A Weekender Weekend

Drumroll, please................

It's finished!!

I finally got the chance to sit down and have a good chunk of (mostly) uninterrupted sewing time to tackle this baby.  In case you haven't see it, Fabric Mutt and Lori H. Designs put together a sew-along for Amy Butler's popular/dreaded Weekender Bag.  Making this bag seems to be the Holy Grail for sewists across blogland and is well-known for its difficulty.  I came across the pattern last year when I was just starting back into sewing, but I put it off after reading all of the horror stories about it out there.    Now that I have been making bags and other accessories for over a year on a regular basis, this sew-along gave me the needed push to buy the pattern and try it out.

I'm going to do a little show and tell for those who just want to see the bag.  Then I'll add my two cents about modifications and a little tutorial on how I machine-stitched the lining to the zipper.

This is by far the largest bag I have made, and it is in fact a piece of luggage.  Tons of interfacing (even the super stiff Peltex sew-in that I had never used), home decor-weight fabric, and a very long zipper made this one expensive project.  Think close to $100 in materials.  But it is going to be very sturdy and useful!  The size reminds me of a bowling ball bag.  My sewing machine would definitely fit inside the bag without a problem.  It will be perfect to bring as a carry-on piece for a plane trip, especially for someone like me who travels in and out of Alaska and always packs a change of clothing for each family member for unexpected stops along the way.

I was happy to learn new techniques along the way, like making piping for the edges.

The inside...not bad, considering it is sewn into the corners by hand!

Note the size of this compared to a park bench.  Pretty roomy.

I even remembered to attach a label (although in truth I had to go back and put it in after I sewed the strap, because I forgot to do it first, as usual).

In short, I love this bag.  And--I know I'm going to get dirty looks for this, but I want to encourage others to try sewing it-- it wasn't hard for me to make.  I consider myself an experienced bag maker and intermediate-level sewer.  Had I attempted this bag a year ago, I don't know that I could have done it.  But really, now that I know the basics of making bags, it was pretty simple but time consuming.  Between cutting and sewing, it took me about 10 hours.

So now on to the tips and tricks.  I perused blogs for quite awhile and rounded up my favorite tips on a Pinterest board.  Had I not done this, making the bag would have been much more difficult!

• I made the bias tape for the binding out of a fat quarter of fabric, using this tutorial.
• I used Stitch Witchery to make the piping, rather than worrying about hiding stitches the whole time, as suggested by Jen here.
• I widened the straps like Providence Handmade.  I also added a couple of inches in length to each strap.
• I left off the end pockets and added a magnetic snap to the center of each side pocket, about an inch from the top of the top of the pocket, like hey porkchop.

I also made a few changes of my own, from my prior bag-making experience.  On the inside, I inserted a zip pocket on one side and a large patch pocket on the other.  I never make a bag for myself without a place to securely zip my keys and other valuables.  Since this bag will be used for travel, I gave myself a nice-sized place inside to securely keep airplane boarding passes that is still easily accessible.  I am always paranoid to walk through the airport with those in an outside pocket.

I made a 6" tall piece for each end of the bag by tracing the bag end after inserting the zipper.  I folded down and pressed the top inch and then made a little 1.5" wide strap to hold a D ring.  I attached the end piece, with the D ring strap centered underneath it, to each side.  This gives me the option to make a clip-on shoulder strap later on. I haven't made it yet, but I'm sure I will.  This bag is so big, that even with my slightly longer handles it could still be a bit awkward to carry when full.

Now on to the tutorial part.  The original pattern has you hand sew the entire lining in.  I don't know about you, but after spending this much work on the outside of the bag, I want the inside to actually hold up to some wear and tear.  My hand sewing skills are not the greatest.  I did see others mention machine sewing the lining into the bag, but I didn't find specifically how they did it.  So I made it up as I went along.  It worked out pretty well.

After assembling the bag lining and inserting it into the bag, pin it in place at the top curves.

