Half inch seams are for cissies
Sunday, August 3, 2014 at 5:00PM
When I go to the supermarket I prefer to leave my handbag locked in the boot of my car and just take what I need. Usually, that’s phone, keys and purse, though if I have a pocket, I’ll take my cards and a bit of cash out and leave my purse in the car too. When I spotted this small project then, I knew it would be useful.
I had a piece of Kokka Echino fabric I’d bought in Japan which would be ideal, so bought a matching zip yesterday and gathered the ingredients this morning ready to sew. Knowing my phone is larger than the iphone they’d designed this for, I added an inch and a half all round, including a half inch seam allowance.
I began by embroidering my initial. Though I’d downloaded the free alphabet in the article into my software, this morning I wanted to focus on my sewing machine and rather than be distracted by the software idiosyncracies, I chose to use one of the built-in fonts. I soon realised that I’m still not competent enough to work without the book close to hand and in the first half hour needed to refresh my memory of how to centre the design, how to return to the beginning after stopping half way through and yes, how to retrieve a piece of broken thread. I’m getting good at that last bit.
After lunch I put the bag together. I quite liked the way this pattern set the zip with a piece of fabric at each end, though preferred the order of working explained by Lisa Lam.
I chose a piece of green/blue tie dyed cotton for the lining, which picked up colours in the fabric and contrasted well with the pink/black/cream. I enjoyed using the 4D zip foot and the dual feed and turned the whole thing right way out before closing the gap in the lining by hand. Hmm. A couple of bulky corners weren’t quite as good as I’d hoped, but I might have a go at poking those out a little more in a minute.
Feeling very pleased with myself, I went to get my phone to give it a try.
Guess what?
No amount of breathing in. No squeezing an extra few mm opening on the zip. Like an Ugly Sister and the Glass Slipper, my phone just would not fit through that opening.
Grrr. Yes, sweetie, I know, I’d made it so nicely, too. Double Grrrr.
With a bit of an harrumph, I went back to my sewing table and using the best unpicker in the world I unsewed top and bottom seams and restitched them as close to the edge as I dare.
Of course half inch seams are for cissies.
And you know what? I suspect the phone in the picture on the project page wouldn’t go into that purse, either.
Reader Comments (3)
What a handsome little bag. Well done.
Thank you, Mary!
it's great!!! Love the G, love the idea...