The sweetheart bag, a tutorial

This is a very simple bag. The first one made of patchwork pieces takes longer as you have to sew together a few strips of different fabric. Do that first if you want to make that kind.
The first step is to chose two fabrics. I chose a pretty cotton print and a stiffer corduroy. The corduroy is for the liner, and help keep the bags shape, though it certainly isn't required.

Chose your bag size- I made two different sizes. I did not measure or make it perfect, just cut them into a square (you'll need two pieces of each fabric in equal sizes) that suited my fancy.

After you've cut your four squares (or rectangles if that's more your style) of equal size, cut a half-circle (this will be your bag closure) from each fabric. Place these right sides together and sew.


Then turn out and set aside.


Sew the right sides of the pretty outer fabric to the inner fabric just at the top



on the second side (this is the opening to the bag in the end), you want to tuck in the turned bag closure like this:

then proceed stitching those layers together. It should be -pretty outer fabric facing up, rounded circle closure, inner fabric facing down.

stitch those together securely, then turn like this:

and stitch the pretty fabrics together (wrong side should face out) and the inner fabric should not be tucked in.
It will look like this...

As you can see, you now have a sort of tube. Double stitch to make sure your seams are strong, then you're going to push the corners of the outer bag into triangles before turning the bag...

and stitch across in a straight line on both sides.


But wait! Now you want to stitch up the inner layer of fabric to make a long tube. Be sure not to sew down the flap which is your bag closure, and leave one side unsewn so you can turn it (I chose the very bottom)!

Now turn your bag...






Sew the space where you turned the bag right side out, put a button on the closure, and voila! You are done!
This is a sweet, fun project for any level sewer, you could make it larger and put handles on, leave the closure off for a book tote..or make it longer than mine and use it as a pencil case...have fun with it!

Petite Picasso

Little Berry loves to color or "coror!" as she says- And we've put a good amount of money into buying her art supplies because if she's not given sufficient creative outlets, she colors on the walls. With her yogurt, her blueberries, a pilfered pen; anything. She has, among other things, a lovely easel from Ikea an this fabulous drawing board we recently bought-it basically consists of two colored pieces of fabric stretched onto a plastic drawing board. It resembles a magnadoodle, but it uses water filled pens. Which is great because it prevents stained faces/hands/carpet, and so far seems very durable.
Of course, that's not what this is about. This is about her consistent and deliberate art over the past week. Day after day she has bent fervently over sheets if paper and easel boards with crayons and pastels and paintbrushes clutched in her hand scrawling an image. The same one, over and over, different sizes, different colors and I could literally walk around our apartment and pick up fifty pages of these. It's a circle with a dot in the center, next to another circle with a dot in the center. Like this:












































I thought she was trying to draw faces- she kept calling them "mamma" and eventually I asked her flat out: "what's that?"
It should be pretty obvious, but in case it's not, Little Berry will tell you she has learned how to
"coror boobies!!!"

- mamma pie