Tote Tales…

I came home from Harrisville last weekend, with tons of energy and a huge desire to sew.  I’m slowly winding down off my extreme adrenaline rush, which is what keeps me going day after day while on the road, but it does take awhile to unwind.  Sort of like being on steroids.  So I took advantage of the unnaturally high energy level and an extreme desire to sew something, anything.  I had been visiting my secret attic stash a couple weeks ago when I came across the fabric to make this top.  Which I wrote about here.

What I had been looking for was the fabric to make a tote bag, like the one Terry made in the Sievers Class in July, from the leftovers from her jacket.  Since I helped her create the pattern, it was fresh on my mind.

So Tuesday I revisited my attic stash, which I’m not sure I actually even shared with you my dear readers.  My daughter helped me organize it a bit better last year, after another huge investment in drawer-ed cardboard bankers boxes, though what I was looking for had been neatly stowed some 20 years ago, all organized by color, I won’t live long enough to use all of it up.

So here’s the thing.  My guild has it’s annual show and sale the beginning of November, and I have all this scrap in my stash, of 10 years of production weaving, 30 yards at a time, cut into garments makes for a lot of leftovers.  There are tons of things to do with leftover fabrics, and though I’ve used a lot of them over the years, I haven’t really made a dent.  Not wanting to get too tedious with the techniques, though that is what I enjoy most, I need to keep the production costs down to keep the price of items down to be able to sell them successfully at the guild sale.

Anyway, I set out to make a couple totes and the first thing I found was a top that had been cut out but apparently never sewn?  This is from my production line in 1982.  It was the perfect size to cut four bag panels, since there was a front and a back.  I found or combined scraps that would make four additional bags. (Note: the model is my younger sister, in case you noticed a small resemblance.  She is the pretty one…) (Note #2: The fabric was plain weave except for the asymmetrical stripe which was created using a doup leno technique.  It is on my list to revisit this technique I used a lot in my early production years, and write a tutorial on it…)

I cut fusible fleece to fit all the bag panels.  I spent a long time fusing all the panels. I hate that part of the task…

Once the panels were connected I attached lengths of 2″ webbing which I actually ordered on Tuesday from WAWAK.com and got it Wednesday.

I sewed the bottom of the bags together.  By this point my sturdy trusty Janome 6600 wasn’t liking me too much.

I sewed across the bottom corners to create the 4″ box.

I cut off the decorative end of a number of silk saris my husband brought me from one of his trips to India a few years ago.  I use most of the blank part of the sari for linings for my garments, but this was the perfect use of the decorative end.  I made pocket pieces for the lining panels.

I sewed the linings together.

I pinned the linings to the bags.

I carefully sewed the linings to the edge of the bags.  I say carefully because there were some really thick layers here.

And now I have five totes to sell at the guild sale.  The fusible fleece makes them sturdy.

So today, I have a small alterations job to do, and then on to the kitchen where my husband came in last night from a sweep of the garden while I was out knitting with my knitting group at the library.  It will be a day of cooking… Sigh…