Breaking out the sewing machine

Recently, I helped make pillowcase dresses for the Dominican Republic with some women from my church. The project was inspired by the Pillowcase Dresses projects for Africa. You can check out one of the organizations here. It was a lot of fun and got me interested in sewing again.

When was the last time I used a sewing machine? Oh right. I think I was 9. I used to make pillows and scrunchies even though scrunchies never stayed in my hair. (?) Where do you start when you want to sew something for practice but scrunchies are out of style??

I found this cute bag on the blog Tiny Happy and the pattern seemed simple (perfect!!) and the bag is super cute. Here is the tutorial for her bag. I ended up making two. One for myself and one for a gift. It was simple but had some challenging elements...like running the machine around the entire border...straight lines were never my thing when sewing. I was more than a little tired from all the concentrating I did to get "straight" lines. I also love that you have to make your own pattern...a little stressful for someone who likes to just follow directions the first time around...but again, the challenge was great for me and gave me a lot of confidence.

There is a cute pocket and button closure. If I make another I will choose stiffer fabrics or add that fabric that makes things more rigid...the name escapes me now. I would also make the bag deeper.