Bags for Teachers

Thursday is Emily's last day of school and we wanted to make 

some thank-you-we'll-miss-you gifts for her incredible and 

wonderful teachers. It occurred to me that with a blog name 

like ikat bag, one would expect that there'd be, well, bags on 

it. I haven't been sewing bags as much now as before, mostly 

because the kids are so inspiring to make toys and clothes for. 

But a reader commented that she'd like to see some totes, 

so I took some pictures while on this project.

Emily drew a picture of her three teachers and wrote her 

name backwards at the bottom. I scanned the picture into 

the computer, sized it, printed three copies on transfer paper 

and ironed them onto muslin. The muslin pieces were then 

sewn onto canvas, framed with the lining fabric 

and sewn onto the bags as pockets.

I realize I am partial to blues and greens - they remind me of 

the sea, which I used to live rather close to and now miss. 

I am also partial to a high solid-to-print ratio in my 

fabric projects, so the print got relegated to the lining. These 

are reversible totes to give the teachers the option of not 

displaying their likenesses to the general public. Reversible 

totes are not extra fancy, by the way, nor do they require 

special sewing skills. If you can make a fabric receptacle 

that has no exposed raw edges, it is, in theory, reversible, see?

Whenever I make totes, I like them to be sturdy and almost 

rigid. They shouldn't need to have stuff in them to make 

them keep their shape. The straps, especially, drive me 

bonkers if they are soft and floppy. I got a bit fanatical 

with these - used enough interfacing to make them 

as stiff as swords.

Today we are going to bake a batch of chocolate-and-pecan-

dipped shortbread to pack into these bags before delivering 

them to the teachers tomorrow. And when the kids are 

napping (fingers crossed!) this afternoon, I'm going to work 

on the long-handled hands-free versions of these bag (so they 

sling over the shoulder) for my mother-in-law and a future 

giveaway. If anyone is interested in the pattern - and I use 

the term loosely because bag patterns are really a bunch of 

rectangles! - leave a comment and I'll try and do one of those 

printable sketch thingybobs when I post pictures of 

the long-handled versions next. 

Not bag-related at all, but for Emily's classmates, we made 

some stickers. Which is really an excuse to show you all my

Xyron sticker maker* which I found many, many uses for in 

spite of not being a scrapbooker, like these stickers 

and these magnetic paper dolls.

* You can slash that price if you get it from craft stores with discount coupons.