But it might get there any moment 😉 .
Last week I got Lisa Lam’s “Bible of Handbagmaking” and fell totally in love with the “Oversized Fashionista” Bag. I wanted to make it straight away and dived right in at the weekend. And I was successful up to a certain point.
The inner part of the bag turned out very well. The pattern only calls for a zipper pocket.
But because I love well organized bags I made a few extra pockets for phone, pens, iPod and the like on the other side of the lining. I realized that I cut them too generously and had to add a seam to prevent the pens from disappearing completely.
On to the flap. This also worked out well and looks great. I love how the lightweight faux fur looks together with the hot pink lining.
But then came the part where I had to sew through 12 layers of fabric, underlining and very stiff interfacing to attach the handle loops. My Brother machine refused to do it, my Toyota broke 2 needles and the Featherweight wouldn’t even start – the belt just slipped. No chance.
I hopped in the car, drove to the next DIY store and bought rivets and tools for attaching them. Home again. Test riveting on scrap pieces. Riveting pliers is bend and ruined, rivet is also bend, scratchy and not sticking together. Invented totally new swear words and kicked back in the next corner. My dear inhouse prince gave it another try with similar results.
I went to the local cobbler to ask if he could do the riveting. Supposedly he can put rivets in “anything”. Well, we’ll see, I’ll be taking the bag to him next Friday, it can’t get any worse than it already is 😉 .
So, working with rather thick fabric PLUS heavy interfacing is not a project for regular sewing machines, obviously, and my leo bag is on standby until after our vacation.
But since my machines were already loaded with sturdy needles I squeezed in some “utility sewing”: I made a bag for 2 foldable camping cupboards.
The fabric is lightweight cotton poplin, underlined with an ugly old fleece blanket and I am quite happy how the bag turned out. Everything is very neat and the 3 layers poplin – fleece – poplin feel very soft. So the cupboards get a cozy and well padded new home. There is a zipper closure over the complete top. I am very proud of the bag, it’s almost a waste to stow it away in the garage 50 weeks a year, but on the other hand, sewing it was a nice practice. 🙂 .
Funny thing: once I start learning a new technique, like recently underlining, all sorts of projects are coming my way where I can use it. Must be the subconscious, I probably wouldn’t have thought of underlining the bag if I hadn’t done it recently on other things as well. 😉 .