Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Open Wide Bags With Fancy Stitches

I made 2 more Open Wide Bags. The pattern is from Annie Unrein of ByAnnie. I made both of these in the small size. I made the medium Open Wide in a black with white polka dots first when I tested this bag for Annie. I really like this bag a lot and next time I will be making the large size.

I wanted to try playing with my fancy machine stitches, so I stitched various stitches in variety of threads and colors. I also couched some yarn too. Both bag exteriors were from the same tie dyed piece of fabric that I had. I chose a different lining and accent color for each bag. Since I was making these bags rather artsy looking, I didn't add the accent strip on the fronts of either bag. I had so much fun using the different stitches and threads. I used cotton, polyester and rayon threads. Some were variegated and some were solid colors. I used a variety of yarn scraps too: wool, eyelash yarn, ladder yarn, ribbon yarn, acrylic, and some blends too. I will be using this technique on more bags and quilts because I had so much fun and am using up some yarn scraps too (although not much yarn is used). I should have taken photos of the fabrics with all the stitches on them before I cut them up and sewed the pieces. Several stitches got mostly or completely cut off, but they still turned out looking great!
I stitched this bag, with the green accents, making the stitches vertical. This is one side of the bag.
This is the other side of the bag. Since the stitches were done vertically, you can see most of the same stitches on both sides of the bag.
Here is the side of the bag with the zipper tab tucked in to hold it in place when it's closed.
Again, I chose to use fabric for the inside pockets instead of the mesh suggested in the pattern. 
I left one pocket large and the other one I divided in half with some stitching.
This is the second bag I made with a pink stripe accent fabric. On this bag I chose to stitch the various stitches horizontally, rather than vertically. So each side looks different. I had some tinsel eyelash yarn that I couched. It has a metallic look to it, but the couching flattens a lot of the tinsel eyelash look of the yarn.
The side with the zipper tab tucked in when closed. I used a metal zipper on this bag.
The other side of the bag you can see has different stitches and thread colors. The aqua yarn at the top I couched was a chenille-like yarn. On the very bottom of the back is a rainbow ribbon yarn, but you can barely see it on the bottom right. The pink and blue satin stitch above is the same stitch, only I mirror imaged one of them.
Of course I added zipper pulls to both bags. Sorry part of this photo is a touch out of focus.
The lining has fabric pockets here too.
I also divided one of the inside pockets in half creating a total of 3 inside pockets, like I did with the other bag.
Here are both small bags. Even though they are small, they are pretty roomy inside.

Pin It Now!

18 comments:

  1. What fun these bags are Daryl! Love the bright colors and your fun stitching designs. I would be hard pressed to choose a favorite. But the one with the pink trim is so adorably whimsical with the lining choice. So different yet the same. How fun.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very cute, Daryl. We all get enthralled with all of the stitches that come with a sewing machine but we usually never use them. Great idea.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What fun!!! I have a gazillion fun stitches on my sewing machine (of which I think I've used 2). I love this idea!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Those are wonderful, Daryl! What a great way to play with threads and yarns and all kinds of fun stitches! Love the look of the fabric pockets on the inside, too. Thanks for sharing and for your support. Happy stitching!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This was a perfect project for testing some of those decorative stitches we rarely get the opportunity to use. You are also very brave, in my book...I'm still afraid to try couching.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lovely pouches Daryl and I love the couching too, well done. I have seen this type of bag before and I'd love to make one one day, but I don't think my machine has stitches like this. Such gorgeous fabrics.

    Barbara xx (Theflashingscissors@gmail.com)

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is an excellent project for practicing those stitches our machines are capable of and yet we never seem to use. I love how you have changed up the threads and couched some yarns too for texture. Lovely bags to hold our stashes.

    ReplyDelete
  8. WOW! the colors are beautiful and they certainly remind me of the Stampin' Up! card stock colors. Fabulously done as always Daryl. TFS
    Hugs,
    Norma

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes, we have decorative stitches and seldom use them. But what you've done is very "artsy" especially the positioning and colors. That's a great pattern and you made them sew cute!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love the fancy machine stitches you used. I once made a baby quilt with blocks of machine stitches.....It was lovely and I am sad that I have no idea what happened to it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. these are amazing. I love the tab for the zipper, what a brilliant idea. your stitches make it fun and the tote is very spacious on the inside.
    great job.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Very creative. And colorful. I love the addition of the various yarn. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. They are so darn cute! And what a great way to play with stitches!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your open wide bags are so great Daryl! I really love these with your bright fabrics and the decorative stitching you did. What a wonderful way to make them even more fun!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love playing with different threads and stitches. I have never seen tinsel eyelash yarn, though. Must try and source some. Your bags look fabulous, Daryl.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I remembered this bag immediately. I liked it then and also now. May have to add it to my list. My kind of bag.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for your comment. I appreciate every one. If you do not hear a reply back from me, it could be that you are a no-reply, or that Google/Blogger has changed something (again!) making it impossible to respond back to you. If you want a reply because you asked a question, please fill out the Contact Form located on the right side of the blog and I will respond to you that way. Thank you for stopping by! I was forced to add comment moderation due to huge number of SPAM!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...