Reusserland
  • Links
  • Makes
  • Music
  • Travels
  • Top Secret

Shit-Show Kick-Ass Bag

8/30/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
I made this kick-ass bag! Very simple to construct...if you are not me. It seems I am doomed to turn even the simplest of projects into a shit show, and this one was no exception. Still, it turned out pretty awesome. It is rather enormous...it needed to be this size...but I hope it holds up and does its job.

It started like this...I bought a fence to take camping so we can let The White Ingrate hang out outside, without being tied up.
Picture
Picture
It came in a big cardboard box, and I was surprised at how heavy it was. Not awful, but heavy enough that it might be awkward to cart around. Thinking of tent- and Clam -carrying cases, it struck me that a similar bag for the fence would be nice. At first I thought I'd make a case with a zipper, but I quickly realized that that would be unnecessary and a bag open at the top would be fine. I stopped at Joann's and got some red and cream cotton canvas duck. It wasn't on sale, so I went with the minimum I thought I could get away with. At least I had measured the fence and done a little research on bag construction beforehand (two nice vids here and here), so I had some idea about what I needed.

Once I got home, I proceeded carefully, nervous about the amount of fabric I had to work with. God forbid I'd have to go back and get more fabric. Not for the time, the drive, the gas, the expense, but for the embarrassment. I decided to first cut out the main panel, since it would be the largest bit of fabric I'd need to cut and if I made a mistake with it, I'd be history. I'd seen a few options for constructing the sides—cutting a front and back, cutting a side, back, and bottom panel, and adding a lining—but in the end I cut one piece for front, back, and bottom and decided on no lining. It's only for carrying a damned dog fence after all.

After that, things didn't go according to plan.

I needed enough fabric to make two, two-colored handles, a pocket, and a bottom reinforcement panel. (After looking at the way the handles were attached on a canvas Lands End bag I have, I saw that the best way to hide the bottoms of the handles was with a panel along the bottom, but also I thought it couldn't hurt to add some reinforcement.)

But after cutting out strips for the handles, I realized I had measured them wrong. I had measured the Lands End bag handles and then cut strips out of the red and white fabric. I realized they were too narrow after I had partially constructed the first strap: I had sewed a red and white strip together (to make the front and backs of the handles), folded in the ends, and then folded everything in half again. When I compared the would-be handle to the Lands End handle, mine was a quarter inch too narrow. That seems small, but it was enough to make a big difference in how the handle felt (the Lands End handle was just 1.25 inches wide). Fortunately, I compared before sewing the folded bits together permanently.

I remeasured the fabric that remained and had barely enough to cut new strips a little wider, though not as wide as I would have liked. But once the new strips were cut, the white fabric was gone and there was just a little strip of red left. I didn't have a big enough piece even for the pocket and definitely enough not for a bottom panel.

But...I had two very, very long red and white striped pieces and that one strip of red. While it's just a bag for carrying a damned dog fence, I wanted that panel and the pocket, so I spent more time than a neurally normal person might have spent reconstructing fabric. I sewed and ironed the red and white strips together and ended up with a reconstructed piece just big enough for the bottom. 
Picture
Then I cut the red remnant into short strips and sewed them together with the last cutoff of the red and white strip to make a piece big enough for the pocket.
Picture
Finally, to finish the inside seams, I copied the construction on the Lands End bag and covered the seams in 1-inch wide twill tape. I have enough of this tape to last a life time left over from the Civil War ballgown project.  
Picture
​While it took about 8 hours to make this final bag, damn, it turned out sweet!
Picture
Finally, a side note about my sewing machine. I used a jeans needle, and my Pfaff Ambition 1.5 handled every seam and intersection on this canvas duck beautifully. ​
0 Comments

Thomas's Chess Quilt Continued

8/5/2022

0 Comments

 
For the pieces, using heat and bond will be perfect. I sewed a nice blanket-like stitch all the way around the most intricate piece and it was fine. It looks really good. I bought "heavy duty" heat and bond because I'm a spaz and I didn't take my time. The result is an applique that is too stiff, even after I washed it. So I already ordered normal heat and bond.
Picture
Now of course, I didn't really think this whole quilt through, as per usual. What I just realized is that because I've already completed the board, I will have to sew around each applique piece while dealing with a huge piece of fabric.  I just have a regular sewing machine. It's going to be a bear...​
0 Comments

Thomas's Chess Quilt...the Board

8/4/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
 My son loves chess...a lot...and I got the idea to make him a quilt that looks like a chess board. I finished the board part. Next will come a 1- or 2-inch solid border in black or brown around the board and then another wider solid border to make it the 72" x 92" final size. Then a binding.

The board went together very easily. I tried to concentrate and go slowly when I sewed the seams so they were as even as I could make them. There are a few unperfectly matched corners, but they will stay. The only tedious part was opening all the seams and ironing. 

Now I'm on to the pieces. And I'm a little stuck. I don't want the edges to fray and I want the pieces to be perfectly shaped. If I turn the edge under or sew a back to a front and turn, they pieces will have misshapen bits. I've tested a few and it's impossible given the shapes. For me anyway. So I will try heat bond and adhering directly to the fabric. With this method, I'm worried about how to finish the edges. Won't even a blanket stitch allow for fraying? And a blanket stitch is going to be a bitch on some parts of these pieces if I use my machine. My sister suggested doing what I can on the machine and hand-stitching the other bits. That's a good idea, I think.

Here is what the pieces look like. These are my templates. I need to now find colors I like for the pieces and borders. 
Picture
0 Comments

    Author

    I am a wife and mother. I am retired: yay! 

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    January 2019
    July 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2017
    March 2016
    April 2013
    March 2013

    Categories

    All
    Costumes
    Dresses
    Home Decor
    Outdoor
    Pants
    PJs
    Quilts
    Skirts
    Stuffed Animals
    Tools
    Tops

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly