Bag Along April

 My Bag Along project has progressed slowly, but eventually (1 May) the April goal was completed:

The outside of the bag - turned inside out :-)

detail of one of the patchwork pockets

Like all instructions from  Elizabeth Hartman I have ever seen, these ones are very thorough. Should you consider sewing the Sewing Circle Tote yourself, maybe this might help still:

• Instead of the three layers of Peltex she recommends for the bag bottom, Suz and I both used only one layer of 'timtex', a very stiff interfacing type material. This is what the local shops had in stock and recommended. Both of us added a layer of batting to it so that the quilting lines (you can see my crosshatching in the pic above) show up.
• For the utility fabric I used some very heavy 'duck' (I think that's what they called it) - a almost canvasy calico-type material. My black main fabric is denim. Together this feels very firm, I can imagine with my homespun lining which again is backed with utility fabric the bag will stand up by itself. It better does, the outside part alone weighs already 850g!
• I found one typo in the instructions, on p. 5 step 4 you need 2 (not 3) pieces 4 1/4" x 60"
• When it gets to making the Patchwork Pockets from p.8, you will note that the utility fabric is marked out on all four sides with a larger space at the bottom. When you get to the point where you add four strips of solid fabric to the patchwork you have in the meantime stitched to that utility fabric, you will use the LARGEST strip ON THE TOP, not on the bottom (where you had that large space marked out originally). It seems a bit counter-intuitive, but it works. If you put that large strip on the bottom, it will still work but if you are anal picky like me, you might want to take it off and do it again.

Suz finished almost a month before me - you can see her post here. She has been incredibly busy these school holidays and made amazing progress on a lot of her creations, amongst them another bag she finished before I even realised she had started it! Well done!

My goal for May is to complete the rest of the bag - piece of cake, aye? Well, we'll see...

Happy Bagging Along!