Welcome!
Hi and welcome to my blog. This is a new adventure for me, and I hope it will be as fun for you as it will be for me. I am planning on sharing my adventures in sewing here, with pictures of what I am making, some tutorials (because we all love tutorials!), and...well, honestly I'm not sure what else yet!
This is absolutely a work in progress, so I hope you will hang in there with me as I figure out this whole blogging thing.
To begin with, I thought I would start a series called "What I Made and What I Learned" where I show you what I have made and what I would do differently next time, or what new techniques I picked up along the way. I promise that nothing I will show you in this series will be perfect - lots of mistakes and lots of learning. So, let's get the show on the road!
What I Made
First up is my Airplane Travel Bag. My husband and I are heading off to Germany in a couple of weeks, and I wanted something to take with me that would be practical but also pretty. This bag is big, weighing in at 20" wide and 16"tall. It has an outer pocket with a flap held down by a swivel hook and a D-ring. The sides are cinched, also using swivel hooks and D-rings. I followed Sew Mama Sew's Super Online Sewing Match closely and fell in love with the look of Lisa Lam's It's a Cinch! tote bag. I like how the profile of the bag can change from square to rounded, so I tried to recreate that.
Here's the bag uncinched (which may or may not be a word):
Here's the inside:
There are four slip pockets (two on each side) and one zip pocket. Because, zip pockets! The two slip pockets you can't see are large enough for my iPad and a magazine. You can also see my matching travel tissue pack peeking out of the pocket there. I go through a lot of tissues on planes, so they might as well be pretty, too!
What I Learned
This bag was made totally on the fly, with only a little planning beforehand. I didn't have a pattern, and only a vague idea of what I wanted the finished profile to look like. I did keep my Bag Making Bible next to me to help me with details, but otherwise I just cut and sewed, cut some more, seam ripped and re-sewed. It was fun! But...
- I am terrible at visualizing sizes. 16"x20" doesn't sound large, but the reality of it is kind of colossal.
- I really need to work on my zippers. Or maybe I just need to figure out a new way of putting in a flush zip pocket. I always end up with terrible wrinkles on the sides. Not very professional looking.
- I need to find a new source for purse hardware. The selection at my local JoAnn Fabrics is limited and a little frustrating.
Otherwise, for this one, not a lot! So, yeah! I'm happy with this bag over all, I'll just have to use it to see if the size is a limiting factor. I have the fabric and hardware to make my daughter one of these for Christmas, and I may decide to make it smaller.
Well, thanks for stopping by. I have another couple of bags that I have made recently that I will post about soon. Also, some quilts and other fun things. Come back and see me!
