8/20/2011

How I Made My Victorian Sewing Bag Tutorial - Step 1

I'm going to do this in steps and then put it up as a tutorial... If I don't explain something well enough or you feel I have left out a step... please comment as we go along and  with your help it should end up being a useful tutorial...  I'm going to not only tell you how I did it but why I made some of the decisions I did along the way..

First some answers before you even asked the questions...  I thought it a lot before I began and here are the things I felt were important to me.

1.  It had to be practical.  I wanted something I could set on a park bench as well as toss into the car. The embellishments were going to have to be simple enough that they wouldn't be catching or snagging on things.

2. I wanted it to be large enough to carry my supplies and a project but not so large and heavy that I needed a wheeled cart to move it.. My favorite tote is 15"x15" so I chose those dimensions. (16"x16" to allow for seam allowances.

3.  My favorite tote has a pocket on the outside which I love but no pockets on the inside which I wanted...  side ones that would hold my smaller supplies and needle book and a zippered pocket which could hold a wallet when I carried just the sewing bag and not a purse.

4. Flap or no flap?? The deciding factor was travel...  It is just too easy when traveling (or shopping) for a hand to slip into an open tote and extract a wallet. 

5.  It absolute had to be beautiful as well as functional.  I want people to comment on it and ask about crazy quilting.

Since I wanted this to be as simple a construction project as possible I chose to do it in three simple pieces and really didn't need a pattern. 

There were reasons for this choice.  The main consideration was I wanted to do it in sections so the pieces were a  size that could be easily handled for handwork... A 16" square is not all that much larger than a usual CQ block.   Secondly I wanted to avoid bulky seams when possible and doing it in three pieces still  allowed for minimal seams plus workable sizes...  (Later as I move along in the tutorial I will talk about using a pattern.)

For just ease of construction I could have cut it in one piece with the flap attached but then I would have trying to manipulate a section 16 x 38" to do the handwork...  too large to be fun but certainly an option if you are making something on the order of a small handbag.

With these decisions out of the way the next installment will be: "Step 2 -Avoiding Bulky Seams."



3 comments:

Mosaic Magpie said...

This is a great way to do a tutorial, in small bites. I will often see a long list of steps and my eyes glaze over before I really read the tutorial. Looking forward to the next step.
Deb

Cathy said...

Thank you. I think I can do this. Now I'm going over to your etsy shop to see if you have any roses packs left.

Sandi said...

Thank you for sharing your process and thoughts. It will be very helpful. I'm looking forward to seeing the whole tutorial.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Popular Posts