D57: Click click click ding!

That's the sound of my brain working. The ding is new.

That's my thinking over there.

The bag method works because it uses the ratio of the rectangle to make identical full or half triangles that would fit in the rectangle. The seam allowance is fixed and doesn't change with the ratio. That is, it's not a portion of the length or width but a fixed amount. I think this is why the bags turn out crooked.
In short: the seam allowance needs to be accounted for before cutting.

So today, after cutting a 1:5 set for a wallet, I got this thinking done and I'll be snipping those strips to be a slightly smaller 1:5 tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to think clearly about constructing that prototype too. In the meantime, I'm off to Bedfordshire.

D56: Little stashes

Little purse made from 1:3 length.  I meant to cut 1:5 but fudged it. Oh well!

Yesterday's chocolate bikkies. Made 41 :)

D55: Complete gift bag!

On a chair.

I was right! Following on from yesterday's post, I was spot on with my guess about folding the lining opposite ways to make it match the cover shell.


After this success and a bit of pressing, the rest followed pretty much as I'd hoped and in good time.

The lining & covers sewn together.

The bag turned out and pressed. The tips are open and ready...

...for turning out!

The finished product!

Some of the top stitching.

The only concern I have is that the seams are pressed open (inside the bag walls) and the top stitching doesn't strengthen those joints.  At the moment the top stitching only picks up fabric from its own side of the seam.  If I'd pressed the seam allowances to opposite sides - the lining allowances one way and the cover's the other - the top stitching would've reinforced the seam, too, rather than only decorated.  For next time, that one.


At this point in the day I've also begun some little biscuits. They're a chocolate shortbready thing and require chilling twice.   It also lets you whip the butter before adding the other ingredients - way easier than the usual shortbread method. Luckily, it's a cracking day: sun-soften butter ain't too likely in winter.  Right now, the first chilling is going to be taken up with bub and dinner, but it doesn't really matter when the next parts happen. :)  I'm liking this recipe already.

D54: Gift bag

I love giving things I've made.  I especially love it when I get it right in my idea of choice.  I'm very fortunate to have friends and family who show their gratitude proportionate to the effort of a project.  It's so rewarding that I'm sure I give these things for what I receive in return!

Yesterday, my mother-in-law (I shall call her Mil) visited and, as she's one of the sisters I'm planning the bags for, I asked what kind of bag and fabric she'd prefer.  (Luckily she'd already shown a liking for the fabrics I'd bought, not knowing their purpose.)  Unfortunately, or not, she opted for a version of the 1:3, not the wallet idea. After much mulling, I decided to keep it safe and do one the same width as mine.

So today I got the cutting and seams done, but with a hitch.

The bags aren't perfectly symmetrical once sewn up.  I've checked my lengths and widths and they're the right 1:3 ratio.  Folding the points in make the edges lining up exactly and if only folded they are symmetrical.  But the seam wraps the length a little to the side, I suppose because its the start of a wrapped tube and it leans one way.  I feel like I should be able to slide the folded corner down, shortening the seam and something will fix, but brain is no for puzzle thought moment uurrrrr....

See below, the seam points are opposite each other, but the edges have become unmatched by twice the seam allowance.

My perfectly symmetrical asymmetrical bag.

I could clip off those extra margins and make it symmetrical, but it's such a free form bag it doesn't really matter in the finished product.  Maybe if I were creating a pattern I would clip the margin, unpick it and mark the corner point / sewing line and see exactly where this seam lands along the rectangle.

However! That margin does matter for a lined-bag in that the lining needs to be folded using the different corners to the outer-bag.  Otherwise the margins don't match.
This is something I discovered after making both and then nesting them inside each other.   See how outer's extra portion is to the back but the lining's is in the front?  I'm hoping that folding the other set of corners will flip the lining around.  I'm not sure though - my brain isn't up to visualising that right now.

The inner and outer bags, with their extra length pushed to the front and back respectively.

So the lining is unpicked will be resewn tomorrow.  I will try, with the next bag, shifting the seam down so that the bag actually is symmetrical, as I tried to describe above.

If all is well, they'll be sewn together at the edges, turned out, decorative stitching done, handle tube made and points connected.  Yay for Saturdays!

D53: Robbed.

I didn't do a creative thing today because in the creative time I had Hub made me repair his shorts' button and he wouldn't let me put it somewhere creative.