Tribute

For those that might be wondering, this is my second attempt at writing this post.  My first, beautifully-written, mind-blowing, prize-worthy post was the victim of the dreaded auto-save delete.  What follows does not read anything like the original -- it is merely a tribute.

So I have "new crafter's guilt."  What's that?  The undeniable urge -- no, need -- to make really awesome gifts for those you love the most in life because you've been making things for friends and charity, but not family.  So I found myself looking for a pattern to make for my little sister's birthday. 



Me and my little sister

It was a toss-up between Sara Lawson's Go-Go Bag and her Kennedy Bag.  In the end, the Kennedy bag won because of its larger size.  My sis is still in college, so I thought a bigger bag might be more practical. 

While my sister's (and mine) favorite color is purple, I just didn't find a print that stood out to me enough to go with a purple scheme.  I did find a fabric that jumped out at me at Hancock, so I went on my mini-shopping spree.  These before/after transformations still amaze me.  I mean, this bag was a pile of fabric and hardware beforehand!

So off I went.  Things I learned while making this bag:

• Trace Your Pattern Pieces:  I merely pinned the pieces to my fabric and cut around the pinned template.  This resulted in mismatched pieces.  This ended up being a huge deal on this bag, and I had to make some adjustments to compensate.

• Be Mindful of Your Fabric Choices:  As you can see, I chose directionally printed fabrics for my exterior and lining.  This made it a little trickier when cutting my pattern pieces.  If you want to avoid having to figure this out, go with an all-over print or solid instead.  It wasn't a huge deal, but it did slow down the cutting process a little.

• Use Your Walking Foot:  I got really good at removing and attaching my walking foot.  It was a lifesaver when it came to securing the bag hardware.  Check out these handles!

It was my walking foot that allowed me to get in as close as I did, but I had to be careful to not sew over the hardware itself.  I don't even want to begin to imagine what that would do to my machine.

• Pre-read the Pattern:  Sure, I scanned the pattern before starting it, but I didn't actually read it.  I followed some steps in blind faith because I didn't understand what was happening.  Had I read ahead, it would have made sense to me, and I would have been sewing much more confidently. 

• Test the bag: Before finishing off the bag completely, put some stuff in it!  Had I done that ahead of time, my sister would not be texting me to adjust the placement of the magnetic snap.  I now have the fun task of figuring out how to move it without undoing it all. 

Well, I'm sure I had a lot more insight last time I wrote this, but here you go! 

I need to start taking all of my photos out here!

Interior of bag

 

 

If you want to try making the Kennedy Bag, you download the free pattern courtesy of Sara Lawson here. 


Until next time, God Bless!