Floral Drawstring Bag and Refashion T-shirt

front bag

Hello everyone!
Finally I have done my first project for 2013 Style The Stash Sew A long. I am really happy with my new drawstring bag but I am not that happy with my refashion t-shirt. Anyway, I'll be wearing the t-shirt on my everyday wear (home and garden when I play with my almost 3 years old son).

Here are the details of the bag,
I called floral bag, because it's made from floral fabric. It has two inner pockets, two side straps that I just sew together to make the bag stronger, the drawstring that ended with wooden beads and inserted bias tape on the upper and bottom bag to make the bag look nicer.

Materials:
1/2 yard of lightweight floral linen (left over from my floral shorts), 1/2 yard of kind of heavy cotton in deep purple color, 1/2 yard of silk crepe de chine (left over from floral shorts) for inner bag, mid weight fusible interfacing for floral linen fabric, heavy weight fusible interfacing for deep purple fabric, home made bias tape in light yellow color - here is the tutorials, two big wooden beads and same color of thread. All the materials are from stash.

Pattern:
Self-drafted tote bag pattern, based on this self-drafted pattern. I made the bag smaller 2" than the original pattern and make the bag taller 3" than the original pattern. So now, the size of my drawstring bag is 15" x 13" . Also, I made the style in the bag bottom same as my G Bag.
For bag straps, I made 2 smaller straps 1" x 40" (I cut the fabric 3" x 40" and fold it together, sew it and top stitch in both side)
For bag string, I made 1/2" x 46" (I cut the fabric 1.5" x 46" and fold it together and sew it)
For string carrier, I made 6 pieces 1/2'' x 2.5" ( I cut the fabric 1.5" x 2.5" and fold it together, sew it  and top stitch it in both side)

How I worked:
I worked the same way as I did in all my hand made bag, you can take a look here and here. But on this drawstring bag, I need to make a string and string carriers.
I inserted the bias tape on the bottom bag (deep purple fabric) and upper bag too.
I hand sewn the string carrier on to the body bag, I did that because the carrier is too small and impossible to sew it with the machine.
I also inserted the wooden bead in the end of the string to make the bag look nicer.



side bag



back bag

And here are the details and pictures of the refashion t-shirt,
I mentioned on the beginning of this post that I am not so happy with this refashion t-shirt but I have to wear it and show it to all of you,
I planned to make a short sleeve t-shirt with boat neck style but did not came out so well. So, I changed my plan to a sleeveless t-shirt with tie on the shoulder. I knew, this type of top is not flattering my upper body but anyway..... I can wear it on hot and humid day:)



before

after



after

 

This is my first project on refashion a men's t-shirt and it was a very difficult work. My Janome sewing machine did not work so well on this type of knit fabric. I don't know why.
But at least next time I know how to choose a better garment to refashion.



the outfit



me wearing my outfit

Happy sewing! And in case you missed my floral shorts, here are the details.