When life hands you lemons, you better make something

     When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. When life hands you the wrong kind of fabric, you make stuff with it anyway! I ordered a bunch of fabric online to make the rag quilt bags for the craft show. Half of the fabric that came was perfect, exactly what I ordered, 100% cotton material. The other half they "claimed" was 100% cotton, but anyone with their sense of touch could tell it was polyester fabric. 
     So here I was with a decision to make. Do I complain, send it back, and have fewer rag quilt bags to sell at the craft show? or do I suck it up, cross my fingers, hope for the best and try to make the bags anyway? I decided to push along and try to make them. 

I had never actually worked with polyester before and let me just say there were pro's and con's!

 The Pro's:
The fabric is stiffer, so the bags stay up right without a lot of prompting on my end. 
The fabric is very colorful and seems to shimmer a little when you set it in the right light.
It seems like this fabric might be easier to keep clean than the cotton fabric.

  
  The Con's:
Because the fabric is stiffer it is harder to make the bags.
The seems ripped pretty easily if I didn't triple or quadruple stitch them. 
It's supposed to be a rag quilt bag but the polyester does not "rag" very easily, luckily I made these bags with scalloped edges, so it at least gives a little definition to them.



     All in all I think they turned out cute but I don't know if I would ever make them with the polyester material again. It will all depend on my customers at the craft show, I guess they will make my final decision because after all, The customer is ALWAYS right. 

Do I take special requests? You bet I do!

     A good friend of mine asked me if I would want to make her a throw rag quilt with matching throw rag quilt pillows. I was excited for the challenge because I had never made one that big before, normally I have just specialized in baby size items, so it was fun to do something more grown up!
     

My friend wanted a quilt made up of all different colors of purple and this is what she selected for her quilt. I think it turned out really pretty and the pictures just don't really do it justice.

Rag quilt and

 The Rag quilt pillows

 There are 5 different kinds of fabric in this quilt, with different patterns. Unfortunately I couldn't get my camera to take a clear picture of all the different kinds.

 

The pillow was really fun to make. To be honest I have never made a throw pillow before so it was a new experience for me to try to make it. Turned out cute I think!

Rag Quilt Explosion!

     I will confess, I am a rag quilt addict! Rag quilt quilts, Rag quilt throw pillows, Rag quilt burp rags, and my latest project, Rag quilt bags! I like doing them because I can get them done fast, they come easy to me, and I can take breaks in between to play with my kids without ruining my groove!
    Here are just a few of the Rag Quilt bags that I am making for the upcoming labor day craft show!

 These rag quilt bags are adorable and I think you can use them for many different things. Just a few that I have tried on my own are: 


*A PURSE
 It fit my wallet, cell phone (which has an inner pocket to hold cell phones) my keys (it has a secondary pocket for things like keys), and other accessories that are found in the average woman's purse!

*A SCRIPTURE BAG
 It makes a great scripture bag if you have a set of scriptures and other religious materials lying around. It's a fun and colorful bag to keep your scriptures in for sure!

*A DIAPER BAG
 I tried it out as a small diaper bag to see how well it would work. I know there have been times when I am just making a small trip to the store and I want to bring a diaper bag, for those "just in case" moments, but you don't want to carry a huge diaper bag with you. I found that this is PERFECT size for those kinds of situations! It holds 6 or 7 diapers, wipes, a bottle, and I am sure with a little organizing you could fit a onsie in there as well.

 I am sure you can think of more uses, but I think everyone will agree, these bags are cute!

I am selling them at the craft show for 
$20 each or doing a special of Buy One, Get One 1/2 off. I think that is a good deal and I am expecting them to go fast!

 I want to start selling more of these bags, so if anyone is interested in one or wants to special order one, just let me know!

Welcome to Small Town Expressions!

    My name is Melissa Free and I want to welcome you to my blog. A place to go and view my latest creations! I mainly make things to sale at local craft shows, but I am hoping to get orders off of the blog as well. I also want to start doing special orders for people.
      I am a stay at home wife who enjoys taking care of my two energetic children and I live in a smoke-free, pet-free home. When I am not taking care of the kids or cleaning the house I enjoy crafting, mostly on the sewing machine. I hope people will enjoy this blog and if you see something you like, feel free to place an order!