Maybe a month ago now, I started a new project. I’ve never been crafty or artistic or talented along those lines in any fashion. I’ve always left that stuff to my Mom and Kirsten, who are both amazing. I’ve tried numerous things like sewing and knitting and beading and so on over the years, but none of it has really stuck. Until now.
About a month ago, I bought myself a sewing machine. I have Grandma’s machine, but it doesn’t work. Mom even came over and tried to get it to work when I decided I needed black-out curtains for the living room, and she couldn’t get it to work. Anyhow, my new machine is the Brother CS6000i.
And I decided my first projects would be from Emma Brennan’s book, Making Vintage Bags. I started with the Clara bag, which is a 1920s style.
I made two of this style. One has a thicker interfacing and black handles.
The other has the thinner interfacing and wooden handles.
Both have a silk lining. And both have at least two mistakes. But, for the first thing I’ve ever sewn on my own, not too bad.
After that, I decided to make another pattern in the book, the 1040s crescent bag Patricia.
Being the first pattern in the book, the previous Clara was well detailed and made pretty good sense. Lots of photos, lots of directions. Patricia is much further back in the book. The directions were not clear at all. There weren’t nearly enough photos to figure out how it was all going to come together. I’m assuming I got it right, with minimal mistakes, but who knows?
It is essentially a crescent-shaped bag when its open, with the handle on one side and the floppy bow on the other.
I used a suit-weight flannel, a very nice brown velvet for the bow, and pink and white striped cotton for the lining. It has wadding instead of iron-on interfacing to make it puffier.
The loop handle fits through the loop just above the bow, and folds the bag up so you can carry it on your wrist.
I am planning on making a second one of these (I got enough material to make two each of both patterns, and probably enough to make three or four each). But next, I believe I am on to a skirt followed by the Butterick Retro 52 B4790 dress.
August 30, 2011
Personally I think you sell yourself short as you were already artistic and talented in many ways. You share the creative traits of your Mom and Kirsten and your first creations on the sewing machine prove it.