Bags (and photos) galore

A couple of weeks ago, making almost half of our Christmas gifts seemed like a good idea. Last night at 10pm, when I had just finished the last sewed gift (one more knitted one to complete) and still had to pack to go away this morning and wrap all the presents, I wondered what I was thinking. We are driving out of town today to spend Christmas with my mother so the deadline was last night for everything except for the knitted beanie for my brother, which I hope I can do in the car (or complete secretly at my Mum's place).

Most of the female rellies we buy for are getting a bag of some sort this year. My original plan was makeup bags, but I got a bit sick of those after I'd made 8 of them, so I switched to larger bags.

Here is the bag I made for my Mum, following the Pleated Beauty Handbag pattern in Bend-the-Rules Sewing:

The main part of the bag is black cotton drill to give it a bit of weight. I also used a piece of timtex in the bottom to help it keep its shape. The pleats and inner straps are made from Kirinco fabric designed by Lara Cameron. There is a large pocket inside made from the accent fabric. I'm really pleased with how this turned out. I wanted a bag that would be big enough for taking stuff to the beach or taking to the supermarket, but not too unwieldy. I also wanted it to look nice :)

Here is a tote I made for my brother's new English girlfriend who has joined him on his visit out to NZ to meet the family:

This again is made from black cotton drill. The accent leaf fabric is a Japanese cotton from Spotlight.

Here are a couple of the makeup bags

These are both made from Kirinco fabric again (see the other two fabric designs I used in my earlier post here) and follow the same tutorial I used for the earlier bags.

And then, just because I am a sucker for punishment, I decided I needed a bag to take on summer holiday with me. So I made this:

I followed the popular Wasp Bag pattern and used (there is a theme to this post) Kirinco fabric. The straps are the same black cotton drill. I added a little fabric self-covered button to each strap. Inside is a small pocket. I bought this fabric to make myself a bag several months ago and it has been sitting waiting in my fabric stash while I found the perfect pattern. I really love how it turned out and have already up-ended my numerous handbag contents into it ready to go away today.

Phew! I really am ready for a holiday now. I'll be taking a bit of a blogging break for a week or so. Best wishes to all of you for a wonderful Christmas and New Year.