Sewed Satchel
Assalamu’alaikum.
Hiiii people of the interwebs!
I used to blog about craft projects all the time, especially during my post-SPM & A-Level years. It seems like I had so much time back then. Or maybe my interests were just absolutely within the sewing/handicrafts world so that was all I did and talked about!
Now I have so much more stuff that I want to do and I need to get organised and plan things out, set aside time for them — otherwise some projects will no doubt fall off the bandwagon. -_-
Anyhow. I still post things at the ‘other’ Aneesah’s Hideaway, but I thought I’d grace you with a proper entry about this new bag I finished today. :dance:
The ‘Too Cool for School Satchel’
The pattern and instructions were from an awesome book, ‘A Bag for All Reasons’, written by Lisa Lam. I have both of her bag-making books, and they’re both super useful. I’ve made bags without patterns before, but because I am never the sort to ‘measure twice, cut once’ (actually, I don’t even measure sometimes ^^; ) … the results usually leave much to be desired. I aim to improve the level of neatness and overall quality of the stuff I make (just for my own satisfaction), so I find that following patterns has been an excellent choice.
I remembered seeing this bag at How About Orange months ago, and pinned it for inspiration. 😀
The review at How About Orange mentioned something about the points where the strap is attached to the bag, and how the bag tends to pivot there. I raised those points about an inch, but I would recommend to raise them even more (though compromising the bag’s style) because I find that the hardware then interferes ever so slightly with my bag flap, even after I switched to a larger metal ring (it’s actually a paper binder) to lengthen that part.
Wearing it to show scale
I purchased the fabrics from Cath Kidston in the remnants section (and they were on sale). I then bought the buckles and interfacing from Lisa’s online store: it was the first time I’ve used a super-stiff double-sided interfacing, and indeed it made a lot of difference to the sturdiness of the bag. The main fabric was just regular cotton (not home-decor weight fabric), but if I used heavier-weight fabric like my wallet, I’m sure the results would be even nicer (and perhaps less wrinkly in appearance).
Slight wrinkliness of the folded part of the flap
It only took about a day (an evening + morning) to finish everything — the most fiddly part was sewing the many little tabs that form the ‘signature look’ of a satchel. Turning those itty bitty things inside-out took some time. :suspicious:
Tab thingies
The only other problem I had was actually a shortage of fabric (remnant fabrics are pre-cut / leftover cut-offs, so you can’t really be picky with yardage), hence the use of the brown polka-dots for the tabs and bag strap (which was much shorter than the length that the pattern asked for, so I can’t really adjust the length of the final strap all that much).
The bag flattens out really nicely when empty, which is useful for travelling because we always have to stash our handbags inside the cabin luggage on low-cost airlines 😛
Wearer’s point of view
Fits an iPad and a few books, and a there’s enough space for a water bottle at the side too. I like that the pocket is gusseted (has a thickness).
Inside contents.
End. Will be back with more blog entries (my plan is to transfer some of my Facebook content onto this blog, because you know how FB becomes an absolute black hole with older posts) inshaAllah.
Peace!
That is a thing of beauty!