Dimensions

 

A couple of weeks ago, I answered an advert from someone wanting bags sewn. I'm in bag-sewing mode, so it seemed a good idea. The brief was a little different from the bags I'm already doing because they need to be lined, and I must use my own fabric. I looked through my stash and found fabrics that Leonie liked and, armed with the diagram she gave me, I began. 

The first bag was a disaster. Because the bag was so narrow, I couldn't use the method I use to line shopping bags. I consulted Pinterest (hooray for Pinterest!) and found a very good tutorial here.  I didnt want to waste any more precious fabric, so I used scraps left over from making a skirt and embarked on a trial and error exercise.

Eventually I got it right and made a bag exactly according to Leonie's specifications. That's the one shown in the top photo. Luckily, she suggested I give her one bag to try. Luckily, because it turns out that the dimensions she'd given me were much too small! She called in yesterday with a pack of cards like the one that is going to go in the bags and I measured it this way and that. This morning I set off on a new trial and error exercise:

I'm still following the method I learnt in the tutorial, but doing the casing for the ribbon is easier now because the bag will fit on the sleeve arm of my sewing machine

Right, now to begin in earnest.