Homage to building a better bag.

When I was a kid my go to phrase was “I could do that if I really wanted to” and usually it was in reference to some incredible thing someone was doing on the t.v.

Well I still kind of have that attitude about doing most things, because it seems impossibly silly to me that only a small handful of people out of millions can do any one amazing thing, and even more ridiculously silly that a ton of us can’t do some pretty amazing everyday awesome things?  Whatever it may be, just get out of your own head and try, possibly f-up and maybe try again. Simple.

Admittedly most of  my “I could do thats” revolve around safe arts & crafts ..although I was on a taffy making binge for about a year.

Faux bag first try: I used mid-weight linen and it was a little lighter than I would’ve liked, but there were sections where I was sewing through 4+ layers with thick seams and I wasn’t super sure the little husqvarna could handle it, I could tell any thicker and I would have to use backup maneuvers to get it under the presser foot.

The size is exactly the same as my store bought bag, 8-9 Skeins full. Internal pockets mimic the original, but I did skip the trio of grommets because for me they just aren’t practical.

I kind of love the vegan leather handle, firstly because I feel like I would f-up my machine trying to stitch real leather and secondly because Lex would have hassled me about using animal.

Faux bag second try: This time I used duck cloth, good old heavy duty canvas and surprisingly only broke one needle, after which very very slow hand cranking, cringing and swears happened at every bulky intersection (I always have nightmare thoughts of needles shooting off into my eyes!)

Wide cotton twill tape replaced the pleather handle, only because I was feeling monochromatic 😍

I also swapped out the flat drawstrings for cotton cord (clothesline cord to be exact) and made the inside pockets a little deeper.

At first I wasn’t sure I even wanted to try and understand/improve on something already good, I didn’t have any issue dropping the cash for the ready made bag, but now I’m not limited by availability, color or even size, and I can drag it around and not worry about getting it scummy ..but this messy girl will not be making another white on white bag.

Sometimes it’s not about necessity or usefulness, but the feel good of doing something just because you can or want to, no matter how silly, small or simple.

On a completely random note: kinda rough, kinda romantic, kinda janky grocery store roses.

💕