Keyka Lou bag patterns

I don’t remember how I found Keyka Lou. As a school teacher on vacation, I can often kill a day by typing something for school or sewing into Google and then getting lost on the internet for the entire day. But, I found her blog around Memorial Day and she was having a sale, a BOGO on her purse patterns. Well, I just had to order. The best part about her patterns are that they are PDF files which means that she can email them to you. She promises 24 hour delivery but I got mine much sooner (THANK HEAVENS- now I did not have to do house work!) Speed is one benefit of PDF patterns. Another is that you can store the pattern on your computer and print when you want it or reprint just 1 page if you spilled coffee on it. I also make several versions of one bag so I can reprint the pattern pieces if I have used them too many times.
So, check out her etsy store. On her blog, you can register to be notified of any sales. On sale or not, her patterns and patterns from others who also sell PDFs are not expensive, considering there is no postage, sales tax, or gas used. So respect the designers’ copyrights and don’t share patterns.

Lots of pockets purse

This is called the "Lots of pockets" purse. It has 2 pockets on the front that are a good size for keys and cell phones. Inside, you can also add pockets- thus the clever title!! I made this one with the beige pocket lining and this type of pocket was new to me. It is very easy and may replace the simple in seam pockets I've been making in my skirts and pants. This pattern has adrts on the bottom to give it shape. If you are a quilter, it's easy to line up the darts if you have them going in opposite directions and do that "butt the seams together" thing. (Is there an official name for that?) I have found that technique to be very handy in many parts of sewing bags.

If you look back at the green and black bag, you might notice one difference between it and this bag but there is another one as well. Of course the brown one does not have the button flap. I left it off because I decided that I wanted pockets in the front and the back, so I made 2 fronts instead of a front and a back and decided it would be better without a flap.

Question- do you prefer to have a closure on your bag or not? There just aren't many pick pockets in rural Georgia so I don't need a closure and I think magnetic clasps are expensive. The button flap is a nice decoration but I only want to sew a button on once (if it were to fall off, I'd rather ditch the bag and sew a whole new one) and the button slows me down.

The first tote bags

Since I learned to sew, I have always made bags. But about a year ago I got serious about it. It started when I began to notice references to "placemat purses" on blogs I read. So I did a search and found a couple of good tutorials. Here are a few:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=94934.0 placemat purse instructions
http://www.amysfavorites.com/house-aamp-home/74/40 placemat purse instructions
http://www.jcarolinecreative.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=JC&Screen=TOTE placemat tote

Just so you know, a purse is made of one placemat and a tote is made of two. I like mine with a lining and a pocket.

With these bags, the choice of placemats makes all the difference. These are made with Crate and Barrel placemats. There is a Crate and Barrel outlet store in Kittery, ME that I always go to when I visit my family in Maine. They have wonderful placemats (and dish towels) that I have made bags out of. They sell each placemat individually which is a plus. I tried TJ Maxx but often their placemats are sold in groups of 4 and their selection is not as nice. Here's a link to Crate and Barrel online sale items: http://www.crateandbarrel.com/table-linens-napkin-rings/sale/1. If you are in a hurry, placemats are backed so you don't have to do a lining. The retro circles look cool.

Flickr has 290 pictures labelled "placemat bags". Here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=placemat%20bags&w=all . These will give you more great ideas.

My next post will be about the Buttercup Bag designed by MadeByRae. I think it is the most popular free bag directions available on the web. It's very cute and I'll share tips to make yours look great.