We had a great time! Pedicures, pottery painting, & a birthday party for E (pics to come). It was a nice weekend. I made two bags for Erin – the gift tote pictured below and a jean skirt purse I promised her ages ago (not pictured lest someone ask me to make them one!). Both turned out great. However, my sewing machine died in the making of the jean skirt purse. I just pushed it too hard. I don’t think the machine is totally gone; it just requires repair beyond its worth (I know, how heartless is that after it gave me two good years and countless deployment projects!?). Luckily, my birthday and Christmas are coming up and I have gotten two pledges toward my New Machine (one from Nana and one from Mom).
I have received quite a few requests this week for a Booty Bag tutorial. I had planned to put one together this week, but that is now on hold until I get the New Machine. If you would like to start shopping for the perfect pair of pants, here are some pointers based on how I put these purses together:
Size: For a standard purse, the best sizes are small: a girl’s size 11 or 12, or women’s 0-6.
Lining: There are two or three possible ways to line the bag. Of course, I pick the most difficult, because it looks most polished. I unstitch the waistband and slide the lining underneath, then
topstitch it back on. If you want to line it this way, look carefully at the way the waistband is sewn to the pants. Make sure you use a pair of pants where the waistband is not stitched on with one stitch. In other words, make sure that, when you take out a set of stitches in the waistband on the inside of the pants, that it is still attached on the front side of the pants. Otherwise, it is almost impossible get the waistband back on. I suppose an easier way to line a bag would be to just place the lining into the finished outer bag, line the raw edges up with the bottom of the waistband, then cover those edges with ribbon.
Will be back soon with party pics, maybe a new machine, and sometime in the next few weeks – a Booty Bag Tutorial!
*I posted a Basic Booty Bag (unlined) Tutorial here.
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