If you are just joining us, please read last week’s post or Pam’s post.
If you read between the lines of my last post, I was a little ahead of those of you, because I had already gathered my supplies back in March and had started to cut. I did want to be a little ahead of you, so I could give you some tips and tricks if I found any.
Nota bene: Kay at Tantalizing Stitches sent the sew-in magnetic snaps out the day after I ordered them.
Fabric
The fun part was choosing fabric. You can see the colorways below, but the particulars about what I chose are:
- For the exterior: Heather Bailey’s Pop Daisy from the Pop Garden line (Westminster Fibers #HB02). It is a few years old and had been slated for a back, but called to me when I looked in the Fabric Closet – green, yellow, red print
- For the lining: Savon Bouquet by Verna Mosquera for FreeSpirit – pink polka dots
- Straps and accents: City Weekend by Oliver & S for Moda (Pattern #11165, I think. It might be L1165)- yellow
I am not sure what possessed me to choose these colors and this combination of the three. It was grey and foggy at my house the day I chose the fabrics, so, perhaps, I was seeking cheerfulness. I also wanted to use some dots for something. I do like a light interior for bags. It is hard to see what is inside if the chosen fabric is too dark.
Organization
Week 2 is all about cutting, so I did the cutting. It took me awhile to get the cutting done. I would say it took me about 3-4 hours. I was doing laundry, ate lunch and went to pick up the Young Man in between, so it is hard to say. It did take me a long time as I was trying to be really careful and not miscut. Don’t plan on doing it in a few minutes.
There are a lot of pieces to cut for this bag, so take the time to be organized. I would add the following to the supply list:
- sticky notes, though paper will do as well
- Wonderclips
- pen
I like to pin a piece of paper or sticky note to each cut pattern piece with the corresponding name from the pattern, e.g. Lining Flap, and the size. Even if it doesn’t help me truly be more organized, I feel more organized.
I also felt like I needed a spreadsheet to track everything that I needed to cut. I think it would look like a main column of what parts needed to be cut and a main row of the materials out of which the parts needed to be cut. I might also put dual columns for each put a tick mark in one noting I needed to cut a part from that materials and the second column for when I had done it. I could have just ticked off the lines on the pattern. I didn’t because I didn’t want to confuse myself for the future use of this pattern.
Cutting
Sara wants you to cut the fabrics in the order listed on the pattern. In some places, she has you cut a smaller piece before a larger piece. I like to cut all the larger pieces first, so I rearranged a few, but really tried to stick to her pattern directions. I would like to see a layout sketch for the pattern pieces on fabric in the directions.
There is enough fabric to cut all the pattern pieces. Sara did a great job estimating yardage.
I did cut one piece wrong early on and had to piece together enough of the lining fabric later for one of the bottom pieces. As I haven’t made this pattern before, I am hoping it will be ok. I am going to rummage through the fabric closet and see if I have another piece of the pink fabric (shown above) and cut a whole piece out of it. You could add an additional quarter of a yard, if you are worried about screwing up the cutting.
I just used my rotary cutter to cut the Soft & Stable where possible. I did notice, during cutting of the Soft & Stable, the sounds of paper being cut. I couldn’t feel any paper on it, especially something like paper covering a fusible. I am not sure what it is made of or if it was a good idea to use a rotary cutter, but I did want to speed the process along as much as I could.
Fun and Games
Other relevant posts:
- Sew Sweetness site – Petrillo Bag Pattern
- Sew Sweetness Flickr Group – post photos of your bag here! We have not created an additional Flickr Group
- Various & Sundry #3
- March 18 post
- Pam’s episode 121 where she talks about the Petrillo bag
- Pam’s post on the Petrillo Along
- Pam’s finished bag post
- Tutinella’s post about her Petrillo bag
This Petrillo bag by Tutinella is one of my favorites. I love the use of the map fabric, especially how she carefully placed the legend. I think Tutinella (great name, don’t you think? It is fun to say!) is a girl after my own heart. She writes “I’m a typical girl – no matter how many bags I have, I want more!” in her post about this bag. I also love how she calls her husband/significant other Mr. Right. I wish I had thought of that first! This is one of the great bags you can see in the Sew Sweetness Flickr Group, so go and take a look.