Handbags and Fanny Hammocks.

It’s been a good crafty week so far with lots of projects progressed and two completed. Yes TWO - go Mumma!

On Monday I looked at my sorry, well worn and loved handbag and decided it was time to make a new one.  Admittedly I’m not really a handbag type of girl, normally shoving my things in a canvas shopping bag, but since I have a house full of fabric, I don’t really have an excuse.

I already had the Runaround Bag pattern in my stash so I set about creating a wild mess, choosing fabric, finding all the bits and bobs that one needs to sew. In my house this generally means moving one mountain of stuff from one table to another to create some room to work and then removing everything that was in it’s place and putting it somewhere that you can and WILL trip over it at every possible turn.

With all this done, I cut out my pattern, cut out my fabric and began to sew.  Then cut out the bits that I had forgotten to cut out and began to sew some more.  This up and down was repeated a few more times until I finally had all my bits cut and sewn and voila, Mumma Troll gots a new handbag.

The exterior is a linen tablecloth, the interior is a vintage curtain and the binding is all homemade from a wacky charity shop shirt using a nifty tutorial I found Here

Here is the inside - sorry crap photo alert!

I had been hoping to post this earlier - however anyone living in the same part of the world as me ie. Saarf London might too have noticed the dismal, grey, Godawful bloody weather has not been conducive to wonderful photo taking. So excuse the grey, photos I shall try to have a word with the powers that be to see if we can’t shifty this greyness along for a bit!


The next project I completed this week is not for the squeamish, nor is it for those who try their best to ignore the normal, perfectly natural female functions of their body.  Of course it is of the period, menstruation, monthlies, the curse that I talk.
Now millions of women all over the globe choose disposable sanitary items for such an occasion, but personally I hate waste.  I hate things being thrown away.  I hate shopping, in fact I hate the whole commercialism thing, but that’s another post.

I chose, many years ago now, to not increase landfill mass as much as I could so out went the throw away sanitary items and in came the washable ones. The first lot I bought were an expense at the time but many years later they have kinda died of death.  This time round I decided that I could just make my own, so with another raid of the stash and another collection of sewing paraphernalia I assembled my bits and began.

Firstly I drew my pattern. This was easy enough, I just drew around a pad I already had and added a bit of length out of personal preference.

Then I spent an age cutting out the various layers. Ignore how creased the pac a mac fabric looks - that gets smoothed over whilst sewing.

The base layer is an old pac a mac.  The middle two layers are Zorb which is a super absorbent fabric made for washable nappies and the final top layer is the fun bit.
 I raided my stash and found a little dragon fabric, a little Halloween fabric and some very purdy purple Batik fabric. I assembled my layers and zigzag stitched around them and then down the middle.

Finally I added a short section of black elastic and raided the button tin for some buttony goodness.
Now Mumma Troll has a handbag and a totally unique set of Fanny hammocks.

Here is the batik - monthlies hula anyone?

Then we have the dragons - let them lie I say ;)

And finally, I’m not afraid of the curse - are you?

XXX