I actually finished a project!

Like to the actual end. It's also my first Christmas present ready for this year (but that's not organisation, oh no! read on).

I was asked to make my almost 3 year old niece a nappy/diaper bag for her dolls back in the Spring. I said yes immediately, but it took me a couple of months to gather the right fabric and figure out what sort of pattern I'd use. I knew I wanted a messenger type bag with pockets she could use for doll paraphernalia! So I decide to take the only bag pattern I've ever made and scale it down by 2/3s. Don't do that, well do if you want to, but bag pattern makers know what they're at and I think that bag was at the right size for making it on a home machine with the recommended materials - I'm starting to think bag designing is voodoo and only something to be undertaken with proper instruction! Three dimensional objects be hard.

I made some early mistakes but it was super promising. Then it went horribly. The combination of Soft'n'Stable and denim made my machine super grumpy. On the final seam it ate two needles, and then I broke a handstitching needle, and I gave up. It went in the bin, which was sad because I'd grown attached to it as possible even a funky clutch!

It took till September before I tried again. A new pattern fortuitously surfaced on the internet right before me, the Malibu Satchel by Fabric Mutt! It's the perfect size for a small handbag or as a toddler's messenger bag! The body of the bag went together really quickly and easily, even with the dreaded denim. I added an extra elasticated pocket. Procrastination took me another month to gather the bits and bobs I needed for the straps and I finished it all off yesterday.

I'm really happy how it turned out. The strapping is polyester, and not the lovely cotton webbing that Heidi uses in the tutorial. I've seen people on other sites use other brightly coloured webbing too which looked lots of fun, but I quite like the bright white I've got even if it feels a bit naff. Plus, if my brother- and sister-in-law want to keep using the bag as Grace grows then they can easily switch out the strap as it's only attached with lobster clips. Just buy and cut a longer piece of strapping and you're away!

If I was going on a beach weekend, or to a laid back music festival I would make another one of these bags in a flash! I just need to broaden my hardware buying locales - my local Joann's and Hancock's are not fantastic in this department.

Knowing When to Throw In The Towel (or bag)

Months ago, my sister-in-law asked me to make a doll's nappy (diaper) bag for my 2½ year old niece. She hasn't been able to find one for her in Australia. I picked up fabric for it ages ago, but with lacking sewjo and nerves about re-sizing a bag pattern when I've only made one bag it's taken me too long to get around to starting.

Skipped stitches because my machine didn't like using a denim needle
when sewing denim...

This was the week, and up until the last hour of yesterday afternoon it was going swimmingly. I'm making Sew Sweetness' Velocity Girl bag. I've made it before, in fact I took it out for its photoshoot last Memorial Day! And when my sister-in-law saw it she told me that with a flap it and a little bigger it would look just like the expensive real-life diaper bags that were all the rage. So when she requested a doll version for Grace, I thought, well I'll just make a scaled down version of Velocity Girl, add a flap - how hard can it be!??

And the answer is not that hard, there's some maths and counting, but Sara's pattern is so well written that it actually makes putting it all together still really easy when you're taking your little added extras into account. A fact I'm now eternally grateful for, because I find bags really difficult to keep a hold of in my head. It's their 3D-ness. I can't quite grasp the why, until twenty steps later I'm like, 'OHHHHHHH, that's really frickin' clever!!'.

Fighting the Pins

Anyway, the balls up. I made all the various panels and pockets, and added piping (a first - yay!) and it went grand. Then, I started to assemble them, into a bag form. It was when I was adding the second outer wall that I realised I was using half the recommended seam allowance, cos I'd gotten kinda cocky with how well it was going. Part of me was like, well, it would be a pain to unpick and it's fine so far, so maybe we'll just go with it.

Offending Hole

But, no. I missed the underneath layer in three spots, and one was a whopper. I was so cross. Grumpy for well over an hour. That feeling of wanting to break a piece of china, or maybe kick a wall... Grrrr. But, a rant at Paul, a stomp around the supermarket, dinner, Dr Who, and a walk all improved my mood. As did, surprisingly, turning the offending item right side out. It needs to be unpicked, and sewn with the correct seam allowance. But it's shaping up to be really cute when done right, so it will be worth it.

Mollified by the Cute

But it won't be worth it today. Or for the next week. Too much frustration. It's time to metaphorically throw it at the wall. Wait for pay day, grab some Joann's vouchers, take Sara's instagram advice of yesterday and buy some Clover Wonder Clips. So that instead of bending my lovely quilting pins, and trying to figure why I can't push one through, only to discover I've created a small groove in my thumbnail, I can just clip and unclip, and not curse.

Let's Not Forget the Hole of Shame

Last night, after I'd ranted and stomped and walked it out, I had 45 minutes and so I continued the calm with a little bit of English paper piecing. I've been cutting one square from every scrap of the Farmer's Wife Quilt that's large enough, and I'm beginning to sew them together. There's no plan to the colours, and I'm finding the outcome very cottage-y cosy.

This post is getting unwieldy now, but one more picture and a couple of links. The Deep in the Heart of Texas Roadtrip QAL kicks off on Sunday, June 1st. Melissa has cutting directions and the quilt layout up on her blog as of yesterday. Today I got out the fabrics I've chosen for this quilt. I bought a lot of Lazy Day charm and mini-charm packs (one of my oldest friends is having a baby, and I panicked earlier in the year) which were going spare, but which I think on a navy background are going to make a lovely Texas. I've only bought a few extra half yards for the city blocks so far, but this morning I ordered a few more colours for variety. I'm excited to get going and will check in once a week with my progress, and links if you're following along :)

Have a good weekend y'all, x

(did you see what I did there!??!?)