Thursday, September 16, 2010

It Takes Two to Make a Thing Go Right

For weeks I have been wanting to make the 'For Pleats Sake' bag from u-handbag.  It's totally yum, and uses some very posh leather handles.  I have not seen the handles that Lisa stocks in her shop anywhere else, but I like to make the most of overseas shipping, so I figured I would wait until I needed a few things and get it all at once.  Yeah, totally forgot to order the handles.  I dug through my stash and found a few things that would work well together.  So here we are:

I know the fabric is from Kona, but I don't know what it is specifically. It was left on my doorstep.  No, really--my mother's friend leaves me fabric every now and then on her way to work.  Wonderful way to start the day.

Some lovely pleats for your viewing pleasure.

 The inside is a fabric called 'Tea Stain' that I found at Joann's.  I originally wrote Satan instead of Stain...I find this inexplicable, yet amusing.

 The handles are faux leather that I also bought at Joann's a loooong time ago.

I have a confession to make.  I remade the bag you see above.  And I took the official finished product to work today to show off and promptly sold it (woohoo!), so I don't have pictures of the proper version, but you get the idea from above.  Why the remake?  Well, some of us may have thought that there is only one way to make a pleat and they were in fact experts at that method.  So when something seemed off because they weren't doing it properly, they may have just kept going instead of looking at the stinkin' pattern pictures.  The real version is narrower at the top and has a much nicer shape.  However, I learned a few things to do differently and it worked out really well for the final version.  I am going to make one of these for myself this weekend, so I can show you what it's supposed to look like and the modifications I made. 

Disregarding my initial goof, this was a really simple pattern; I was able to make it in one night.  The only part that gave me any lip was the v-shape on the side.  I think that's just a matter of practice makes perfect.  Third time should be a charm...I feel like I say that a lot.

6 comments:

  1. Hi Bethany
    I too downloaded this pattern but I haven't got round to making it yet (my excuse is I don't have the handles!) But yours looks so great that I'll have to start it and look for some handles next week
    Thanks
    Gill xx

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  2. Thanks Gill! It was actually fun to do those pleasts (such a geeky thing to say, but I do love pleats).

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  3. Its wonderful and I love that lining, tea stain indeed. I hate how my bag linings always get grubby, well it will be harder to tell with that one, I love it lots. Looking forward to your improved version, you are such a prefectionist, wonderful!
    Kandi x

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  4. Yes Kandi--it will hide the grub well!
    I agonized a teensy bit over if I should remake it...but I ended up liking it better anyway :)

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  5. People leave fabric on your doorstep?! How awesome is that?

    Do you know what creatures leave things on my doorsteps? Dogs. And do you know what they leave? Let's not go there. Haha

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  6. Haha Meream! The only bad thing is I discover it on my way to work and have to wait the whole day to come back home and dig in.

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