Rag totes need new homes......

Rag tote bags are looking for new homes, a new one listed daily in my etsy shop

Rags, rags, rags..........

Yes, I'm still here. This week has been crazy busy but not much of it spent in the studio.......makes for a grouchy me being out of the studio so much.......and next week isn't looking much better. I'm still researching compu-dobby looms but haven't had time to talk with all that have offered to help me. I did find out that AVL will be at the ANWG weaving conference the beginning of June and they will be bringing a V-Series loom for me to see and try in person - this is great as I've seen the Louet and have seen other AVL models but not the one I'm considering. I finally finished sewing the last of the handwoven rag tote bags for a while, they'll show up in my etsy shop soon.....all I need to do is find time to take 5 decent pictures of each to get them listed.....oh, how I need more hours in my day! I now need to get back to other weaving and sewing, first up is the sparkley pink handwoven fabric that's been waiting for me to cut into it for my guild challenge.

Dark blue bag with dark blue floral lining

Medium blue with natural/light blue lining

Light greens with light green floral lining (this really is lighter than it looks in the picture) 

Dark green with dark green flowered chintz lining

Dark red/neutral stripes with natural/red floral lining

Dark red/tan with very fun farm seed packet print fabric lining

Some loom time today.......

I got some time at the loom today, not enough but what time I spent there felt great. Three more bags woven, three more to go on this warp.

Dark blue with some taupe

Light blue which doesn't look very light in this picture because I forgot to take a picture of it so had to catch it from underneath the loom as it was winding on the front beam

Pale greens, these are really pretty

More rag tote bags on the horizon

More rag tote bags in the works, got the warp on today for 6 of them, blue fabrics cut and on shuttles ready to go.

Woven Rag Tote Bags

I finally got some time at the sewing machine yesterday to finish sewing together the rag tote bags. They're all lined with coordinating fabric and a pocket on the inside. The goal of weaving these and more to come is to rid my fabric cabinet of leftover cotton quilt fabrics, not sure I'm paring down the stash enough though. The bags are approximately 16" wide by 17" tall and around 3" wide at the bottom gusset. The strap is shoulder bag length. They'll make great knitting/project bags, grower's market bags, all around tote bags. They should be able to take quite a bit of weight but I wouldn't use them as a book bag full of heavy books or carry around bricks! They really aren't made to tolerate that much weight. Once I take better pictures they'll start showing up in my etsy shop. Still working on pricing, pretty much have the idea of what to charge but haven't firmed it up yet.

Medium Pink with pink english garden print lining

Light Pink with white/pink confetti print lining

Red with blue and white striped lining

Red with fun black & white cows on red fabric lining

Lavendar with tiny flowered lavendar lining

Purple with tiny purple flowers lining

These are the straps for the next 6 bags, hoping to get the warp on the loom tomorrow for them.

First rag bag sewn......

Phew, I got the first of the rag bags sewn this morning. I'm hoping the rest of them go quickly now that I'm over the learning curve. My first error was in figuring the strapping, I was thinking I had enough strapping to go around the bottom of the bag - uh, oh....no way.....but the straps are sewn on securely and very strong the way I did them. I decided I wanted to line them to make them nicer looking and more serviceable with a couple pockets, lining material also from the stash cupboard, hoping I'm making a dent in those leftovers but not so sure I have yet. So the size bag I'm making will make a great knitting/project bag, spinning bag, farmer's market bag (it is machine washable) or just all around nice big tote bag. It measures 17" tall by 16" wide and has a box bottom. Sure hope they eventually sell or everyone I know will be getting one for Christmas this year!  Will post pictures of more as they are sewn, another red, two purple colorway, two pink colorway. And I'm thinking I'll put more warp on to make other colorsways, heck, I've got plenty of fabric leftovers to use up.