Daisy Chain Creations: Sowing While You Sew--Week 11 Yet Another Amazing Guest Blogger

It's Monday, so that means another amazing guest blogger. This week it's Stacy from the Land of K.A. and her lovely daughter, Anya and they are making a tote bag. I love how Stacy still sews for her older children (she has a boy too). She is one of the people that has inspired me to keep sewing for my 9 year old (I've given up my 12 and 14 year old boys as a lost cause). I love her style and how she includes her children in that style!

If you are wanting to do something for charity, that is a little different, nursing homes take walker caddies, which are very similar to tote bags. Really the only difference is that you put the straps on one side only and add velcro to the other. Here is a tutorial for you, if you are so inclined. Now on to our guest post...

Hello, Daisy Chain Creations readers! My name is Stacy and I blog at The Land of K.A. I have been blogging for probably 6 years or so, and my blog is some sewing, some cooking, some photography...it has evolved and changed over the years. Right now I have been pretty lax in my blogging (and sewing!), and I am hoping that changes soon. I am very glad Sally invited me to participate in this series. It has been fun to read and fun to finally get my daughter to sew something. Anya was really interested in learning to sew this time. This tends to be something we struggle with here. Sometimes she wants to learn and then she gives up in about 10 minutes. This project really allowed her to do a lot of the work and stay engaged. The straight lines on the tote bag are pretty easy to do for little kids. First, she picked out her fabric:

Then, we decided how big we wanted it to be. I marked with fabric chalk the line she needed to cut, so it was easier for her to see what she needed to cut:

She cut along the line:

I introduced her to French seams. I wanted her to use the sewing machine and not the serger, which doesn't have a "turtle" speed on it. In doing so, the edges needed to be finished in some way. First, we did the side seam, and then we did the bottom of the bag.

We just did one long strap, and I ironed the seams down for her before sewing. She sewed all the way around it, and then it was attached to the bag. I went over that whole, Don't-sew-over-your-pins-or-it-can-break-and-shoot-you-in-the-eyeball rule of thumb.