After Monday night’s bump in the road, I was able to finish up this bag for my Instagram tote swap partner on Tuesday night. The topstitching around the mouth of the bag is far from perfect. I sewed, ripped it out, sewed again, and finally left it because although it still isn’t as good as I wish it was, I realized that it’s as good as it’s going to get.
I must admit that the topstitching debacle left me feeling frustrated by this bag, despite the fact that everything leading up to that last step gave me happiness and a sense of accomplishment. I have been reminding myself that overall, I’m really proud of how well this turned out. It’s by far the most technically difficult bag I’ve made and 95% of the construction is really pretty darn good.
The pattern is the Evelyn bag by ChrisW Designs. Over the last 3+ years, I’ve made enough bags to realize that a contributor to my topstitching misfortune was the way the lining was inserted into this particular bag. As part of that process, you always have to leave an unsewn gap to allow for turning the bag right-side-out at the end. That gap then has to be closed with topstitching or handstitching, and in my experience getting the seam to lie just right is always a little tricky.
Most patterns I’ve used leave that gap in the bottom of the lining where any wobbles are nearly invisible — because no one stares at the bottom of a bag lining. But this pattern left the gap along the mouth of the bag smack in the front. In hindsight, I could have easily modified this pattern to leave the gap in the bottom of the lining, so I’ll keep that in mind if I use this pattern again!
I really love the fabrics here — all three are from the Acacia collection by Tula Pink. I’m kind of on the fence about Tula Pink fabrics in general, but my partner listed her as a favorite fabric designer and I obviously wanted to do something she will like. Happily, I do really like this particular collection and colorway too.
In the end, despite my nitpicking and perfectionist tendencies, I totally want to keep this bag for myself. I figure that is the best sign of all that I made something good for a swap partner, and I hope she enjoys it!
You have such a good eye for color combos that work, in any crafting project. This tote bag is beautiful!
Thanks! I really love this fabric combo too.
It looks great! This pattern is on my to-do list as well.
I know exactly what you mean about the top-stitching never really making that opening lay right. My workaround is to just quickly ladder stitch the opening closed before doing the top-stitching. That extra step makes quite the difference! Sometimes if I’m lazy I’ll use some wonder tape instead, and it works well enough most of the time.
Thanks! It was a very well-written pattern — any mistakes were totally user error on my part. I like your suggestion of a quick hand stitch first! That totally would have helped. Wish I’d thought of it!