms said...

I like your projects better when you can have a 2 year old be your model. I happen to know a perfect candidate.

This is actually a pretty cool idea though. I might do it myself if I ever get a table to put my sewing machine on. Sewing on the floor with a cat and a 2 year old harassing you is no fun.