When I last posted a few weeks back, I though I would be done with my bag in a few days. Just stitch up the straps, make a zippered pocket, sew up the lining, and poof! I'll have a new bag. Ha ha. Little did I know how time-consuming and tedious hand stitching 44 inches of straight line would be. For the strap, the stitching is visible on both sides and so had to appear straight but somehow, when you are hand-sewing through three layers of fabric, the result stitch is rarely automatically aligned with the others. So...after many days of sewing for an hour and then throwing down the strap in frustration and more days where I abandoned it altogether, I finished the strap yesterday. From there, everything seemed so rapid by comparison. Here is the almost finished bag. It all but lacks a snap on the inside and a line of stitching around the top edge (yes, more visible straight stitches...), both of which I won't have time to get to til later in the week.
All the tedium of extended stitching by hand aside, I am very happy about how the bag (my first ever!) turned out. Lots of thanks to the sew-along hostesses! Details about the bag...the outside fabric is linen with a cotton print as accent. I used canvas as a center layer to give the bag some structure and the lining is a cotton twill. I also added a zippered pocket inside.
Now, excuse me while I go research what sewing machine to get...
