Or...all the things I learned not to do while making this tote! lol. So as I mentioned, I'm pretty much self taught. I grew up watching my Grandmothers sew, but never did projects on my own until I was much older. And until recently, I never used patterns. I made it up as I went. lol. I made a few tank tops in high school just from tracing them onto the fabric, sewing the sides together and hemming everything. Of course that was also pre-boobies so I didn't need anything as complicated as a dart, lol. I just totally winged it!
Back in present day tote time... I think to my self one afternoon...Self...how much
more difficult can it be than making a pillow case? It can't be that hard! Well...It IS pretty
simple, but a few little things would have made it a pretty outstanding
bag.
Interfacing for starters, would have solved almost ALL of this bags
issues. Really it's the primary reason I felt the bag wasn't so much a
success as a fizzle, lol. Neither the body or the bag, or the strap has
it, and as a result, it just doesn't have the weight of a nice sturdy
tote. I also hadn't yet learned to box corners, which would have been a
nice little feature. Design wise, I would have also broken up the busy pattern with some solids on the outside. All in all though, I'm not too critical of the bag as a whole. I went into it expecting to make mistakes and learn, and I did, so it served it's purpose.. and now you too can learn from my mistakes!!
It's absolutely functional regardless of it's mildly tragic construction, holds a ridiculous amount of groceries, and the funny looks
from the clerks when they realize it has classic movie monsters on it is priceless.
Tee hee!!
One thing I felt I did really well was fussy cut the Frankenstein inner pocket. I thought it would be funny to have him reaching out of the bag at me every time I looked in!! lol. (The fabric BTW is Robert Kaufman, Monster Mash. I believe it is OOP, but you can still find it on eBay.)
Thanks for reading! And happy crafting!
