What should Laura make with this? No. 1

I have a confession to make.

When I first had sewing lessons and actually managed to make a couple of things, I might have got a tad over excited about the prospect of being able to sew.  Soon after the course finished I went on a bit of a splurge [read massive huuuge ridiculous splurge] and bought a lot of fabric and quite a few patterns, with no real focus or forethought behind said purchases. 

I then hit a few hurdles over recent months, one being having no time to sew due to struggling to find time to study whilst working, the other being an issue to do with pattern fitting which I will cover in another post soon, so have not really made much in the way of clothing (although I have made plenty of other things).  As a result most of the patterns have remained untouched, as has the fabric.

I feel quite guilty about this now, as my bank balance is suffering somewhat, and I don’t feel I’ve really justified my purchasing by being productive and actually making things.

A lot of the fabric I bought because I thought it was nice, and had no plan in my head of what I was going to do with it.  Now I have banned myself from buying any more fabric or patterns until I have used up some of my existing stash and made use of a pattern or two that I already own.

Therefore in an effort to be more productive with my existing stash I am planning to make this theme “What should Laura make with this?” a regular feature on my blog, and am hoping my readers and followers will offer advice and suggestions of what to do with each item I post about.

Note: simple projects are preferred at the moment, just because there’s more chance I will find time to make them which increases the likelihood that you might actually get to see me post about the finished result!

So for post No. 1 in this series I have decided to start with two lengths of fabric.

The first is a 1/2 metre piece of linen/cotton blend fabric by Echino which I bought in sale at M is for Make.

Pink isn’t really my colour but I loved the design so thought I’d snap it up while it was on offer.  I was thinking of turning it into a bag, maybe for my embroidery bits and bobs, as I don’t see me using a pink bag on a regular basis when going out and about.  However I have no bag pattern in mind, and am also open to alternative suggestions about what I could do with this.  If you have any recommendations of good bag patterns (preferably simple in design and free in price), or other things (home dec, accessories and clothing ideas welcome) please let me know.

The second fabric is 3 metres of medium weight cotton I bought in Ikea back in October. 

At the time I thought it would make curtains for the bedroom in our new flat, but for reasons I won’t go into that’s not a viable option (not least because 3 metres is nowhere near enough fabric to cover the windows!!)

The design on this one is quite big, see the pic below for an idea of scale, so its not ideal for clothing – but if you disagree do say so as I am open to all suggestions.

The vague idea I had was to maybe make a bedspread, but I’ve never done patchwork or quilting before and again the design is so big I’d have to keep the fabric pieces quite large.  I am keen to hear any ideas here as I think it’s a funky design, also the pinky parts match the colour of the walls in our bedroom (our flat’s rented so I can’t repaint them even if I wanted to). 

Right that's the end of post 1.  Can't wait to read your suggestions!