Aloha ~! Improv Bag for Pineapple Sam

Another improv bag.

This bag's dimensions were dictated by the picture pattern of the fabric. I usually have the colorful fabric part in the middle to be a lot narrower, but this one, I couldn't cut it any narrower than this for the obvious reason.

This fabric is a fat quarter (newly learned quilter lingo!) that I got from a quilter when I bought an Elna machine from her a few months ago (well, I promise to talk about the machine on another post).  I would have made the pocket on the other side a little bigger if I had more fabric.

This bag is for Pineapple Sam. Pineapple Sam is from Hawaii. He is a vintage Hawaiian and Pacific Islands  music collector.  His dad, Bill Akamuhou, was a renowned musician in the 40's~50's primarily performing in Honolulu. He recorded and cut some albums.  You can sample listen a couple of his songs here - these two songs are available on this mainstream site.

The interesting thing about all this is that no one really knows how many records are out there that contain his songs. Sometimes Pineapple Sam buys a record without even knowing that it contains Bill Akamuhou's song until he reads the liner notes. It's nice that his music continues to live on and be loved even though he is no longer with us on this planet. 

This is Bill.

Pineapple Sam knows a ton about Hawaiian music from the era. He said he also hung around the musicians who played with his dad as he went to rehearsals and performances with his dad. What a gift, growing up around musicians! So much fun. 

Here is another photo of Bill Akamuhou with his fellow musicians. 

Anyway, Pineapple Sam collects old vinyls. LPs. (Younglings out there, do you know what those are? I guess they are making a comeback these days.) The bag is wide enough to carry LPs. His records and CD collection habit is just as bad as my vintage sewing machine collection habit.

The applique for this bag, of course, is a pineapple!

I chose a lighter colored canvas for this bag to really accentuate the sky and ocean blue color of the fabric. The canvas fabric is from the Zero Landfil event. I made the bag simple and clean looking because the focal point of this bag really is the picture of the beautiful Diamond Head and the surrounding ocean and sky blue.

 Pineapple Sam and me in Hawaii.

 Pineapple Sam DJs a vintage Hawaiian music show once a month on the radio. The first Sunday of every month, 5-7pm Pacific Time, on KSER 90.7FM.

You can stream online at www.kser.org  from anywhere either live or you can even listen to the program now. It's on the archive tab on the website above. The program is called "Da Coconut Wireless". It is on every Sunday, but their DJs rotate, and play different types of Hawaiian music. If you want to listen to some nice vintage Hawaiian nostalgia, look for the first Sunday of the month program that is hosted by Pineapple Sam!

Aloha~!

Improv Bag with Zero Landfil Treasures

I love making bags. Well, I love bags, period. I have many for myself (ha ha), and I keep on making them. 

Remember the Zero Landfil event I went to? I came home with a ton of upholstery fabric samples. I have planned to make mostly bags with them. I pulled out a few pieces in greenish, brownish color scheme.

Then I went on making the bag. I had no plan in terms of designs except for the approximate size of the bag.  I love this process of improvising and watching the bag evolve. Many design bits come as I sew. Sometimes the idea comes after I've sewn some parts so that I have to either undo what I'd already done, or I have to sew it "the hard way." But it's fun. I just love the process of coming up with new ideas and design bits as I sew the bag.

This one has a big pocket here on the front. I was originally going to sew all four sides of both squares, just to use it as a giant square applique. But at the last second, I decided that the upper one  would be a pocket. I added a button and a button loop.

This bag is for my friend, Jillian.  I think she would like lots of pockets, so I added a pocket inside the bag, as well as on the other side of the bag.

A little birdie applique. The eye placement was a total coincidence. Isn't that perfect?!

I will fill the bag with some goodies and give to Jillian.

Well, I put my garment making on hold to make a few bags as holiday gifts. Some of my friends are getting these market bags!

By the way, I am LOVING my improv bag.

It's perfect for my knitting project!! It's the perfect size.  The bag goes everywhere with me. The more I use it, the more I'm loving it.  The size, the weight, the design, the color, the whole thing.  I'm very happy with it. Just the right thing!

Happy Sewing, everyone.

The Flower Power Bag - Now Fully Lined and Still Improv & Improving

Ok, so I told you I really liked this daisy fabric.

This one is going to be for me.  I suddenly become *picky*.  I'm still wanting it to be an improv sewing project. I'm too lazy at this point to measure anything.  Besides, I have a limited supply of these fabrics left. In fact, I think there is just barely enough to make one more with this daisy fabric. No screw up is allowed.

So, it took TWICE AS LONG compared to the other same style bags I've made. Well, partly because I added a few new features. This is not to say that I didn't care about the outcome of other bags that I made for others. I just became more nervous that the user (me!) of this bag was going to be the Picky Micki. Is that selfish or what?! Ok, but I got over it in 2 minutes.

See the top doesn't line up because I didn't measure anything. That's totally ok. Just cut it to make it a straight line.

Anyway, as I began to make the bag, I realized that the accent fabric is too thin for the purpose I intended it for. Perhaps next time I should use some interfacing. (light bulb moment) It was too late for this one, I've already sewn it on and got moving on it.

But it's not too late to put a lining~!!

"Well, it's kinda cumbersome."
"It'll look nice if you put one in."
"Nahhh, I'd have to measure and everything."
"No, just ad-lib it. It'll be fine. That's the whole point, right? Improv!"
"But I want it to look nice!"
"Oh, stop it! It doesn't need to be perfect!"
"But I'll be the one using it and I want it to be perfect."
"Shut up. You are making something SOOOO elementary and simple. It'll be fine even without measuring or anything. Just go for it."

It was a nice conversation. My right brain and my left brain.

Off I went. I chose this butter-yellow with black/brown checkered fabric for the lining, laid it on the table then I put the bag-in-progress on top, got the rough measurement and cut the fabric.

I confess, I did measure the width of the top of the bag and the bottom of the bag since when the outer bag was done it didn't look like it was a perfect rectangular shape. But I kinda like this bucket shape. Ohhhhh, shoot, but I wanted to carry a binder book in the bag. Is it large enough?!  It was! I also measured the bottom to be sure the lining will fit. (common sense, right?)

Is it going to...... fit?

Well, I had to adjust it a couple of times, but it fit.

Lining up the lining and the outer bag. No ironing, just pins.

And, here~!

 I made a similar one earlier for Emily. Do you like the little name tag I added? My first try at free-motion....

Next on deck, I'm thinking about this combo. Since I ran out of the soft canvas, I bought some real canvas. This one is going to be a real heavy duty bag. The accent fabric is a kitchen towel I bought a while ago that I've forgotten about. It sat new and unused on the bottom of the drawer. Just found it and I thought, 'perfect'. Hmmm, which sewing machine should I take out for this baby?