Shoulder bag # 3

We already announced we were making a third one, and now the bag is ready. 

Just like the previous one this bag is the smaller version of recipe 27 from Zo Geknipt 1.

This time around we did not use special webbing (just a piece we made from the same fabric of bags’ fabric), but we did make another piece of macramé to help open the tiny zipper.

The piping is gold color and we ironed some home-cut golden birdies on the plain outside fabric of the bag. 

I have more bags now than ever, and can change them around depending of my mood!

Next time maybe something from Zo Geknipt 2 - maybe that lovely the sleeping bag?

Pattern: The pattern is recipe 27 from the book Zo Geknipt.

Fabric: Came from my huge stash of fabric and I have no clue where I bought it.

Fabric shopping

The local fabric market is rather poor if you compare to the various printed cottons available online, all over the world.

Nevertheless you do not really hear me complain. Scouting the local market sometimes results in finding real treasures.

Also treasure hunting in Ajman –an Emirate about 20 kilometers away from our habitat- is mostly a thrilling experience.

Most fabrics are plain, but there is a lot of cotton; even jersey and interlock. Usually cheap stuff, good quality, but only sold per roll. Consequently I have an overload of overstock wondering around in the house. A fabric might be really nice, but a whole roll is mostly just impossible to finish, even for me.

At Bengali market the fabric warehouses are full to bursting.

If you happen to wish to purchase a roll from the bottom of the pile of fabric rolls you will need to be very charming and look the Bengali salesman in the eyes as otherwise you end up going home without your desired roll.

Luckily they know me already, if they do not want to take the roll I want I do start moving the whole pile myself until they take over.

This picture was taken, sitting on top of the mountain of fabric rolls.

Also haberdashery is sold per roll, so bias binding, elastic with button holes, webbing (the roles in the pictures are about 40 yards and the price of a roll is about 5 euro – disadvantage it regards satin and not cotton).

Other haberdashery such as buttons, metal buckles and so on, can be bought in bags of minimum 50 pieces. Although I usually do not use 50 I do not hesitate buying these wholesale quantities, because in the local quilters shop I probably pay the same price for only 2 pieces!

One day I will have to organize a massive overstock sale at our house.

And yes I am not only interested in fabric, this bicycle shop –Islam Bicycle Trading- got some attention to!

Back ...

Back … online! No blog posts since July, we enjoyed some well-earned time off this summer. Nevertheless it is almost end of September so time to get back in our normal daily routine.

Back … into sports! The fractured collarbone did not heal properly and almost 3 months after breaking it we had surgery to fix the collarbone with a plate and six screws. Some weeks of hard work and a couple of buckets of sweet later and we are getting fit again. Can’t wait till the Asian Rugby Championships next weekend, followed by the kick-off of our local league championship.

But above all Back … to school! So time to show off our new school bags!

Elias picked a fantastic fabric from Jessica Jones. He is so ready to learn to read (Jessica Jones “Dawn Picket” - Noeks).

Omar choose HIS robots –since he had a pencil case made of this fabric he claimed the rest of the piece of robot fabric to be his! The inside of his bag had to be finished off with plane green. I would have used royal blue, but to be honest the green goes perfectly with the robot fabric (Kokka - Vermiljoenshop).

The missy does not actually really need a big school bag as such, but she did not want to start school without a homemade bag. Her choice of fabric: yellow and orange apples and the little bag on the inside same fabric but green and teal apples (by Graziela - Vermiljoenshop). 

Louka shows of the bag I made for myself.

We bought this delightful fabric @ Van Katoen; as it is canvas and the print is rather big I did not immediately have an idea on what to make with it, until I saw this picture! (Prints Charming “Daisy Chain” - Bambiblauw).

Not too many words, no tutorials but pictures that say it all.

Just maybe this: I like buying fabric online and do not mind not seeing the fabric when I buy. Nevertheless I hardly ever buy haberdashery such as bias binding, piping or webbing online. It is hard to find a perfect match if you can only see the items on the screen of your computer; besides some webbing is very expensive.

So we made the webbing for our schoolbags ourselves. We bought a very big role of nature colour cotton ribbon. The ribbon itself was not strong enough to serve as webbing and it was way too wide (10cm); so we folded the ribbon twice widthways and we stitched several fluorescent lines all along the length of the ribbon. This resulted in webbing that looks just perfect for the purpose being. The fluorescent details give the bags –especially the blue one we made for Elias- more cachet.