Fold under the raw edge along the zipper so that the folded edge is flush with the zipper teeth, or even a little bit away from them if you can.    

Using your zipper foot, start as close to the beginning of the zipper as you can (I ended up being about an inch and a half away from the zip pull).  Working on the inside of the bag (the lining fabric is on top, followed by the zipper tape), fold the outside fabric under and away from your presser foot.  Stitch very closely to the edge of the lining fabric while using the folded-back outside fabric as a guide for your zipper foot and get as close to the opposite end of the zipper as you can.

Here's another view.  See how the outside fabric is turned back away from the zipper?

• Repeat for the other side.  Be sure to check that your zipper will move freely next to (or over top of) the lining edge.  I have a big chunky sport zipper on my bag and it works fine.
• Hand sew the rest of the lining zipper opening to the zipper tape, and then hand sew the other areas in the bag according to pattern directions.
• I also managed to hide a 2" seam on the outside top of my bag, right where the piping attaches, sewing through both the outside and lining.  I did this on either side of the top middle of the zipper to help hold the lining up inside the bag.

And for a few last things that made it a bit easier.  Use clothespins to hold the layers together when sewing the bag sides to the part with the zipper.  The little curved parts of the clothespins that are meant to grab onto the clothesline fit perfectly over the piping.

Don't be in a rush!  I have read about others breaking 10 needles and walking away with sore shoulders from shoving the layers through their machines.  I only broke one needle, and it was because I wasn't paying attention to where my zipper teeth were when sewing across them.

I realized when sewing the outer sides to the middle section that it's not really necessary (or easy!) to sew with a half-inch seam allowance.  I just got as close as I could to the piping with my zipper foot, and then went back around the bag a couple more times to get closer in the spots that were too far away from the piping.  It worked just fine.

A quality sewing machine makes a big difference!  I sew with a pretty simple Husqvarna Viking, and it always works wonderfully for me.  If your machine is powerful enough, you won't feel like you are trying to shove your layers through.

I think that's about it (finally, I know!).  Thank you so much to everyone out there who offered up their tips and experience with this bag so that it was easier for me!

How I Made It: Infinity Scarf

As the weather is cooling down (I live in Alaska, it's happening now!), I've been looking for a way to make my summer tops work without having to break out the sweaters and hoodies (Alaska, remember?).  My favorite local clothing shop always has tons of colorful scarves that would work well for this purpose, but they are usually either too long- I'm 5 feet zero- or too expensive.  After a little while hours browsing around Pinterest and reading tutorials on making scarves, I decided I'd better just dive in and try it myself.

I am not calling this a tutorial because I can't take credit for coming up with this method of scarf-making. I made my scarves after reading so many fabulous tutorials put together by others (which started to blur together after awhile), and I just combined the parts that I liked best about them.  I took pics of each step as I went, partly so I would remember what I did for future reference, and partly to show you how I did it.

Most of the scarf tutorials that I found had you buy two yards of fabric in order to have one continuous piece on each side of the scarf, with the only seam being to join the ends together.  I wanted to use up some larger scraps that I have been holding on to, and since an infinity scarf is usually worn looped and twisted, I didn't see the need to buy new fabric when I could just join together what I already had.

Choose a width for your scarf and cut enough strips to make it as long as you'd like.  I made my strips 7" wide and about 60" in total length.

I got scrappy with the other side of my scarf...just cut enough 7" wide pieces to join together to the appropriate length.

Sew all the pieces together into one strip for the front and one for the back.  Press the seams open.

Lay the two pieces right sides together.

Sew down the long sides, starting and ending each side seam about a half inch from the end.

Turn the scarf right-side out.

Press the edges.

Press down the two unfinished edges of one side of the scarf.

Place the unfinished edges of the side you didn't press down together.

Sew the edge you just matched up with a half-inch seam allowance, being careful not to catch the folded-down edges.

