Friday Finishes- Sewing Up My Stash

My sewing has been neglected lately.  My sewing room was a mess, and it was just feeling claustrophobic in there.  I cleaned and took down my sewing table, deciding to make my desk do double duty instead and write and sew at it.  I also rearranged the furniture.  I find a lot of times just rearranging the furniture is enough to get some creativity flowing.

Over the long holiday weekend, I was able to actual get some sewing done, and best of all everything came from my stash.  Granted when you have a large stash to choose from, it's not that hard, but it still feels good to use up what you have.

First, I made a couple lavender sachets.  These are super easy.  You just cut two five inch squares, so all the way up three of the sides, part of the way on fourth, and then flip right side out, stuff, and zip across the top (and bottom for a little symmetry).  I did add a little lavender essential oil to the lavender to freshen it up.  Then I stored the finished projects in a sealed bag to keep them fresh.

L to R- Vintage Sheet, vintage flour sack, and a smidge of fabric
that was left from a fat quarter bundle I had bought at my local quilt shop.

Then I made two reusable grocery bags.  These are one of my go to projects.  I love this pattern from Michelle's Patterns.  They're super easy to make, practical, and fun.

Some Kona Bay fabric with a red polka dot interior.

The exterior of this bag is some of the first fabric I ever bought.  It's a Kona Bay print from my local fabric shop and the inside is from Joann's.

It's not very colorful, but I like the print.

This fabric has been in my stash for a while to.  I bought it on Ebay over a year ago.  It has a kind of art nouveau vibe to it and the lining is blue and white seersucker.  I love using it for a neutral in lots of projects.

A close up of the print.

Finally, I found this great link to 40 Free Bag Tutorials.  There was a link for a sling blade from Crap I've Made.  It take two yards of fabric, involves one pattern piece (which you cut out four times- two from your lining fabric and two from your exterior).  It's reversible, no interfacing, no zippers, no snaps.  Easy peasey.

Here's my first stab at it.

I made one out of some 1930s feedsack reprint fabric and the inside is lined in a light blue chambray looking fabric. I did decide to topstitch the opening and strap just to give it a more finished look.  I liked the proportions of the bag an such, so I decided to cut into some of the fabric I really liked and whip myself up one.

So, I found some tree fabric I've had sense Christmas, that I really liked, but I never really knew what to make out of it.  Then I picked some purple fabric that I originally bought for a dress, but for various reasons it was never cut into for that.  It's a nice quality fabric, with a sheen to it.  Fancy, but not too fancy.  So, I got to work making bag number two.

Tree Bag

 Here's a close up of the fabric.

Love it!  I see more of this pattern in my future!

It's been fun to get back into sewing and fun to use up some of my stash.  How about you?  Have you been doing any sewing?