Bag Lady

I'm feeling the need to be productive as well as a little creative so enter the newest project of making bags. Not just "bags" but the nifty ones you get from "31" where they make bags with top flaps and zippers to keep things clean. For Christmas I bought my husband two for hunting only to discover they worked great to hold his chaplain work. Then I felt obligated to make some that would be bigger, as it was necessary, to hold hunting gear and to see if I could use waterproof materials. I found some gray twill with a vinyl lining, left over from a fire ring cover made last summer, that would work so I made up the following:

Vinyl backed fabric for a great gear bag

I used the twill side out on the body of the bag and turned the fabric over to expose the vinyl side for the bottom of the bag:

Twill reversed for a waterproof vinyl bottom

Vinyl inside, no lining or pockets

This one came after I made a large sized bag from the Green Pepper pattern, F851, and found out a Bernina 931 would fit in it with all of it's accessories:

Large size lined bag

Bernina 931 with accessories inside (note heavy weight white lining)

The gray waterproof bag went ice fishing this past weekend with great success (was not good luck in fishing but in hauling stuff around) so I'm going to make a matching bag, or at least as large as I have materials for.The pattern does not call for the handles to run under the bottom of the bag but I ran one long piece that would lend support for the contents.

One bag laid out to show how straps were positioned

There's an option for a pocket on each side, pockets on the inside, and I added lining on all but the vinyl versions along with top flaps and zippers on some of the bags. Some of the bags? That's right, I got on a roll and made the following up:

Lined bag for a Bernina 800 Sport

Medium sized bag, yet unassigned

It takes 3.5 yards of webbing for the straps and as long as I can use my stash I get by the 100 yard reel for my Etsy shop products I'm good. I found out if I need to buy it, even on a sale, it's about $3 per bag and that's not cheap. Sometimes it "makes" the bag so I have coughed up the money for some of them.

Navy webbing for a medium/large bag

Cotton webbing straps, showing off the lining

It helps that I have some of this heavier type fabric that I wasn't sure how I was going to use it and now I have found a good use for it! Even the lining fabric has been easy to coordinate. Since I need carrying cases for some of my machines, it's been a great way to keep things clean, contained, and ready to sell. I have made bags for sergers before  but somehow making them for the machines has not occurred to me until now. There are a few more to make before this project gets a rest and it's fun to find the parts and get it all coordinated. Now you ask "Which sewing machine did you use?" and you might be surprised to find, besides the Bernina 217, I used a Singer 201. That is, I used it until the stitching wasn't as good as I could get on the Bernina. So I'm back to the Bernina industrial and still lovin' it. I tried to share the joy with another machine but Bernie is the best so far. There's usually a reason for a good reputation!