"Cornishware" Ruffled Shopping Bag

I love reusable shopping bags, I simultaneously have loads and never enough - how does that work?
Sometimes we get lucky and are given them at open days and events and though it's nice to have another bag they are not always the prettiest things on the planet. To fix this I have a cunning plan and a stash of fabric scraps that I keep "just in case".

In the past I have just covered the fronts with a piece of fabric or two.

See how the fabric covers the writing, I don't mind about the inside!

Can I just point out here I would never cover something promoting a charity or the like, if a bag was sold to raise money and awareness I would use it with pride. Government departments, not so bothered!

The one I have had most compliments on is this one with the ruffles.

So when this bag came my way (and obviously I have nothing against the Centre for the History of Medicine at Warwick Uni but do I want it on my shopping bag?) I thought I could given it a makeover and redo the ruffle idea.

What to make one? It's not difficult! This is what you will need:
A plain or unexciting shopping/tote bag
Scraps of fabric
Sewing machine
Thread
About 30 minutes

First rip the fabric into long strips each about 1.5" wide. Ripping is fine, at least the strips will be straight and the fraying will add to the shabby chic look!

Make a straight line horizontally on your bag where you want to ruffles to start from the bottom. Pencil is fine, no one is going to see it (mine had the box round the writing so I used that as a guide and didn't need to draw a line)

Get the handles out of the way, I pined mine up so they didn't get caught in the sewing.

Pop the bag under the sewing machine needle, right side facing, starting at a side seam. Line up with your pencil line, grab one of your strips of fabric, pop it under and do just a few stitches to hold it in place.

Now you just pleat as you go, the photos show it best.

I folded under about 1/4 inch every inch or so, you can do more or less, it's up to you. The more you fold the more strips of fabric you will need, and the more frilly the bag will end up.

When you get to the end of a strip, just pop another one under with a bit of an overlap and carry on.

When you get back to the beginning, just cut off any of the fabric strip remaining and get ready to join the next layer along side.

I overlapped the strips very slightly as you can see. I kept the same thread colour, for speed and because I think it looks quite nice!

That's it, just keep going round and round as many times as you want. I stopped when all the writing was covered.

It was completely unintentional but when it was finished I thought this bag had a bit of a "Cornishware" look to it.

I love Cornishware, so much that I have a pinterest board dedicated to it! When I was little we went to Cornwall most years on holiday and I remember visiting a pottery factory, maybe that's why.

I had a few strips of fabric left and had just seen a lovely little flower by Paige from A Dose of Paige so decided to give it a go. 

I doubled up my blue and cream fabric strips, tied a knot and just started twisting and glueing, following Paige's tutorial. This is pretty easy and fun but do be careful as glue gun glue gets REALLY hot - obvious I know, but when you are concentrating on the twisting apparently it's easy to forget!

I attached a safety pin on the back and now have a removable flower to add more shabby chic charm to my shopping experience!

The bag was a freebie, the blue fabric was from an old shirt and the cream fabric was a old duvet cover that had trim which had gone all bobbly. My lovely new bag didn't cost me anything but time and a bit of sewing thread, whoop whoop!

You might also be interested in:

Lace Top Refashion

Infinity Loop Scarf

Easy to Sew Top

Tea Towel Totes

I'll be linking up to all these great link parties, why not go and have a look!

Crochet Loveliness

I found a couple of lovely crochet patterns recently and have enjoyed a little crochet fest.
First a beautiful collar from Emma at Lulu Loves (Free pattern, how great is that!)
It just looked so lovely I wanted to see if I could make it. It was surprisingly easy, my crochet is fairly basic but I followed the pattern and this came out! 

I did mine in white DK, and it took me about the length of a film to make (Iron Man 3 since you asked) Now I just need to find something to put it on. Do you ever make something "just because"?


Then, just the other day, I came across this lovely flower pattern from Alix at Kreativ-77. I love crocheting flowers, they just go so well together - like Marmite & Toast, Bread & Butter, Tea & Biscuits, Elizabeth Bennet & Mr Darcy....where was I?

I used this flecky blue-grey DK wool, I like the sort of Denim look it has. My hook was pretty enormous, a 5mm. I was just so eager to get started I just grabbed the first one I came to! My flower came out about 4.5" across and took me about an hour to make.

I've attached a safety pin on the back and used it to decorate a plain gift bag for a friend's birthday present.

I may write her name and a message on the bag, maybe along the bottom in a twirly way, it looks a bit plain now I see it here.

Finally I did a little more on my long term WIP. (work in progress) 

One day this will be a beautiful blanket, for now it's a very small blanket and a pile of circles!

It's such a great way to use up all those bits and pieces, the only wool I've bought is the grey/silver fleck that joins them all together. When it's finished I will show it off properly, but don't hold your breath!

Update: It's finally finished - horray! You can find out all about it here.

You might also be interested in:

Doctor Who Knitted Tie

Grey & Bright Crocheted Flowers

Heart Elbow Patch Cardigan Makeover

Crochet Owl Brooch

I'll be linking up to all these great link parties, why not pop by!

Easy to Sew Top

 

This is just about as easy as sewing a top can get. It's inspired by a lovely easy maxi dress pattern from Sweet Verbena. I've made two of those dresses, here I am in my blue one, enjoying a glass of Sangria on holiday!

The other one is made from a patterned fabric, I'm on holiday in this picture too, but here you can see more of the dress! (Funny how the boys are standing in exactly the same way, I never noticed till now)

This is such a lovely dress to wear on a hot day, perfect of holidays.
Anyway, I had some left over jersey fabric from making the patterned dress, a long strip 248cm x 36cm (98" x 11"). It was a bit of an awkward size piece but enough to make a top, I just had to tweak the pattern to make it work.

I cut the fabric in half so I had 2 lengths both 124cm. This is how I decided the length of my top. If the fabric had been longer I think I would have made the top a little longer too. I would also have matched the pattern, but there just wasn't enough fabric to do that this time.
If you want to make a simple top like this, this is what you do:
Fold your first piece in half (so it's 62cm x 36cm, doubled up with the fold at the top) and pin along the right side leaving a 18cm gap at the top folded edge. This will be the arm hole.
Do the same for the other piece but this time pin the left side.
I did all this pinning with safety pins. That way I could try it on and adjust the size of the arm & neck holes before I stitch and I wouldn't stab myself with a bunch of pins. 

Then take the unpinned edges and, right sides together, pin the font and back seams. (again with safety pins if you want to try it on first)
Leave a gap 20cm from the top, this will be the hole for your neck. If you want the neck lower, just leave a longer gap. I really recommend doing all this with safety pins and trying it on. You want to make sure your head fits through!

Once you are happy with the size of your arm and neck holes replace the safety pins with regular pins.

This is what the neck hole will look like.

Put a double pin at the point where you are going to stop, that way when you are on the sewing machine you won't go whizzing past the point you have so carefully measured.

Once you have stitched all 4 seams it will look something like this.

That's it, you are done, easy eh! Turn it inside out and try it on. I think this is a "tuck it in" kind of top for me, although it might make a great maternity top too, or a whooshy floaty top if that's your thing.

If it were a little bit longer then it would be a great tunic with a belt too. Oh the possibilities!
I wore this to work the other day with my new bright blue jeans and green cardie.

I just wanted to show I do have other clothes (I always seem to be wearing the same jeans in my photos!) 

You might also be interest in:

Easy to Sew Cushion Covers

Infinity Loop Scarf

Heart Elbow Patch Cardigan Makeover

Crochet Owl Brooch

I'll be linking up to all these great link parties, why not pop by!