Listen to Your Cat

I can't decide what I want to do. It's that in-between time...not really fall yet, not summer anymore...and I just can't sink my teeth into anything.

This morning, I dug out something I'd photocopied from The Total Tote Bag Book, copyright 1977. It's called the Triangular Tie Tote, and it looked quick, easy, and ingenious. You start with a rectangle of fabric, measuring 18 by 36 inches, sew it into a tube, cut it on the diagonal, and then sew the two resulting pieces together to form the bag. I was thinking this had Wardrobe Refashion possibilities--pant legs maybe?

Originally, I was going to use the fabric from a skirt I bought last summer and never wore. I chopped off the waistband and patiently unpicked the pleats around the top, but when I spread it out to measure for my rectangle, Isabella climbed on and wouldn't move. I stopped to take a picture and, looking at the screen, realized I didn't want to waste this fabric on an experiment. Whew. Thanks, Isabella!

May I take this opportunity to say this is exactly why I keep fabric around even when I don't really like it? Out came a piece of sample fabric (complete with swatches of different options) my mom picked up at a yard sale.

I drew out my rectangle, started cutting, and...

Isabella again. Do you see what's going on here? Her paw, right in the path of my scissors. Hmm. Might she have known something?

I dumped the poor kitty off the fabric and forged ahead. Sewed the tube, cut it apart, blah blah blah. I got to the part where you put the two halves together and...

...this thing is ugly. I hate that it's not lined. I hate where the seam falls. I hate how angular it is. I just hate it.

Was Isabella trying to warn me?