For the love of
Alexander Henry for one. This is the bag my friend wanted for her mum. My lovely husband scoured Purl for this fabric after spying a fat quarter in a bowl. I think he loved it more than me. Then my friend said that her mum liked “all reds. And if you have anything with butterflies that would be brilliant.”
Bombs went off in my head.
But lookit. Sooo pretty. And she is such a good friend I could never have pretended I didn’t have anything remotely red with butterflies on it. Could I?
No.
Mind you, if her mum doesn’t like it I’ll set bombs off in her head, and see how she likes it.
(But all is not lost...)
I have mostly done cleaning today, with marigolds, and shuffling about the house feeling snotty and a bit sorry for myself. A friend phoned around teatime and pointed out that it was almost Christmas and that therefore I should be lying about consuming quantities of chocolate.
So I tried it, and to be honest, I just feel a little bit sick. Could it be that chocolate doesn’t sure everything?!
Is that Simon and Garfunkel I hear?
There she is – finished! I meant to post pictures yesterday but everything went a bit ARGH so I didn’t. In fact, things are still a bit ARGH, because I’m spending all my time making things for other people’s present giving activities and doing nothing towards my own present giving activities.
So if you know me – I’m sorry but you just weren’t good enough this year so you’re not getting anything.
That’ll show ‘em.
I like this basket a lot. It’s got all the recent improvements, such as the button on the tab, which is now curved, and the clippy line inside. I love improving things by making them over again. I did the same with the linen bag you may remember, and one of the ones i made this week turned out just so:
The changes were quite basic – I made it fatter, just by adding an inch to the linen, but it means it’s much easier to actually get inside the thing, which I do think is key in a bag. It also carries A4, which to me is a big thing. Is that important to anyone except me? It takes a nice fat magazine anyway, and some days we’re all glad of that. I’ve also added a magnetic snap because I hate a bag that gapes.
It should still carry three bottles of wine as easily as my first one did though, so no need to improve on that (unless it can now fit four…)
A note on the title: Simon and Garfunkel is my sewing music. Actually strictly speaking it starts with Sean Paul, (which i have a feeling I shouldn’t like, but I do, because a part of me wants to feel at home in a jamaican dance hall) then there are a couple of Shakira songs, but then it’s into a long stretch of S&G. I sing the whole time and know it’s time for a break when I get to Sly and the Family Stone. My neighbours must hate me.)
I’m attempting to leave the house and do some Christmas today so wish me luck – it’s freezing out there!
Loving Linen
Here is the little beauty I finished for the weekend. Sturdy enough to carry home three bottles of merlot! Apparently merlot is only now starting to recover from the dip in sales caused by Sideways, which must be a strange weight to bear for the writer. (I won’t spoil it: if you haven’t seen the film you must – it’s very funny indeed, and the merlot line is terrific. Unless you’re a wine maker obviously.)
The three bottles (actually they were four) were for a dinner party I had last night. I made Nigella’s Tunisian Friday night feast for 8 (from Feast
Hoping you’ve all had delightful weekends!
I want to be a cowgirl
This was the fruit of my labour yesterday. Although it wasn’t just yesterday: there were several days of thinking and planning and cutting and humming and harring. My brief was: pink, horses, ballerinas. I love it that children are so uncomplicated. They know exactly what they like and aren’t afraid to say, because they aren’t yet bothered about fitting in with everyone else.
The fabric was from Moda, and the more I looked at it the more I loved it. The cowgirl looks so happy on her horse. At some point I decided that the best thing to do would be piping across the top to give it structure. Had I ever done piping before? No – but you know what? It was actually easy as pie, and now I want to pipe everything. (Thanks to Lisa for the tutorial and Florence for reassuring me that it would be easy.)
The other new thing I used was double sided fusible fleece – yes, I want to fleece everything now too. I used it for the lining, with the same plain pink cotton on both sides, which really helped disguise the thickness of the piping at the seams, and gave it a pleasing puffy feel. I also used it in the handles, which gives them more structure than plain interfacing.
Inside is a slip pocket, made from cowgirl fabric, and a clippy line, so that I could attach a little coin purse. I love making coin purses because they’re so useful, so fast to put together, and sooo cute.
It’s the little girl’s birthday tomorrow, so I hope she enjoys it.
