Hello my dears! Firstly, I should probably explain myself for not updating for so long. But the story of lack of posts is just too simple - my sewing machine is in the closet for the last half year. I guess the inspiration for sewing is on vacation (haven't we all been there?)... Anyway, today I'm updating to share with you a very special creation - a bag made by a blogger Rita! Click here to see the post on Rita's blog! Rita contacted me a few days ago and showed me the photos of the bag she made by following my A Bag from a Jacket tutorial. To be honest, I was stunned when I saw ..read more

I must admit - I haven't used my sewing machine since I made the bag from a jacket (mainly because I use that bag almost everyday and I just can't think of a new bag I need), therefore I don't have a bag to share with you. But hey - it's a perfect time to make a second entry on luxury handbag making! Here you can find the first entry on this subject (I talked about Hermes Kelly and Dior Lady bags).  I'd like to start with a bag that I bet everyone has heard about or seen - even I have seen this bag in magazine pages long before I became interested in bags. Can you guess what bag it is ..read more

There is one question that I get asked quite often when I post a tutorial: “Do you use an industrial sewing machine?”. And today I’d like to answer this question: No, I don’t. I use my very simple domestic sewing machine – Bernina Bernette E55, which I’ve been using for the last 3,5 year. It’s a very basic sewing machine with 13 stitches (though I have never used half of them) and probably the cheapest Bernina in the market.  The reason I’m posting this is that people sometimes think that their sewing machines won’t handle the task (like won’t sew stretch fabrics or faux leather), but ..read more

Hello Everyone! Note: the tutorial for this bag is going to be up in a couple of days, so be sure to check it out! Update: the tutorial is now here. Today I’d like to share with you my latest bag – a bag made from a thrifted jacket. The design is a combination of my previous bags: the handles (I find these handles the most comfortable to carry) and the square shape is from the Simple Bag, the construction is basically the same as in the Day Bag, the ends of the handles are from the first bag I made. The long zipper was inspired by Celine Luggage Tote, which allows carrying a lot o ..read more

I'm now making a bag from this jacket - hope it will be done in a couple of days! There are many places to find materials for sewing projects: the usual fabric stores, online shops,  own closet filled with I-will-never-wear-this-again clothing, a friends closet, also filled with some unwanted clothes, a fabric stash, hidden in bottom of the closet with fabric we can’t re-call purchasing, thrift stores and probably some very unique places which I forgot to count. The assortment in local fabric stores isn’t as big as I wish it was and it doesn’t change as fast as I hope it one d ..read more

There were a lot of variations of a duffel bag created by famous brands recent years, so I decided to make one myself. Frankly, I’m not the one to make/buy/wear something just because it’s “in”, but I couldn’t resist the temptation to test this shape, because it’s not something I would normally go for. Since this was meant to be a test bag, I used cheap heavyweight cotton (I used the same cotton in the cosmetics bag) instead of leather. I’m a bit undecided whether I like the result. On one hand, I like that this bag fits a lot, even though it’s small. And I like the plain looks of it (you mi ..read more

Before I started making bags I used to have only one bag at the time. Now, when I have several, I often switch them depending on occasion/outfit. Changing bags regularly is not a big problem for me though, because I usually carry just a few things in my bag. Yet I have a couple of items I usually forget to transfer and miss during the day, like a lip balsam, a lipstick or a pack of gum. Therefore, I decided that I need a small cosmetics bag for all the necessities. Since I wanted it to match every bag that I own, I went with black fabric + black faux leather and classic shape for this cosmet ..read more

So, I’d like to show you how I make my T-shirt. I hope it will be helpful if you (like me) don’t have a serger and have to make the best with what you have – the very simple sewing machine. Note that the actual tutorial is really short, but I wrote many tips so now it looks harder than it should ;D Needles and Stitches I realized that in my earlier tutorial The Braided Shirt, which was a tutorial for shirt from stretch fabrics, I said absolutely nothing about choosing stitches and needles which is very important when it comes to sewing stretch fabrics (Oh, silly me…). So now I’ll start t ..read more

It might have been a bit too boring to show you simple T-shirt, so I prepared some outfits by using same T-shirt (made by me), jeans, watch and shoes matched differently with 2 scarves, 1 jacket and 2 necklaces. (Click on photo to see bigger view). Now if you would add different hair-dos', earing, shoes and etc. you can create infinite number of outfits based on one basic T-shirt! T-shirts are considered to be a wardrobe necessity and I couldn’t agree more. Having some basic T-shirt in simple colors like white, black or grey can easily expand your clothing choices as you can wear the ..read more

All the bags from the 2011 As the end of the year is coming, people usually take a moment to look at the past year and make the resolutions for the next year.  I usually don’t do this, but this year I thought to myself “Why not?” So while the year 2012 is just around the corner, I decided to take a look at what I made this year and plan projects for the upcoming year. Firstly, since I’m a huge fan of statistics (who would have guessed?), the statistics about the year 2011:   Made 8 bags (2 of them I gave to my friends, 1 is once again in the process of remaking, 1 I don ..read more