Totes and Purses

My son gave me a tote and purse pattern for Christmas, Butterick Waverly Patterns B6148 Tote Bags Sewing Template, so I've been spending my time in quarantine learning how to sew them.

This red bandana and cowhide print tote was my first attempt.

I've never been adept at reading and comprehending sewing patterns.  My first mistake was to read the phrase "fleece lining" and interpret it as "flannel lining".  I caught my error before doing any cutting, but decided to use the flannel for the interior fabric lining.

The fleece and the fusible interfacing are what give the guts of the bag its structure.  I knew I would want to make several bags, so I ordered a whole bolt of fleece and a whole roll of interfacing.

I thought I had put the magnetic snaps on backwards because they connect with the tabs hanging down inside the tote, but when I made my second tote, I followed the directions closely and found that was the correct way to install the closure.  I find it to be kind of useless when it comes to keeping to opening of the purse closed.  I might design my own closures in the future.

I sewed my second tote for a friend of my daughter who loves sea turtles.

My daughter picked out the purple fabrics on the pocket, handles and interior.  Purple and teal are my favorite colors.

The second bag went together much faster.

I switched to a different pattern for my third tote.  This one has pockets with Velcro flaps on the front, and a zipper closure on top.

Who knew having a zipper would make the project exponentially more complex?  But, I'm proud of myself because I took it slow and figured it out.

One thing I would do differently with the design is make the pockets longer top to bottom, or install a second set of pockets above the ones on the bottom.  I made this for my daughter-in-law, whose birthday is in a few days, so I don't want to mess with it right now.  I have to allow for shipping time.  But I do plan to design my own totes and purses as I get more familiar with the construction process.

I can't tell you how many times I read the pattern instructions and said, "This doesn't make any sense."

I ended up just having to do it to see how it all came together.  For instance, I couldn't figure out why they were making me jump through hoops to sew pieces together one way when there was a much faster, much simpler way.  It turned out that I had to jump through hoops in order to get all the seams hidden in the end.  The last step of installing the interior fabric panels required whipstitching by hand.

Another thing I will do differently is sew on the Velcro as a later step, because the pattern instructions have you sew on the Velcro right away, and I melted one of the Velcro pieces when ironing the seams.  I had to detach it and sew on a new one so that the flap would close.

I chose this grassy green fabric for the interior.  I like that this tote has a backpack or luggage feel to it.