Press open the seam.

Tuck the pressed edges inside the folded-back edges.

Press one of the folded-back edges in on top of the sewn edges.

Press the folded-back edge flat, and then press it under a quarter of an inch to create a finished edge.

You have two options to finish the scarf.  You can hand sew the seam so there are no visible stitches.  I despise hand-sewing.  I just stitched close to the edge of the folded-under edge.  

Voila!

The Washi scarf on the right was actually my second.  I made the one on the left first.  It is a bit shorter in length (fits me great, but may be too small for others).  The fabrics in the scarf on the left are from Echo by Lotta Jansdotter.

Perfect with a long-sleeved t for a cool morning at the playground!  Excuse the iPhone self-portrait.

Pinterest Craft Wednesday- Stuffed Animal Sleeping Bags: My First Tutorial

This week, my kids are really into camping.  We went on our first tent camping expedition last weekend, and they are already planning our next trip.  I have several camping-themed ideas saved on my summer activities Pinterest board, and I have been wanting to try out making this stuffed animal sleeping bag idea for awhile now.  While it's not a craft that the kids can make completely themselves, they can help choose fabric and measure their camping buddies, and older kids may be ale to help with the sewing, too.  When I clicked back through the pin to the original source of the photo, I found that it leads to a pattern from Flossie Teacakes.  Since this is something we wanted to make today while it was raining, I thought I'd try my hand at making it up as I went along.  Here's a little tutorial, inspired by the photo on Pinterest, if you'd like to make one (or several!) of your own.

Materials:
1/2 yard total fabric (I used scraps)
1/4 yard batting
(these measurements are very generous and will vary depending on the buddy you are sewing for)

Measuring:
Measure the length and width of the stuffed animal you are sewing a sleeping bag for.  Add two inches to the length and two to four inches to the width (more or less depending on how big and fluffy your buddy is) to give the finished measurements.  You want it to fit snugly but still lay flat when occupied!

Cutting:
-  Cut two rectangles of the finished length and width as determined above for the back of the sleeping bag.
-  Cut another two rectangles of the same width but three inches shorter in length for the front of the sleeping bag. (If your back rectangle is 10"x8", cut your front one 7"x8")

I used two different prints for each sleeping bag, so I cut one back and one front rectangle from each fabric.

Test out your width before proceeding to make sure your animal has some wiggle room.

-  Cut a 10" square for the binding. Cut it once on the diagonal, and then cut it diagonally into 1.5" strips.

-  Cut one rectangle of batting the same size as the sleeping bag back, and another rectangle the same size as the sleeping bag front.

All the pieces for one sleeping bag: two fronts, two backs, two battings, and binding strips

Sewing:

-  Sandwich the batting between the backs and fronts.  Pin if you'd like.

-  Sew vertical lines about 3/4" apart to quilt the back pieces together.  Repeat with the front.  I used my walking foot with the little guide foot.  It made it super easy!

Quilting the pieces together

A quilted front

-  If you used two different prints, decide which you want to be showing on the front side.  I mixed mine up for some contrast.

-Sew the binding strips end-to-end to create one long piece.

-Cut a piece of binding the width of the front of the sleeping bag.

-Sew the binding onto the front (the shorter piece), rights sides together, using a quarter inch seam allowance.  Then hand stitch the back of the binding, just as you would single-fold binding on a quilt.

-Trim the edges of the binding flush with the rest of the sleeping bag.  Line up the front piece with the bottom of the back piece and pin in place.

-Using a small cup, trace a curve on each corner and trim.

After the corners are trimmed...almost done!

-Pin binding to sleeping bag front, right sides together.  Trim off excess binding.

-Sew binding to front of sleeping bag with a quarter inch seam allowance.

Binding sewn on front

 - Hand stitch binding to back of the sleeping bag, as you would when binding a quilt.

Ta-Da!  You are finished!

I now have two happy campers.