New Green Bag
I had wanted to finish this bag with the grocery bag in my blog a few weeks ago, but was only able to get around to it now. It was a much easier bag and I love that the straps go completely underneath the bag and hug the bag for greater durability and strength.
But there is this nagging annoyance from the side straps? See those that slide onto the grocery rack? They look like dog ears……..and quite frankly not sure you’re going to want to waste the time getting the check out clerk to slide them on.
What were they thinking? Hmmmm. As many times as I have dragged my bags into the local Safeway, WholeFoods, or Albertsons, no one has the time to “hook up” the tabs for your incoming purchases. At least that is my impression when zipping through the check out lines. I hand them my bag and they start to stuff instantly. So, the side bar handles …….for me………seemed superfluous. The tabs took away from the design. However a new bigger BAG design was discovered. Before I put those tabs on, I fell in love with the larger size from my previous Hand Bags. Same kind of bag, but airy, big, roomy bottom design. Purrrrrrrrfect!
I will definitely be making more of these, but disregarding the side tabs. This bag I lined in nylon (of course) and though I have yet to cut out my plastic square bottom insert for structure, this bag is probably a 3-4 hour project. Boy did the time fly. Being my first try at this design I forgot to clock it. But I imagine you can sew this bag in a few hours once you have it cut out and skip a few of the steps. Yes, this is a simple design but I ALWAYS go the tortoise route whenever I sew anything new. You’d think I would get over it but fabric doesn’t forgive well! So you speed demons will whip this up in no time.
You will need 1 1/4 yards of 45” wide, or 5/8 yards of 60” wide fabric. Cottons, home dec or denims are my favorite, but if you can get heavy hemp fabric you are going to truly fall in love with this bag. And it will be a long lasting relationship too! Good hemp is stunning.
Hair Canvas
Also, I interfaced this bag and love the extra weight it gave my home dec fabric. The pattern calls for hair canvas (shown right) but I had a medium weight interfacing which combined with the canvas was good enough for my sample. I love crisp designs.
Hair Canvas
My recommendations: I would make the straps wider. My previous designs and from many of my gracious customers, that is one of the many bonus features of my bags. Our shoulders will thank us for that. So does my chiropractor Matthew!
Happy Sewing.
Wide Straps
I found in my stash a song sung by Tracy Thorn (Everything but the Girl) from the “Protection” album by Massive Attack. It freakishly jumped out at me, and I don’t even know how I got it in my collection. (Well I sorta do but my lips are sealed.) I think I watched “Blind Side” too much!
Nice song for a gray, rainy, sewing day.
Leave a Reply