bag Archives - Sew Wrong

Lucinda September 5, 2014

Indiesew Fall Collection Blog Tour

Summer is over, as much as the current temperatures want to disagree with me. Kids are back in school, my beach vacation seems like a distant memory, and Indiesew just launched their new Fall Pattern Collection this week.

Oh yes, fall is here, my friends.

Indiesew, my new fave place for discovering independent sewing patterns, put together a curated collection of six patterns that can be mixed and matched to create the perfect outfit for fall, and asked me to create my perfect fall outfit from the collection. This resonated with me because of the exercises I went through earlier this year with The Wardobe Architect and sewing a wearable wardrobe. Depending on the fabric selection and styling, these patterns can truly fit any specific lifestyle.

What I’ve learned this year through thinking about my personal style and lifestyle is that I need more casual pieces that work well with the sneakers because of the nature of my job and industry. And with the amount of travelling I do for work, I also need these pieces to be comfortable and pack easily in a suitcase. So, it’ seemed like a no-brainer to pair the Hudson Pants from the Fall Pattern Collection with the Lane Raglan, and throw in a chic carry-all bag like the Alice Book Bag.

Lane Raglan

I heart this raglan pattern so much and the way it fits. My first version of this pattern was made to look more like a sweatshirt, and to differentiate this version, I went for a baseball tee version with contrasting sleeves. The next time I make a long-sleeved version of this shirt, I’ll shorten the sleeves – they’re a bit long on me, but look cool pushed up and slouchy. The rayon poly fabric is ridiculously soft, so I’m sure I’ll be reaching for this shirt a lot this fall.

Hudson Pants

The Hudson Pants are my favorite part of this outfit, because they’re so different than anything I have in my closet and a much “cooler” silhouette than I usually gravitate towards. Since I wanted these to pass as ok to wear to the office or on the road, I picked a black cotton knit instead of a casual gray or printed knit – what makes the fabric special are the tonal polka dots knit into the fabric, aren’t they the cutest? It honestly feels like PJs when I wear these, but these pants would be great for train trips to NYC or informal office meetings. The only thing I should have done differently is grade down the waist. I picked my size based on my hip measurement and the waist has a little too much fabric ease for my liking…I still love these pants though!

Also, you know that you’ve made something awesome when your boyfriend or husband hates it (Chris can’t stand these pants). That’s just a sewing truth.

Alice Book Bag

I wanted this bag to be just as cool as the rest of the outfit, and almost bought a beautiful home dec fabric with birds woven all over, but it wouldn’t have fit the vibe I was going for. Instead, I found this awesome ultrasuede fabric with a metallic underlay – yes, there’s holes punched in the ultrasuede for the metallic underlay to show through! Thank goodness I had a coupon for this pricey beauty.

This bag was incredibly easy to make, it’s a bunch of rectangle pattern pieces you draft yourself based off of given measurements, and the bottom of the bag has boxed corners. I opted for the convertible strap option so I can wear the bag on my shoulder or as a cross-body.

The grommets are a really cool detail, they’re actually curtain grommets! With the thickness of my fabric, it took a couple of tries to get them to fit, but they’re totally worth it.

Thinking about starting your fall sewing? The Indiesew Fall Collection is a great place to start. All six patterns can be bought separately, but if you love all six like I do, the bundle can be purchased for 10% off.

Outfit Credits:

Lane Raglan via Indiesew – rayon poly knit from Joann Fabrics

Hudson Pants via Indiesew – cotton knit from Joann Fabrics

Alice Book Bag – ultrasuede from Fabric Place Basement

Reebok sneakers

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Lucinda September 7, 2012

What Makes a Good Knitting Bag?

The topic of knitting bags came up at “knit night” this week with my friends, specifically, what components are necessary in a knitting bag. The general consensus was that compartments are important but it’s the placement of them that matters. Pockets that are on the side of a bag aren’t as effective as a nice, middle compartment. Zippers are great for keeping things from falling out. The list goes on and on.

It made me looking at my knitting bag collection, and it seems that I’m not as picky about compartments, zippers, and doo-dads as some of my knitting friends. Depending on what the project is, I have a rotation of three bags: two tote bags, an Amy Butler Birdie Sling, and my Ravelry project bag in lieu of a real knitting bag for tiny projects. Sometimes it just works out better to throw that bag into a large handbag instead.

The question is: have I been happy with these compartment-less bags? Hmmm, I guess so. I use a small zippered bag to store my notions (scissors, tape measure, stitch markers, etc). in my bad and that usually suffices. I almost want to try out a bag tricked out with all sorts of pockets and places to stash stuff to see if I like it better since I really don’t know if I would. I’ve always used a tote bag for craft projects, like cross stitch or embroidery.

Photo from Namaste

Then there’s the “designer” knitting bags from Jordana Paige, Lexie Barnes, and Tom Bihn – beautiful, but pricey. I owned a “real” knitting bag several years ago that I purchased from Namaste, similiar to the Cali Laguna (pictured above). It was great in that it had a large zippered pouch in the center of the bag and looked like a fancy purse from the outside, but it was huge, lime green (poor choice on my part), and I lost things so easily inside. It went to Goodwill last year when I was going through my stash and downsizing.

So maybe I have yet to find the ideal knitting bag…

What makes a good knitting bag for you? Does it need to be roomy? Lots of pockets and zippers?

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Lucinda January 29, 2009

Sophia, Sophia

If you remember quite awhile back, I bought fabric from Purl Soho to make Amy Butler’s Sophia Carryall. I completed her Birdie Sling, loved it, and thought I’d take a stab at another one of her patterns.

Whoops. I’m not too happy with how it’s turned out so far.

This bag is definitely more of a challenge than the Birdie Sling. The construction was going along just fine until I had to attach the top panel to the sides. It was awkward to sew and tricky because of the multiple layers of interfacing, fabric, and covered cording. When I turned the bag right side out to see how it looked, I had to go back and fix a lot of tucks and re-ease the fabric. Plus, the interfacing (cheep cheep Pellon, yuck) made my fabric all wrinkly looking.

I’m assuming I can steam it to make it look better.

I thought that that was the hard part until I got around to attaching the bottom to the bag. For some reason, the bottom panel wasn’t the correct size! It was either too small or too big, I don’t remember which, and I had a devil of a time getting even more layers of interfacing and fabric through my machine.

Eww eww. I did take the suggestion from someone on Pattern Review to omit the covered cording for the bottom and I’m glad I did, because I can imagine that would have made it exponentially more difficult to sew. I need to rip out the bottom and redo it, I know I didn’t sew it straight. Plus, I’ve got uncovered bits of cording exposed as well.

Needless to say, this has me wondering if the lining, which I have yet to put together, will make the bag look any better from the outside. Maybe the bottom will look less puffy and droopy once I install the false bottom. This might just be a bag I use to store yarn or fabric in and not for shopping or dining out. Oh well. At least I have leftover scraps to play with!