A 50 pence (0.76765 USD/0.73943 AUD on Oanda yesterday) wool scarf in a tartan I fancied was all that tempted me during a recent charity shop drop-off. This is of course my go-to bag, perfect for a change of undies, a top and carry-on size toiletries for those sneaky mid-week getaways with Himself when getting to work means doing most of the journey at 32,000 feet. Nothing on the cards at the moment but mine’s the Boy Scout motto. Is that still their motto in this day and age?
I digress.
An old linen dress I wore in the mid-90s on the shop floor of a certain Regent Street store known for its fabric (though I got that particular linen in Dublin when we went for our fifth anniversary) will serve as the top edge of the bag and the strap.
Are we perhaps taking frugality a little far? Are we all in this together/tightening our belts/believing whatever claptrap the Pick-n-Mix government is spouting today? Why DO I keep the news on after Himself leaves for work?!?
Both the bag and the lining got a bitty first layer then another layer to sandwich it all together. I’d usually use a heavier weight interfacing on a bag like this but the light weight interfacing scrap bag was quite full of decent size scraps and I have an awful lot of lighter weight fusible for some reason — you can’t tell from the front of the fabric that I used a crazy patchwork of interfacings.
Every time I make one of these bags, it seems to have different types of inner pockets. This time around I wanted a divider right down the center of the bag so made that of linen:
While I was at it I made a tiny pocket for a pound coin -
It’s just a wee scrap of the linen with one edge satin-stitched first then the three raw edges satin-stitched right to the top section of lining of the bag. I added a loop and a strap for what will eventually have a clip in the end of it. Didn’t have the right size clip so will have to pinch look around for one somewhere. As for the other side,
Individual pockets are nice, but I was itchin’ to get on to the project below so just cut a piece of the lining fabric about half the height of the lining, hemmed the top edge
and stitched through the large pocket and that side of the lining to make the size compartments I desired. Next time I’m doing this sort of pocket I’ll shorten it a bit more as the slots were too deep for my pen, pencil and backup pen (why, yes, Sheldon Cooper IS one of my heroes. Why do you ask?).
Anyhow, I’ll certainly be making one of these bags for the summer — and I fancy a half-size version — but that’s design work for another day. Or the next time I am sitting at the airport waiting on Himself to arrive.
Wait. That’s later today. Pattern, sketchbook and tape measure. Give me a moment while I throw those in my bag.
Plan A was to do short V. B version of Butterick 5362 in a C-list fabric
to just get the fit right (I was thinking the yellow, so naturally this garment would have been halfway out the door before I even cut it). Because of the orientation of the embroidery on those Next curtains I went with the longer dress instead. What’s a little extra thread?
The curtains are mirror image of each other so the embroidery would all be on same side. White is SO no good for this whiter than white black Irish girl. I figure if I liked the fit I could give dye a try — if that didn’t make me love it enough to take it to Asia with me, it could go into the charity bag.
It’s a reasonably heavy chino so even left white wouldn’t need lining. The fabric I have in mind for the actual dress will need a lightweight lawn for a lining. By real dresses I of course mean the ones made from my sentimental journey (see previous post) fabric. Bodice mocks are top of the sewing project list these days as I won’t be starting the trip dresses until after Easter when the winter weight (15-20 pounds/a stone and a half/234567890 kg — the IWOM don’t do metric) is well and truly gone. I could cut and make all my dresses the size I WANT to be for the summer but really, how stupid is that? It’s like buying jeans that you PLAN to fit into. Best lose the weight first as incentive, eh?
The curtain fabric is somewhat heavy and the dress wasn’t draping quite right (it actually has more shape on me than it does on poor Dorothea here). I fussed a little and rid the sides of an odd shape triangle of fabric that was just too…um…bunchy.
Note the far left side of the dress — you are supposed to sew about 2/5 of the way down but when I put it on the resulting lumpy sharp corner was just — weird. I did make the dress three and a half inches longer to account for the embroidery and the fabric is much heavier than advised on the envelope so I don’t think it is a fault with the pattern per se.
Cutting this triangle shape from each side after unpicking that seam I mentioned above then sewing down my cut line and NOT sewing down the last edge again sorted this particular dress.
I have no doubt this will be fine in a lighter weight material as the designer intended.
However, there’s really no way this pale-face can wear a dress as light in color as this and expect you to pick her out FROM the dress. I think I am going with this
and will throw in a few chunks of leftover fabric so I can make matching binding for the neck and arms.
Friday afternoon update: Ye gods….
THAT is bright. I have some navy binding kicking around from another project but I am not sure that the contrast would benefit the overall look so may stick with making binding in the same color. Looks like I need another night to sleep on it.
