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Ina - Front Construction Complete with Mistakes


 The process for making this bag is going slowly just because I need to fit it in after I spend time working on business and schooling with the kids.  But I wanted to be ready when I had the time so off to JoAnn's I went to get the interfacing and other notions I would need.  However, I ran into a problem.

This book that I'm using - The Bag Boutique - is written by someone who lives in the UK.  All the interfacing, padding, and extras are things found in the UK.  They are NOT available in the US.

Thankfully, I have made a few bags before so I had a general sense of the type of inside materials I would need.

I very carefully cut and sewed and pressed the front pocket flap, only to realize that I was putting in a different kind of closure and needed to put the pieces on before I sewed it together.  I opted to use a magnetic snap since I already had it.


The top edge of the flap was not sewn so I was actually able to open it out and insert the magnetic piece pretty easily.
I finished sewing the flap and the pocket.  Both of the gray fabrics are lined with a pretty navy, gray, and yellow floral.

The snap works perfectly and I'm planning on adding some kind of decorative thing to the front of the pocket flap.  I haven't worked out just what that will be, yet.  But this is now where I ran into problem 2.  The pocket looked great!  But the top and bottom did not line up to the top and bottom raw edges of the bag's front panel.  After stewing for a bit, I took out the magnetic closure in the pocket flap and actually moved it lower on the flap.  The pocket now matched the panel and I sewed the pocket down.
I added the yellow cording and sewed the smaller panels to the top and bottom.  I love the pop of yellow from the cording.  It really brightens up the dark navy of the main fabric.  

The next step was then to make a zipper pocket.  And this is where I made my third mistake.  I made a beautiful zipper pocket!  The seams are smooth, no puckers, wonderful.  But I couldn't figure out why I suddenly had instructions to make this zipper pocket and then jump to sewing foam padding to the back of the bag's front panel.  Well!  It's because that gorgeous zipper I made should have been inserted on the top section of the front panel.

Yes, I am the one in error here.  The directions clearly state that I'm sewing this into the front panel.  The instructions for how to actually make this kind of zipper pocket are at the front of the book and I was trying to watch a comedy show at the same time I was working.  I don't recommend you do that when you need to concentrate on the directions.

So, I nearly had the front panel of the bag completed.  Thankfully, the zipper is easy to remove from the fabric and I have plenty of fabric to recut and sew, again.  And since I confused myself I was using the wrong zipper, anyway.  I have gray zippers for the outer part of the bag and yellow zippers for the inside lining pockets.  When I come back to this bag tomorrow, I'll make sure I'm not distracted and get that zipper in the right place!



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