Sew Green

"All my scattering moments are taken up with my needle."
-Ellen Birdseye Wheaton

Starting on Monday, I will spend the next two weeks taking a class for my teacher certification. I'm looking forward to this and dreading it at the same time. I will certainly miss my creative time, which I've certainly made the most of the last couple of days. But, one of the best parts about school for students of any age is the school supplies. I've gathered a couple of new notebooks and folders from the clearance shelves at Target, and I'm super excited to christen the pages with their first words. But I had yet to find something stylish to carry them in.

Then, in my search for the perfect pouch tutorial the other day, I ran across this tutorial for a refashioned tote bag. My mind immediately went to the boring tote I had laying at the bottom of my closet, just ugly enough that I would never use, but just handy enough that I didn't want to toss it. I don't mind being a member of your credit union, but you won't dare catch me carrying that bag outside the house.
Using some fabric that once had dreams of being a skirt, but lately had its fingers crossed for a rainy day project, today I redecorated that ho-hum bag. And, of course, midway through (and with my new-found sewing prowess), I decided to add a flap, a pocket, and some diy bias tape trim around the top edge. I have to admit, that mid-seam, I actually squealed out loud because I could see how cute it was going to be. And, then of course, I needed a matching pencil pouch (I used the "Artsy Clutch" pattern, again from Bend-The-Rules Sewing). Because man, that's just how I roll.
And, the best part of all, is that I spent zero dollars and zero cents on this project. All of the supplies were just sitting around, waiting to be loved.