Challenge Create – The Linen Edition

It’s been quiet around here lately, hasn’t it? I’ve been busy working on testing new patterns and finishing up some projects around my home, but today, I am thrilled to be a contestant in Challenge Create: Fabric Swap Edition at Skirt Fixation. Each week of this four-week contest is focused on a different type of fabric. I’m participating in Linen Week! (You can join in the fun, too, by sewing and adding your photos to the sew-along post each week. There are some great prizes! And, be sure to pop back over to Skirt Fixation on Friday to vote for your favorite entry from this week.)

This Challenge Create is called the Fabric Swap Edition because the contestants each received fabric from another contestant to use for their entry. Janice from So-Cal Sewing Mom sent me these great linen solids in one of my favorite color combinations:She packaged them up beautifully and tied them with a bow, too. Isn’t it fun to get pretty mail?

I knew as soon as I received the fabric, that I wanted to make it into a new handbag for me, but it took me way too long to decide how exactly I was going to do that. (I seem to be the queen of the last minute dash to the finish!) Thankfully, once inspiration struck, the bag came together just the way I imagined. I started by turning the sewing machine logo that I designed for my website into a paper pieced “quilt” block. I used the same freezer paper method that I demonstrated in the My House is a Little Wonky quilt block tutorial. Watching these blocks come together is so much fun!Once, my sewing machine was ready, I sort of made up the bag pattern as I went along. I love having a zippered pocket in my bags. This pocket stretches the width of the back of the bag for plenty of storage space.Since it was really last minute, and I didn’t have a zipper the right color on hand, I upcycled one from an old laptop bag. My re-used zipper has the advantage of having the perfect shape for decorative fabric pull. I lined the I added a zippered pocket with white linen to make it easy to find little things that might sink down to the bottom. I’ve used these little loops for tie-on straps before, and I just couldn’t resist adding them to this bag. They add a unique detail, and they make the straps adjustable. They also allow the straps to be easily changed when you just want something a little different.Inside, I hid two cell-phone sized pockets and two pen/pencil pockets in a whimsical print. (There’s a magnetic snap in there, too.)When I first started sewing seriously a number of years ago, I joined an online sewing community that became like a second family to me. There was a running joke on the board about goats eating posts (sometimes on purpose and sometimes just in random website glitches) — when I ran across this linen-cotton blend fabric covered with sewing goats, I knew I had to have it. I’m sure it will make me smile every time I peek inside. Isn’t it perfect?A huge thank you to the Skirt Fixation team for inviting me to join in the competition … and the fun! Thank you, too, to Janice for the perfect linen fabric for my new bag — I LOVE it!