Sewing Vloggers

Sunday, February 26, 2017

The Fur Back Pack, aka, the Swoon Lucy


Is it possible to be in love with a backpack? Yes it is and I am feeling the love. This is so perfect for a winter day up here cruising the boutiques of Lake Placid. I'll wear it to the supermarket, too! Thats how much I loved it. If you saw my post, Fur Fantasies, a bit back, you know these are a rare and incredibly expensive animal. But, hey, we are sewists, right? We can make one of those and I tried and I did  and I think it's a pretty decent knock off of the runway beauties. AND....no animals hurt in this process!  Here is the 411. It was a long process as I am having other distractions at the moment but it got done, yay!


Pattern:

For this project I used the Swoon pattern, Lucy, a sweet little backpack. when I first downloaded it and saw the pieces I thought this is way to small for what I envisioned but I didn't recall that the fur I was using was almost two inches long. The volume greatly expanded once constructed and I was really glad I didn't print the PDF pattern at more than the 100% scale.


The back of the BP has a zipper pocket that is nearly the length of the bag. One of the things I really liked about this pattern is the zipper straps You can use this as a BP or zip up the straps and use it as a sling bag. Love that and I love the look of that zip on the straps.

The inside of the bag specifies grommets in a 3/8 size but I wanted a big statement with a big fur bag so went for the extra large, extra shiny type grommets. The lining sports a divided slip pocket the width of the bag.

I did have an experience with the cutting and folding of the various straps, confusion on my part. I emailed Alicia Miller, designer and owner of Swoon bags late at night and she got back to me the very next morning. It was all clear once I spoke with her and looked at the pattern again. Great to have a quick response and thank you, Alicia.

Fabrics and Notions:



This fur is faux,  gorgeous and looks so much like real silver fox as you can see above. I have used it for hats before, I have tons, and it doesn't get ratty or matte-y. I bought about 7-8 years back from, are you ready for this, Joanns clearance. I think I paid six dollars a yard and I bought the whole monster bolt when I found it. May I say, enabler that I am, never hesitate to buy gorgeous faux fur when you find it. It's use will find you and a little goes a long way. Now, have I seen a faux of this quality since I bought this one? No such luck but I am hopeful. This is something so hard to purchase online.

The lining was a simple quilting cotton in an abstract gray and white print.

The contrast is a gray microfiber faux suede, not the easiest thing to stitch through but a size 14 jeans needles did the trick.


Zippers came from Sew Da Kine. I looked everywhere for these larger, metallic nylon coil zippers. It doesn't show in any of the pics but the zips are very shiny, silver metallic. They read white and are definitely not. One thing I LOVE about these zips is that they can be sewn through like butter. How good is that? The straps added more bulk to sewing than the zipper coils, that easy and they are pretty. They are also now available from Emmaline patterns and hardware, too.  Emmaline is in Canada and Sew Da Kine is in Hawaii. They both ship quickly. Also, Sew Da Kine offers the zippers in "chain" form, meaning by the yard and offers the pulls as well. Emmaline's zips come with closed ends and are called "Vizzy zips".


Grommets and zipper pulls came from Emmaline and are a shiny nickel finish. These grommets have amazing shine and a 3/4 inch hole. They screw in and my set of tiny screw heads and their magnetic holder were priceless for the installation. You don't ever want to be dealing with such miniscule screws without a magnetic screw driver. Trust me.

Interfacings used were  different from what the pattern spec'd. Everything, including the lining got fused with SF101, standard bag interfacing. Obviously I couldn't interface the fur but ahead speak to how I managed that. The flap and the bag bottom got a layer of Peltex. Can you imagine the bulk? I have a work around I'll share in a minute. One thing I did not do, which would have been nice but I couldn't do it at the stage I realized it was to fill the grommet band with maybe Decor Bond. Peltex would not have bent enough for the gathered up edge.

I tried various threads but found that standard Coats and Clark worked best with the triple topstitching.

Construction:

I followed the instructions pretty closely other than the following:


I added a slip pocket to the exterior. This meant that the area behind the pocket had all it's fur shaved off to reduce bulk.


I used the large grommets which added weight to the top band, only interfaced with SF 101 on each side, not enough.  I did something to help carry the weight and it worked. I've seen it in retail bags with grommets and straps. I made circles of the faux suede and backed them with peltex and fusible fleece. I then cut around them with pinking shears. the inside of the circle was cut out to accommodate the grommet holes. You can see what this looked like with the red arrows. While the edges show with the tilt of the photo, IRL, they don't come above the edge of the bag.  Each grommet got one of these hard circles. When everything was lined up with the holes. E6000 glue was applied to the tiny screw holes and the backs of the grommet parts. Then they were all lined up and screwed in.

The ends of the pull cord/strap were passed through these little odd tubes from the jewelry department at Joanns. I like how they dress things up. I ran them through and just knotted the ends.


Straps were topstitched with regular C&C thread and a triple stitch. I went slow doing this and it took a while but the stitches came out better for it. I did not topstitch all areas spec'd. Those right next to the fur wouldn't show and it was an area of much bulk. 

