When I bought my camera, I added on an inexpensive kit that included this camera bag:

Rokinon Leather-Style Holster SLR Carrying Case

It does pretty much all I need it to do right now, seeing as I usually don’t go anywhere, so I don’t need to take my camera with me, and I only have the kit lens that came with the camera, so I don’t need any extra storage.  This little carrying case will always be useful when I am on the go and only need one lens, but I plan on purchasing a new lens in the near future and will want more storage, as well as for papers, filters, my point and shoot camera, as well as room to grow.

Here are some options that meet my camera bag requirements that it must be cute and have organized space for me to grow into.

Vituri Digital SLR Camera Bag in Brown

The Bowler Camera Bag

This Bowler Camera Bag does not give me much more storage, but boy is it cute!

Lola

The bags from this website are incredibly cute, but out of my price range.

Large Purple Synthetic Leather Bag

I wouldn’t say this is the cutest bag, but it has a fair amount of room.

5 Million Dollar Home

Jill-e Nylon Camera Bag – Yellow

Classic Messenger 2010

For some extra cash, you can also design a custom bag on this website.

SNUGGLENS DSLR Padded Camera and Lens Carrier Bag

Digital SLR Camera Bag and Lens Case

XcessRize Designs GRAB AND GO CAMERA LENS PHOTOGRAPHER BAG

Custom DEEP MOXY Camera Bag

The nice thing about the Etsy camera bag sellers is that a lot of them custom make the camera bags to your specifications.  That, and they tend to be less expensive.

However, as a college student who already spent a lot of money on the camera itself, I found one awesome alternative.  See this camera bag?

It is also a custom bag, but it comes with a tutorial!  I figure I have some time to wait before I need a camera bag and by that time I will probably be done with the semester and will have time for a project this demanding.  It’s the perfect way to practice my sewing skills, save money, and come out with a completely custom camera bag all for myself!  What do you think?

If you have a camera, any type of camera, what kind of case do you keep it in?  Have you ever tackled a project like this before?

The fabric I chose was a beautiful light blue and chocolate brown fabric pattern and a darker turquoise fabric for the pocket.  I chose a similar color thread and bought a set of four metal D-rings for the adjustable neck strap.  All together, the supplies took me back only about twelve dollars.  Not bad when most aprons of similar quality sell for $30 or more in stores.

Because this pattern was found online, I had to make the pattern using measurements online.  This was very simple, but took a little more time than having the pattern already in my hand.  For a free price tag, however, it was very easy to do.

I cut out the fabric and went to town.

  The first thing I sewed was the pocket (shown inside out). 

I’ll spare you the details of the rest of the apron, but once I was done I had this:

Notice anything wrong?  At first I tried to deny it, but after staring at the apron in the mirror for a while I realized the pocket was noticeably crooked.  I had already spent lots of time taking out stitches because I’m very picky about how they look, so where I attached the ribbon for the neck strap and also the ribbon that ties around my back  I took out and resewed a few times before I was satisfied.  I realized that I would much rather sew an intricate piece with no stitches showing than an easy piece with stitches sewing just because the starting and finishing stitches never look very good when I do them.  After noticing the crooked pocket, I was already frustrated, but being a perfectionist, I couldn’t leave it, so I picked up my new best friend, the seam ripper, and took it off, planning to work on it the next day.

I felt a lot better the next day, so I tried tackling the pocket again.  This time, I carefully measured over and over and pinned the pocket exactly where I wanted it.  Instead of adding just one line of stitching all the way around, I did two to make it look nicer and also to make the pocket stronger.  This took a while, but after I had finished it, I was very proud.  That is, until I put it on.  For some reason everything looks good to me until I wear it.  This time, the pocket was perfectly straight, but somehow it shifted an inch to the right and was not centered.  By this point, I was so sick of the apron that I took the pocket off and packed up my sewing machine.  I don’t know why, but I have problems attaching fabric to the middle of another piece of fabric.  I didn’t realize how frustrating it would be.

