Weekender Bag, v. 3.0

How many times am I going to make this bag? As many as it takes to get it out of my system, I guess. While I was making my mom's bag, I thought that her friend Pat would probably want one, too. Less than a month later, I get a call from my mother asking me if I would make Pat one for her birthday. I love Pat. She's crazy and carries an eye patch in her purse and performed our wedding ceremony.

I started more than a month in advance, but of course I let it languish until two days before I had to deliver it. When I picked it back up, I was tired and not feeling well, and the instructions didn't make any sense at all even though I'd already made the bag twice before. There was a lot of ripping of stitches that night.

It all worked out in the end. Phew.

The main fabric is a Kaffe Fasset home dec print, and the binding and lining is actually from a home dec fabric store. I never even considered getting bag fabric there, but man, it can be a lot cheaper than getting fabric from the quilt store. A lot more options, too.

I made the straps four inches longer for over-the-shoulder ease, and instead of using thin interfacing for building the bottom panel, I used some scrap quilt batting. Genius! Much easier to wrangle and it provides a little more stability. But really, I didn't feel like looking for interfacing that night, so batting it was.

Is this my favorite one yet? I'm not sure. I do love the fabric, and the more times I make it, the easier it gets. I love my original, and I fixed the straps before our trip last week so I could sling it around the airport. (I also noticed that I had only basted in the lining, which was quickly becoming a hot mess. I sewed that bad boy in by hand on Thursday night, and I used such stiff canvas for both the lining and bag that my thumb was numb for three days afterward.) But there are places where I didn't catch the seam allowance, and it's maybe starting to show a little wear. And I sure do have a lot of scraps left over...

Weekender Bag, second edition

I know I swore I would never make this bag again, but I have a short memory when it comes to painful crafts. (See: felting.) My mom had always admired my Weekender Bag, and I got this crazy idea last fall that this would be a perfect birthday gift. I started a week before her birthday. Nine months of thinking about it and then I actually sit down to make it. I need to work on that.

I'm happy to say that this time was much, much easier than the first.

I  found the fabric at Pink Chalk Studios many, many months ago, and made a separate order for the lining and binding. It's home dec fabric, so not as stiff and thick as the canvas I used to make mine, so it was a little easier to sew through.

Like I said, the whole process was a lot easier this time. I had absolutely no problem with the piping - it's a snap to make. I think they key was not pinning anything. Just sew slowly and line up your edges as you go. You'll be a lot happier that way. I did the same thing when I added the piping to the bag - no pins. Nothing bunched up or ended up getting pushed out of place.

I did make a few little modifications. I lengthed the straps by 2" each, to make it easier to slip over your shoulder, and I widened them by 1" (which, when folded over like in the pattern, only widens the strap by 1/2"). I sewed the entire strap to the front panel instead of just securing it with two little lines of stitches like the pattern says. In fact, one of the straps on my bag came off as soon as we reached my parents' house. It was apparently jealous.

So it turned out well. I managed to finish it with a day to spare, and I think she really liked it. It'll be good for traveling with her girlfriends and her next trip to Italy.

Of course, it won't be nearly as much fun without these two idiots along for the ride:

Too close for comfort

Thanks for all of your nice comments about my Weekender Bag! I really like it, too. I have no idea what I'm going to use it for - maybe Gracie will fit into it. (Seriously, this thing is huge.) I actually won a contest over at U-Handbag just because I submitted a picture of it to a Flickr pool and my prize is another Amy Butler pattern. I decided to make life just a little bit harder and make the accompanying Sophia bag. I seem to enjoy all the punishment Amy Butler has to dole out to me.

My birthday is in approximately six weeks. I know I won't finish the whole list, and that's okay, but there are a few things that I think can still be finished.

26 things to do while I'm 26

1. Finish Rogue
2. Finish Nordic Mittens
3. Start my quest to make everything in Martha's baking book. 5/20/07
4. Finish the wedding quilt.
5. Finish the triangle quilt.
6. Make at least one art quilt. Finished 9/29/07, a first anniversary present for Justin.
7. Make my own pasta. 11/18/07
8. Teach Gracie how to swim. 7/29/07
9. Take Gracie on a hike.
10. Ride bikes with Justin.
11. Write a short story. 7/30/07
12. Sew the grey and pink fleece coat.
13. Make Amy Butler's Weekend Bag.
14. Teach Gracie how to lay down. 2/15/07 -
15. Install some sort of non-shanty-type window coverings in the bedroom.
16. Design and knit my Weasley sweater.
17. Pay off credit card. 2/15/07
18. Pay off eye surgery. 10/31/07
19. Organize closet. Sometime in March
20. Throw Gracie a birthday party. 7/7/07
21. Make Elizabeth Zimmerman's modified yoke/raglan/whatever sweater.
22. Sew another skirt. Maybe two.
23. MODIFIED - Plant a vegetable garden has become Plant a Rain Garden 5/5/07
24. Knit/Spin 10,000 yards of yarn so I can buy Hanne Falkenberg's Mermaid kit.
25. Finishing Jennifer's sweater yarn.
26. Finish all 15 UFOs (in the sidebar)

Where to start? At the end.

I tell you this: never again.

Why yes, that's a (finished-but-not) Weekender Bag. Why yes, I did finish sewing in the lining by hand this morning. Why yes, this is my greatest artistic accomplishment of 2007.

I can't believe I actually finished it. Or almost finished it. I still need to make the false bottom, which I will get to tonight or tomorrow night. (And trust me, it hardly needs a false bottom - this thing stands up like a tense soldier.)

Where to start? This is bar none the most difficult, challenging, makes-me-spit-in-anger project I've ever attempted. You start by making your own cording, which is daunting for a not-so-confident sewer. (Note: if I were to do this again, which I won't, I would make the cord binding a little wider than the pattern specifies since you do so much basting and seaming and basting again. Give yourself some room.) Then you attach Timtex (or its Joann counterpart) to everything that isn't nailed down. The actual construction of the bag is fascinating, especially how the side pockets are attached.

For me, the hardest part was getting past my mental blocks. There was a lot of walking away during the eight months I worked on this on and off. I finally hunkered down Saturday night, most of the day on Sunday and last night to get it finished. I also had difficulty figuring out how to get the lining together. My interior fabric doesn't have a right or a wrong side, so that made things doubly confusing. Putting the outside together is actually pretty easy because everything is so stiff and you can actually see the form of the bag as you're pinning. Not the case with the lining.

There are definitely some major flaws, but I'm okay with that. I did it all on my own and that's all that matters.

Arm of Doom: 87 million and one

Ugh. My elbow has given in to the Arm of Doom's master plan, and I'm pretty much worthless now. I can't even use a pen, so crosswords are out. I'm just so bored.

Some pretty fabrics to alleviate the hurt:

For small, box-like zippered bags. I was going to try to make some to sell at Justin's work's craft fair, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Fabric for Amy Butler's Weekend Bag. This will be the hardest sewing project to date, and I'm not even finished cutting the fabric. The black and white is for the outside, the red for the inside, handles and piping. I'm going to do my best to take my time and go slowly, because I want to sew something correctly for once.

Sorry for the down-trodden post. I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself until I go to see the orthopedist in a week. I'm hoping he'll just volunteer to cut off my arm and we'll be done with the whole thing.