Reusable shopping bags

I was able to sit down and make 16 of these reusable shopping bags for the craft fair next month.  My mom gave me a bolt of fabric to use up, and it must have had 8 yards on it because each bag takes 1/2 yard of fabric.

I got the pattern from here, and I only made a few modifications to the original pattern.  The first one was the size of the fabric.  When I cut it from the bolt, it wasn't big enough to have 4" handles AND a 20" body, so I went ahead and kept the 4" handles and so the body was about 18"x18".  Next, instead of sewing x's on all the handles, I saved a TON of time by just turning them up and sewing straight across.  Next, my fabric was connected on the bottom of the bag because there was a fold in the fabric there.  I just left it folded, I didn't cut it nor did I sew it again.


I like these bags because they help keep plastic bags out of the dumps and also it will help save little animals that get hurt by the plastic bags.  I use them a lot at the store, and I also use them for library books, for traveling, to carry my stuff when I'm out and about... they are useful for all kinds of things!  AND... they are the perfect project bags for knitting, crochet, etc!

And speaking of re-usable shopping bags, look what an online Ravelry friend in Massachusetts sent me last week???

Wow, isn't this cool?!  It matches my hound's tooth scarf fetish!!!!  What a cool bag!! 

When in Florida, don't feed the alligators.

Here's some info on the alligators' legs, like how to get them ready to sew onto the gator.

 

First we stuff, then we shape!

 

That's a lot of legs!

 The legs require certain shaping that is done with sewing it at the joints.

 

I usually squeeze the parts together and then sew a few loops around over and over again until it pretty much holds on its own.  Then I tie a knot and squish the need through to the next part.  (My fingers have turned red due to the red marker on the tracing part... I might have to find something else!)

 

It takes a lot of coordination!

 Next I sew the rickrack to the mouth parts.  I had JUST ENOUGH rickrack!   

 

 Time to sew the mouth parts onto the gator, then sew all the gator pieces together!

No matter how sure you are of your sewing skills, pins work on everything!  Gator #2 that I made ended up twisted at the tail because I didn't use pins.  So, this time I pinned EVERYTHING that could be pinned!  It kept things very straight this time.

 Time to turn and stuff!  Brian thinks they look funny at this stage... like I've been skinning gators lately... haha!

 

Their tails look funny being so stick straight!  I do some shaping with stitches in the tails, too.

 

Finish up the face with some buttons:

 

 

 And voila!!  We have some gators!

 All together now...

 Everyone say, "CHEESE!!!"

Facts from Wikipedia:

• In alligators, the muscles in the jaw used to close the mouth are a lot more powerful than the ones used to open it.  That's why humans can hold their jaw shut with one hand.
• In Florida, it is illegal to feed the alligators.
• Young alligators typically eat fish, insects, snails, crustaceans, and worms.
• Older alligators eat larger pray like larger fish, turtles, and various mammals, birds, deer, and other reptiles.

May attack in self-defense, if provoked.

I love some of the things I have learned along the way.  Outlining the lining helps save a lot of time lost pinning the patterns onto the fabric twice, before ironing and again before cutting.  Also, I can mark the patterns along the way with what they are intended to be.  This is so helpful in keeping track of all the pieces!

Another new trick I tried this time was sewing it inside the red line FIRST and then cutting outside the red line second.  This keeps it from going through the machine too many times.  The fabric is just so fragile, the lesser amount of times you handle it, the better.

Because I'm marking the patterns, I marked the gusset stitch on top of the nose.  It made it so easy to sew!  I was just guessing on the other two gators I've already made!  This time I actually made a slit in the pattern and followed the line where it needed to be.

Then I used my machine's foot as my guide where to sew. 

 Then I cut out all the little claws.  I cut them out in sets of two because it saves time.  I could be very organized and make sure each side of the gator gets the matching set, but that's almost a little too organized for me.  Note: I added 1/4" to the bottom of the claw because because it was just too stubby. 






I picked out each set of the same sides to sew the claws onto.  For example, I picked out all the backs of the legs to sew the claws onto.  Also, I picked out all the heads with the gussets to get the claws.  But it could have very well been all the other ones.  The key is to keep it all the same set.  On the first one, I just randomly chose, and I chose wrong!  I had too many feet on one leg, and no feet on the other one!  It was very frustrating. 

Next I will be assembling and stuffing the legs.  I can also sew up the open seems on the legs and sew the shaping stitches.  I will also be working on the mouths, getting the teeth in and sewing the bodies together with the mouths.  Then, it's onto stuffing and final touches!  I have definitely made some improvements along the way that have helped make this process easier. 

More gator facts from Wikipedia:

• Alligators are usually timid of humans and only attack for self-defense, if provoked.
• Alligators move slowly and have a slow metabolism but they are capable of short bursts of speed and short lunges.
• Alligators' main pray are smaller animals they can kill and eat in one bite.  Larger prey is pulled over to water to drown.

Gatorade

I can foresee some big plans with these zoo animals!  They seem to be very popular with friends I show them to.  So, this is my attempt at a production line to make things go just a little bit smoother, not necessarily all that much faster.  (Hence the pun of the "Gatorade" title... these things will "aid" or 'help" the process!)  Because of the number of pieces that all look alike, I wanted to be more organized with this and I also wanted to try and fit as many gators onto my leftover interfacing as I could! 









To start the process this time, I outlined the pattern pieces and labeled them with permanent marker.  Just a warning if you try this: I didn't realized it was so porous and it bled through onto my craft table.  But I'll take care of that later with a Mr. Clean eraser!

