Finally got a chance to upload some photos. This is one of the weirdest projects I ever did. I've never done so much preparation! Usually I just jump straight in. But for this I very carefully traced all the pieces, I marked everything that needed marked, ironed on all the interfacing, ticked off all the pieces on the pattern sheet once they were ready. I even used pins!!! When I actually got down to sewing it all came together very fast. Apart from the gusset part. There wasn't a pattern piece for that. Just measurements for the piece, but i think they must have been wrong. There was no way the piece i cut could fit anywhere on the bag. The instructions really weren't clear. It looked from the drawing that there were gussets on both sides, but not the bottom, but there was no mention of sewing up the bottom part. So I just made it up as I went along.
Front of the bag: I wish I'd put the panel on then interfaced the whole front, instead of just the corduroy.
Don't look too hard at the zippered pocket! It's actually the best zip I've done, but it's still far from perfect. I'm not sure if the fabric I used for the pocket inner matches that well, but it's inside the pocket, so it won't be seen.
Another view of the inside.
Front of the bag: I wish I'd put the panel on then interfaced the whole front, instead of just the corduroy.
The back of the bag.
Inside. I put a little label under the zippered pocket. I also only had a FQ of the print fabric, so I had to use cord for the inner gusset part.
Inside. I put a little label under the zippered pocket. I also only had a FQ of the print fabric, so I had to use cord for the inner gusset part.
Don't look too hard at the zippered pocket! It's actually the best zip I've done, but it's still far from perfect. I'm not sure if the fabric I used for the pocket inner matches that well, but it's inside the pocket, so it won't be seen.
Another view of the inside.
I put some stuff in it too. A 2009 calendar and a postcard too.
I'm very nervous about it now. I hope it gets there ok and that my swap partner likes it. Some things I learned about doing a swap are:
1) Use fabric you have in your stash. Don't order from Japan! It takes too long to get here.
2) Get your notions and stuff locally. I ordered my bag handles online and one was damaged when it arrived. They're really quite sturdy plastic though. The post office must have run over them or something to break them! Anyway, I had to wait on a replacement. Afterwards I found out that my local shop had handles in stock!
3) Don't lose your your dies from your die set! I put one snap on then couldn't find the other die to put the other one on. I spent a whole DAY looking for it! S found it for me :-)
4) Don't sign up to a swap when you know you are going to be doing something ridiculous - like trying to write a 50k word novel in 30 days. I'm not very good at balancing what needs to be done.
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