Bagged

In January I told you about the BQL challenge for 2008, which is a bag challenge, I have decided to join in with this challenge in the hope that I will use some of my fabrics up and even if I do not like the bags there is always a deserving cause I can give them too. The January bag was very simple to make, in fact I made three of them in the end, two for myself and one for my grandson who loves his bag when playing shops.
Therefore after that success I was raring to go and make the February bag, even when I saw the sneaky peak I thought that I would really enjoy making the bag. Everyone that had made a January bag could receive the February bag instructions on the 1st of February. As it happened I was too busy to make this bag immediately so I printed off the instructions ready for when I had a couple of hours. This weekend I have spent more hours than I would like to admit to making two of these bags. The first one I made to pattern and even added 3D leaves all over it and used décor thread in the bobbin. And here it is in all its glory. Opinions ?

I do not like this bag; I think I knew all through the making I would not like it. It is a nice shape and initially I liked the design but I really do not like this bag. I also think that I did not take enough care in choosing the fabrics, as I really didn’t think that I would like it all the time I was stitching it. It is a shame, as I know that Kate and the rest of the folks that have spent all this time organising the bag challenge have done a really good job and the instructions for the bag cannot be faulted. It is a good design and it works. It is just not me, I do not like this bag.

I will not give up though, I decided not to be beaten and made one more to see if it was the bag, the fabric or me. I came up with this one.

Now I like this bag, it’s a me bag, I don’t know if I will use it and what I will use it for but I do like this bag. I just took away the patterned fabric and the 3D leaves and just added free machine scribble on denim and it’s fine. It’s just a little bit smaller than the original size as I used a pair of jeans and this is the largest I could get the bag out of the legs without joining fabrics. So, thanks for all your work Kate, brilliant design, fantastic instructions and another great bag. Lesson learnt, don’t give up, and now I am longing to see the March bag. Hmmm, I wonder if I will like it?