Tote-A-Treat

Mollie has brought a lot of sunshine into my life. And inspiration. She is a sweet, wonderful, well-behaved dog, but -- had to be a "but.

But we have some "issues", like pulling on the leash when she sees squirrels and other dogs. Okay, okay, the squirrel thing is partly on me. I encouraged the chasing because it was so funny. But a little goes a long way. Besides there's the whole safety issue. Hers and mine.

Then there's the refusal to stop barking after I say "it's okay" or "quiet." She's a great watchdog, but wants to have the last word.

We're working on these and other issues and will soon be attending doggie school. Mainly handler school, so I can learn the proper way to train her. Now that training treats are playing a big part in our lives, I decided that I needed a bag to hold treats. Getting them out of my pocket isn't quick enough.

Introducing the Tote-A-Treat, which is of course a "green" project. It was once a scrub top. I kept the design simple. Just a bag to hold treats. The first one I made is not lined. The strap serves to stabilize the top of one side of the bag and I simply tied the snap hooks onto the strap. That makes it easily adjustable. I snap the hooks onto my belt loops. I tied the ends of the strap together so I can hang the bag with Mollie's collars and leashes.

Now I'm making Tote-A-Treat bags for YAYAMADE. These bags are lined. Here's preview pics. They're awaiting straps and/or snap hooks.

In Between

In between the Christmas sewing, I made a mini Ploomer bag from a pair of jeans. It really turned out cute. Pockets outside, and of course inside too.

VEST TOTE 3

I found the cutest vest at our church Thrift Store. St. Christopher Thrift Shop on Galveston Street in League City, Texas. When I saw it, I immediately thought about our Ally Hardick, who organized and runs our church community garden. I talked about her in a previous post. She's an awesome young woman. Anyway . . . when I saw the vest I thought of her, as the vest is a "harvest" vest, which had already been embellished with buttons and threads and the like. So, I made a vest tote from it. And this was before I spent some time visiting with Ally at the craft fair last week, and before she shared that she was looking for a bag for her garden stuff. I'm hoping she enjoys it. I figure that even if it's not the right size or if it's just not her style of tote (we all have our own style, you see), that she can use it as a prop in promos she does for the garden. Just a cutsy, fun little vest tote.

Make a Fast & East Tote from a Vest

Select a standard vest. Mine was lined. So, my bag will be lined.

Take the vest apart at the shoulder seams and side seams.

Remove buttons. Place a piece of cloth behind the buttonhole, and zig zag over buttonholes to close them. Trim away the excess from the piece of cloth that was placed behind the button hole.

Pin the vest fronts together, right sides together.
Sew together at the shoulder and side. Turn right side out and top stitch over the shoulder seam and side seam that you just sewed. You’ve just created a French seam of sorts.

With wrong sides together, top stitch the front and bottom of the vest together.

Sew buttons back on. Voila! You have a vest tote.

TRIAL RUNS - 7/4/2008

Here's some of the things I'm practicing on to see if I want to do them. First is a tote bag made from "plarn" (plastic-bag yarn). As you can see, I just started it. So far I haven't enjoyed the process so much, but as I get further along and get more used to the plarn, I think I'll like it better. Actually I think I'll have to start again and use a much bigger crochet needle.

The other is wire wrapping. It's done with some wire that I found on the street coming back from a recent run. It looked like it had been run over by several Mac trucks so, pretty as it was, purple and white, the plastic cover was a mess. So I stripped it to find the copper wire, mostly intact. It's a great practice medium -- cheap (free). I made an "M" and a "Chis" and some squiggles. I did keep the little plastic pieces that I stripped off the wire. Who knows, they may turn up in some fabric art piece.