Thursday, January 20, 2011

Owl Lunch Bucket


This is Part II of the birthday gift for a good friend of mine. After decades of
loving cows (we called her Walking Milk), she recently expanded her scope of adoration to include owls and hedgehogs. Very fashionable choices, yes, but what do I call her now that she worships three animals?

But it's her birthday today, and I thought I would make her something owlish. And practical, to make up for
the ridiculous Part I of her gift.

So a lunch bucket.


with a drawstring opening


that can be tucked inside


or folded back down outside.


The strap doesn't have to stay up all the time


and unbuttons into a regular fabric bucket.


Very much like the
old craft bag,
except it's normal-cylindrical and smaller.


I lined it with oilcloth so it can be wiped clean if it gets lunchy. This is the first time I've cut into my roll of oilcoth. I'd read all kinds of horrible things about how unusual it is to work with, and how one needed special tricks etc, so I attacked it with a healthy amount of skepticism. Found nothing weird about it at all. Sewed like paper, didn't stick in the slightest to the presser foot, behaved quite nicely, even around circular edges. What gives? Became suspicious that maybe mine wasn't real oilcloth if it didn't give me hell.

So that wasn't hard. The hard part was finding owl fabric. Owls are everywhere, but they're
print, and print is hard for me. Spent more time tracking down unhideous (there are a LOT of them out there) owl fabrics than actually making the bag. This one, conveniently out of stock everywhere except ebay and etsy, is Kaufman's Urban Zoologie, in case you want to know.

I finished it today, and it's her birthday today (Singapore time). And she lives 14 postal days away. Oops.



16 comments:

  1. that is beautiful!! wish i could make something like that.

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  2. Love this! That owl fabric is just way too cute...I think I could fall in love with owls, given all the darling owl prints available right now.

    You know, I recently sewed up several wheelchair rain ponchos out of PUL fabric, which I'd read the same dreadful warnings about as you had with oilcloth. It was a dream to sew on...so I don't get it either.

    I did also read on someone's blog about just applying masking tape to the bottom of your presser foot to use with oilcloth, rather than shelling out for a roller foot or Teflon one. Great idea, but I didn't have to use it...

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  3. That is Fabulous! I love it. My youngest daughter loves owls and now she is going to want me to make one of these too! There is lots of owl fabric at fabric.com, i think I even saw some of yours there. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Super-cute!! I love all the extra touches!

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  5. That's the cutest lunch bag I've seen! You picked the perfect owl print.

    And your craft bag is much-adored in my home =)

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  6. Very, very nice! I love all the different things it can do, or maybe looks it can have is a better description. It may even inspire me to sew my own lunch bag.

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  7. Everything about this is perfect Lier. Great job, wonderful gift.

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  8. I love the shape of this bag! It's so versatile. The owls are cute wrapped around the middle.

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  9. What a great lunch bag! Lucky friend, I"m sure she'll love it!!

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  10. Gorgeous, useful and so so so practical!!! Would love to adapt this design to some of my bags.. It is possible to lend your design to make an adaptation to sell? I'm still thrilled by this bucket! Thanks for sharing!!!

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  11. I love the design of the bag, great to carry some pencils or little toys...
    maomaocrafs.blogspot.com

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  12. This is a very special and personal gift - even 14 days later ;o) I love the shape!

    Even though my English is not that bad, I might research on "oilcloth" - I've got something in my mind, but I'm not sure.

    By the way: I'm sure your friend follows this blog, too. So, she already knows what her gift looks like....

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  13. I'm sure they'll think it well worth the wait! It's lovely - you've got me wanting one, even though my lunch is usually eaten still standing in the kitchen...

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  14. What a great looking lunch bucket. Any chance of a tutorial so we can all make one? Thanks for sharing the pics.
    P. Frederick
    hellopf@yahoo.com

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  15. LOVE this :) and i'll jump on the bandwagon of asking for a tutorial. this would be more than just a pin, but i think it would make it all the way to my to-do list!

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  16. Do you make custom orders to sell on Etsy or something? I would so buy this for myself, my two boys, my friends, my family....

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