Ugly Bags

I have this idea. Actually, I've been working on it for a few years. It's for Survival Kits. Specifically Restaurant & Relative Survival Kits. A child would be able to use these kits anywhere they were expected to 'behave' for a certain period of time. I started off with putting Play-Doh in a ziploc bag and adding some potato head parts (about a year after I did this I saw that Play-Doh actually started selling this as a set in stores). Now, with the crayon rolls that I make primarily for birthday presents I thought - why not add a bag and a book of blank paper and call it a survival kit? Add a roll-up easy to sew board game too and take it to the beach? Use shells and rocks as your game pieces? Easy wedding favors for young guests or reception dinner entertainment - (why didn't I think of it before my cousin got married earlier this month)?

Anyway, I have been working on bags with the fabric I purchased at a yard sale. I did base both bags on other tutorials but I wanted to see if I could 'wing it' - create something on my own. I'm thinking - I'm not quite there yet.

The first bag (with the white handles) has elastic as the handles. The elastic was free from freecycle and is really soft but not ideal to sew. And - I didn't line up the elastic between the two pieces so when you look at the bottom of the bag you can see that the two sides are not lined-up.

I decided I like the fabric too much and wanted to move the handles to the inside so they didn't take away from the aesthetic of the bag (as well as show everyone how I cannot center them).

Unfortunately, on bag two, I sewed what I planned on being the two linings wrong and one became a lining and the other became an outside panel. Now, both handles are on one side of the bag. I decided if I added a button a kid wouldn't mind. Especially one of my kids. We'll see if either of them notice my 'oopsie' tomorrow.




I guess this goes to show that I really need to keep better track of what I do (and what I should not do) when sewing. But - if I tell my kids the bags are ugly bags - like there are ugly dolls - they might just believe me.