I Did It! My First Sewing Project--the Handy Hip Bag

I did it!  I completed my very first sewing project using my new sewing machine!  I made the Handy Hip Bag from the Complete Idiot's Guide to Sewing!  And I took lots of pictures along the way!

As I said in my last post, I realized I needed to start with something a little simpler than the kids' jammies, both to boost my confidence and to hopefully not screw up their jammies by making them my first learning project (because that would be really frustrating and disappointing!).  So, I pulled out the Idiot's book and checked out the Handy Hip Bag project.  I read through most of it, and it was making pretty good sense to me.  I looked at the materials list and figured I should be able to pick up some remnants pretty darn cheap that would work well enough for a beginner to practice on without risking a larger monetary investment in "good" fabric.  Sure enough, at Hobby Lobby they had just what I needed:  1/2 yard of royal blue (perfect!) and 7/8 of a yard (I needed 5/8) of light blue broadcloth for a grand total of about $2.50.  I was totally willing to risk that much on a potentially failed project!

When I got home I began making my pattern from taped together pieces of printer paper, measuring them to the size/dimensions given and labeling each pattern piece with the pertinent information.  I figured if this worked, who knows, maybe I'd make another bag(s) with the pattern pieces someday!



While I was doing that, I was also pre-washing and drying the fabric.  Then I pressed it to get it all nice and flat again.  Then I ripped across the fabric from selvage to selvage to get a truly squared piece of fabric and straighten the fabric grain.  Once that was done, I smoothed the fabric out, all squared up, and pinned my pattern to the fabric, being sure to match the selvage line directions, and proceeded to cut out my fabric pieces with my new fabric--use-only Gingher scissors.  So far, so good!  (or should I say "Sew far, sew good!")  The directions suggest using the outer bag fabric for the button loop and the straps.  Given the remnant sizes I had, I did have to go with the light blue for the outer bag and the straps, but I decided to go with the dark blue for the button strap to match the inner liner.  I thought that'd look a lot cooler (and it does!).

The first bit of actual sewing was piecing together the two strap pieces at the short ends to make one longer strap.  Then I folded it in half lengthwise and sewed the long edges together inside out.  After pressing the seams open, I turned the tube that would be the strap inside out, and pressed the strap flat, centering the seam in the back center of the strap.  Then I topstitched 1/4" away from each long each to strengthen and reinforce the strap.  I considered trying to do some decorative stitch for that, but ultimately decided to just keep this one sweet and simple!  (i.e.--I didn't want to figure out how to changer presser feet or potentially screw up my bag strap since I didn't have fabric to replace it!)

Next I pinned the outer bag pieces with right sides together on 3 sides, leaving the top side open, and stitched those together.  I used the "needle down" function on my machine to pivot at the corners, and the reverse function to backstitch at the beginning and end.  When that was done, I pressed the seams to one side (instead of open, like the strap was).



Now it was time for the inner liner.  I pinned and stitched those pieces together just like the outer bag, except I left a 4" opening in the middle of one side of the liner.  That would be used later for turning the bag outside out before finishing.  By this time I was beginning to feel pretty darn good about how things were going!



Now came a trickier step--making a box corner.  I took the outer bag and at one bottom corner I pinched together the bottom seam and the side seam, aligning them and making a triangle of the corner. I then measured and sewed along a line 1" from the corner triangle point and perpendicular to the aligned seams.  Piece of cake!  I added another line of stitching 1/4' away from the first, towards the corner of the bag, for reinforcement, and then trimmed the excess corner of fabric away.  That wasn't so hard (although I did think twice before I actually put scissors to fabric!).  I repeated the exact process for making box corners of the other outer bag corner and of both inner bag corners, and then pressed the seams towards the bottom of the bag.  Yea for me!



Now it was time to make the little strap for the button closure.  I took my little strip of fabric, folded it in half lengthwise, and pressed the fold.  Then I opened it up and folded and pressed the outer edges lenthwise to meet in the middle at the center fold.  The I pressed the little strip again, now 4 layers thick with the raw edges inside the center fold.  Then I edgestitched along the length of each side about 1/8" from the edge.  Since I still was using the original white thread that came with the machine, that made for some simple but decorative stitching--a pair of white lines on the dark blue strip.  Pretty cool!

Now, all my pieces were sewn and it was time to assemble the bag!  First step was to attach that cute little button strap to the back of the bag.  I turned the outer bag right side out and choose one side to be the back.  I then sewed the button loop to the center back of the bag, aligning the short, raw ends of the loop with the raw top edge of the back of the bag on either side of the center line.  I used two lines of stitching to reinforce the attachment.



To attach the shoulder strap to the sides of the bag, I again aligned the raw edge of the bag top with the raw edge of one end of the shoulder strap and sewed them together with two lines of stitching.  I repeated for the other side, and I did remember to make sure the strap wasn't twisted before attaching the other end!

