Self Drafted Tote

Somebody needs to use a lint roller before taking pictures.

Now that I've made a couple of bags I thought I would try my hand at making a simple one myself (as both bags are too huge to carry as a purse).  I had an amazing purse that I bought for a trip to Italy some years back, it was ugly but GIANT, so I could carry all the normal things, a bottle of water, a book, a hex paper piecing kit, and still throw in whatever else I might need.  It got splattered with painty water a few weeks ago and I had to get rid of it.

My dress form was kind enough to model the tote for me so I could take some pictures (although she did bitch that I haven't finished the shirt she's wearing yet).  I think the storage inside is just about right, with one zipper pocket and two interior pockets for my keys and compact.  I put an exterior pocket on it for my phone and it was nice to be able to customize it to just the right size, deep enough so it doesn't peek out and get snatched by a crazed phone thief, but not so deep I'm digging for it if it rings.

lining, it stands up on it's own, yay!

Eventually I'll have the perfect bag, but for the moment, this is a great general tote. The only thing I don't love about this is that the fabric next to the zipper should be stiffer, but I made it right after the Aeroplane bag & before I vowed to the heavens above to never skimp on the proper interfacing again. 

AND I should not be lazy, I should've switched my black thread out for something peachy to topstitch the interior zipper. Other than that, the only thing I would change is to insert some elastic or an elasticized pocket along one edge to slip my water bottle in so it can be upright instead of lying flat at the bottom.

Next on my table is a more purse shaped purse, we'll see how that goes, then I'll get back to other people's patterns, cause there are less headaches that way ;)

Aeroplane Bag, ready for flight!

Phew, it is done, and I got to use a cheesy title!  I'm entering this into the Sew Sweetness Bag Contest just for fun.  Sara has good complete directions, and I've added her book to my shopping list, since I have faith it will be just as good as her pdf patterns.

There were two patchwork panels I was going to use to make yet another Noodlehead open wide pouch, but co-opted them for this and just added to them.

I'd ordered half a yard of Essex Yarn dyed linen in black from fabric.com, and lo and behold, I got the end of the bolt (they put a little sticker on it that says "JACKPOT - you got the end of the bolt") and I got almost a full yard of it, plenty for the straps and bottom.

For the lining I used Serenade Moon Light from Art Gallery's Poetica line.  It was already the center of one of my patchwork blocks & while conflicted about having a dark interior, I rarely have enough of anything to accomplish something this fabric consuming, so just used interior white zippers.  

I still have a lot of work to do on figuring out interfacing.  This lacks the stiffness in the sides that I'd like.  Silly me, Sara has a great post about interfacing and bags right here - which I forgot about until I started writing this post.  I tend to buy few yards of different interfacing here and there and can't keep track of which is which so I winged it. Joann's is having a half off interfacing sale right now so I'm going to get bolts of the most needed ones so I don't run into any confusion again.

There were some mishaps along the way, but they were pretty much just user error.  I did remove my sewn in backwards zipper and put it in correctly like a good girl, although I don't think its as nicely centered as it should be there in the picture.  I LOVE how when I unzip it it stays open, this will make it a great bag to carry crafting stuff around in and not have to root around for things. I'll either be making this again or reducing the pattern by 50% to make a handbag from..maybe both :D

Aeroplane Bag, in progress.

I had been ignoring the Sew Sweetness Bag contest happening over at Sew Mama Sew! because I have so many things I am working on with a Christmas deadline, and it's got a December 13th deadline.  Considering I've had her pattern for a wallet printed out for a month waiting, I figured if I couldn't get around to making that, a bag was out of the question.

DOH!!!

NEVERTHELESS, I don't make sense, so I got started on her Aeroplane pattern.  I'm happy with how it's turning out, and as I also did the Amy Butler Weekender SAL, felt a bit better about making another large bag, and prepared to keep it from being another floppy mess.

basted interior pocket on top, pinned on bottom

Right now I'm at a bit of a stall, because I did a stupid thing.  I'd been going off my printout of the PDF, which wasn't great quality, so without a clear picture (and her pictures ARE great, I just guess it's time for a new printer) sewed my zipper in upside down on the main panel.

Instead of stopping and checking before sewing the lining on, I sewed that on too and now have a choice.  I can try to do this, and mess with the zipper, or I can rip the whole thing out.  I will probably rip the whole thing out, but ugh!  I am taking a break for a couple days and working on other things.

I also liked sewing in the zippered pockets the way they were set up, and I have a tip if you're having problems, as it was difficult to pin through the layers of fabric and zipper and hold it in place.  I used pins for the first one, then grabbed a bit of 505 adhesive spray basting for the second one.  I'm sure you can see even with my less than awesome photography skills, the difference in the picture, the pinned one is all ripply, and the basted one stayed nice and flat.