Thom’s Project, Part 2

posted on July 18, 2008

My name is Thom and I’m the Editorial Assistant at Potter Craft. To me, making a craft project is always half inspiration and preparation and half actually putting the pieces together. With that in mind, I invite you to come with me on the two-part journey of a newly minted sewer on the trail of his second project.

Part 2: Attaching Things to Other Things

So where were we? Lions and dress-pant-like material? Well that’s where my mind was anyway, on that fateful Saturday as I headed home on the B63. A short bus ride and walk down the street later I was back at my apartment.

Before I describe the project, I want to give a disclaimer: Amy Karol wrote my go-to reference book-aptly titled Bend-the-Rules Sewing - but if I had to describe my own style it would be more along the lines of “There-Are-No-Rules Sewing.” I have yet to actually think about inches or test a stitch before I begin to make something.

So, leaving the measuring to those who measure, I folded the gray fabric in half and then mostly in half again. This created a quadruple-layered rectangle (two layers for each side of the bag = a more durable bag). Next, I shifted it quite a bit so that extra fabric stuck out from the top. Boom! An instant flap. Then I cut out the lion head from the t-shirt and sliced it horizontally into two pieces. Scooting the materials to the side, I put my sewing machine on the table and revved it up.

I used my bargain thread, which turned out to be Coats and Clark (the color on the left here), to sew the top 4/5ths of the lion on the flap and the bottom 1/5th of the lion on what would be the front of the bag. I used pins to hold the form of the bag in place so that the design would line up after I sewed the pieces together. For me, that was fancy.

An hour later I had my bag. After another forty minutes, some foul language, and plenty of ripped out stitches, I had a bag with a strap. With that, I leave you to the result:


— Thom

Comments
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You caught my curiosity a while back with your lion-t posting and now I love your bag, the contrasting thread that magnifies your beginner stitches and your wonderful story of creation. …it might require some “advanced planning” but adding a magnetic snap in between the double layers would be a hip way to secure your valuables commuting on the B63.
Tthanks for all the fun!
nancy from 21centurydressmakers

Posted by: Nancy Minsky at August 10, 2008 12:51 PM