Tag: Gifts

The Lavender Oxbow is done and I’ll be sending it off soon.

I like this pattern and found that it was a lot easier to manage the second time. I’d like to make the larger size, but that is a project for another day. 

I think it will be useful for the recipient. I find the bag useful for my guild materials.

I think the colors/fabrics are great. I want to use the glittery pocket fabric for a Pandora Allure bag. That isn’t my next bag, but it is coming up.

The layers were a challenge. My new machine even balked at some of them. Turning the bag was also a challenge. I couldn’t press everything, because of the various vinyl substrates.

I was super happy when the bag wasn’t quite finished, but I am less happy with it now. The lining, despite using a smaller (I thought much smaller) seam allowance is still saggy-baggy. 

As mentioned, I used some of the Sewfisive stick-on interfacing to add to the reinforced bottom and I think it was too much. I think the lavender quilted bottom would have probably been fine on its own. 

I am trying to decide whether I’ll be happier if I take the bag apart and redo some sections before I gift it. I have to think about it. 

I can’t decide whether there is some reason not to add a pocket on the other side/back of the bag. It would make the directions a little challenging as Anna Graham refers to the panel with the pocket as the ‘front’.

When we had the Oxbow Sew Day at SueS’ house she talked quite a bit about the different methods of attaching the strap holders. I didn’t do any thing about it for the first Oxbow, but I decided to try to acknowledge the sense of her thoughts in this Oxbow.

I tried to figure out how to add a strap holder that looks good when sewn down and provides added strength for the weight of a full Oxbow. I mentioned this when I started the Oxbow. I was convinced that I could create a support system that would look good and wouldn’t just be the result of my machine being able to sew through many layers. 

I did not succeed. 

After assembling the front and back Main panels, I sewed a more robust strap holder to the front of the Main Panels.

At this point I was hopeful and pretty convinced I could make my idea work. The strap holder piece sewn to the Main Panel is folded so the raw edge, like the one at the bottom of the photo, is underneath the strap holder. I wanted to wrap it around the back to minimize raw edges on the front and provide more support for the triangle.

This part worked okay, except for the wonkiness of my sewing on the back. I could have lived with that, or redone it.

The problem came when I tried to put the Main Panels together. I couldn’t figure out how to do the same stitching for the strap holder on the back Main Panel while trying to keep the Main Panels together, but out of the way and not hit a piece of hardware with my needle. I didn’t have enough hands.

As you can see, I ripped out the wonky stitching and redid it. I gave up trying to put the whole complex idea together after quite a bit of trying and riveted the strap holder. Was that a cop out? I don’t think so.

I do understand why pattern writing, especially for bags, is so hard. I am struggling to explain to you what I was trying to do! 

I made some good progress on the Oxbow last week and am really happy with the progress.

This is the exterior pocket side of the bag, which the directions say to make first. I stopped at this point, because after completing this step, I have to make the other side and then add the strap holders. I haven’t 100% decided how to do that. I did decide I needed to be fresh and ready for a challenge

I often think using the big print fabric, or special fabric, for the Oxbow exterior is a waste because the pocket covers it. I do think that enough of the pears can be seen so it isn’t a complete waste. 

I forgot that part of the handle would be upside down. Even if I hadn’t forgotten, I probably wouldn’t have done anything different as splitting the fabric would have meant weakening the handles. I suppose I could have used the lavender quilted vinyl. I did think about it, but I was concerned that even with my new machine, the layers would have been too thick through which to sew.

This bag has a lot of prep, but once you get through the prep, the bag goes together really easily. 

I started the Pear Oxbow the other day. This is a gift for an acquaintance that has been helping me with some issues in the family.

The colors are out of the ordinary for me, but a good challenge. 

I have most of the pieces cut out and am working on the prep. Most of the interfacing is finished, though I haven’t done anything about the reinforced bottom. I chose to use some of the lavender quilted vinyl I bought from Sew Hungry Hippie. Usually it needs to be quilted, but I don’t want to interfere with the diamond vinyl pattern. I am thinking of either sewing some foam around the edge or using the Sewfisive self-adhesive stabilizer from Sewfisticated. I am leaning towards the latter. I haven’t decided yet, so I haven’t done anything. 

I have made the shoulder strap. I am not sure how I feel about it. It is VERY thick. This means I didn’t need padding and the strap will not ‘self adjust’. It also means that is hard to adjust. The quilted vinyl doesn’t fray, but the raw edges are showing and that makes me a little uncomfortable. Maybe it will be considered BoHo?

I am also working on reinforcing the strap holders. On the first Oxbow I just sewed the strap holders into the side seam. I plan to do the same, but with a little extra fabric so I can reinforce the strap holder and not have all the weight of the bag on the side seam. SueS and I went back and forth about it. She was kind enough to share pictures of what she did so I could consider my options.

The idea is that there would be a seam next to the triangle. Then there would be enough strap holder so some would be on the inside of the bag (between lining and exterior) and some would be on the outside of the bag. I would reinforce it using a stitched box like normal and then rivet through the two layers of strap holder and the exterior of the bag. My paper test strap holder is in a mid iteration in the photo as I think I decided that that fabric (in paper above) needed to be folded in the other direction. I haven’t sewn anything yet.

Sometimes I think of things and then I realize why it isn’t included in the pattern as it is very difficult to describe. I am having fun trying to make the solution work. 

Other prep is the zipper, which I had to order in the right color, making the interior pocket, and making the handles. I am in some stage of making all of these. Yes, I have been jumping around. Once they are all prepared, then I can start sewing the bag together.

SueS reminded me that Noodlehead has some videos I can look at.