Another thing I did differently was the interfacing. To add the Peltex to the bottom and the flap without adding bulk I cut it out a quarter inch smaller than the finished size. It was then fused to a piece of muslin. The muslin was then treated as an underlining, getting sewn right into the seams like the top layer. 

One last thing I did differently and it worked, was HANDSEWING the bottom of the bag to the bag sides with a small backstitch, two times around. It's going nowhere. There was no way I was getting all that fur under the presser foot and sewing a really straight line. The backstitching worked great. FWIW, sleeves are sewn into custom tailored suits this way, not on a machine, so don't be afraid to use this technique when you need to. It's a strong stitch. 

In conclusion:

Would I recommend this pattern? Definitely. It's a great backpack pattern and I was impressed with Swoon's customer service response. 

Would I make it again? I would definitely make this pattern again  but not another fur BP. I hope this one will give me years of use and I I am thinking of a summer type BP, something rather preppy. 

Thanks for bearing with me on this loooong journey. I hope you think it was worth the wait. I really enjoyed the challenge of this project and am proud of the results. While modeling on a couture runway is not in line with my genes, do you think I can pull off a couture fur backpack?....Bunny

32 comments:

  1. A very beautiful bag, Bunny! You made the right call with the larger grommets - much better suited to the overall proportions. Your construction notes are very helpful. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am totally in awe with your backpack! LOVE LOVE LOVE

    ReplyDelete
  3. OH my goodness....your backpack turned out AH-MAZING! You totally nailed it and you are runway ready!

    I bought some of those same grommets from Emmaline Bags, but in the shiny gold. I haven't used them yet because they seemed a little large. Seeing them on your make are changed my mind....yours looking fantastic!!!

    Great, great, awesome make Bunny!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My next blogpost will be hints on installing these big grommets. Hope you can wait a few days. Glad you like it.

      Delete
    2. Yes, I can wait! Obviously I was in too much of a hurry to proofread my comment though, LOL. Sorry about that! :)

      Delete
    3. Please post on those grommets. I used some of those crappy plastic ones from the drapery Dept of Joanns and they keep snapping apart. Ugh. So all the work of my bag and it looks like poo. I'm hoping I can save it with reinforced grommets similar to yours.

      Delete
  4. Beautifully done. I'm imagining it après-ski at a very upscale resort.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perfect description of Lake Placid, a really fun town in the winter.

      Delete
  5. Bunny, it is just gorgeous! Love the fur and love the hardware. Beautiful job.

    Nancy

    ReplyDelete
  6. WOW! I just can't say anything more! Karen

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love this so much! It's beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is an amazing, unique back pack that will generate tons of compliments ever time you use it! ♥♥♥ You did a beautiful job & explained everything very clearly.

    ReplyDelete
  9. As usual you do STUNNING work. ...the most professional seamstress I have ever seen...but I am reminded of Star Trek's Trouble with Tribbles a bit! 8-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a GREAT piece. EVERY detail is absolutely perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yes, you definitely did pull it off! It's just an amazing work of creativity!

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a beautiful, fun backpack. And impeccably made as are all your projects. Don't be surprised if strangers come up and pet it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. That bag is So Stinking Cute, I can't stand it! Every detail is perfect, resulting in such a balanced design.

    Love, love, love!

    ReplyDelete
  14. This backpack is wonderful!!!! I loved reading every post and am thrilled to see the finished product. So beautiful!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a fun bag!

    You left a comment on my blog about how nice it was to hear about a fabric store that is expanding. I posted a store report. http://badmomgoodmom.blogspot.com/2017/02/colorado-fabrics-trip-report.html It's worth a visit if you are in Colorado.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. I will check it out and FWIW, I would love a trip to Colorado.

      Delete
  16. What a fun backpack! Thanks for sharing. Abbey

    ReplyDelete
  17. Amazing bag! I love fur (real and faux) and love this back pack. Your attention to detail with hardware and fabric pairing really makes it.

    ReplyDelete
  18. This is so cute, and its the right size!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi - I just recently found your site, and all I can say is that you are amazing! I used to so when I was younger, and have just started to sew again (to try, anyways!) . I was looking at your post for the blouse McCalls 7076, where you did pintucking......its gorgeous. I know you are very busy, but is there any way you might be able to explain how you do this? I have patterns with pintucks, but they seem to be just little seams from the shoulder to give it a flared look. Yours look decorative and seem to protrude(?) . Or perhaps you can refer me to somewhere where explains how to do this. I will continue to visit you for inspiration and motivation! Good luck in your new home!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda, and others who read this blog, I would have been more than happy to help you. Be aware that I do not go back after a few weeks and review the comments on the blog as I am far into writing the next blogposts. Once in a while, to review a technique or such I will google my own memories of a post and find these requests for help and feel horribly that I was not able to answer them in a timely fashion and help. Please, if there are any questions regarding older posts, email me. My email is in my profile. I will do my best to answer. thank you. You can tell by the date who much time passed between the time Linda made her request and I found it. I would have liked to have helped.

      Delete

Engaging commentary:

Had to Refurbish This One!

    About  6 or 7 years ago , during the dawn of the Zipper Trend,  I bought one of my rare retail items. It was a blush pink and black bord...