Saturday, April 21, 2012

Sewing for Mother's Day

I love sewing for my mom. She always sports my finished projects as if they are the best in the world but we all know sometimes our projects just don't come out as good as we had hoped. My mom still has most of my handmade things from when I was little all over her house. Sometimes I look at these things and wonder how the heck I put them together, not to mention all the funny stitches here and there.

I decided to make her a tote bag for Mother's Day. This will be a bag for her to go to the grocery stores and run errands. It's light, versatile, and easy to wash! The Go Anywhere Bag is the perfect bag for my mom. 

It's the perfect size. 

The pattern is pretty simple. I think the hardest part of this project was choosing fabrics that I think my mom will like. She has a thing for denim, so I used that as my starting point. The denim fabric I used was so easy to work with. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the name of the designer. The denim fabric was super soft so I lined it with fusible interfacing to give the bag some shape. The floral pattern is by Michael D'Amore, and it's called "Bold and Beautiful" --- just like my mom! The gray stripy fabric is "Reunion by Sweetwater" for Moda.

The front of the bag; it has three pockets here.

This bag is also great because of all the pockets available. It has a total of four pockets! It will be perfect for her cell phone, keys, and whatever else she carries in her bag.

My iPhone snuggling comfortably in that pocket. 

The pattern asked us to top stitch around the entire top edge, but my sewing machine just would not cooperate. UGH. I think I will need to adjust the tension of my machine to get the stitches to line up nicely. I used two types of magnetic snaps: one for the front pocket and a hidden sew in one for the main body of the bag. The hidden sew in magnetic snap is amazing! It wasn't cheap, but I love the finished look of it.

Not bad, huh!? 

This pattern is great. I highly recommend it. I think I will have to make one for myself too! Now it's time for me to figure out how to top stitch this baby. I hope my mom likes it! :) Are you making something special for your mom? By the way, I am able to blog about this without ruining the surprise because she is not tech savvy enough to read my blog! Gotta love that!

10 comments:

Erin Kate said...

It's beautiful! Maybe I'll make one of these for my mom. :)

Kristen Rettig said...

It's not bad at all, it's lovely! Your mother will love it! I can't help but think it's a little funny that your mom isn't tech savvy enough to read your blog, kinda sounds like my husband. He's just barely aware that I write one!

Katie said...

That's a great bag! I need ----- eh, who am I kidding? I WANT a new bag, and this would be the perfect size.

As for tech savvy, my husband doesn't even know what a blog is. I'm sure he has no idea what it is I'm doing on the computer!

Unknown said...

Yay, I'm glad you made the bag! I love the bright floral with the denim, so cute.

Karen said...

Cute bag; I love the inside pockets. It sounds you have a wonderful mom :)

cinzia said...

nice bag!I usually find that small stitches work best when topstitching and i always lower the tension a little. Good luck! It's a lovely bag.

Alli said...

Aw, that's such a sweet present for your mom! I hope you were able to get your machine to cooperate with the topstitching! :)

Jennifer said...

My gosh! Your attention to all the details are incredible and you tailored it to your mom's taste. Amazing!

susan said...

i just recently got this pattern and have been looking for the perfect fabric. i like the bold &beautiful print you chose with the denim

Kirsten said...

Love this with the denim Sue!