teacher tote - the prototype

I had to make sure the next teachers' gifts were suitable, so I made a prototype.

I made this tote without a pattern, just knowing that it has to be big enough to carry about 20 notebooks. 

Inside there's a little zippered pouch, attached to the tote with a key ring.

tote & pouch, attached 

The pouch is also lined with the same fabric as the interior of the tote. It's a striped soft cotton, but strong enough to support the exterior linen with the "hard work". It's also very easy to wash.

All in all, I'm happy with the idea, but I will make some adjustments in the next versions:

1) the outside pocket is a bit too much: try an inside pocket instead;

2) sew the label in the side seam, and keep it smaller;

3) increase the width of the straps: first off it's to difficult to take them inside out, and secondly one more inch will add to proportions.

I'm still debating if it's better to use Smurfette#2's tote pattern... Maybe I'll make another try, in green, so that I can decide on real things.

fabric shopping fun

Last thursday I went fabric shopping. But this time I actually had a project in mind, *and* I wasn't alone... Actually, said project is a shared one: we are talking about teachers' gifts. Yeah, I know, isn't it a bit early for that? Well, no. We have to make 4.

With a dear friend of mine (A), who's also a colleague, we thought about something simple but classy, a teacher tote for bringing about homework to correct, projects for the kids, and so on.

A has a 7 years old daughter, and my Smurfette#1 is 6, so both are in primary school. The girls have two "main" teachers each (one is for humanistic, one is for math), so we thought about a simple tote with a little coordinated pouch, made in four versions.

We took our Smurfettes with us (big mistake, if you ask me, you just can't focus on anything with three overexcited girls, two of them laughing and running around...) and went to the local fabric shop.

We did find the right fabric: linen, in bright blue and green, for the exterior of the tote, and a cute white fabric with green and pink fruits and another white with colored stripes, for the lining. This shopping session was so satisfying!!!

And you? what are you planning for teachers' gifts this year?

mini lunch bag

At lunch time, you get to see every way known to mankind when it comes to lunch bags and such. A colleague of mine (S) has been bringing her fruit in a paper bag. So? There's nothing wrong with that, but... that paper bag, which in fact is tiny and cute, comes from an underwear shop... I don't know, there's something off in having your fruit where your panties have been (although new and clean)...

S's birthday is coming, so I thought about sewing a copy of her paper bag as a present. I made one with some cute fabric I had from previous projects, which incidentally was just perfect...

Even the lining is perfect (I believe is some fabric for Licien, but I'm not sure).

It took me only 15 minutes to assemble, maybe 'cause it's so tiny. But I'm really happy that I'm getting better with bags... might use the new skill for teachers' gift...

By the way, S liked very much her new lunch bag

kindergarden kit - tote

It's done! It was quite a long project, but also very satisfying because it's actually composed by sub-projects, which are smaller and quick.

I had in mind a traditional, straight tote, big enough to carry also the change bag: I already drawn the pattern, but then I saw this post from Ashley @ MakeItAndLoveIt and I knew that I was going to give it a try.

The pattern is so easy to follow! The tote sewed up in no time, really. I added an external pocket, for school messages (they always end up lost or even washed with dirty clothes...).

It's very nice and big, it can easily carry all the things my Smurfette will need to take to school.

I'm very proud on how all details came out neatly.

I used a very stiff linen fabric for the outer side, and a soft and light cotton for the inner side. In a few points there were thick layers of fabric to sew, and I managed to bend my double needle...

I'll definitely make another soon...

teacher's gift - tote bag

Remember the teacher's gift I was working on? Well, actually I made this tote bag in half a day.

The tutorial is from jcarolinecreative and it's a very easy and quick step by step. This is my first bag and I think it came out pretty well. Next time I sew one, I'll keep in mind some notes I took on this project to get an improved version. I hopefully will be a little bit more precise in sewing the whole thing.

I now have a distinct idea of what's going in the bag and complete the teacher's gift. I'll show you everything when I have all the items ready.