Design process

We are taking a little trip in a few days and I need the perfect bag for it. I searched high and low for patterns but nothing was working so I decided to design my own. I measured a few of the bags I already own to get an idea of size. I pulled a bunch of fabrics and spent whatever free time I had in two days to draft my own pattern. I just finished testing it with some dotted swiss I picked up at a yard sale and I think it's going to work.

I thought I'd show a couple of photos of my fabric process. I start by pulling out anything that seems good to me and then I think about it. Next, I pare down even more to get to the heart of it. Tomorrow I'll narrow this down with my pattern and decide what's going to go where. I like mixing prints but I don't think that will work for me in a bag. I have an ideal self that mixes prints but in real life, I'm damn boring.

The bag I designed has a finished size of 16" wide at the bottom (4" deep -- it's a box bottom shape). At the top it's about 14" wide with two nice box pleats. I might finish off the top with a wide-ish band to keep it clean. I'm still not sure about what I'll do for pockets on the inside or if I'm going with one strap or two but I'm hoping that will be a little easier. I hope to post pics when I'm finished.

Project: The shirt I've been going on and on about

I was just about to drop out of Top Week when I saw this shirt in the bizarro Urban Outfitters catalog that started showing up in the mail regularly a couple of months ago. I love it but it really is unrealistic for me and a bit out of my price range. Then the light bulb went on inside my brain and I decided to make something similar to it. I am using that vintage pattern I was bitching about last week because it's actually a good fit and I figured I could work with it rather than start from scratch. The bust darts are spot on and the shoulders are a good width for my frame.

On the spur of the moment, I packed Zadie up in the car, called my mom to see if she could meet us at JoAnn's for a late afternoon fabric spree, and we were off. I found this awesome teal (I buy a heck of a lot of this color, right?) superfine knit on sale for 50% off and also picked up some duckcloth for another project I've got in my head with a 40% coupon. We met my dad for dinner and an hour or so later I was home all full of inspiration.

I traced the pattern pieces to have my foundation. First I removed the back shoulder darts and eased the extra toward the waist. I drew a line straight across the back pattern piece and added seam allowances. Then I added a bunch of darts to the new top seam without messing too much with the existing waistline (I don't want this to be too piratey).

This gorgeous cotton floral print is of course Heather Ross' Far Far Away double gauze that I've been hoarding since it came out. Yum. My pattern is cut out and I'll start sewing tomorrow after work. What do you think?

I'll take some photos of my pattern manipulations and write more about that after I see how it goes. I reworked the collar but I'm not sure I did that right.