Another small tote and more

I’m back into sewing these past couple of weeks. I’m really into these small totes. My last tote was a small one too. You can check it out here.

But they were unlined, and there is something about a nice lined tote that was calling me!

I’m using old jeans for the base of the bag with regular fabric from my stash for the lining and the appliques on the outside pockets. There is a pocket on both sides. Here you can see the lining fabric.

I probably could have figured out how to convert the pattern from the last tote to a lined one, but I saw this pattern on My Handmade Space and I wanted to try it out.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t have a video to go with it, which I always find useful. However, Wild Pony Designs has a video showing how to make this bag which I found very helpful.

Here is another one I made for a friend who gifted me with some batik fabric. I again used old jeans for the base of the bag.

While I”m sewing I decided to make some potholders. These were made from some of my leaf printed fabric. They have already been mailed to their new home.

Then I decided to play with some of those batiks I was given, and made a couple more.

I was experimenting with size and what I use for batting. One is 9 inches which I think is too large for a pot holder, but would be good for a trivet. The other is 8 inches. My previous potholders have been 7 inches. Here is the tutorial for them.

But I really like the 8-inch finished potholder. Instead of just using Insul-Bright, I added a thin batting. That isn’t necessary since my last two sets only included the Insul-Bright, and they’ve worked great. However, I like the potholders having a bit more thickness. Also, I back all of my potholders with old jeans. They seem to hold up much better than regular fabric.

I won’t be piecing the next batch I make since that was way too much work! I want to make a bunch of these so they need to be easy and fast.

I also thought these hand potholders would be great, but in the end I won’t make them again. They are a lot of trouble and this one, which was the regular size, hardly fit my hand.

Other than that, I’ve been sewing more of those totes made out of pet food bags for a local food pantry. I have a stack right now in my studio that I plan to work through this week.

I posted today on my Substack blog about another one of Mom’s recipes: Cooky Jar Gingersnaps. Yum! You can find the recipe, as well as all of my posts about her recipes and other topics here.