Covered in Threadmalaka’s adventure in sewing

I had planned on making my Mother-in-Law a purse for her birthday, which is today - Jan 2.  What I didn’t realize was that from Christmas until today my schedule was jam packed!  I actually wanted to make her a new pattern, but because that takes so much extra time, I made her the Butterick 5109 Large Bags - B style which I’ve already made twice before.

I carried this bag, so I knew what I did and didn’t like about it.  I knew it needed a few more modifications.  The second time I made it, I added more interfacing which gave it a more solid form, which I loved.  I didn’t love that it was so hard to sew in the gussets because of the heavyweight firm interfacing.  This time, I used 2 layers of lightweight interfacing on the exterior and a medium-weight on the interior.  It has the perfect amount of firmness and was easy to sew!

Because of the ‘facing’ on the interior (the top of the interior), the pockets are too low inside the bag.  This is fine for almost everything, but I wanted my cell phone pocket to me more accessible. I winged it and added a little bitty pocket on the facing interior.  I think next time I do this, I’ll make it a little bigger because it fits my phone perfectly but I’d bet there are some out there that won’t fit in it.

The gussets seemed too small.  I wanted the bag to big a bit wider at the bottom, thus I modified that pattern piece to be almost twice as wide as the original.  I also have this issue where I’m constantly scared that my bag is going to get dirty because it’s fabric.  To solve that, I used a solid cotton/poly blend on the gusset/botton.  It looks awesome! Hard to take a picture of, but it adds a bit of interest while serving the right purpose.

I admit, I did start to use red on the interior of this bag.. again! I changed it up to blue because my MIL seems to love blue and I’ve done the b&w + red so many times I’m sick of looking at it.  People seemed to respond well to my other b&w + blue Hobo Bag so I did it again.

I’m really loving this cotton/polyester blend lining material (black) that I’m using.  It seems so professional, but it’s so much cheaper than a 100% cotton.  I tried cheap 100% cotton and every piece of thread, lint, and hair stuck to it which made my bags look so ratty.  Nothing sticks to the cotton/poly blend, and it’s so smooth.  I AM having trouble sewing with it when it’s layered up (like for the handle) but I think that’s just not knowing what tools to use.  I emailed my sewing instructor about it, lets hope she has some good ideas and doesn’t just tell me that my machine sucks

Anyway, I LOVE this bag.  It’s my new favorite.  Do I say that every time?  Perhaps.  I figured I have to love them or else they’re no fun to make.

I bought a ton of material the other day, I think it’s time to start making inventory for my etsy store.  Well, my non-existant etsy store at the moment, but it’s coming.. I think.