To summarize my yardage so far, I warped 5 yards of yarn, wove enough fabric for 4 gators, and purchased 2 yards of interfacing.

Some fun facts from Wikipedia:

• Alligators are only native to the US and China.
• Alligators are mainly found in the southeast US.  Florida and Louisiana have the largest recorded population, over a million gators in each state.
• American alligators only live in freshwater areas.
• Southern Florida is the only place where gators and crocodiles live side by side.

Make new friends, but keep the old!

We've got another gator, but this one was way easier to manage than the first one!  I learned so many things making this second gator. 
















 First, I turned to Pellon interfacing!  What a life saver!  In my opinion, this made a world of difference!

 


Pellon is sold in the fabric cutting area at your local craft store.  I got mine at Hobby Lobby, but I know you can get it at JoAnn's, too.  I have never used it before so I experimented first with just a little piece of it on a scrap of fabric from the first gator.  To use Pellon, you find the side with little bumpies and that will be ironed down onto your fabric.  (This pic shows the bumpies, but ignore the stripes!  It's from the light coming through the window.)  

 

The directions say to cut it just a little bit bigger than the pattern and use a wet cloth to iron it onto the back of the fabric.  You press the iron on it for 15 seconds, or until the wet cloth is dry.  I tried that method, but later decided I liked to just steam it directly on with the iron.  It made a much more secure bond.
























After ironing, I lined up the patterns again and re-cut it all out so it would be exact.  This adds a lot of preparation work, but it's totally worth it!  It saves so much time and heartache in the end!  I liked how much heartier the Pellon made the handwoven fabric feel.  It didn't disintegrate right before my eyes, and it also didn't seem as stretchy when I packed it with stuffing.  Sometimes the fabric of the first one would kind of split just a little bit and show stuffing. 

I still sewed around each end of each piece all the way around to really secure those end threads.  Even though the Pellon was there, it still wasn't enough to hold the edge fabric together.  But with the stitches, it made a great combination to strengthen the fabric.






Another change I made was the way I sewed the little claws.  Before, I just left it stretched out like this:

 

But... I lost 2 claws on each hand on the front paws.  So, I folded them up when I pinned it and the little claws didn't get caught in the stitches!  The substitution of felt seems sturdy enough.  I tested it by pulling on it, and nothing came apart... yet!

 

Another change I made was where I turned the alligator.  I decided to make the mouth as 2 pieces instead of one.  Being separated also made it made it easier to work with the jaw pieces individually and get all the details right.  It also made it much easier to sew the two sides together and get the matched up.  And it wasn't too hard at all to sew the seem closed in the end.  I used a strong black 10/2 perle cotton to sew it shut.


 




I also got the jaw stitches done better this time around!  I didn't understand the direction at first, so last time I just sewed the seem around the mouth, but this time I rolled the green over into the pink area and sewed it like she described.  It really does improve the look of the teeth!





 I noticed in the picture that there should have been a seem sewn down the back, and I forgot to do that on the first one, but nailed it on the second one!




 

Here are my new friends!

 I tried sewing on the eyes like Amy did, but my fabric is just so wild that you couldn't see them in the end.  So I cut them out and sewed on some little blue buttons like the first gator.  I do feel like I got the placement better, and I pulled them into the gator just a bit on this second one.  I'll just have to be careful about little ones playing with this gator... don't want any button biting happening!  I'm going to go back and redo the eyes on the first one.  They seemed to be placed a little high.

They almost look like they are laughing!

Now I just have to finish sewing 2 more gators in lighter fabric!

More alligator facts form Wikipedia:

• Alligators have a bone-crushing bite.
• Average adult alligators are about 800 lbs and 13 feet long, but can be as big as 100 lbs and 14.5 feet long!  Chinese alligators are smaller.
• Even though there is no average measured lifespan for alligators, some have amazingly lived to be 75 years old!

 L8R G8R!

New Kid on the Block

Meet the new kid on the block!  He turned out pretty comical.

And cute.

If he wasn't so cute, I would have trashed him hours ago.  I am hoping the following 3 will go so much easier!  He was a pain...

pain after pain after pain!
Yikes...

I accidentally sewed some pieces wrong... and forget getting THEM apart!  All those tiny stitches mixed with the disintegrating nature of the fabric just made it impossible to separate the two pieces without destroying them beyond repair!  

 To make a long story short, I was afraid I would run out of fabric.

But look at that ALLIGATOR attack action here...

Is this a viscous fight scene with Scout?? 

Look out!

Or maybe he's just a friend to hang out with...

Here are some facts from Wikipedia:

• There are only 2 species of alligators: the American Alligator and the Chinese Alligator.
• The name alligator came from the Early Spanish explorers word for lizard.
• They are good at adapting and have not changed much since the Cretaceous period.

L8R G8R!

Cutting and sewing

 

The fabric for the gator washed up really nicely!  And cutting it was kind of harder to do than I expected.  I mean, when you put so much work into making the fabric, it's really hard to take scissors to it!!!

But check out that great texture!

I stitched around each piece because the fabric is a bit delicate.  The long floats in back are not holding together very well and it almost disintegrates right before your eyes.  I think I will try some interfacing on the next ones.  Hopefully the interfacing will help hold it together when working with it.

 This is after working with the fabric:

 But it is fun to see it taking a familiar shape!

I can't wait to do more!  I am at a stopping point until I get some rickrack, stuffing, and felt for the claws.  Oh yeah, I decided to use felt for the claws because I just don't like the smell of leather... and the thickness of it, too.