Collection of Free Bag Patterns from Sew Sweetness

Good evening,

I am providing for all my bag making readers a link to some free bag patterns from Sew Sweetness.

Bags patterns

If you haven't made one of her bags, you should. You will be hooked. The instructions are well presented. The bags are stylish and sturdy.

Since this is a very short blog post, I thought I would give you a bonus tidbit. 

Sometimes the retail stores will send pant hangers home with you when you buy pants or skirts. This happens more often when you buy children's clothes. 

I like to reuse items as much as possible. I will use these hangers to keep work-in-progress sewing projects together.

I also like to use the ends of the hangers in the kitchen. I use tin snips to cut the end clips off and use them to secure food bags - like potato chips.

Tin snips

The clips are heavy duty and have a very strong grip.

Golf Counter

I am not a great golfer. I may be less than a mediocre golfer but I love golfing and have been doing it for just over 20 years.

As with any sport I play, if I get in my head (over thinking the play or the game) my abilities decline.

I have found that when I golf, I spend a lot of time trying to remember how many strokes I have taken, whether or not I have hit 6 or this is hit number 6. If I am thinking about my strokes, I am not focused on my game.

I have this counter and I love it.

But it's attached to my golf bag or requires attachment to a belt loop. Some of my shorts or skirts do not have belt loops and often it's shorter for me to walk to my ball than to go back to the golf cart.

I need a portable and convenient counter.

My friend has a similar counter but it's attached to her golf bag. I wanted to make mine into a bracelet.

I began by attaching a toggle clasp to a long thin leather rope (approx. 2 yards or 1.8 meters) at mid point with a square knot. I continued making alternating square knots to create a pattern. 

Once long enough, I started adding the beads. I figured 10 beads should be enough for my worst game. Anything over 10 strokes should not be counted. The beads are added by passing the rope on the right through the right side of the bead and the rope on the left through the left side of the bead. I left a little space at the end so the beads had space to move down. The beads will not fall down. It takes a little bit of strength to move them down. 

I continued with the alternating square knots to finish the length of the bracelet and attached the other end of the toggle with another square knot. I secured the knot with a drop of E6000 Jewelry and Bead that I bought at Michaels. Once the glue was dry, I clipped off the excess rope.

I will be testing the new bracelet next weekend as I will be playing two rounds of golf. I am hoping that the rope withstands the friction caused by the sliding beads. If not, lesson learned and I will figure something else out.