Thursday, February 24, 2011

Reversible Everyday Shopper: Completed!

I was less of a slacker this month & have had this bag completed for a couple weeks now. It felt so much better than scrambling the last weekend to get it finished up! It's amazing how much more time I seem to have now that we're not still recovering from the holidays. Of course, it sure doesn't hurt that this bag was just a smidge (okay, okay, a TON) easier than the Cosmo Bag.

From what I've seen so far from those of you who have completed it, I think you'd have to agree with me that this should have been the first pattern in the book. I guess I must have assumed that not only did I expect the book to advance through the sewing levels (easy, intermediate, advanced, & experienced) in order, but I also assumed the patterns within those levels would be in order of difficulty. Boy was I wrong!

I enjoyed making this bag, it was a nice break after working so hard on the Cosmo Bag. Cutting out the pieces & interfacing didn't take me two days, and sewing would have only taken me an afternoon if I'd had the time do work on it in one sitting.

As I mentioned before, I chose to use four different fabrics for my bag - all red & navy gingham, in three different pattern sizes.

Reversible Everyday Shopper fabric

Let me tell you, sewing with tiny gingham is a chore & hard on the eyes! I was pretty much cross-eyed by the time I was done, and even now it kind of hurts to look at it! I do like the final look of the bag, but I don't think I'll work with that small of a gingham pattern again.

My finished bag reminds me of summer picnics, and a blanket we always brought to sit on while watching fireworks for the fourth of July.

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Reversible Everyday Shopper

I think I like the red side with the blue pocket the best, mostly because the blue handles add some extra contrast. I also like the way the smallest & largest ginghams look next to each other when they're the same color, rather than the largest & medium on the blue side. Again, it adds extra contrast.

I did split my pockets in half, although mine doesn't look as cute as Chrissy's. It's difficult to see here, but I just did a plain line of stitching up the center of the pocket. Try not to hurt your eyes looking too close! :)

Reversible Everyday Shopper - pocket

I really didn't make many changes to the pattern when I was working on this one. I used a fairly lightweight interfacing so it would be easier to turn inside out, and used a lightweight cotton instead of home dec fabric. I also chose not to fold in the straps since I did use decor bond interfacing on them, and I liked them better laying flat. Like I mentioned earlier, I did split my pockets in half. They just gapped too much for me. I haven't done it yet, but I plan on doing at least a few stitches in the seams to attach the two layers together so it'll be easier to turn inside out.

Remember you can check out another pattern review from Sara at Sew Sweetness, and there's a ton of great inspiration in the Flickr Group. I'll have a linky party on Monday for you to share your completed bags for your chance to win this month's giveaway - a half yard each of FreeSpirit Olive Rose by Valori Wells, in emerald & pink.

Olive Rose Emerald

Olive Rose Pink

Get sewing this weekend (if you haven't already!) and I can't wait to see what every has to share next week!

Until next time...

8 comments:

  1. I can tell that last sentence is directed at me. :) The bad news is I haven't started sewing a stitch on this bag. The good news is I've got most of my pieces cut out (still deciding on fabric for the pocket) and have the whole weekend free and clear to work on it. Sounds like I won't need that much time, though, which is good for those of us who did wait until the last minute. Slackers!

    I have to say, with both this and your Cosmo Bag you chose fabrics I probably wouldn't have looked twice at in the store but the way you combined them has resulted in two bags I adore. Another job well done!

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  2. I love the red side out too! Cute bag! I'm with Sourkraut, not a stitch yet. I think the problem with having a month to pack up the house is I've taken the whole month to focus on packing the house and no time to focus on sewing. I'm just glad that we're moving Saturday. Once the furniture is unloaded I'm unpacking my sewing room and sitting down to sew!

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  3. I love how your bag turned out...I especially love the view where you can see all 4 colorways of the gingham you used...really cute! I could see this bag looking really amazing paired with a jean jacket or a white summer dress!

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  4. Great picnic bag! I can see it holding a gingham picnic cloth, too...

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  5. I think your bag is really cute!! I love the gingham - it's so cheery. Makes me think of summer! :)

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  6. I love all the bags! Love the gingham! I also love the bags where the creators added ruffles to the pockets!! Extra cute!
    I added my black and white bag to the Flickr pool.
    JenE aka henifer2003

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  7. Ca-Ute! I love all that gingham (sorry about the cross-eyed-ed-ness) :) I will be posting mine on flickr to link up but waiting to do a blog post about it until next week. Toodles!

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Thank you for your comments, I appreciate each & every one I get. I do try to respond to most (if not all) comments, but that's hard to do if you don't have an e-mail in your profile! :)