Lovely Little Linen n' Lace

Claiming her Meringue clutch.

Things have been happening here. And they don't have anything to do with sewing; which makes me a crumpy person. There have been Debate tournaments, music recitals, road trips to do college things, car repairs, work (necessary, I suppose) and general life event things that require attendance (this one is ok). NOT MUCH SEWING.

But, finally, this past week I had 6 days off in a row. Whoohoo!!! Let's sew!!!

I thought anyway, but amazingly very little has been accomplished. Almost an entire day was spent trying to figure out how to make a mini sawtooth star quilt pattern when what I should have done first thing was google it. Because, guess what?? Someone has ALREADY come up with that pattern. Of coarse they have. Quilting is a mature industry for sure and there aren't too many surprises out there. Yes, new variations on patterns, yes, the trend of "modern quilting", yes, occasionally new techniques, and yes, lots and lots of new fabrics always.

The beautiful Sawtooth Star Pattern.

But you can be assured when it comes to something like the sawtooth which is an OLD quilt pattern, well, pretty much every aspect of that pattern has been thought about and given the once over by someone! No need to reinvent the wheel. So, memo to self...don't waste time and fabric trying to come up with a pattern for a certain size block because someone already has (or come close anyways).

Another day was spent on the Gabriola skirt SAL from Sewaholic. Because the pattern requires 5 yards (yes, it's true, 5) of fabric, I made a muslin from a .49 resale fabric. Thank goodness, I did. My muslin had/has some issues. What should have been a quick sew of a great maxi is now lingering in my sewing room. Meanwhile...tick, tick, March is coming to a close and my Big City Bag for March was not done!

It is a good thing this month's bag was an easy one! The Meringue Clutch.

From: Mommy's Naptime as featured in Sara's book.

Yes, even in my sewing slump, I was able to finish the Meringue Clutch! I have learned quite a bit about bag making in the last couple of months. Between Sewing with Squeak's Big City Bag SAL and Deby's Carry All Bag, the opportunity to work with various interfacings, bag hardware, and bag making techniques has been ample.

This Clutch design just speaks summer to me so I wanted something soft and summery. Linen and Lace! I used pure white linen and a vintage piece of cotton lace I've had since my 20's. Trust me, it's vintage. :) I opted to use a medium weight interfacing and skipped the interfacing all together for the strap. Also, after seeing a few comments about the gathered panel that was used I decided to only cut my to 20" instead of 24". I did not want the lace pattern to be lost in the gathers. I also didn't topstitch near the zipper. Call me a rebel.

Really like the shape and size of this clutch.

Cotton lace which my Mom gave me eons ago.

So pure and white, it is my opinion that linen is one of the most beautiful fabrics available.

 Anyway, I am quite pleased with how the bag turned out. One of the great things about Sara's bag patterns is they finish to very generous sizes, even this clutch. My daughter promptly claimed the clutch. Happier now.