Thrilled!

I’m thrilled with this make!

This is my entry for the Offset Warehouse Big Spring Contest. I was lucky enough to be one of the four chosen to make up their proposed project using fabrics from Offset Warehouse.

As a little background about the online store, Offset Warehouse is a social enterprise which brings together a huge range of hand-picked eco fabrics and haberdashery. They offer fabrics that not only look good but are manufactured in a way that is kind to the planet and  kind to the workers who produce the raw materials. For further information please visit the Offset Warehouse online store

I came across this particular challenge on the VeryBerryHandmade blog by Ali who requested submissions based on the title ‘for my crafty friend’, hence my proposed divided fabric bucket to keep WIPs completely separate.

It was a little tricky to choose my fabrics online especially as I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from a product not as mass produced as the usual fabrics I work with. But the descriptions on the website were entirely accurate and I ended up with a firm but tactile outer layer, a canvas fabric for the front pocket, adding further strength, and a fine cotton lining.

I have to admit I did use a pattern. I couldn’t bring myself to pass off this as my own when I knew I had seen something very similar before. I tracked it down on Pinterest and located the pattern on the NoodleHead website. You can find it here.

http://www.noodle-head.com/p/patterns.html

It is an incredibly well written pattern, easily explaining how to construct the inner divider.

Basically the outer layer of the bag is made up from a front section and a back, the front pocket attached to the front prior to sewing the front to the back, right sides together, before pinching the base at the corners and sewing them to give it it distinctive boxy shape. I used a medium weight iron on interfacing to give some more strength and also stop the banana fibre fabric from fraying.

The lining is made up from four pieces with a centre core piece strengthened with some iron on interfacing.

The handles are made up from more of the canvas fabric and attached to the outer bag prior to inserting the lining into the bag with the raw edges already pressed, and top stitched round the top to secure. I was so pleased when the lining fitted so snuggly inside the outer bag. This made the final sewing around the top a cinch.

And here it is, complete with a couple of WIPs

So what do you think?

Voting on the Offset Warehouse facebook page goes live on the 9th of April. If you don’t mind I’ll be giving you the odd nudge to go and vote for me, and indeed the other contestants, along with the other Offset Warehouse followers. They’ve already shared some of my posts on their facebook page so it’s all win, win!

Love, Lucie xx