sotak handmade – tierneycreates

One of my favorite bag designers is the Netherlands based designer Svetlana Sotak of Sotak Handmade. The drawstring bags I’ve made (feels like I’ve made hundreds of them) is based on her pattern. I like that she supports small businesses by licensing them to sell items make from her patterns by purchasing the pattern.

It was time for me to try out a new pattern so I made a friend who loves to knit a project bag from the Sotak Handmade pattern – Denver Tote with knitting/yarn themed fabric by Ruby Star Society fabrics.

I was proud of myself because I installed a magnetic snap for the first time on the liner and reinforced it with heavy weight interfacing so the snap did not pull on the liner (which has medium weight interfacing attached).

Next time I make it I might make coordinating handmade handles. I was trying to coordinate the handles with the drawstring that is part of the bag too.

Oh and speaking bags, I don’t think I’ve shared this lovely tote bag I found while thrifting that I love to take everywhere, especially to the public library to pick up my holds!

Here is my latest library stack I brought home with the tote and so far I’ve really enjoyed the book Cool is Everywhere.

Bags Bags Bags

Lagom Storage Bins

September 4, 2023September 4, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

One of my favorite bag designers is Svetlana Sotak of Sotak Handmade out of the Netherlands. The drawstring bag pattern I use is one of hers. I love that buy purchasing her patterns she licenses handmade craft businesses to sell them on a small scale, all she requests is that you credit her as a pattern maker, like I’ve done in my Etsy listings in the past. (Note she sells her patterns on Etsy and that is where I purchase them in the US market)

I have several of her patterns and I recently tried out the pattern Lagom Storage Bins:

Image credit – sotakco.nl

Here are the three Lagom Storage Bins I made in the smallest size (the pattern has 5 sizes!!!) as gifts for friends:

The first one was made with Marimekko fabric from Finland was sent to my friend W in Central Oregon. The cool shark fabric is from my friend D when she came for a quilt retreat to my house in May (she brought awesome fabric for me as a hostess gift). The Asian fabric is from my stash and was actually selected by my sister for a future project she’d like me to make her for Christmas – a whole backpack out of that fabric.

As far as the Marimekko fabric one, here is how my friend W is using it in her home(thanks to W for the photo!):

The other two storage bins were given as welcome gifts to my friends MJ and J when they arrived at my home for a little quilting/girls retreat a couple weeks ago (I’ll share a post someday about that):

I didn’t enjoy making the baskets as much as I enjoy making the drawstring bags but I might just need to make more of them to get a true feel for what it is like to make them.

They do use two types of interfacing, which makes them a little more expensive to make that the drawstring bags, but they do not have a drawstring to have to thread at the end of the process (which is sometimes a little tedious when you just want to be done!).

I haven’t decided if I will offer them someday on my Etsy shop or not. First I have to grow to love making them 🙂

Oh and speaking of baskets, here is an amazing giant bag made out of recycled plastic grocery shopping bags my friend MJ brought me as a hostess gift when she came for the retreat. A friend of hers crochets them from her stash of grocery bags.

I always appreciate a thoughtful hostess gift, especially handmade!

Bags Bags Bags

Juniper Basket Finished

March 1, 2022March 1, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Before I headed out to a week long quilting retreat with my long time quilting friends at the Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton Missouri, I made a Juniper Basket to transport some of the projects I was bringing to the quilt retreat.

A group of quilting friends and I’ve been purchasing patterns by s.o.t.a.k. handmade and exchanging fabrics with each other to make her bags. The Juniper Basket was our latest group project:

image from http://www.etsy.com/shop/SotakCo

The pattern has two size options: SMALL – 9” x 7” x 6” or LARGE – 11” x 8 ½” x 7”.

I think I should have made the small version but I made the large version. It was larger than I expected and a little floppier than expected, but there is plenty of room to hold stuff! It has an outside zipper as well as an inside pocket.

Here are the photos of my finished Juniper Basket (my friend Dana gave me the fabric and cord for the bag):

The thing that did not do it for me in this bag/basket were the handles on the end. It would have been more functional if they were in the middle like a tote bag. I wonder if I should try and make the smaller one and see if the side handles make more sense.

If I make another large Juniper Basket I am going to set the handles in the middle.

I was looking at the designer’s Etsy shop – SotakCo, and I see she has this tote bag, which I think I could recreate by just making larger handles and moving them to the center:

image from SotakCo Etsy Shop, Somerset Tote Bag

I do love her designs and I love that if you purchase her pattern, she licenses you to make items to sell in handmade shop situation such as an Etsy shop or at craft fairs! She really supports the small business handmade community, so I like to support her!