To put the liner into the bag, I actually put the bag into the liner!  Remember, the liner was wrong side out at this point, and the outer bag was right side out.  By putting the outer bag into the liner, I was putting the bag together inside out, thus hiding the seams on the inside of the bag.  So, that's what I did, matching up the side seams and sewing the inner and outer bag together along the unfinished top seam, being sure to hide the side straps and button strap down between the bag layers so they wouldn't get caught up in the top seam.  I repeated with a second line of stitching nearer the edge to reinforce the seam.  Then I got to reach through that 4" hole left in the side of the liner and turn my bag right side out!  Wow--it looked like a bag!  How cool!



But I still wasn't finished, of course.  It was time for a little hand sewing.  I referred back to that section of the Complete Idiot's Guide and tried to figure out just how to do the slipstitch to close that 4" hole in the side of the liner.  I must admit, it helped a lot when I put on my reading glasses and could see previously hidden to me gray lines of thread on the sample drawing (which were indeed supposed to be hidden under the folds of fabric).  All of a sudden it all made sense!  And so, with my glasses still on, I managed to slipstitch the hole closed, and did pretty well other than the not so pretty knot at the end.  But it's on the inside, so no big deal!



Now I was almost done!  But my stomach was pointing out that it was most definitely lunch time.  After meeting my sweetie (and showing him my progress!), I came home and got back to work on the finishing touches.  For starters, I pressed the inner top seam UP, away from the body of the bag.  That, of course, meant pulling the liner up out of the bag some. When I tucked the liner back in, I left about 1/2" of the dark blue liner showing as the top edge of the bag.  It was, of course, wrapped around that pressed up seam, making that top edge 4 layers of fabric thick, just like the button strap.  I pressed that top edge, and then added a double line of edgestitching around the top edge, reinforcing the top, holding the lining in place, and reinforcing the side straps and button strap.  As an added bonus, it also served as the same "decorative" stitch as that on the button strap--two lines of white stitching along the dark blue fabric.  Very pretty touch!

 

There was only one thing left to do, and that was find and attach a large button to the front of the bag.  Several years ago a friend was moving and gave me, amongst other things, her huge stash of buttons.  I went digging through the buttons and located a nice, large, black button, perfect for my little bag.  I pulled back out the needle and thread and sewed on the button right where the strap would catch it, and that was it.  I was done.  I DID it.  See, I told you I was going to learn to sew!  And I'm doing it! Haha!!  Yes!

Btw, if you wonder what I'm gonna do with this little bag--it's going to be a nice little new bag for carrying around small knitting projects, like mittens or gloves or hats or what not.  The little, lightweight bag I have been using for small knitting projects has a hole in one corner.  I suppose I could fix that (and I probably will--it's always nice to have extra bags), but I'm totally psyched about my new little Handy Hip Knit Bag.

 

But wait--there's more!  My 15yo was quite happy with my little bag too.  He still wants me to make him a vest, but now he's also put in an order for a satchel!  I told him HE should learn to sew and make it for himself!  (And it wouldn't surprise me if he does!)

Starting More Simply

The next day, I pulled out the sewing machine and tried to figure out how do something with it.  It came already threaded, but for some reason I was confused about the bobbin threading.  I tried looking through the manual, but that wasn't really helping me much either.  I was failing to make a mental connect with the info provided.  So I went to youtube instead!  And sure enough, I found a couple videos that I watched on there of people threading or beginning to stitch on the same machine or another one made by the same company.  After seeing that, the neurons in my head connected, and I was able to sew a short seam on a demo scrap I brought home from the store.  Having done that much, I next grabbed Jman's (son #2, almost 14yo) sleep pants with an unsewn seam and repaired them for him!  Yea, me!!  I showed it off to my husband and jokingly asked him if I'd earned my keep yet with that new sewing machine.  He said, "Um . . . nope."  :)  But he was happy to see me having fun and doing something with it!  

After that monumental success (see? I was sewing!), I took a closer look at that jammies pattern.  Since I want to make multiple sizes of jammies from it (and repeat using the pattern in future years as the little ones grow), I realized I'd have to figure out how not to cut the pattern to make the jammies.  That led to some looking in the books, and ultimately back to youtube, where there were plenty of videos demonstrating how to transfer patterns to fabric and/or to pattern paper/etc.  That led to a trip to the store for a more couple supplies--a tracing wheel and tracing paper.  And of course I got to look at other sewing doo-dads while I was there, just building some familiarity with it all.  There's really quite a lot and it can be very overwhelming and intimidating!

