I may have mentioned once or twice that I’m in the middle of a “Sewing Do Over”. And as I’m sure you all know, you can’t have a “do over” without having first attempted something and failed. I also may have mentioned a few times that I have a tendency to “go big” and over extend myself when I’m excited about something. If I haven’t mentioned it before, well… I do that. I don’t just select one project and follow it to completion, I envision hundreds of projects and accumulate everything needed to accomplish them eons in advance of their likely coming to fruition.
With my first attempt at sewing, I started a few things that were never finished. So great was my ultimate frustration level with sewing that I popped them in storage boxes and walked away. That was roughly four years ago. Maybe more. A couple of weeks ago, I happened across one of these unloved, unfinished projects, and on a whim, I decided to finish it.
It was a bag designed to utilize the pre-quilted fabric you can buy at the fabric store, and inadvertently, it’s got that Vera Bradley thing going on. I’m not necessarily in love with it, but I still think it’s cute.
As I laid out the pattern pieces that I’d cut out four years earlier, I was actually a little pleased with myself. They were pretty terrible. On one hand, it’s never fun to confirm that you suck at something. On the other hand, it actually let me see that I’ve gotten a little better. I could actually see the mistakes I made and even distinguish what I would do differently now to eliminate those mistakes.
I still had to rip out and re-do three times to get it finished. (Sewing is an incredibly humbling process for me.) The lining has four pretty deep pockets-but I won’t be photographing them. The final result was not pretty…
But the bag itself is kind of pretty…pretty cute….not bad….and I learned doing it. Which is always a good thing.
Such the Like... 
I like it!!! 🙂 I admire your persistence, too! My grandmother (who taught me to sew and had sewn all her life) said she had never even once made something without having to use her ripper . . . and I’m definitely following in her footsteps! 🙂 Give yourself a big pat on the back! 🙂
What a lovely bag! I think you are being to hard on yourself! This is miles better than anything I could attempt! It is beautiful 🙂
Thank you, Hannah!
I LOVE this bag! I would buy one in a second!
Thank you! You’re too kind!
My daughter would LOVE this bag…very Vera-ish. I think you are doing amazing. That you ripped it apart a few times rather than plop it back in the box for another ‘later’ day…I’m impressed! Taking apart is so hard for me.
*anna
Me too! The battle for me is resigning myself that it has to be done. Once I give into it, I’m ok. But giving in can be pretty tough sometimes!
hahah I hear you!
Wow that is the cutest bag I have seen in a long time – made for summer 🙂
Thank you!
Adorable, and you’ve reminded me of another thing I can write about. I did finally finish a quilt I started around 1980 and finished (or had machine quilted) finally around 2005. That’s my longest, but the rest of my projects lie buried in plastic storage bags under the bed. The knitting ones are in the closet.
I can’t wait to see that quilt!
It’s big. It’s a king sized quilt. The squares are nice, the border only so so, but the good news is that I use it every fall.
Reblogged this on Marsha Lee.