Simplicity 2358 Messenger Bag

Hopefully my last post about 2017 projects. Coming soon: a roundup and setting the scene for 2018.

The D9P quilt for Christmas had some deep meanings rooted in musical cross-phrasing and cubist fantasies...but I really can't bear to talk about quilting anymore. Instead, we move on to something a lot more superficial: a messenger bag. The one I forgot to photograph before my Christmas post.

Why

You remember the bag I made for B back in 2013? That one has been so well used and abused that it has gone through a few rounds of repairs and finally needed replacing. So, that was my mission for Christmas gift sewing.

The Pattern

This is my 4th variation on Simplicity 2358. It's a good pattern and produces a good-size bag but I always spend a lot of mental energy trying to re-familiarise myself with the pattern pieces. As a garment sewer, being presented with a bunch of rectangles with similar names is not my idea of an easy time.

I generally add pockets to suit.

My one major gripe with the pattern is that the final construction steps lead to very bulky joints where the flap and the body of the bag meet, and there doesn't seem to be enough fabric to cover the gap at the inside of the flap. The next time I make this bag, I'll try to make the flap facing longer for a better finish. Otherwise, I think it's a great base pattern for a bag which you can customise.

The Fabric

The outer is some sort of herringbone, picked up from A-One Fabrics on Goldhawk Road. B picked it out himself, and while I do like it, I do have a couple of reservations. Firstly, I can't gauge its longevity. I've improved the quality of the interfacing (my go-to from M&W) and have also made improvements to the heavily stressed areas. So we'll see how it holds up. My second reservation about the fabric is that it makes my eyes jump. So cutting out was literally a headache.

I tried to salvage parts of the original bag to give it a sense of continuity. The lining is salvaged from the original, and I've used some of the original straps on each of the sides. The leather came from my stash. I trialed all my leathers and this one came out nicest with the available threads.

The strap and buckle are from MacCulloch & Wallis, I just fell in love with them so will admit that I paid a shamefully high price for them. The D-rings and sliders were from B's stash (souvenirs he brought back from South America a few years ago). I really struggle to find fixings for bags, especially ones that fit the slightly chunkier webbing styles. If you know a good supplier, let me know!

Construction

Oh, I don't know anymore. The machine struggled in a few areas and it becomes a pain to maneuver. I ended up hand-finishing a couple of spots. That's about it really.



K

Chores #3 (The queue never gets any shorter)

I'm still clearing out blog drafts and projects from 2017, so here's a new one for you.

You may have gathered that I've been attacking my stash and "to do" pile with some gusto. My attention has been really focused on what I could do now because all of the bits and bobs are in stock. I'm making an effort to avoid the projects that need me to buy things in.

So 3x makes for you today which have taken a small load off my mind.

Wiksten Tova

I think this is a dark green cheesecloth. I dug it out of a discount bin in Stockholm in 2014. I had just made my first version of the Wiksten Tova and was keen to find a suitable fabric for another. I'ts a really easy top to wear and I can understand why it has been so popular. Again, I added a back yoke for a bit of interest.

Slim Blue Cardigan

I had a bunch of fabric left over after my nike hoodie and had been pining for a cardi for a while. This is drafted from scratch based on Winnie Aldrich's blocks. Yes, it is very slim, but it's easy to wear.

Sweater Vest

An attempt to finish off this fabric. Using a different block from Mertic Pattern Cutting. Honestly, I'm not sure why I made this, I didn't want it, I just wanted to be rid of the fabric. But I use it a bit, so it works.

So there you go. Three more werable things. I don't know yet how this fits in with The Year of Doing Things Properly. Maybe it's something to do with doing one's chores.

K

The Last of the moomins (How much value can you get from a €4 pair of jeans?)

You know I said that more trousers were overdue? Here you go!

Why

I try to live in jeans or trousers and have been slowly wearing down my supply of casual trousers. With my purple jeans out of action I'm at a bit of a loose end, especially for cosy trousers and ones which don't require a belt. So bulking up this supply is the order of the day.

The Pattern

The pattern is traced from my €4 Helsinki jeans. You can read the whole saga of pattern development in my 2015 posts. I was pretty confident this would work, especially having tested the first 3 pairs extensively.

A couple of things for me to remember for future:

• These are very low rise in the front and I may try out a double-height waistband
• A longer/taller fly gvuard would be useful as the pattern piece is very short
• I marked a foldline on my pocket piece - which was a very nice surprise from past-Katrina. It made current-Katrina's life a lot easier!

A side point is that I've noticed that a lot of RTW jeans have waistbands which are cut as one piece. The formal trousers I've sewn all have multiple pieces to the waistband (generally 3, sometimes 4). Is the fact that lots of jeans have the front on some sort of bias the main reason why they're so comfy? Or is it the main reason they fall down after a while?

The Fabric

One of my oldest fabrics paired with one my newest fabrics. The needlecord came from Edinburgh Fabrics (Aug 2017) and the pocket linings are the very last of my beloved Moomin fabric (Dec 2010). They go together so well!

Construction

Fairly standard construction, I tried to pay attention to fabric nap and had a few struggles trying to turn corners. Otherwise I didn't give it any special treatment. There are a couple of interesting things of note:

• I've tried to adopt the *new method* to insert a zip fly, where the fly guard is added after the topstitching, it saves a few headaches and I really like the order.
• I was a bit lazy with waistband finishing because I wanted these to be ready to take on holiday, so it's "good enough" rather than "perfect"
• I added buttonhole elastic to the waistband just in case things didn't work out.

So there you go, my new super-comfy, super-soft, super-strokeable cords!

K