Why hello friends... I told you that this blog would go slightly in a different direction.. sorry for those of your who were expecting food :(... I've been sewing a lot lately.. A big THANK YOU to pinterest for the inspirations, and my love of creating things... So here's a simple project... but here's my story behind it.. I'll just put this out, I know this is random buuuttt.. -- don't go toting around purses in Vietnam....yes, the tour books say that.... and the first thing you hear from your hotel is to be careful of your belongings... and for the most part I listened...for the days that I didn't... it was just new stories to add to the book. Poo. I don't even know how people carry their money... since most of my clothes don't have pockets, I confidently walked around with 0 money only relying on the people with pockets... I'll figure out a nifty way next time I'm in those areas... still boggles my mind what happened...guess that's just one of life's great mysteries...
I've always been a bit on edge living in this town especially going to stores since many people just hang out in parking lots (???)... and since I'm still not working yet, I do run errands around here a bit... most of the time, I just slip my credit card into my pocket... and go... many days.. phoneless. I've decided to make a simple casual bag for those errands... so I can put in a water bottle.. stash my purchases... and not bring attention to the bag I'm carrying...I wanted something with a bit of structure even when almost empty ... most of my other totes look so sad and floppy with just my keys and cards..I found this wonderful tutorial and pattern and had to make it ASAP. It was surprising how easy it was to assemble and how beautiful it looked afterwards. It sits on a table without support! I'm not too thrilled about the print selection I chose (love the purple/blue combo though!) and may just go buy a new set of fabric and make a new bag.... I think it'll eventually just turn into my lunch tote...I'll probably make custom inserts for my drinks so they don't topple.. it's the perfect size for my water bottle, coffee tumbler, and all the snacks and meal that I'll need to get me through the day...I realized I bring a lot of food when working... that's going to be a struggle for me to be creative with snacks...
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| Printed/pieced together the pattern |
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| 30 inches of fusible interfacing fit all this perfectly (just not the straps, I used a thinner interface material for that) |
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| Pin the pleats first then cut the pattern on white/grey fabric, unpin, and cut same shape for interface, repin together, press well with a hot iron for clean pleats! |
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| Pin away!! |
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| Don't have any pics for the pocket, but the tutorial on the link BELOW has a great step/step, placed my phone into the pocket and pinned to desired size, then stitched a line to make the pocket, REMEMBER PLACE THE POCKET INSIDE! THIS PIECE WILL NOT BE INVERTED!!! |
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| After sewing, pinch the corner and sew in around 2-3 inches ( same on each side) snip off corners, invert, and tada... it sits and has nice corners!! |
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| straps! |
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| **MISTAKE**: PIN ON ONE SIDE AND ONE DIRECTION!!! |
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| Have the pretty blue lining peek through a bit when opened :) |
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| Bottom of the bag ( already got it dirty : / ) |
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| Hanging tote, lighting was bad, but this purple is a deep violet |
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| The inside - should have ironed it out a bit.. but here are the pockets! |
http://www.iammommahearmeroar.net/2011/09/tohoku-tote.html
Color inspiration -
- I looked up 2013 Fall color trends on Neiman Marcus.. "Violet Femmes" and I've been seeing more of this blue around.. love the combo!
Materials - (I'm not a fan of really over estimating my cuts... but was too lazy to figure it out with the pattern that I printed so I went off of her tutorial... I did change some measurements!!!)
Changes to tutorial -
- did not put interface on lining, bag was thick enough, and I don't like stiff polyester
- no bow.. I was thinking about it... but didn't want to go through with the hassle ..
- did not do a top stitch on the seam of the (for me) purple and grey/white union because I didn't want to risk someone seeing my crooked sewing line.. hey.. it happens!
- did not use a magnetic closure, the top actually closes together nicely without any contraptions!
Home Fabrics :
- Grey/White thick canvas like fabric 1/2 yard - $4.50
- Blue polyester lining (clearance) 1/2 yard - $1.75
Joann :
- Purple semi- shiny cotton fabric 1/4 yard - Reg $9.99/yard Sale $4.24/yard - $1.06
- Fusible craft interface - # 808 - 30 inches Reg$ 2.49/yard (40% coupon)- $1.25
(Things I already had - black thread, some leftover interface for the straps, and scrap fabric for the pocket)
What's left over?
Half of the grey/white canvas, and blue polyester... I may make a pillow one day (can make one that is around 16 X 16.. yea that much is left!!) ... or another tote? This was just a lot of left over material, but necessary due to the size of the purse.. didn't want too many seams!
Things that went wrong :
- I may be getting better at sewing.. because I didn't mess up until the very end! but.....
-- pin on one side and in one direction .. I pinned all over the place.. got stabbed a record number of times once deep enough for me to take a check my sugar levels (I was curious!) and it was a pain to remove the pins when some were on the bottom and some were on top.... so I ended up just removing most of them when I got to the very last 8 inches of sewing... which comes to the next point...
-- keep pins in as long as possible... I totally missed the lining layer while sewing the last 8 inches (it was pretty thick.. 2 layers of cotton + 2 layers of decently thick interface + a very loose polyester layer)... had to go back and sew it again to get all the layers (I may have done that a few times..... :-/)... which made for an unattractive back. I knew these things would happen... so.. I started sewing the front of the bag first.. and the front of the bag looks great! :)
Time? 1.5 hours!!
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