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.

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 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!

So the story goes something like this.. I made the Amy Butler Birdie Sling for my sister Jameela, and then my sister Elizabeth got upset (in a non-upset sisterly kinda way) that I hadn’t made her a bag yet.  The issue here is that Jameela saw the purse she wanted and I bought the pattern and made it.  I have NO IDEA what kind or size Elizabeth would want.  I improvised.

I took the Birdie Sling pattern and scaled it down dramatically.  Seriously, this bag is likely 1/4th the size of the original pattern.  I loved it so much that I asked Tia what I should do.. keep it or give it to Elizabeth?  I showed her a picture and she said SHE wanted it.  Oh goodness.  I stomped back upstairs and made 2 more, using the same pattern.  One for me, one for Tia.  The one for Tia looks -exactly- like the one I made for Elizabeth.  I used a different fabric on mine — I was sick of looking at that same fabric and I didn’t want to be twinkies with either of them.

This is my blog so I don’t need to make a long story short — I’m keeping it long!  Elizabeth got here and claimed to love the one I made for her but wanted to learn how to make one for herself.  She also LOVED the material I used for Jameela’s bag… so we trucked on over to HoneyBee Quilt Store on Black Friday and bought up some more material.  I’m glad she appreciated the quilt store fabrics as much as I did.  We literally sewed for 2 days straight, taking breaks to eat and buy more supplies.  It was fun, but I was left with a HUGE mess in my sewing room.

Oh I need to make a note here about the quilt store.  They have those frequent buyer punch card thingies, and after something like 15 punches (I think you get a punch for every yard of full-priced fabric you purchase) you get $25 in store credit.  I had about 1/2 of my card punched, then adding what I bought, plus what my sister bought, I was only a few punches away from filling the card.  This nice lady who was also shopping there, from out of town, asked the sales clerk if she could put her punches on my card since she lives out of town.  They agreed and she bought nearly $200 worth of material!  This filled up my current punch card and half of another.  I wanted to kiss the stranger but I think just chatting with her about quilting was enough to make her day

We also purchased another Amy Butler pattern, her Madison bags.  We both started one but I haven’t finished mine.  She took her supplies back to Houston, so I’m not sure if she’s finished it either.  Overall, it was nice to have someone to sew with, but at the same time.. it’s nice to know where everything is.  When someone else is using the scissors, seam rippers, etc.. they get lost in the mess!

Right now I have so many works in progress: Nico’s quilt, my Civil War Crossings quilt, and the Madison bag.  Of course, I’m supposed to make another Birdie Sling for my brother-in-law’s cousin, by Christmas.. and I promised a purse to my mother-in-law as well.  Oh yeah, I forgot about Shara’s shoulder bag.. ahhh!!!  I guess it’s good that all of our TV shows are ending for the season, I have a lot of work to do!

I washed my charm pack quilt, scared to death it would be ruined when it came out of the dryer because I didn’t pre-wash and I used cheap fabric for the sashing.  Nothing bled, and nothing shrank! It’s a soft, comfy, washed quilt now.  Hooray!  I feel fairly confident that I don’t need to pre-wash my fabrics now, which makes a huge difference.  The cheap white sashing IS a little more see-through than I’d like, so I’ll upgrade that next time I make a quilt with a lot of white in it.

I modified the Amy Butler Birdie Sling pattern to make a smaller bag with a different strap/band for my other sister.  I can’t post pictures because she might see it, and it’s a suprise until she gets here next week.  I’m in love with it though, I think I might have to make a couple more out of the same fabrics.

I also used regular quilter’s cotton for that bag instead of super high quality quilting store fabric.  It turned out just as good, although it tried to fray a little more during the process.  I figure I back everything with so much interfacing, if I can get away with $5.99/yd instead of $9/yd, I can save a lot of money… and it’ll still feel like heavyweight fabric.

I love hobo bags.  I’m not really sure what constitutes calling a purse a “hobo bag” because I’ve seen them in all sizes, but I always seem to like them.  I think it has something to do with the strap length.   One day I started searching around for an easy purse pattern, and I kept stumbling upon the same one: J Caroline’s Hobo Bag Tutorial.

Aimee says I’m an “offroader” because I’ll make anything, unsupervised.  She likes to have someone teach her how to make things.  I will admit, she wastes a lot less material than I do ;)  My sewing teacher told me that the definition of creativity is when you are the student AND the teacher.  Thanks, Ann!! That made me feel creative.  My mom will agree that I’m creative, but I think that creative is quite possible the furthest description of me.  Who knows, maybe times are changing?

Anyway, this hobo bag tutorial came with a printable pattern.  I printed it, taped it together, and realized it’s way bigger than I need.  Besides it called for yards of fabric, and I only had half-yards.  I cut it down and ended up with this baby.

I added a few things to it: an interior pocket, an interior zip pocket, and a snap closure.  I know, I’m wild and crazy!

I learned a ton, again.  I should have used heavier interfacing, but I had used all my super firm with the box bags.  I need to stock up on that stuff, it makes a huge difference when making bags.

I also learned that purse hardware is expensive! The magnetic snaps are $4 EACH! The rings are the same, but I stole these off an old purse. Knowing that I’m going to be making lots more of these, I went to ebay and started looking around.

I hit the jackpot. Overseas sellers pimping out wholesale purse hardware. I picked up a bunch of little tiny clasps for keyfobs inside of purses, a ton of o-rings, and 25 pairs of magnetic snaps. It was ridiculously cheap (I think around $50 for all of it, including shipping from Korea) and it got here within a week and a half.  I’m well stocked, for now.

Once the sewing room was set up adequately,  I went to Joann’s and picked up a few supplies.  Random fabrics, snaps, thread.  New scissors because we all know what happens when husbands get a hold of our good fabric scissors.. they want to use them to cut pipe, or something equally as damaging.

I started looking online for purse or bag tutorials, because I thought that would be something simple to start with.  There are soo many cute bags on etsy, but they’re way out of my skill level at this point.   I found a tutorial for a little coin/credit card/id pouch on splityarn’s blog. I made a bunch of those suckers.  I had no use for them, but they taught me some good beginner skills.  Changing the size and closure makes for good ipod/phone/misc device holder, especially when using a nice fleece for the inerior.

Right after I looked up a bunch of zipper tutorials and was about to teach myself how to do them without fear, Aimee suggested we take the “Zippers 5 Ways” class from Ann at Austin Stitching Studio.  I was in, and I took along my Mother-in-Law who recently moved to town and wants to pick sewing back up, too.  We had fun in class and learned a LOT about zippers.  Zipper fear, completely erased for $30. Ok, zipper fear mostly erased.

Zippers in hand, I went searching for some ideas online.  I found a tutorial for a box bag on dragoknit’s blog.  It took me a couple of hours to figure it out, but when I did, I emerged from the mess with this:

box bag

I ran down the street to show Aimee and she was thoroughly impressed with the use of my new knowledge.  After uploading it to flickr, a friend commented that she needed a new makeup bag.  I was wondering what I was going to do with these bags after I made them — the perfect excuse, make them for other people!

fun with box bags