I hunkered down yesterday for a couple hours and got the inside of this bag finished. When I first started it, I thought I might make a tutorial for it, but now that I've completed it, I don't believe that will happen. This bag looks so innocent but really did challenge me.
I had two goals when I started the bag. First, I wanted to try to figure out how to measure correctly when making a pattern so I could embellish it as I made it instead of waiting until the bag was finished and THEN thinking, "oh!, maybe I should..." and end up having to sew through the lining to embellish the outside of the bag. I did accomplish this goal by only sewing minimal "stuff" to the outside of the bag.
The second goal, to figure out how to sew a zipper as an opening to a bag that I could not fudge on like I did here, and make the lining look nice. I did accomplish this as well, but could not write a tutorial for the "how" part at this point. There was a lot of repositioning of materials and the zipper before I eventually sewed it together. The only time I had to use my seam ripper was when I basted the lining to the inside of the zipper and had the lining turned around so the tag was at the front of the bag. Not too shabby.
Anyway, once I started the lining, I decided to put a row of three pockets in the back of the bag for cell phone, lip gloss and pens. At this point it becomes a little blurry because I think I must have gotten hit on the back of the head only minutes before I decided to do a divider zip pocket down the middle of the lining. You know how some people block out certain times in their past because it's just too painful to remember? All you have to do is spell the word z.i.p.p.e.r. and it sends me into convulsions. Not really, but the process of two "good" zippers in one bag required me to consume three energy drinks within a matter of hours.
One last thing that I learned which was NOT on my list of goals, was how to insert corded piping around a zipper. I'll save that story for another day...... or not.
~Penny
Looks fantastic Penny, i love your work.
Sarah x
Posted by: ssarah | 27 January 2008 at 08:53 AM
I am super impressed!
PS- I'd love a tutorial on those leather handles. You are so talented!!!
Posted by: Missy | 27 January 2008 at 04:19 PM
Penny,
That is just beautiful! The colors remind me of Spring. Very, very pretty!
jenn
Posted by: jenn | 27 January 2008 at 07:05 PM
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Posted by: Support | 28 January 2008 at 08:53 AM
You should be proud! It looks awesome. I think that lining really gave it a nice touch and that label is to die for!
Keep up the awesome work!
Posted by: Stacey | 28 January 2008 at 10:52 AM
Very pretty - nice work!
Posted by: Kate | 28 January 2008 at 03:04 PM