Grateful For What Is Given

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”~Theodore Roosevelt

I had scrap fabric leftover from Mia’s Mystery Dress. I didn’t want such wonderful, and vintage fabric scraps it to go to waste. I decided to piece it together and make a scrap bag!

See previous blog post where this fabric was featured, in case you missed it!

The Mystery Dress

I chose this pattern out of my collection and got to work!

I had to sew together the scraps to get pieces large enough for the pattern.

Then once I thought the pieces were big enough, I laid the pattern onto them to double check. Perfect!

Although I had scrap, there wasn’t enough to sew together for all of the pieces needed. I chose coordinating fabric that was also in in my scrap pile to cut the other pieces out of.

The pattern calls for the bag to be lined with fusible fleece. I had some scrap of that too and made it work!

Sewing the pockets onto the sides.

Sewing the bag sides to the bottom. As you can see, I used lots of different scrap!

Next, I had to pin the sides and bottom to the bag front.

I set that piece aside and made the bag handle. I sewed a strip with the right sides together, then flipped it so the finished side was showing.

Next I sewed the bag back to the sides and bottom.

Here’s another view of it pinned together.

Then in the middle of bag making I got distracted by another thing to make. This too was a project where I would be making something out of things that are usually discarded, like scrap.

I work at an elementary school, with kindergarten. There’s one thing that these sweet babies like to do, and that’s to pick flowers on the yard and give them to me. Our grass area hadn’t been mowed because of the recent rain. It was however dry enough to play on. So out onto the grass I went, to watch kindergartners run around and play. They started picking dandelion flowers for me. I soon realized that there were a lot since it hadn’t been mowed. I had a water cup with me, so I dumped the water out and started putting the dandelions into the cup. By the time recess was over, I had enough to make jelly!

Yes, jelly! When I got home I rinsed the dandelions in cold water and removed the stems.

I then boiled the flowers in water, to make a tea with them. You strain the flowers out once it’s been boiled good, then add your sugar and pectin to make dandelion jelly!

It turned out delicious! It tastes a little bit like honey, in case you were wondering. I say it’s “playground fresh”! HA!

Then I was back to sewing. The bag had a closure and instead of a snap I opted to use a button.

Making a button hole.

The bag is lined and I used this neutral scrap as the liner. I was sewing my bag with orange top thread, and yellow bobbin thread. It was leftover from another project too!

For the drawstring I decided to use this yellow bias tape that I had laying around. I just sewed it closed.

The last thing I did was sew on the button.

The bag was finished!

Complete with pockets on both sides.

I like the pieced together look. It will be a fun accessory that Mia can use while she wears her matching dress, or as a statement piece.

This sewing week was all about using what I had on hand, and making the most of it. More than that though, it was a week of being grateful for what I had and what I was given. The smallest gestures like picking someone a flower can turn into something bigger, and sweeter! Literally!

As for me, onto the next!