For now, I am happy with my pocketless apron.  I have learned that I can’t live with something being noticeabley wrong, but I can live with something being slightly unfinished.  I figure it the fabric is so pretty that I will most likely only wear it when having some kind of dinner party or at a special occasion, so the pocket isn’t really necessary at the moment anyway.

So, even though after sewing on and taking off the pocket twice I looked like this (and was ready to sign an oath that I would never sew again):

  I can assure you after giving myself a few days to cool off, I am now feeling like this:

I love the fabric and love wearing it!  I’ll probably try sewing the pocket on again shortly, but until then I think I will stick to patterns that are a little more fool-proof and will not allow me to make something crooked by sewing it on to the middle of a fabric without an edge or a paper cutout as a guide.  You would think after making this dress with my mom, I would know what I am doing, but I guess when it comes to sewing, I am a slow learner.

As discouraged as I was, I am now very excited to tackle my next sewing project which will probably be some pretty decorative pillows for my bed at my apartment which show no seams and are not garments that I will be wearing, so hopefully I can give myself a little more room to make mistakes.

If you don’t sew very often, I would love to know if you have made any frustrating mistakes like I did.  If you’ve been sewing for a long time, I’m wondering what your first projects were and what tricks you have learned along the way.

I want to share what my incredible parents gave me for Christmas.  I asked for a new sewing machine since the one I bought for two dollars, was missing a lot of parts.  I wanted something I could grow with.  Boy, was I surprised when I opened this:

It’s another Brother sewing machine that also does embroidery!  It came with a gorgeous case and a thing to wheel it around with.  It is incredible!  It is also computerized so I don’t have to fuss with a lot of mechanical buttons, and I can also download embroidery patterns online and put them on the sewing machine.  I will definitely be able to use this machine for a long time.  Thanks Mom and Dad!  I also got an iron (can you believe I didn’t have one?) and an accessory for the sewing machine that allows me to transfer the embroidery patterns from my computer to the sewing machine.  I am so lucky!

Now that I have this high-tech sewing machine, I need to start sewing!  I have collected many projects I want to try now that I can sew anything I want and I want to share them with you.  I don’t want to overwhelm anyone, so here are just some of the ones I’ve found.

Clothing

• DIY Neckline Detail – Take a boring shirt from blah to Ta-Dah!
• Simple Elastic Waistband Skirt – Who doesn’t like to look fabulous while also being comfortable?
• 5 Minute Skirt – Do I need to say more?

Accessories

• Tool Belt Apron – An incredibly cute tool belt apron that can hold crafty items or cooking tools.
• Apron In An Hour – I love quick.  I love easy.  I love aprons.  Enough said.
• 56 Free Apron Patterns – Tons of apron patterns for any apron-loving person to enjoy.
• Clutch Purse – I’ve always wanted to make a clutch purse.  These would make great gifts!
• 1 Hour Bag – A girl cannot have too many bags, especially when they are DIY and cheap!

Home Decor

• Simple Table Runners – I have seen many burlap table runner tutorials floating around.  They are useful to have around for a quick and pretty tablescape.
• Poinsettia Pillows – I love these pillows with a giant poinsettia.  Plus, a person could easily change the pattern to make a more ordinary flower to match their everyday decor.
• Ruffle Pillow – I love ruffles!  I love them even more when I can lay my head down on them.
• Pillow With Rosette Clusters – Can you tell the pattern yet?  I love ruffles and I love flowers, so I will put them wherever I can!

And then throw in this kilt tutorial for my dad who has bagpipes, a Scottish Christmas hat, a Scottish Santa, Scottish Highland cattle, a Scottish Terrier, and just about everything else you could think of, but no kilt yet and wants me to make one for him.

I think this is a pretty good list to start with.  It should keep me busy for some time before I need to look up other things. 

What was your favorite gift that you received this year?  Do you have any sewing projects saved that you’d like to share?