Wednesday, October 5, 2011

A very simple Small Tote Bag

The Small Tote is one of my "beginner" bag patterns. Nice and simple in its overall shape, it teaches you the basics of making a well-finished bag.... ..including a facing, a magnetic snap and a simple zippered pocket. I decided to tart it up with a bit of Auntie Cookie fabric, denim and clear PVC. The straps were easy-peasy webbing.

...And every seam I sewed, I sewed and unpicked twice. Then I sewed the strap on back-to-front and didn't notice until I'd topstitched the facing to the bag. Then I sewed it all up and realised that it had no magnetic snap in it.


I made every imaginable botch-up on this, the simplest of simple bags....


And I couldn't help but think that this girl was being a bit sarcastic....


...and that perhaps I should be thinking more about what I'm doing while I'm doing it.

13 comments:

Jodie said...

I'm just glad to hear I am not the only one....

Lindi said...

Maybe you were meant to make lots of mistakes, so that you would become the brilliant pattern writer that you are, never taking for granted our understanding. :)

Unknown said...

I did a shirt recently, where I spent heaps of time making sure that I cut out the fabric the right way so that the animals would be up the right way on the collar, whether it was up or down, and guess what? I sewed the collar on the wrong way. It's not the first time...

A Peppermint Penguin said...

been there done that - although that doesn't look all that *simple* to me!

A simple tote bag would be a square bag, no lining and a pair of handles.

That's Proper!

Guess who put a piece of interfacing wrong side up in the new toy?

Gay McDonell said...

Very cool - both the bag and it's journey - love the PVC and the webbing straps - and the fabric and the design and now I'll shut up!!!

Jenny from Ohjoh said...

I so love to hear of other peoples botch ups. Nice to know I'm not alone.
Botch ups (future design features ??) make us human!

Katy Cameron said...

Lol, it came out very cute despite the hassles

Little Miss Q said...

Ah Ha! Done all of that too. It's tenacity that allows us to unpick and redo. ( and smile after ) I got ( well almost) through a whole day of sewing yesterday without unpicking ....and then....yup, the Unpick Fairy struck, oh well. And I finally interfaced the top of my steam press too. Question: How do you get the *#%^&* off? :O)

Little Miss Q said...

PS. Love the bag!! and guess what? NO ONE will know the pain it caused, 'cept us lol

Fer said...

I think we've all traveled down "Complacency Street" and fallen into it's pot holes along the way..... Still, it's a gorgeous little bag - Madam Cookie would be proud. :-)

Kylie said...

I'm like that too - the simplest things do me in because I think they don't need my full attention ;)
The bag looks fantastic and I love the fabric. Kx

Zipper Bag said...

Hi,

This bag is perfect size for the use of a little girl's necessities. It trims a water-resistant nylon tote that folds into a compact shape for storage. It offers huge amounts of space and no matter what you fill it with, the straps will never break or come loose. Thanks a lot.

Anonymous said...

The small tote is perfect, especially with the little corduroy beret! I'd love to make these for my twin granddaughters. But the link to the page for the small tote is broken.

Do you ever sell the bags you make? Your choices of fabric are phenomenal!

Thanks,

J