Category: Purses & Pouches

bicycle tote

bicycle tote - zipper detail

Sitting in the kitchen watching my grapefruits simmer (1 hour, 37 minutes to go…) gives me the perfect opportunity to blog about my latest completed project: the bicycle tote.

This fabric was unearthed from the Joann’s value area last year, and I could hardly believe my luck. Quality tapestry fabric, at an incredibly low price, with bikes on it. Oh man. I do love bikes.

Besides my dream of upholstering a giant puffy chair or some other task that I would never finish (or even start), this fabric seemed perfect for my next book tote. Library books, folders for school, big envelopes for the post office, always need a good tote to go in and my previous model was starting to look less than classy. I lined it in a happy floral print fabric because I wanted to brighten it up, and the flowers on the inside resemble the flowers in the bike basket!

So here it is, in all its pocketful, bike-covered glory.

bicycle tote

bicycle tote: lining & inner pockets

It’s got four slide in pockets for phone/ipod, pens and pencils, checkbook, etc. These make it so easy to find the important stuff.

bicycle tote: lining & inner pockets

On the other side there’s a tiny pocket that closes with a 5-inch zipper; perfect for my keys! Business cards fit well, too.

bicycle tote: outer zipper pocket detail

And here is a shot of the outer zipper (7″) opened… the lining is the same as the inside lining except with a larger print.

I love pockets. Sometimes I don’t want to put them in, because it’s extra effort, but it’s so worth it. And the tapestry fabric holds its shape so well. I’m just so happy with how this bag turned out!

what i’m working on

dandelion

mod pouchesSewing is much, much greater than studying for finals.

I’ve got my last exam, Circuits, on Tuesday, and I feel like I’ve got a good hold of the subject. If I completely destroy this test, I’ll get an A in the class… so I am studying. But sewing is keeping me sane. And it’s a warm, windy, gray day, in need of colors, not math.

I only blog when I’m procrastinating, so it must sound like I never do any work. Well, I do tons of work. Sewing just makes sure I smile sometimes.

I move out on Friday. I’m going to miss my room with my pretty blue walls and my big white ampersand, I’m going to miss my boyfriend like crazy and all my friends, I know eventually I’ll even miss being so insanely busy. But I sure won’t miss the awful light in this room or the entirely unmanageable amount of sewing space. Pros and cons to everywhere, I suppose.

ipod pouches!

sitting, bored, sulking…
just another one of those
not quite happy days.

Black Polka Dot iPod Pouch

Lakeside Breeze iPod PouchI’ve been working so hard on Fluffyland lately and, like many things, I expect my hard work to pay off instantly and when it doesn’t I’m rather disappointed. But I’ve got to keep trucking along and keep track of my progress to myself, because at some point my efforts will make a difference.

Strawberry Splash iPod PouchAndromeda iPod PouchToday’s item of work was redoing the shop front page (doesn’t it look nice?) and listing the new iPod pouches I’ve finished up recently. The product listing process, with photoshoot, photo edit, upload, and description takes a great deal longer than I’d like, but once I get used to it and quit dreading it I should be able to get a hang of this “regular updates” thing, at least for the summer.