Sew What! Community Sewing Group Update

This is the first of several articles I'll be posting about what our community sewing group, Sew What!, has been doing so far this year.

The first is about our project to sew shoulder bags for an orphanage in Haiti.  This is a photo of the bag I made as a model to teach the class how to make the bags.  Our Louisville Area Master Clothing Volunteers made 39 of these shoulder bags at our work day in January.  There were 10 shoulder bag kits left, so I brought them to our January Sew What! sewing class and taught them how to sew the bags together.

The students took them home to finish.  At our class last Thursday, they brought back 13 finished shoulder bags!  Thank you so much, Bonnie, Patsy, Rebecca and Jan!  Patsy even made 8 more out of some upholstery fabric she had at home!  You ladies ROCK!!!!

This is the same bag that's in the photo above.  It's been reversed.  These shoulder bags are reversible and are sewn primarily of upholstery fabric.

One of our Master Clothing Volunteers drew up the pattern for the bags so they are easy to make, but are very functional.  I had one shoulder bag kit remaining, so I gave it to one of the students who wasn't able to come to the January class.  I know she will bring back a beautifully made bag to our March sewing class.

Here are some of the shoulder bags that were brought to our class on Thursday.  The bag kits were made with upholstery fabric that was donated to the project by a fabric store in Shelby County.

The fabrics look like a mish-mash of patterns and colors, but they turned out to be very cute.  Everyone did a great job of combining what they were given to make the flaps and the linings go together so well.

These shoulder bags can be used for carrying books or personal belongings.  They have a shoulder strap, but it isn't really long.  I think the length of the strap is good for children, so the bags won't be uncomfortably long.


My heartfelt thanks goes out to my Sew What! sewing students for taking on this project with such ease, for a job well-done!  You ladies are the greatest!