Tuesday, September 10, 2013

A Ballet Bag : :

A Ballet Bag

This past Saturday afternoon my girl and I made a little, dance class bag together. This is her first year doing ballet and we're both so excited! I've been patiently waiting for her to reach this time where she feels comfortable enough to join teams & take on extra classes without wanting me to coach or volunteer. We made it and I'm thrilled!!

She picked out the fabrics -- several of Sarah Jane's Children at Play prints left over from the pillow & crown set I made my niece Molly, while I tried to find the blog post for when I had shared the ballet class bag I made my niece Ceci for Christmas. Rather than trying to remember how that bag was constructed, we decided to just go for it and make something new. It's a little big, but we think it turned out pretty cute!

A Ballet Bag

We had fun making up the design as we went along including a large, front pleated pocket, an inner smaller pocket, an inside drawstring for cinching, and the handle design was definitely inspired by Anna Maria's Multi-Tasker Tote. For a little extra sturdiness I used a light weight fusible interfacing by ThermoWeb. A medium to heavy weight would have worked much better, but the light weight is what I had on hand. I'll need to stock up soon, I've been going through my interfacing, stabilizers, and adhesive like crazy!

A Ballet Bag

A Ballet Bag

Besides all the crowns & fox pillows I've been making, it was so nice to start and finish this smaller sewing project in just a little over an hours time. Now that I've been busy making all these quilts, I've let all my smaller project ideas fall to the wayside. I really need to work on finding some project balance. While there's nothing quite like making a quilt, creating something small & special can certainly be just as rewarding!

A Ballet Bag

Happy sewing!!    Maureen

29 comments:

  1. You have both done a wonderful job! I is so nice to see the young ones grow and develop into their own little person, making decisions... (Hopefully the right ones when they get older)!

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  2. How fabulous! You girls have done a great job. Love your fabric choice. I have a 5 year old niece who dances. I am going to put this on a project list for her. :)

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  3. will you be sharing a tutorial on this, my daughter is in gymnastics and this would be a great bag to make for her.

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    1. I don't really consider myself the best at making bags to be honest, but because of that I keep them very simple! I've been wanting to share a tutorial for the drawstring satchel bag I made my niece to carry her dance shoes in for months now. I've just been so busy making these quilts that I've really been slacking when it comes to my tutorials. They require so much computer work from me, and I just haven't had the time. I'll definitely add it to my list! Thank you so much for being interested!! ;)

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  4. This bag is adorable and look how happy your daughter is! Nice job!

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  5. Really adorable and the fabric you used is perfect.

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  6. I LOVE how the handle attaches. Such a great idea that kind of adds to the natural "pucker" of the top of the bag. My daughter has been dancing for 4 years and is still dragging around a ratty old freebie canvas tote with someone's logo plastered across the front...time to make her a bag, I think!

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  7. Maureen, my eight-year-old grand daughter just started ballet. I would love to make this bag and to do it with her would be so special. Are you going to post the pattern?

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  8. Such a cute bag and your daughter is too sweet!

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  9. So cute- the bag and the daughter...

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  10. M. What a fun project to do together, they are the most precious :)

    It is so pretty and your Daughter looks so happy and cute :)

    Happy Tuesday, cheers, T. :)

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  11. So cute! Your little ballerina is growing up so fast!

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  12. The cutest bag i've ever seen!! Love the handle, love love the outside pockets!! Love Love Love if you would do a tutorial!! :)

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  13. Lovely bag. Now you need to make a little net or tulle bag with zipper + loop or a drawstring ... this is to keep your ballet shoes (so they will dry out) after dancing. Ballerina can get very sweaty during dance ... no one wants smellie dance shoes. My GD#2 danced for 13yrs .... she does miss it but the demands of high school dance team are great. Happy dancing.

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  14. Super cool.love all about it and your little one is adorable!

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  15. Maureen your daughter and you made a great bag. I'm sure she will be very happy to use it each week at dance class.

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  16. Super cute bag and your Lil dancer is quiet the cutie pie.

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  17. What a fun project to work on together. She'll be so proud to take it to dance class. I hope she enjoys the class a lot!

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  18. A beutiful daughter and a beautiful bag.

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  19. I would be super keen to see a tutorial (or even a basic template) for this bag. It is super cute and I have a little stash of Children at Play that I have been holding onto which I would love to make into a bag like this. So beautiful and I am sure your daughter will get years of use out of it.

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  20. She looks so happy with her new bag - nice work :)

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  21. Adorable! She must be super proud to have helped make this!

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  22. So cute. I'd love a tutorial for this bag, too. I have one ballerina and one gymnast. :)

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  23. My daughter has also started ballet mid-year this year. I should make her a little bag (currently I have just been keeping her dance clothes in a plastic shopping bag. Tsk, tsk). Thanks for the inspiration.

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  24. Only an hour - that's so fast! And it is gorgeous!!

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