Doggie Bag ... of sorts

Rico was my model for this doggie bag.  It wasn't that I expected it to turn out or anything, was just experimenting with this project.  I put it on my Etsy page to see if it sells and if it does, I'll make more.  Might use my other dog as the model next time.  

Here's what I did.  

1. Found a drawing on-line of a pomeranian.  Use drawings or outlines so I don't use up the entire ink cartridge.
2. Printed it out on normal paper.
3. Traced over it with tracing pencil I bought years ago for projects to transfer cartoon characters onto my kids' clothes.
4. Turned it over onto a panel of fabric and ironed like mad.  Takes forever and even ended up tracing over it again and again to get it to transfer.  I don't remember it being that difficult to use before, maybe I had a hotter iron then or the pencil was newer and worked better, don't know?
5. I then painted it with a paint pen but that didn't look great so just used a thin brush and used regular paint from the $ store.  At 99 cents per bottle it's a real deal.  I also bought some fabric medium to add to it if painting onto t-shirts or anything that I don't want to be stiff. But I didn't bother with the medium for this project.
6. The key to making the paint durable is to use a hot iron on the paint for about 3-5 minutes.  I make sure there's a thin layer of cotton between the iron to project it from any iron stains or burn marks.  I've done this with many projects and the paint lasts through the wash beautifully.  But the iron really has to sit on the design for several minutes to seal it into the fabric.  
7. Once I decided the painting was a success I turned it into a bag and added a couple of buttons for eyes.  
8. Size is perfect for small laptop and some books and made sure the handle was long enough to wear over the shoulder.  

I don't sew to sell, I sew for fun.  But when I do sell things from time to time it helps pay for this pricey hobby :).

I've moved my sewing room downstairs in the rec room so will have to take some pictures of that new set-up.  It doesn't look as nice down there as isn't a pretty room like the other one.  But once I get some time I'm planning on painting all the furniture white so it'll brighten things up and make it look nicer.  

Lisa.