Kiradesignn

My friend Kiradesignn has started her etsy shop selling bags. She makes cute handbags from interesting fabrics, fabric combinations, and cute applications. This bag is made from some awesome south african fabric which has a ginko flower print.

Market independence

Today was the market. (May 5th independence day in the Netherlands). I have been blogging a while about it and sewing things for a while, but today was finally D-day (sorry no pun intended). It's actually a rommel (junk) market, but my friend Kim (who had a stand last year) thought handmade things would sell too. She was right ... after the early morning bargain hunters had left.

Her Amy Butler stash and dash bags sold fabulously. She really has a lot of taste when it comes to mix and match (I am jealous). My bags did ok (perhaps African prints are not everyone's taste) even though they were very modestly priced (4 euros). Very few people looked at the fabric necklaces :(I assume I am ahead of fashion) and the neck scarves didn't do too well either.

The movers arrive on Friday, so we of course had a fair bit of rommel to add to the equation, which resulted in us making a decent days wage. Yay

Squarebags from African Cotton

African Cotton has some new things in her shop. The squarebag, a cute boxy pouch, comes in all the shwe shwe colours and a shwe shwe baby quilt or mat (shades of indigo). I was surprised to see a bag in the post from her on the same day she listed it. It's perfect for small things in your purse.

little boxy pouch

Today is my first day back at work (since August 2008), so wish me luck. (If my manager is reading this, please note I scheduled this post, I didn't actually post it at 9am today). Baby C is with a very nice Dutch ouma and oupa and hopefully being a good girl - eating her veggies, sleeping on her own and not crying too much.

ANyway, I found this great tutorial for a cute boxy pouch. I also love the fabric. There doesn't seem to be much else on that site, but since it's such a fantastic tutorial (I love things which look unusual but are actually quite simple).

great bags made from awesome south african fabric

Dari has listed a bag made from some shwe shwe fabric she bought from my Etsy shop. I'm very tempted to buy it back, lol

more bags - this time a clutch purse

I have some fabric perfect for a delicate clutch, bought from Irma's Sampler store in Haarlem. When i would use it is not exactly clear, but it's nice to dream of a day when i don't have to carry nappies around ;) I also like this amy butler stash and dash pattern which could double as a toiletry bag.

Here is a free clutch purse pattern (pictured) I'll be trying it out when I next get a moment to breathe. It's very sad but I'm going to be leaving a lot of half started and inspired projects behind in South Africa.

The bags I sewed yesterday

Useful things to sew

I was cleaning out my bookshelf and I found this little gem - the Reader's Digest 'Useful things to sew'. Here is the barrelbag (cos I am in the mindframe of making bags for the market). Enjoy.

ps: I will put some photos up of my bags soon. It's a brilliant and simple pattern designed by Helen.