The Tapestry Bag is Finished!

All done and I am doing the happy dance. It's big. It's got lots of pockets made to fit my personal goodies. It's pretty. It opens W I D E open, the better to search for such goodies. Here's the lowdown:

Pattern: It is Vogue 8406, an OOP that has three various styles in the envelope. This one is a "satchel" type bag with a gusset bottom. Above you can see the  two zippers that meet at the center top and go 2/3rds of the way down each side. The zippers have a small folded piece of strap fabric inserted at the end into the side seam. This bears some of the stress on the zipper when it is being pulled open. It also makes a nice transition between bag and zipper, always a tricky part of the design. Straps go on each side of the bag and connect to the handles.

The bag is lined . A bagged technique is not used in this pattern. Rather, the edges are folded under on the lining and handstitched to the zippers.

Construction:  The directions in Vogue 8406 are quite clear. The most difficult part is attaching the point of the gusset to the sides and zippers. It took a lot of fiddling and finessing to get this part right. This went much more easily in the lining construction.This is a pattern where marking is very important, specifically, to get the gusset points matched up to the zippers so be careful there.The pattern comes with one darted pocket. I wanted more and you can see in the pic the pocket goes all the way across the bag. One pocket is darted and divided and the other on the opposite side is flat.

Fabric: The public side of the bag is made with a tapestry picked up at the last Joanns clearance sale. Cost all of 2.50 a yard and I didn't even need that much but what the hey, so I bought it. The straps are a poly microfiber, another upholstery fabric, not easy to sew through.  I got the best results stitching the straps using a size 12 Microtex needle and tightening up the tension a tad.  The lining is one of those poly brocades from Joanns also. It has a nice heft and a bit of "luxe" going for it.

Interfacings: I was very concerned about the tapestry unraveling and block fused fusible fleece to the back to help prevent that. It worked great. On top of that I used hair canvas which is what the pattern specifies. I like the combo. In the bottom is a piece of Peltex fusible. A post on the installation of the Peltex in the bag bottom is on yesterday's post.

Conclusion: I will see how this bag works in the real world but it is holding promise as a great bag that is very functional. It was not difficult to construct and I definitely can see myself making another. On to the spider jammies!....Bunny