In addition to my love of crocheting and knitting, I have a fondness for sewing. I am in no way as accomplished as my sister, who is – truly – a master sewist (and an engineer!); but I do OK with fabric and a sewing machine. Lately, I returned to some sewing and have enjoyed it immensely!

Since I had not sewn anything for a couple years, I decided to ease back into it. I found a pattern (Simplicity 9308) and some fabric to make a tote bag. As any crafter knows, one is never enough – whether it be YARN, crochet hooks, knitting needles, fabric, patterns,… (you get the picture).

And as everyone who has a yarn habit also knows, there are NEVER enough yarn bags for our various works in progress (WIPs)!

My first project was built around a remnant I found at the local Joann’s and features cats and balls of yarn. As a seasoned Cat Mom and fiber artist, this was a slam dunk for me! The pattern was perfect for my reacquaintance with sewing and it was FUN. I think it turned out beautifully!

In fact, I had so much fun with it that I dug around in my fabric stash and found some fabric that I had from before COVID, and made another one in that same (large) size.

The pattern features an internal pocket for all manner of small notions, like stitch holders, cabling accessories, darning needles and more. The bag pictured at the top of this post already has a knitting project (in-progress) inside!

This second one went together even more quickly, and was also a fun project – so fun that when a request from my son for his daughter (my youngest grandbaby) came through, I knew what I was going to do. More on that in a bit.

One note: the pattern does NOT call for a lining, but I don’t care for a tote bag without one, so I used some black fabric for the cat/yarn tote, and for this next one, I used the same fabric for the bag and liner.

When I find a pattern that I like and am likely to use multiple times, I affix the pieces to medium weight, fusible interfacing for durability.

When there are multiple and overlapping SIZES in the pattern, I fuse the LARGE size one to interfacing, and then make copies of the smaller sizes using freezer paper.

As I was finishing up this second tote bag, I was already plotting my approach to the request for my little granddaughter. She is a BIG FAN of the Peppa the Pig cartoon series, and especially of a character that appeared in one episode: Granny Wolf. As can happen with little ones, she became enchanted with that character and episode, and now talks about Granny Wolf – a LOT!

I went looking for Granny Wolf items in the many Peppa Pig items that are available, but to no avail. I realized that to make this little girl’s wish come true, I needed to tap into all my skills: sewing, basic crafting and technology!

I found a single graphic for Granny Wolf online and also downloaded a graphic of Granny Wolf’s granddaughter – Wendy. Using some graphic design tricks I picked up over the years, I placed them next to each other, and saved it as an image file. I then purchased some transfer paper at Michael’s and went to work to see if my printer would be able to do justice to the project.

It worked, and I am now in the final stages of this custom, one-of-a-kind tote bag for my littlest grandchild! You can see above that the graphic will be placed on the side of the tote, and I shifted from a rectangle to a rounded shape so that the metallic rick rack I chose for it goes around the image more smoothly. I’ll be sure to share a photo in a later post of the finished piece.

Like knitting and crocheting, creative sewing brings joy, affords us opportunities for artistic expression and gives us a sense of accomplishment. It also is a vehicle for making someone else’s day – whether it’s in the form of a knitted scarf, a crocheted lip balm holder or a sewn tote bag with a beloved character on it.

Whatever creative crafts you enjoy, make sure you make time to spend with them, creating. It’s not only good for the folks that receive your hand-made gifts; crafting and creating is good for you, too!

Keep on crocheting, knitting, sewing & CRAFTING!

(C) 2023 Stitch ‘n Dish (now Fiber Harmony)