Would you like a bag for that?

No thanks. I have this one!

I finished the embroidery on my souvenier bag from Britex I bought on my trip to SanFran a year ago.

I finished it at the beginning of the summer and just didn't get around to posting about it. I was waiting to do a larger post reviewing a couple of other bag patterns but I didn't get one of them done because I was waiting for interfacing to go on sale – it's a duffle pattern that's is still on my "to do" pile but I'm hoping to get to it soon. 

I added lining to my Britex tote using a poly I had in the stash I used as a coat lining a number of years ago. 

I just measured the dimensions of the Britex bag to get the size, sewed up the sides and squared off the bottom corners, pressed over the upper edge and stitched it very close to the edge under the canvas bag hem using off white thread in the bobbin and red on top to match the lining.

This bag makes me happy – to the point where I'm looking around to find things to tote around in it, and it just so happens that I just bought these:

and these:

These three are marked for pants/slacks/jeans – whatever you want to call them.

While I've been absent on the blog this summer I have been sewing a lot. I found myself in need of shorts and made myself three pairs, the third of which I am finishing up this weekend. I will post about these soon. 

Sewing shorts was a positive experience – probably because I copied a pair that I really love so fitting was almost a non-issue. Now that I have a working shorts pattern I'm just going to lengthen it. My new fabrics were 70%–off and are a heavier stretch cotton canvas in coral, cool grey and olive. $45 for 2 metres of each. Score. I have a couple of Vogue jean patterns I own and want to try too, but one of these fabrics will definitely be made using my shorts-made-into-pants-pattern. 

More bag posts coming soon!