How Not To Make A Birthday Bag
My mum always called me ‘last minute Larry’. I’ve spent my whole life trying to prove her wrong, but you know how it is with mothers – they never are.
The bag was troublesome. For a start it was from a real pattern, a Butterick. You know how it is with commercial bag patterns – always too many bits to cut out. I spent about an hour searching through the four pieces of tissue for the right pieces for the right bag. It was obviously too much to ask that with four bags in the envelope and four pieces of pattern tissue that there could be one bag per sheet…
Cutting out wasn’t straightforward either: the main piece of fabric was chosen by my friend from my stash and it’s upholstery fabric that I used to cover a chair. After I’d cut out the main panels there wasn’t anywhere quite tall enough for the side panels. I think it was about here that I started to utter the sewing prayer, which isn’t so much a prayer as a lot of swear words said sotto voce.
The contrast band was attached without too much fuss aside from not looking quite long enough on one side. If I thought it wouldn’t matter I was wrong. The sides were sewn together to make a tube and the bottom had to be sewn on in one piece. The big bunches of fabric at the seams darn near killed me, my machine and every needle I had. So, sighing heavily when it was done, I turned it inside out and found the contrast band on one side flapping, unattached to the bottom of the bag. Unpick, restitch, break another needle.
Better than that – break for tea. I came back upstairs to find this:
It’s a good job my friend loves cats.
I decided that the only way I’d get it finished would be to sew to Jane Austen. I often do this when I’m sewing, as long as it’s a dvd I know well. I’ll often stop to look at a favourite scene, and always tune in for the weeping at the end. This time I chose Persuasion , which is fantastic, and so much better than the recent ITV version, with Anne running about Bath at the end, which she just bloody well wouldn’t be. Also I fancy Ciaran Hinds a lot. Is it wrong? Who knows. Where was I?
Stitching the lining! Simple. Easy. Right up until you notice you’ve attached one of the panels backwards. I swear I was doing more sewing with my seam ripper. Deterred, but not to be beaten I carried on, attaching the lining finally, and then turning everything right way out to do the top stitching. Except the material was so thick at the seams it just didn’t fit under the presser foot so there are gaps.
All in all this was one of the most frustrating projects I’ve ever done. If she doesn’t carry all of her things in it for the rest of her life ... Mind you, I do rather like it now that it’s done.
ABC
Okay so, part of the reason I wanted to finish the bag was so that I could take it to Hay. But the other reason was so that I could enter it in the Amy Butler Contest! (I am in awe of all the lovely weekender bags.)
First things first – scoot over to Lisa’s handblog and let her know you want to enter. Or you can’t win. Not that it’s the winning that counts but if you’re going to be in a contest you might as well be in it.
It's done!
Sewing machine problems notwithstanding, the bag is done. I can relax now and go to Hay with my new bag on my arm.
In the end I used a small amount of boning between the handles, which keeps the main opening in shape – something that bugs me about bags sometimes. But I didn’t use a bag bottom in the end, partly because I didn’t have one long enough! If it all comes apart I’ll have learnt a good lesson.
The topstitching isn’t really as neat as I would have liked, and that’s possibly down to not having too much time and praying that the machine would make it.
And here is the interior, with the slip pocket for my mobile phone (I have no idea why – I never hear it ring most of the time and the rest of the time it has no battery). I’ve also attached a clip, because I think they’re so useful. Now if only I had enough time to make the little coin purse I want to attach to it…
Let's Imagine
...that the bag is finished, and that my sewing machine isn’t doing really weird things like missing out seven stitches in a row and eating its own thread.
So a number of things:
- Where to attach the boning? I’m currently leaning towards only the section between the handles to keep some movement in the sides, especially since I’m going to be using a bottom. Any other suggestions welcome.
- I think I’d rather attach the tabs inbetween the lining and exterior rather than sew them on after the thing is together. Make tabs now in other words.
- I may need to get my sewing machine serviced PDQ – anyone know where I can get that done in London? South London preferably…
- It’s perfectly okay to order pizza for supper, isn’t it?
Exterior completed
So, now I have more of an idea of the shape and finished size. I’m going to have to think about whether I use the boning or a bag bottom, or just let it flop.
Construction
Main panels attached to the bag bottom.
