Going Even Slower Than I’d Planned

My “go slow” plan for my May project is going even slower than I intended. The good news is that the hobbit fabric will work with the pattern that I’ve chosen. The bad news is I have even more work to do than I thought. This project is going to be a real exercise in patience for me.

My first step — laying the pattern out on the fabric to see if I had enough yardage for pattern matching — had to be done twice. Even though I used the wrong side of the fabric the first time, I proved that my idea would work. Then I realized that the webbing handles will cover part of the fabric, so I had to do a second, more careful layout, to make sure nothing important (like the dragon!) would be covered up. Fortunately, everything worked just fine. I definitely have enough fabric.

For my next step, I did a test with some dinosaur fabric to see if I could get the panels on the bag’s side to show one continuous pattern. It’s fiddly, but it works. However, my messy sample showed me other things I hadn’t even thought about. 

In my attempts to not waste anything valuable, I used a ratty old #3 zipper for the sample only to discover that it’s much too narrow for the design. (Did I read the materials list on the pattern first? No, I did not.) As a result, I had to pin the last side piece for my test because the zipper teeth ran right where the seam was supposed to go. Also, my top-stitching needs work. I was careful, and it still went all over the place. I need more practice as well as patience (and possibly a different sewing machine foot).

These wonky results convinced me that while I might not want to, I really need to spend the time and materials on an entire test bag. I actually took to this idea much more easily than I would have predicted because I really want the hobbit fabric bag to turn out great. Vintage dressmaker Evelyn Wood says that the advantage of making an entire sample garment is that when you make the second one, it’s ten times better than the first. I hope she’s right.

I’ve chose the fabric for my test bag by looking at the zippers and webbing I already had in my stash. When I make the final bag, I’ll probably buy matching hardware, but I don’t want to spend more money on this project than necessary. At the same time, I would like the test bag to look intentional in case it turns out nice enough to use.

I am more comfortable with this project taking so much time than I would have guessed. It’s nice to relax and sew slowly. I wonder if I’ll still the same way about it once I start sewing the test bag?