I'm a bag lady!

I decided that I've graduated from Aprons 101, and have quickly moved on to Totes: A Cultural Study. And now I can't stop making them. Bag manufacturing has turned out out to be pretty easy, and instantly gratifying. A nice combo.

This is the first one that I made, based on some instructions in Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing. I love this woman's style - and adore every project in this book, however I'm starting to think that they skipped any form of user-testing.

This bag is the first of her projects that I attempted, but I found a good amount of instruction to be missing. Like for instance, Lotta never tells you to cut your fabric in half at one point, which perplexed me for longer than I care to share, and then a couple steps later, she tells you to pin something, then trim it, watching for the seams that she never told you to sew. I know, these are things you can figure out on your own, but for a beginner like me, filled with self-doubt and all sorts of other strange sewing hangups, it was kind of annoying. Take a crack at the instructions yourself, here.

Nonetheless, I've already got my next 15 bags planned out in my head, and got further inspiration from an intense fabric acquisition mission yesterday. I've even started to fine tune the tote a bit - I added a liner to bag #2, and have a pocket planned for #3. What's next!?! Well, probably not much. But I'm toying with the idea of opening up a little Etsy shop once I've cranked out enough and feel the quality is up to snuff. Which translates to: when I can consistently sew in a straight line. I'll keep you posted.