Sunday, September 21, 2008

Tiger bag complete

"Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier 'n puttin' it back in." ~Will Rogers

I finished the bag I was making for my mom for her birthday.

My mom teaches at a high school where the mascot is the tiger and their colors are orange and brown. I think it will make a cute school bag for her.

The inside has a big pocket and a divided pocket.

The details:
This bag was quite a project and I only got it done in a weekend because I pretty much did nothing else the entire weekend. Next time I think I'll give myself a little more time for gift making.

The bag is formed by the patchwork layer (cotton fabric), a layer of buckram, 2 layers of fusible fleece, and another cotton fabric for the lining. Sewing all of that together was a bit difficult for my machine. I broke the needle 3 times. One time because the lining had bunched up so it was extra thick. Once I realized what had happened I had to take the stitches out and redo it which was a HUGE pain considering I was using a small stitch length. Also, getting all of those layers under the foot was a feat in itself. I think my machine is a bit grumpy after all that.

I hand stitched the binding on the top, and that was quite a chore, though I eventually got the hang of making the slip stitch and it got much easier. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with it despite the fact that more swear words were used in the making of this project than all of the others combined. :) I don't think I'd make it again necessarily, but I'm glad I tried it once.

Well my quote works two-fold. There's a slight chance (very slight) that my mom might read this and the cat will be out of the bag, and also one of the kittens decided to take a nap in it and I managed to snap a picture before she hopped out.


5 comments:

Gwen said...

Oh Christine! It came out GREAT! I really like the method of having one long handle go through those loops! That is cool and I've never seen a pattern quite like that before. I think your Mom is going to love it! Looks like now you have to make one for Gracie too... ;)
Nice job!!! :)
See you tomorrow morning,
Gwen

Anonymous said...

Ooo Sissy!! That's REALLY cool! I think mom will love it!!!

Anonymous said...

That bag is really adorable! I think it will be the hit of the school with the cool tiger spirit theme. :)

During that fourth year of grad school (I call it, that year I got paid to craft :P ), I sewed a couple handbags...it was pretty ambitious. I broke alot more than 3 needles. :( Fusible fleece and other fusible products are pretty much what saved the day for me. :D

Also, kitteh picture, yay!

anon said...

that is a super cute bag. i love the pic of your kitten in it.

but, i think purple and gold would have looked better with the tiger print. =)

SunnyQ said...

Christine! The bag is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L (I can't get my full enthusiasm to convey in a comment!) Gwen had mentioned the clever handle, and I'm so glad to get to see it too. The whole bag is awesome! Maybe we could have a sewing 'party' and you could show me how to make it? :-)