I’ve got a handle on it

Ta da! The bag is done and I kinda like it. I’m not sold on this type of zipper – it went in easily enough, but it looks sort of messy and unfinished, but the rest of it looks pretty neat. The pattern is from Issue #115 Aug/Sept 2010 of Quilt magazine, but the outside pocket and inside double welt pocket are my own additions. Somehow the strap got caught in between the lining and the wrong side of the outer fabric when I stitched the two together. I thought I would have to unstitch an entire side in order to get the strap out, but after I ripped out the double seam on one end of the strap, I realized that I could pull the whole thing right out if I unstitched the other end as well, since it wasn’t attached to anything else.

So that’s what I did, put the strap back on the right way, positioned it between the outside fabric and the lining, held on tight and pulled the bag back through that crucial little hole you leave in the lining when you sew the two together, and re-sewed the straps back onto the bag. (It was sort of like reaching through a tiny hole in the wall and adding electrical cord when you can’t see what you’re doing.) Then pulled everything through the other way. And voila! Bag. With handles. I still don’t like the zipper, though. Perhaps I did it wrong, used the wrong type of fabric, because the strips on either side of the zipper stand up and away from the bag. They are not attached to anything at the ends. The pattern also called for an oversized zipper, of which the unused six inches would hang down inside the bag. That just doesn’t look right to me.

I still have lots to learn, but I understand the basics now. Enough so that I am confident enough to begin using my favourite fabrics rather than my practice pieces, and using set stitches that I probably won’t have to pull out, and using zippers that co-ordinate with the fabric.

Geez, where does all of that cat hair come from?

Until next time,