Covered in Threadmalaka’s adventure in sewing

A revelation ocurred this week.  I picked up a couple of run-of-the-mill, non-boutique sewing patterns at the fabric store because they were on sale for $2 each.   The patterns both had 4 bag patterns in them, so I figured if I didn’t actually use the patterns to make bags, the pictures and instructions might be worth having for that big four bucks I spent.

I think I’ve proven to myself that I can sew a bag from start to finish without a pattern.  I’ve also proven to myself that it sucks.  The revelation?  It was that I ENJOY sewing from patterns!  After the Amy Butler Birdie Sling pattern, I was overjoyed.  I thought it was Amy Butler patterns that I loved.. but it turns out, I love sewing from patterns!

My history with patterns is bad.  I got frustrated easily and gave up.  Sometimes I didn’t give up, but I dulled many seam rippers in the process.  All of the times, I hated every minute of it.  Now, I like it, a lot! I still have to think a bit, but I get the lingo.  I understand the instructions, and it’s fun.  This might sound a little split-personality-ish.. but I kinda feel like I have someone there sewing with me, showing me how to do things.  When I’m sewing without a pattern, it’s all me - I have to figure it all out and there’s no reference at all.  With the pattern instructions, I have something to fall back on.

The other problem with non-boutique (I’m calling the designer patterns ’boutique patterns’) is that the examples are almost always using ugly fabric.  It’s hard to see past ugly fabric, I admit that I have problems with that, too.   Since these puppies were $2, I saw past the ugly fabric fairly easily.  These are the two I picked up this week:

I decided to start with the one I thought would be the easiest, and looked like something I might like - the leopard (cheetah?) print one on the Butterick pattern - Style B.  Style B is the same as Style A (the blue bag) except for the handle.

I really don’t like working with the tissue-paper patterns, I’ll say that.  I’d rather the patterns be on regular paper.  Cutting out the pattern pieces initially isn’t all that much fun, but I guess if I re-make the same bag over and over, I’d only have to do that once (I seem to be making a new bag pattern every time these days, though!)

After I finished cutting out (and figuring it out which pieces I needed.. 4 bags mean there are something like 30 pattern pieces to sort through) the pattern, I cut out the fabric.  After I figured out the exterior, the interior was easy, since it was nearly exactly the same.  I thought the gussets would be difficult, but they were easy.  This reminded me to try the Hobo Bag pattern again - the gussets gave me trouble but that was when I was a mere novice, now I have a few more tricks up my sleeve.  I think I could perfect that Hobo bag with my new skillz.

I am going to note that I needed nearly a yard of exterior fabric for this bag, and I didn’t want to use a  favorite in my stash because of all of my FAILS lately. I was worried I’d mess up again and be sad that good material was wasted.  This fabric is ‘eh’ — I like it enough that I’m using it as my daily bag for now, but i’m going to make it again with something I like better.

I filled the interior (I was too excited to see if this size was good for all my junk!) before I took a pic, so you get to see the inside ..with all my junk

I know, I’m thinking it too.. “Malaka, black+white & red is sooo overdone!”  But let me explain, I had leftover red from Shara’s Messenger bag and it looked better than any other solid I had (yellow or turquoise) so I used it, again.

Here it is, what I learned!

• Piecing gussets is not scary (stop folding, start piecing!)
• Commercial patterns don’t call for enough interfacing — I added extra and it is still a little floppy.
• Making the top piece of the interior match the exterior is super cute.  That left me with a hint of red instead of a LOT of red, and I like it.
• This pattern will turn out way too triangular if you don’t use the full 1/2 inch seam allowance on the gussets.  Use the full seam allowance!

Christmas is coming up, and we’re leaving town in 4 1/2 days.  I need to finish a baby quilt (just the quilting and the binding) before then, and make myself a nice travel bag.  Oh I need to make a bag for my camera too, since the last one was a big FAIL.  I think I’ll just go with a simple drawstring bag, and stop beating myself up over it.

I decided to take the plunge and make some curtains.  My house is desperate for some window coverings, but the cost of good drapery material has been prohibitive.  Feeling more confident in my ability, I went ahead and purchased fabric and took the plunge.

matchy matchying

I decided to start with the gameroom, which is now the mess that I call my studio (who doesn’t want to have their own studio?) because nobody ever goes upstairs.  If I screw these curtains up, it won’t be that big of a deal.

Because the room is practically void of decoration, I only had one chair and couch to match the curtains.  I blindly picked out material that I thought might match the crazy chair.  I figured if it didn’t match, I had 3 other bedrooms that I could make use of this material in.. but it turns out, it matched it perfectly!

This is all in preparation for making drapes for my 20 foot wall-of-windows in the downstairs living room.

I’m a little more confident that I can do it, now.  I’m keeping an eye open for the perfect material.  You can’t rush these things.  We also need a taller ladder, our 14 footer isn’t tall enough!

It’s been awhile since I’ve made these curtains, but I still haven’t got the guts to make the giant ones.  I’ll have to look into that as a winter project.

For now, back to bag making!