I couldn’t really find where I posted about these 3 bags I made inspired by Misako Aoki’s sewing book volume 1 back in 2025, only the one cropped photo of the tote for my Etsy shop update, so here they all are again. Right now I am sewing a few more experimental one of a kind items for sale inspired by my various fashion sewing books, so I hope you all stick around for that shop update!
Here are all 3 bags I made in the summer of 2025, the floral quilted tote is on my Etsy unless it sells before then, the Sanrio heart-shape bag is a failed experiment but still cute, and the strawberry croissant pouch will be for sale in person only.
For reference, I also took a photo of the insides and reverse.
The quilted tote is fully reversible with handmade bias bound edges on the interior for extra security. I found the pre-quilted fabric in the remnants bin at Joann’s and was happy to have sewn a useful item from it at last although it’s just big enough to hold a small I-pad or a medium sized book. I didn’t follow any instructions from my sewing books exactly, I just borrowed the lace bow decoration idea from one of the tote tutorials. I made 2 totes from the remnant and am keeping the first prototype, and am reluctantly selling the second one on Etsy although I’m not sure which one is the second one now…
The heart-shape purse is a failure because the nylon Sanrio print fabric I got at Daiso doesn’t look very crisp and clean when folded over itself like in the seams because it’s faintly see-through. Once I realized that, I only made one set of handles, but note the sewing tutorial has 2 long handles with each end attached on both front and back sides to help keep the purse closed rather than gaping open. It’s also adorably too small to hold much lol.
Finally the strawberry jam croissant zipper pouch was made from a remnant print from Joann’s (maybe?), with matching red/white gingham lining salvaged from an old failed project and zipper from Daiso. The original tutorial had furry bunny ears decoration and bunny tail charm, but I left out the bunny decorations and instead made a beaded fabric strawberry charm inspired by the strawberry bag in the same book. This pouch is too cute, but I won’t sell it online due to copyright and also I think the interfacing layer is a little bumpy. If no one buys it, I will keep it for myself, I love strawberry stuff and croissants. I made a different zipper pouch from a Gothic Lolita Bible tutorial but due to the thickness of the batting used, I had to handsew it closed and it doesn’t feel very secure so it’s not being sold, it’s just for me.
Something I’ve been meaning to do is work on quilting leftover fabric scraps together so as to not waste materials in this hellish economy, but I don’t love quilting that much unless necessary for cosplay because it takes a lot of thread, especially if you’re quilting padded layers of fabric together. In my area, it’s warm/hot all year round so quilting is not the best use of materials for that reason as well. However, I might give it a try in the 5 days of winter we have here.
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this, but I have also been trying my best to master knitting and crochet this past year, but unfortunately intense hand pain prevents me from making any progress. I really want a lace bandana, so I had been trying to practice in short bursts. In the end, I would rather save my hands for drawing and writing and sewing cosplay than crocheting one thing for myself. Makes me sad but you can’t be good at everything, I guess…
Anyway, I’m really excited to work on a few more sewn item sets for an upcoming sale, hopefully one more top, a skirt and a dress with matching accessories or purses. I gathered some previous sewn creations big and small to sell and offer as freebies, along with fashion-related stickers and button badges and zines and a few pre-owned clothes. My hope is to have new original artwork and stationary related to fashion, I’m debating if I should do that or more sewing but I guess we’ll see what my elderly body wants to do.