One Stray Pea

Yes, 14 months after cutting this bag out I finally finished it. Well, my mom finished it, but I will get to that. First I need to state the obvious. This bag takes time. LOTS of time!! There’s so much cutting and basting and so many layers. It’s by far the hardest and most frustrating thing I’ve ever worked on, but also one of the best things I think I’ve made.

There was a huge push to get this bag done before our trip to Philadelphia for my husband’s family reunion. I wanted to make sure I had a good sized carry on full of distractions and snacks for Elise’s first plane ride. Turns out all I really needed was a sippy cup and some goldfish, but it was good to be prepared, right?

So after making each side panel of the bag came the easiest parts: making the top panel, adding end pockets and attaching the bottom panel.

Making the top panel was incredibly easy. The hardest part about adding the zipper was moving the actual zipper part out of the way so it wouldn’t jam up in my machine. I ended up opening my basting stitches a little early in order to decrease my frustration.

Attaching the side panels is quite difficult, I won’t even try to sugar coat it. There is layer after layer of fabric and peltex.and fabric and peltex! Not to mention that this bag is massive. It jammed up my machine several times. However, I only used one spool of thread and didn’t break any needles, so according to what I’ve read around the internet, this could have been far worse.

Once you have the outside done, you can put the lining together. After dealing with all of those layers, putting the lining together is like a breath of fresh air. I think I put my lining together in about 20 minutes. This brings us to the most annoying part. Hand sewing the lining. The words “hand sewing” are my sewing kryptonite by the way. I hate to sew anything by hand. I always end up wanting to stab the sewing needle into my eye! Lucky for me I had to work 3 days in a row and have a mom who is willing to help. So thanks mom, for hand sewing my lining.

All complaining and hard parts aside, this bag is worth it in the end. I don’t regret not using the piping. I’m also glad that I changed from the fake suede to canvas. I like things that make my life easier, and I think this bag looks good regardless. Will I make it again? We’ll see. But it’ll probably be a very long time.

Filed under: Sewing Bags and Accessories on August 13th, 2009