Covered in Threadmalaka’s adventure in sewing

I made these bags last week but had to wait to upload photos until my friend Shara received it in the mail.  There’s something about the surprise and making people wait for it that I thoroughly enjoy.  Does that make me a bad person?

Anyway, here’s the story.  Shara asked for a bag that could go over her chest when she’s riding her bike.  My specification list was short, she just wanted it big enough to fit a magazine, the strap long enough to go across her body, and she’s really not into flowers.  I almost got fabric with roses because although she says she’s not into flowery material, she has several rose tattoos!

But first, I needed to make up a prototype.  This ain’t my first rodeo, I know that nothing turns out right the first time.  Well, lets say that I’m still a novice, I know that constructing bags without a pattern doesn’t come out right for me until after a few re-dos.  I’m ok with that, it’s all part of the process.

I decided to make my bag a bit smaller, since I don’t have use for a huge messenger bag.  Also, my strap is shorter.. but overall, it’s the same bag.

I’ll get to the ‘things I learned while making this bag’ section momentarily, but I do have to admit here that I LOVE the material on this one but never again will I use white for a bag.  I’m currently using it as my everyday purse, and although I scotchgarded it heavily..  it’s still picking up marks here and there.

On to Shara’s bag.  I remembered seeing this geisha material at my neighborhood quilting store and made a trip just to get it.  I needed an excuse for it, and this was perfect.  The pattern on it was big, and really to use something with a big pattern like this, you need a big bag.

I “fussy cut” (made sure the geishas were centered) both sides of this bag and that means wasting a little material, but it was worth it.  I didn’t want to have any lopped off geisha heads or anything ;)  I think I ended up making this one a little bigger than she wanted, but I couldn’t make myself cut off any of the ladies or their parasols!  Shara received the bag on Thursday and said she loved it.  I hope so, because it was difficult for me to part with this one!

Things I learned from this process:

• I get very frustrated when I’m trying to figure out a bag without using a store-bought pattern.  I find myself saying ‘I’m never doing this again!’ but then when I do it again, I have a ball.  I need to remember that the first one is always difficult, the ones following are always fun.

• I thought making the liner smaller than the exterior would save me a headache later but it totally created a headache instead.  The diameter around the top of both the lining and the exterior fabric MUST be the same.  I should have known this, and I’ll never make that mistake again.  On the prototype bag, I ended up shortening the exterior width four times, which meant taking off the handles, shortening at the seams, putting the handles back on.. seeing that it still didn’t fit, repeat, repeat, repeat.    So I’m noting it here: lining can be shorter, but must be the same width.

• I only used 1/2 a yard of material for the exterior of the big bag!  I’ve always bought a yard of material for new projects because I worry about my ability to get it right the first time.  Even with the fussy-cutting, I still have some pretty big scraps left.  This cuts the fabric cost down dramatically.

• This bag really should have a zippered-closure but I haven’t figured that out yet.  Mostly, I need heavier-duty zippers because although I have some that will work length-wise, they’re a little flimsy to be using as the main closure method on a bag.

That same day, I made Taleen’s Birdie Sling, which I can’t post about yet because I’ll be bringing it to her when I go to Denver at Christmas.  It was  a long sewing day and I was in hog heaven!