Tightwad Sewing

About a month ago, my friend Leslie and I hit the Diggers Outlet for a morning of thriftshop recreation. One of the things I grabbed was (apparently) a tablecloth made from this fabric. It's a home-dec weight, maybe not quite upholstery weight, but kind of thick. It was pieced to make a large circle and clearly a home-sewn project. I used about a third of it making this bag. The brown cotton webbing was already in the house, though I didn't have enough to make the shoulder strap, too. I'll have to see if I can find more at one of the local fabric stores. I had multiple packs of black piping in my sewing cabinet, too, so didn't need to buy that, or make my own.

I used a pattern from Terrific Totes & Carryalls: 40 Bags to Sew for Shopping, Working, Hiking, Biking, and More , by Carol Parks. I check this one out of the library about once a year and haven't actually sewn something from it before. This bag is the small duffle.

The pattern instructions call for stiff interfacing on all the major pieces, which I skipped. I thought the fabric had enough structure. Now, I kind of wish I had used it. The pattern is not lined, though I'm considering making a lining and adding it. It just seems not quite complete without it.

Because this fabric has a directional pattern, I also modified the main section and large side pockets to have a seam in the center bottom. Otherwise, the elephants on the other side would be upside down.

The bag is about 14" long and calls for a 12" zipper. I wanted to finish last night and didn't want to run out on a zipper errand, so I substituted an 11" zipper I found in my sewing cabinet. It makes the opening a bit tight, so probably if I make another, I'll try to use a 14" zipper and really run it to the edges of the top.

One thing I would definitely do differently is make the handles a bit longer. I wonder if there was a typo in the book, because it said to use a 75" length of webbing, leave 20" loose for each handle, and attach the webbing in one long continuous loop, with the ends lapping at the bottom. 75" just wouldn't have done all that. Next time, I'll allow 85".

The other modification I'll make on any future versions is to attach D-rings with webbing sewn into the top end seams. The pattern instructions say to just sew the webbing onto the bag itself, but I think it would be stronger and more elegant to catch a loop of webbing into the seam.

Overall I'm very happy with this and can imagine making more bags along these lines.

Project Updates

Taking my cue from Bezzie (whose rant here on the so-called "green" reusable grocery bags got me thinking), I made these two cloth bags yesterday. I had bought a small stack of the green pseudo-cloth bags from my supermarket last winter, at 75 cents each. Although they stand up to more use than a paper bag, they have started to self-destruct. Rather than replace them with more of the same, I decided to put some stashed fabric to use. I bought the fabric at a thrift shop in Quincy IL over a year ago, thinking it would be nice for something. I just didn't know what. I have enough fabric to make at least 4 more bags this size, which is a bit smaller than a standard paper grocery bag. I need to buy more nylon webbing, though.

I've been working on turning a few older projects into patterns for the fall Knitcircus. We plan to have it available for purchase by Oct 1. I'm also working on a new project for that, but might not finish in time. That's ok. We can use it in Winter, and we've had great submissions, so we have enough good material for fall.

In Other News
We're counting down to the beginning of the school year. The little guy starts second grade on Tuesday, Sept 2, and Owen starts 8th grade on Wednesday the 3rd. We're having all kinds of behavioral issues with the little guy, but I have to say, Owen has suddenly crossed into a new mature, mellow version of himself. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this isn't just a phase for him. I never would have believed that there would be a time when I would call Owen "mellow".

I did send Owen's quilt out to be machine quilted at the local place. I have no idea what I'll get back, but it should be coming soon. They charge about $65 for a twin size, and have stock patterns that their machine does. I'll still need to put edging on when I get it back, I think. For local folks, this is a funny little building on Regent Street, probably a survivor of the great Greenbush Urban Renewal of the 1960s.

We're still in limbo on Mr. SABLE's job front. He had a chat with a VP at a small start-up last week. He felt very positive about that and it could lead to a job offer soon. He's also encouraged that if he has to do free-lance stuff for a while, there are a lot of people in town who can throw him some work. The downside to that plan is health insurance, but it would be income. Time will tell. Stay tuned.

I hope to see all my local buddies at Last Saturday Knitting on the 30th!