Bags, ties, and a skirt!

 The bag obsession has been strong.  I think I've made nine now - five of the large size, and four smaller ones.  A few pics.....

Most were from the one lap size quilt, but the last one I cut up a small table topper I had made from leftover blocks from my White Night's quilt a few years ago. I think I still have enough of it to make at least two more small ones.  But I'm taking a break for a while.  I broke over 10 needles on these 9 bags! They are very hard to sew. I do love the leather work on them. I found leather strips at a leather shop in Knoxville, and that is also where I got the clasps and rivets.  I think real leather on these bags takes them up a notch.  Next up is the ties I made for my grandson.  I made the granddaughter and her mother a bag, so I had to make him and his dad something.

My son used to love wild bowties, and the peacock fabric was perfect for a matching father and son bowtie. I also found a cute dark fat quarter with some pops of color that I made another one out of. I even did one more, not shown, in a little camping themed fabric. Man Sewing had a great video on how to make these. You can make one in about an hour!

I've enjoyed picking zinnias this summer.  I planted seeds in three big pots out near our back deck. So pretty!

We've had some scorcher days lately.  Can't believe inside the screened porch was so hot!

And the back deck! Wowser's The Trex like material on our deck gets so hot, so maybe it was a few degrees hotter than the real temp.  I don't know but this was HOT!

And my latest obsession was making a tiered skirt. I haven't tried to sew clothes since I was about 19 and made a dress, it did not turn out well.  My mom sewed all her clothes, and all the clothes we wore all through our childhood. She was an excellent seamstress - made my prom dress, my brother's tux, my wedding dress, skirts, pants, all kinds of things. She would find a dress or a picture of something she liked, and make her own pattern.  I've never wanted to sew clothes, but this skirt might have changed my mind.  Sydney Graham has a youtube tutorial on how to make this skirt without a pattern, just using your measurements and some simple calculations.

I made lots of mistakes, but learned a lot too.  I plan to make at least one more, and then I'll want to make one for fall/winter. This fabric is a woven by Robert Kaufman and was purchased from Hancock's of Paducah. It is a nice weight and has the feel of linen.  Next I wanted to make a pair of linen look pants.  I found some linen/rayon blend on sale at Joann Fabrics. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, but Sydney Graham had a pattern for her Lane pants, and she had a video tutorial. I purchased it and then I needed to figure out how to adjust the rise (I did not want a high waist) and the length (the pattern was for a 5' 7" height, I'm 5' 4"). I also wanted to narrow the legs, as her pattern was way wider than I wanted.  I printed off the pattern last night, taped it all together, then this afternoon after church I went to work on it.  I did finish the pants about 6 pm this evening, but the waist is still too big. So I will have to take off a bit of the waist band, and pull out the elastic and shorten it. Hopefully I'll get that done tomorrow.  Maybe I'll get a final picture on here later. I did manage to get a picture after I had adjusted the pattern and was beginning to lay it out to cut.