And the penny dropped....

I often take small sewing projects on my travels with me.  Now as I'm driving, I can't really 'sew on the go', I'm fairly certain it would be dangerous.  But I work out where I'm going to be, how much time I'm likely to have, and pack a few things, sometimes little felt owls, sometimes embroidery, some patchwork, depending on my mood.

Up to now, I've used this cheap little plastic wallet I picked up a couple of years ago

Now it 'owes me nothing' as my Dad would have said, and even though the zipper broke a while ago I've continued to use it.  But occasionally, very occasionally, everything falls out. So I've been looking round for a replacement, and although I've seen a few, they've been more expensive than I'd like. 

And then I had a 'Eureka!' moment. Watching a craft programme on telly, and thinking "why would someone pay £15 for a bag you can make for coppers", and realising that I could in fact make a bag.

I own a sewing machine, and I have a stash of material

So, I found some material, left over from making cushions for the dining room chairs, worked out that it needed to be the same width, plus about an inch. Decided how long the material needed to be, about twice the size, plus a bit for a fold over.

Used some cheap lining material and wadding, cut to the same size

And ten minutes on the sewing machine later

Of course, it's not perfect. I could have actually measured properly, rather than guesswork, and accurate seam allowances would have helped, but hey, who's going to see it? Its just big enough to hold a few small sewing projects, plus scissors, thimble etc.

And of course, I can put it into the little tote bag that I made a couple of weeks ago.

I made the bag out of calico. Forgot to take a photo of that bit!

Cut out some flowers

Appliquéd them on to bag, and embroidered the stems

and hey presto

a unique bag