New Projects! Flight Suit Bags

So lately I've had a little bit of time (not much... but a little!) to drag out my sewing supplies into the dining room (grrrrrrr.... thats for not having a large enough home for a craft room!) and got to making some things. Dereck had a flight suit that he ripped up at survival training so I had something to play with! First I made a string backpack out of the top part of the flightsuit. I really liked it, but found after I used it for the first time, that the fabric was too worn out and started to fray. I plan to take it apart, reinforce the seams, and resew it together. Its really cute tho, and I plan to make this design for the Yokota craft fair later this fall.

Then with the entire lower section of the flight suit (and arms as well...) still available, I decided to dig up a tutorial I've been wanting to try on making a slouchy shoulder bag. here is the tutorial I used. It was a good place to start, though some of the dimensioning is strange so I made it fit my personal preference.  I am so thrilled with the outcome. The flight suit material also held up MUCH better this time after I double stitched to reinforce all the edges of the fabric before sewing the seems. I've been lugging it around all week without any issues with it. Also, this is a very fun bag to personalize in other ways, using button closure and ribbon details on the strap, etc. I plan to use this (in both flight suit as well as non-military fabric) at the craft fair as well.

Next week I'll have much more free time so I hope to get a few more bags done to test out a few changes and ideas I had while making these. I'm excited to really get going on my inventory! Then, hopefully soon, a trip to the Tokyo Fabric District in Nippori will be in store. Yay!