Awhile back, I mentioned that a friend and I were making the Weekender bag (read more about that here) And as I said, I just couldn’t wait to work on it, I just had to finish it. So I did.
As just about everyone else in the sewing world, I got all nervous to make this bag. Everyone has such horror stories about making it. Honestly, it’s not hard to make.
I don’t know if it was because I made it using the quilt as you go method with canvas (thus not needing all the crazy interfacing) but it was really not any harder than making any other bag. I promise.
I did do a few things differently than the pattern suggests. First was the canvas quilt as you go construction. This makes the bag just as sturdy as all the interfacing would, and canvas is sure cheaper than all of that. Although, if you wanted a solid, un-quilted bag, you would for sure need to use the interfacing.
I didn’t insert the fake bottom. I had full intentions to, but when I was finished, I realized that there wasn’t really a need to make one. I did use 2 layers of felt in the bottom. it gave it a good sturdiness that I am happy with.
For the handles, I used the lightweight interfacing, but I also added some cotton webbing. I didn’t want the webbing showing, for this bag it just wasn’t the look I was going for. So I covered the webbing with the fabric I had selected for the handles. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the weight that this gave the handles, as well as the fact that I’m not going to have to worry about the handles wrinkling up with use like a lot of tote bag handles do.
And, one of my favorites, I added bag feet to the bottom. I just love the sound that the feet make when you place the bag down. This was the first bag that I had used feet on. I was happy to see that you inserted them the same exact way that you would a magnetic snap (yay!)
The bag also fits so much more than I thought it would. It really is my favorite bag that I’ve ever made…….I’m already planning my next one!
