Sew Crafty Friday - bags and a dress

I have done some sewing this week.
I've made some tote bags from garage sale fabric. I just love the batiks. But I have already discovered that I am going to have to make stronger handles for that bag. The strawberry bag reminds me of my friend that loves strawberries.

I finished a bag made with a pattern from Lazy girl Designs. (Go to their web site and then scroll down to see more about this bag, including a blog entry and a video). It is their Gracie Handbag #118. The directions are good and it makes a nice bag. I am seeing if I like it as my everyday purse. I like the color and design, but I am used to using something as small as possible, so I might need to make a different one for every day.

I finished a green gingham dress for Emily Rose. Now I need to make the pinafore and bonnet that goes with it. It is McCall's 9424. I actually made a good start on the pinafore with some white fabric I got from some unremembered location. I had some misgivings about the quality as the fabric as I started, but tried to push them aside. As I got farther into the pattern, those misgivings grew. It was clear it was not quality fabric as it was starting to sort of pill. I didn't know woven cotton would do that. After I got the facings all in and tried it on Emily Rose, I decided that it was not worth the effort. I am going to pull out some better white fabric and make it nice. She may not wear it much, but when she does wear it, it shouldn't look worn already.

I have a huge pile of projects to work on now, so I should be able to keep posting for Sew Crafty Friday for the next several months. If you want to see what others are doing, or post what you are doing, go to Shereen's blog.