I’ve finished making a laptop bag out of Oscha’s Hobbit Quest Travel fabric. Even having made a sample bag first, I got surprised, repeatedly, as the following journal entries attest.
TL;DR (for the statistically minded):
Number of times I changed the foot on my machine: 18
Number of times I swapped thread colors: 8
Number of seams ripped out and re-sewn: 8
Number of needles broken: 3
Number of needles bent: 1
Total number of machine needles used: 6
30 May: [Before starting the official bag, I did lots of prep work, including re-cutting most of the pattern pieces since they had been accidentally trimmed down while making the sample.] Follow pattern closely. Pay attention to notes! And pin/clip lots! Go slowly + take breaks.
02 June: I cut up the Oscha fabric so I’m committed. And I followed the instructions for pattern matching exactly instead of fudging it.
03 June: Sewing has begun — and I’m adding pockets to my pockets… [Things were going so smoothly I thought it would all be easy. Silly me.] Pattern-matching is done. I had a scary moment when I thought it wasn’t going to work at all…. I did get the patterns to match… not perfectly… I can live with it.
04 June: The technically challenging part is done. [Or so I thought.] Now all that’s left is construction of the more normal kind… [It wasn’t normal at all. My brilliant idea to use the Timtex I already had instead of buying foam caused problems every step of the way.]
05 June: I did a step out of order… And as I tried to sew the gussets together, I broke needles. Three of them! [I went from enjoying myself to swearing to crying.] In frustration, I finally stopped…. I did a materials test with my topstitch needle and it can go through double everything.
06 June: Switching to the topstitch needle helped but it isn’t the entire solution — because I bent it so badly it started hitting the foot… So many bad choices. Timtex = mistake. 1.5” hardware means less room for sewing [I used 1” hardware for my sample].
07 June: It took an hour to sew [one side of] the binding on by machine… I wish I had gone with my impulse and made the binding wider… I’ve started hand-sewing the binding (after carving lots of excess off the seams) and it’s slow but I’d never get this to work on the machine. [Ten layers to sew through!]
11 to 15 June: [I took a much needed break to go camping.]
16 June: The strap was easy… except for sewing on the slider buckle… But it’s done. The bag is patched. [to cover an exposed under layer, a result of shifting the fabric to make the pattern match] Pressing definitely improved the bag shape … I think it’s time to call it finished.
While I’m pleased with the final results, it will be a while before I sew a bag again.
Your bag turned out beautiful, Kit. So much work and frustration at times, but I’m sure you’re feeling good about the results now. You should be! Matching everything up so well! Wow! Great job!
Thanks. I am glad I put in all that prep work, but I guess I needed to be more exact in replicating the materials. I would have done things very differently if I had know the trouble I was going to have. I am pleased with the results, and looking forward to getting to use this bag. Also, to switching to a different (hopefully less frustrating!) project.
I love the rune edging in the final picture. What does it say?
It says: May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks.
fabulous job, Kit
Thanks… I can’t believe how hard it was. It’s just sewing, right?