Bags Bags Bags

Two More Drawstring Bags

July 8, 2021 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This is a quick update to my July 6, 2021 post Adventures in Bag Making: Drawstring Bag.

The s.o.t.a.k. handmade drawstring bag patterns gives you directions to make the bags in 4 different sizes. Last night I finished two more bags – another large bag, and a mini bag (and look how gorgeous the fabrics are, provided by my friend Kathy).

Here are some individual photos of the bags and the interior of the bags:

I want to make like 50 more bags in all sort of fabric and color combinations but I need to start working on an art quilt for a show that I’ve been invited.

When I return to drawstring bag making someday, I’ve decided I want to make my own drawstring cord out of braided fabric strings. I’ve been saving strings for years thinking I was going to make a string quilt, but more on that after I experiment.

Bags Bags Bags

Adventures in Bag Making: Drawstring Bag

July 6, 2021July 7, 2021 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Earlier this year several quilting friends and I decided to make a different bag each month (well sort of each month, we all fell behind at times) and to do a fabric exchange where we provide the fabric and supplies (like zippers, ribbon, cords, etc) for the bags.

We’ve been purchasing/using patterns by s.o.t.a.k. handmade , we love her wonderful videos on YouTube at her channel – Sotak Handmade. Below is an example of one of her fabulous videos:

Someday I’ll post about my used Juki sewing machine I bought off Craigslist – influenced by watching her sew on her Juki machine.

So far my “bag making group” has made: 1) The Devon Pouch (see post If at first you don’t succeed… ); 2) The Boxy Tool Pouch (see post More Adventures in Bag Making); and now most recently 3) The Drawstring Bag (this post).

Last night I finished my first Drawstring Bag and I have two more to finish (I decided to make three at one time, production-line style). My friend Kathy provided me with absolutely beautiful fabric – some purple Moda Grunge and several fabrics by Anna Maria Horner (you should check out her website I’ve linked, the fabrics are SO GORGEOUS).

Here is my first drawstring bag:

I could not decide whether to make the lining the outside and the fabric I used for the outside of the. bag – they were both so gorgeous!

The drawstring bag stands up on its own thanks to interfacing on both sides of the outside and inside/lining fabric. The pattern was quite easy to follow (especially since this is my third time using one of the Sotak patterns and I see concepts are repeated) and except for the prep work (like cutting and ironing on all the interfacing) it did not take long to assemble.

My friends Kathy and Dana posted their completed drawstring bags on Instagram and here are screen shots from their feeds:

I love their bags too and all the fabrics were generously provided by Kathy!

I hope to finish my next two bags today. They are pretty fun to make and I already had like 25 different fabric combination versions in my head for future drawstring bags, ha!

Bags Bags Bags, Beastie Adventures

More Adventures in Bag Making

April 7, 2021April 7, 2021 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

If you read Monday’s post Zip Zip Zippers!, you saw that I now have a lot of zippers for bag making thanks to my generous friend Wendy.

Well I used one of those zippers to make another bag from a pattern by The Netherlands based designer s.o.t.a.k. handmade – Boxy Tool Pouch.

The pattern comes in three sizes and I made the medium sized one:

The fabric is a printed in Japan canvas which I bought years ago because it had a schnauzer in the print:

However I accidentally cut out the schnauzer while making the bag! (Don’t tell Mike my Miniature Schnauzer, ha!)

Here are my supplies to make the bag (minus the ribbon tape I discovered I needed for the side tabs later while working through the pattern):

Here is her YouTube video on making the pouch:

Here are some photos from my bag making process:

In the first of the images above you will see that I am pressing on a sleeve board, which I recently bought online after seeing the pattern designer Svetlana Sotak use it in several of her YouTube videos she has on bag making. It’s one of those things I never knew I needed until I got it!

Here are images of my completed boxy tool pouch:

It did not come out perfect but I was pretty pleased. At least it was not a “Misadventure in Bag Making” (see post Misadventures in Bag Making).

So what to do with the completed pouch?

Well tierneycreates Beastie changed from her Winter wear of her sweater, hat and scarf:

To her Spring wear of her t-shirt:

So I needed a place to store her clothes as well as her accessories:

And now her accoutrements are easily accessible on my bookshelf in my studio!

Next post the tierneycreates Beastie will guest blogger post and tell you about her latest accommodations in my studio as well as some other changes (“Mr. Woodworker” has been busy!)