Another bag

Yes, it's 2 Finished Objects in 2 weeks! Can you believe it? I have been wanting to try the Amy Butler Birdie Sling bag pattern for a while now and finally broke down and bought it last week. I didn't think I'd be up for making another bag so soon, but this pattern looked significantly easier than the Everything Bag, and a friend of mine wanted one, so I had her pick out fabric and I sewed it up.

I've come to accept that making anything but the most basic of bags is going to involve cutting lots of pieces, no matter how easy or complicated it is. Besides the fact that you just have a lot of parts of the bag to contend with (lining, exterior, pockets, straps), there's also usually some kind of interfacing involved which will double the number of pieces. And then the ironing - so. much. ironing. *sigh* It's frustrating, but a necessary evil.

In any case, I think I'm getting better at putting it all together, and I would definitely make another one of these. It was still fairly time-consuming, but fun to make. And I love the look of it. A couple friends are also making the same bag and it's very interesting to see how different it looks with different fabrics. This bag is made from home decor fabric - a kind of brocade-looking fabric for the main part of the bag, a thick woven upholstery-type fabric for the strap, and then a striped canvas-y fabric for the lining and pockets.


I was nervous that the brocade would be hard to work with, but once the interfacing was on, it was no problem at all. The strap fabric was a bit tougher. It was very heavy and hard to press and it also shed loose fibers non-stop. I ended up reinforcing all my seams with an overcast stitch because I was nervous about it falling apart with heavy use.

Other notes about the pattern:
I thought it was very clear and well-written, with good diagrams, unlike the last bag. I do think that the fabric amounts were a bit off, especially if you use home decor fabric, which is going to be wider than lightweight quilting fabric. I ended up with an absolute ton of the strap fabric leftover, so I'm probably going to make a matching pouch or something to go with the bag.

I love the shape of the bag, particularly how the pleats at the top stand out so nicely, as well as the rounded gusset at the bottom.


I'm looking forward to making one for myself, maybe later this spring, if I can decide what kind of fabric to use. I like the durability of home decor fabric, but I feel like short of spending more than $12/yd, there aren't as many fun options (I'm a total cheapskate, in case you didn't already know). I'm contemplating trying it out with some sari fabric next time I see it on sale.