Vogue 8406, The Foiled Faux Suede Bag

Something sewn! Yahoo! Truth is I finished the bag some time ago and my big accomplishment this week is the little smocked and beaded chotchke on the zipper pull. I may or may not keep it. I do really like the bag, however and it will go into the Gift Pile, to be pulled out at a later date when needed.

Pattern:  
      Vogue 8406 , OOP, is the pattern used. It is quite easy and I encountered no particular problems with the construction other than topstitching the outside zipper pocket and that was referred to in the post here.  It is a soft tote with a pocketed lining, patch pocket on the outside as well as a zippered outer pocket. I like the size of  this bag, not too overwhelming and the straps feel right for me. If you are taller than five feet you may want to make them longer.

Fabric:
     This is a poly Faux Suede with a  metallic coppery finish on top. I love this fabric and have more left to play with in later projects. I think this may be one of the rare times I have followed Vogue's directions on interfacing. I find with totes they often recommend hair canvas. I generally like my bags to have a firmer hand and this was not exception. I see the bags on the pattern cover and they seem so structured. I have two weights in my posession of hair canvasses and have to wonder if they are using some super heavy weight hair canvas. This bag has a soft look and feel with what I would call normal hair canvas. If I made it again I would use a (yuk) sew in heavier pellon, at least with this type of fabric that can't take the heat of an iron. Any other fabric I would recommend Decor Bond if you want a firmer look, like the ones on the pattern cover.
     The lining is a black and brown stripe of microfiber of some sort. Normally I fuse my linings as well but this had a lot of body so I did not.

     Here, as I fold back the bag to show you the lining you can see how soft the bag is by it's folds.

Construction:  
     This bag was really quite easy to sew. It's only big challenge was the zippered pocket as the zipper could not be topstitched on the ends to secure itself. Instead I overcompensated and did two rows of topstitching on the top and bottom across the zipper. 

     There is lots of topstitching on this bag, per the pattern. The side seams are topstitched on either side of the well of the seam. The straps are the usual fold the edges to the middle, then fold in half, then topstitch. I don't really like that method as it usually gives you an edge that it thin and an edge that is thick. Plus these straps had hair canvas stitched in to add to the bulk. Instead I just sewed a tube, turned it right side out, moved the seam to center back of the strap and that way had the bulk equalized on the edges. The straps connect to the bag with big black rings. The closure is a typical "bag magnet".
     I thought the back needed a bit of zip but now think maybe I was wrong. I made a little whoozit from some smocked linen and beads to connect to the zipper pull. The jury is still out on this and it would be easy to remove.

In Conclusion: 
     I would definitely make this bag again. It is one of the simpler designs out there, therefore making it a fairly quick gift. My recommendations would be to use a heavier fusible interfacing or even fusible fleece to give it a bit more structure, not the recommended hair canvas. 

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Some semblance or order is slowly returning to my haven. While I can't drag my goodies back into the room until the floor is installed, I can deal with the walls and did some rearranging on my shelf unit and my molding shelf.  I will know in a few days when the installation of the floors will happen. This weekend we painted more trim with wifey-poo getting the job of laying on the cement floor and painting baseboards and beadboards. Needless to say, Sunday I was glad we rain out of paint. My back thanked me. These pics will give you a good idea of the color which I find so soothing. Normally I tend to go for colors that will "activate" me in my space but I am really liking this quiet color and how it goes with the counters and cabinets. The end is in sight..........Bunny

         This is one of those days when Blogger is not letting me adjust the font size properly. Sorry if this is affecting you. I know when I look up the blog when I get to work the print seems ok, so hopefully that is the case....Bunny