The Neighborhood Phantom Strikes Again

We had never heard of the "Neighborhood Phantom" or being "Boo-ed" before last year.  We were "ghosted" by someone in the neighborhood, and we had a blast passing it on.  So this year, we wanted to do it again!  I didn't want to buy gift bags - I try to be eco-friendly occasionally, right? - and there was no need, given my fabric stash.  I had made these last year, as well, though I apparently never blogged about them.  These are made the same way as the "green" party bags I made over the summer, although these are self-lined.  These were cut out last year, so yesterday I pulled them off the shelf and finished them up, in time for the ghost assignment last night. ;)  I made eight total - four of each fabric.  So now we have next year's bags all ready.

"Green" party bags

For Thing 1's birthday party, I bought paper gift bags that I customized with printed tags.  For Thing 2's birthday party, I decided that I would rather sew reusable cloth bags that hopefully would be useful later for holding treasures.  Of course, I came up with this brilliant idea somewhat at the last minute, so they had to be easy-peasy.

Hancock Fabrics had their relatively cheap broadcloth on sale, so I had Thing 2 pick out four colors.  His brother helped, and together they chose green, blue, red, and orange.  Nice, bright colors!  I was concerned that the fabric would be too thin to be really sturdy for bags, so I chose plain muslin to line them.  That also meant that I didn't have to worry about seam finishes. ;)  

These are very simple bags: basically, the linings were squares with squares cut out of the bottom corners for boxing them.  For the outer fabrics, I added an inch and a half in length for folding over the tops to the inside and covering the top edge of the lining.  I could have simply sewed them right sides together and then turned them right sides out, but that would have meant handsewing an opening shut in the lining.  I didn't want to deal with that, and I wanted to try this.  The raw edges of the handles were tucked under the outer fabric, when it was folded to the inside (does that make sense?), and then stitched in place when I stitched next to the fold on the inside.  Then I folded the handles back up over the top of the bag and topstitched around the top of the bag.  So that stitching also holds the handles in place.  I would have done an "X" over where the handles attach if I thought these bags would be used for really heavy treasures.  But given the size of the bags (I think they ended up something like 7 inches wide, 9 inches tall, and 4 inches deep.), I didn't think that they'd ever have to hold anything too heavy.

I hadn't figured out the sizes for the bags when I bought the fabric (brilliant, huh?), so I bought 1.5 yards of each color broadcloth and then 6 yards of muslin.  In the end, that gave me 3 of each color bag, plus some leftover of each color.  I have probably half the muslin left, because I could get 3 lining pieces to fit on it width-wise.  (Of course, then we ended up having only four kids at the party, due to illness and scheduling conflicts, so now I have eight bags stashed in my gift stash.)  I thought that this project turned out really well, and I do hope that the kids have been using their gift bags for books/toys/whatever.

The Bag from the Underworld, part II

Remember this bag? The one that made me cuss a lot, because I screwed up just about everything? At least once? Well, I said that I'd make it again at least once, because I cut two out when I made the first. And now the time had come to man up and sew the second one. It was actually supposed to be my BFF's Christmas present, but there were issues at the time, so I gave her a raincheck. And since I'm about to go visit her, I thought it would be good to finish it and hand-deliver it.

The outside is a slightly stretchy dark olive twill, I think. It was a $1-2/yd purchase from WM years ago, and I made at least one pair of small Thing pants out of it (which held up really well, as I recall!). I used two strands of black thread held together for the top-stitching on the pockets and attachment of the straps. (For some reason, my sewing machine gets very angry with the Gutermann topstitching thread I have but sails along with two strands of regular - go figure. It doesn't matter what needle I've tried, either.)

The lining is the same Charlie Brown cotton print, interfaced with ShapeFlex interfacing (Pellon). I really like the way the stuff drapes. The pocket is fully lined, with boxed corners and a piece of elastic in the top that's only about an inch or so shorter than the width of the pocket - just enough to help keep contents in place.
I made a large patch pocket on this side, with a zipper at the top. This could be used for cell phone, sunglasses, wallet - whatever. And you can see that the key fob is attached high on the side seam, maybe two inches from the top. I realized that if I have a key leash, then the key fob should be higher for ease of location. At least, that was the rationale.

The magnetic snaps are a little higher than they should have been. I had to remove them to edgestitch the top of the bag, then replace them before stitching the opening in the bottom. I thought I'd left enough room, but apparently I miscalculated. Otherwise, I would have made a double-row of stitching around the top to echo what I did on the outer pockets.
And then a matching key leash and tissue cover. I think she'll really like this gift!

The Bag from the Underworld

My aunt came for a visit over a month ago, and while she was here, she requested a new purse. I had made (also at her request) a very large tote bag for her about five years ago, which she used to carry my grandma's laundry back and forth to the nursing home. She said that she still uses it but wanted something similar but smaller that she could use as a purse. While she was here, I had her pick out the fabric that she wanted - blue denim for the outside and a Charlie Brown print for the inside. Then after she left, we had a long email conversation about specific features of the purse.

I chose Simplicity 9958, which was already in my stash. In fact, it was one of the two patterns I had used to make the original tote bag. The only real changes I needed to make to the pattern were to line the bag and add inner pockets. I used a double strand of white thread for all topstitching that would be visible on the outside (I had tried topstitching thread, but for some reason, my machine was most unhappy with it.)

The lining fabric was interfaced with Pellon's ShapeFlex, as recommended by a JAF employee. The interfacing is a bit pricey for me ($5/yd), but I have to say that it worked really well - gave it stability and strength, but it still drapes nicely. I added two inner pockets. This larger one has boxed lower corners to give it more width than a patch pocket, and I added elastic to the top. It is self lined for strength and better appearance.

I also added a zippered pocket for a cell phone or small wallet. When I made my Amy Butler Swing Bag a few years ago for use at a conference, I added zippered pockets for cell phone and wallet, and I really liked it. Made it much easier to find a ringing phone. I also added a D-ring below the pocket for attaching a key leash, to make finding one's keys quick and easy.

As an extra bonus, I made a matching key leash from a Craft Stylish tutorial and a small tissue cover from a Quilting Board tutorial. Both were quick and easy, and I think they just add a little something to the bag.

I like the key leash and may make myself one soon - that would be handy if I could figure out where to attach it in my backpack. And I think the tissue cover will be a great addition to teacher gifts this Christmas! Cute and practical, and very very quick!

Despite how many times/ways I screwed up this bag, I still really liked the finished product. I cut a second one out when I cut the first, so after some "forgetting the pain" time, I'll be making it again at least once. After that, well, we'll see....