Finally, this morning, (2 days after buying the machine, pattern, fabrics), I pulled more of the pattern out and took a closer look at it.  Some of it made sense, but some of it was like trying to read a foreign language!  I knew it couldn't be that hard, but I also realized I needed to either find someone to help me or to take a small step back and try to make something a bit less ambitious (this coming from a gal who's first real knitting project was a cable-knit sweater, which I still wear 20 years later!).

I returned back to the Complete Idiot's Guide and glanced through the next chapter.  There were instructions for a little project called a "Handy Hip Bag," basically a little tote bag that's just big enough to carry a small 3-ring binder or spiral notebook.  I glanced through that and realized I'd probably be much less frustrated (and much more successful) with that nice little project rather than trying to dive into those jammies for the kids.  So, that'll be my first/next project!  

I Bought a Sewing Machine!

First things first--I like to learn by reading and gathering information first, so I took myself to the bookstore and checked out the sewing books they had on the shelf.  I picked out one or two that I liked and made a mental note of their names.  Then I went to my local library to see what they had available. I came home with two library books.  The first was the Readers Digest Complete Guide to Sewing (which I discovered was missing the first 21 pages when I got home!) and the other was The Complete Idiot's Guide to Sewing.  I have to say, for me at this point, I'm liking the Complete Idiot's Guide better (so what does that say about me? lol!).

Another thing I did was look around online for some sewing forums.  I'm still looking, but was able to glean a bit of information from a couple of them, such as looking for advice on buying a sewing machine for a newbie.

And then I went looking for places that sell sewing machines.  I already knew what walmart had, so I made my way to some local fabric shops to see what else was out there.  One little local place doesn't sell machines but does offer machine repairs, which I may take advantage of with an old hand-me-down machine.  Another place place had a few machines, including a couple I was interested in, with the added bonus of them being on sale.  Of course, a quick look online revealed that their sale price was a common price you could buy them for online anyway, so I don't know how much of a "sale" that was.  I finally made my way to Jo-Ann's, where they not only had a selection of machines, but also someone there to answer questions and give demonstrations.

To make a long story short, I ultimately decided to get a Husqvarna Viking Opal 650 sewing machine.  It's metal parts inside instead of plastic, so it should be much more durable (although that also makes it more expensive).  It also had extra stitches and such things that I thought I'd end up being glad to have once I had a clue what I was doing.  The computer uses a keypad instead of the touchscreen on the 670 (I didn't want to have to be keeping track of a stylus, and I didn't care for the touch screen so much anyway, but that's a personal preference thing).  It had a good warranty and a upgrade/trade-in option, AND there were REAL people there that I could talk to (and go back to if/when I have questions in the future).  I gave my hubby and call to check with him before spending that much money, and he said go for it.  So, I did!

After buying the machine and taking it out to the car, I went back in and looked and looked and looked and looked through pattern catalogs and flannel fabrics, trying to decide what to try to make (keeping in mind I really want to make flannel ladybug jammies for my little girl!).  After a break, I took my husband back with me, and we picked out a jammies pattern and some skateboard flannel on clearance for SB3 (Shorty Boy #3, who is now 4.5yo) and some different ladybug flannel for Iago (my little girl--It's A Girl One--the first daughter after three sons, and the first girl in hubby's family in 69 years).  We also got thread and shears and elastic to be able to complete the project, and hubby put in his request for some sleep shorts, while Sly (boy #1, now 15.5yo) put in his order for a vest.  See, I really am going to learn to sew!  I'm gonna have to! lol!

I am going to learn to sew!

I am going to learn to sew!

I actually have sewn a few things before, and I know how to sew a hem by hand, or put on a button, or a few other little things like that.  And when I was a teenager, I had my mom help me sew a dress and maybe a couple other things, but I really didn't enjoy it much.  Instead I did cross stitch, taught myself to knit, and worked on piecing together a quilt by hand (which still isn't finished being pieced, and I started that 16 or so years ago!).  But really, other than that, and what I can remember of watching my mom sew when I was very little, I don't know much.

But I am going to learn to sew!

A huge part of my motivation is that I now have a little girl, 2.5 years old, and as adorable as they come.  Even now, when I glance through the little girls clothes sections in stores, I just have a really hard time finding stuff that I think is appropriate for her to wear, and when I look at the school-age girls' clothes, well, let's just say it gets much harder to find cute but modest clothes.  That is probably the biggest motivation for me to learn to sew--to dress my little girl well but appropriately.  

A couple other motivators include expanding my homesteading skills (last year it was gardening, and I began canning again too).  This year it's sewing.  Next year, who knows?  Maybe bee keeping!  Wouldn't that be cool?

And the more immediate motivator is this adorable pink ladybug flannel that is just screaming to be made into jammies for my little girl! But I've got some learning to do before I'm gonna try to tackle jammies.

So . . . I am going to learn to sew--just you wait and see!