Summery Tank Top and Lunch Tote

I was supposed to examine today but, after waiting 40 minutes for my partner to show up, she finally answered her phone and informed the organizer that she wouldn't be coming. Which sucked a little for my pocket book but was actually okay for my sewing. The place where I was supposed to examine is just down the road from Season, so I plodded over there (I was wearing my new H&M gladiator-esque sandals, which, while having excellent heel support, are causing blisters on the balls of my feet) and went a little nuts. But it was awesome and I ended up spending about 800 rubles (about 27 dollars), which is way less than I used to spend on "I have nothing else to do" shopping sprees. Here's my take:

I got some fabric for the lunch tote project in Sewing Green, which I had with me in my purse and made me feel like I was ordering things from a catalog (the swirly purple and yellow will be the outside of the tote, the yellow raincoat material [which I'm quite pleased with] will be the lining and I'll make sandwich wraps, another project from Sewing Green, out of the pink and the yellow). I also got some fusibile interfacing and fleece, to insulate the bag, some grossgrain ribbon for the handle, some rickrack for a pillow case dress I plan on making for my niece and some pink ribbon also for the dress. I finally purchased some pink thread because I realized it's mildly embarrassing that I don't have any and pink is my most-used colour. OH! And I bought a super-huge bias tape maker because I can't use the needle-and-ironing board trick for that thickness. Awesome.

First I worked on the summery tank top, which I made from the skirt I took the elastic out of for the Ikea Fox Skirt.

I cut the skirt along one of the seams (which it turns out I didn't need to do) and trimmed off the bottom two blocks of colour. Then I folded over the top strip to create the top of the bodice.

Then I used the same colour from the bottom of the skirt to make the straps, which I then attached using one of my new shades of pink thread.

Then I used the lighter pink to add some detail to the top bit:

...and made a bow out of the rest of the light pink bit. I fitted this while wearing my strapless bra and I must say it's quite cute.

Here I am in it:

I think it'll look really cute with a high-waisted skirt (probably my white one, which I have to fix the zipper on).  The bow looks a bit unfinished but I don't mind too much.

Then I started working on the lunch tote. I cut all the bits out and then fused the fleece to the outside of the bag. This was when I ruined one of my irons (thank god I had two). Apparently you can't directly iron on fleece because it's melt-y. Lesson learned.

So after that mild debacle, this is what I had:

I sewed them, right-side to right-side, then boxed the corners (like I had done with Vaskova's birthday bag).

Super cute, right? Then I did the same with the lining...

...which I stitched into the bag. I folded over the excess to bind the top of the bag's edges.

I trimmed the excess and then added two bits of the grosgrain ribbon so I can pull the tote open (they're uneven, I know)...

...and then I added the velcro and the strap for the handle. Ta-da!

I adore it, I think it's super cute. Now I just have to go grocery shopping so I can start bringing my lunch in this bag. Yay!