...attack that sucker with a seam ripper until you get it right!

I think I officially learned my lesson this past weekend while making this.
I'm sure you all are quite aware of my hatred for patterns. Well, I also hate measuring. The combination of those two can make for many unfinished, wonky projects that should never see the light of day. Along with hating patterns, and having an aversion to measurements, I try to speed right through my projects. And many times, when a project goes awry, I just shove it half-finished in my closet.

I never sit down with it, and really try to fix it. I often read other bloggers' anecdotes about their seam rippers, and how they could not get through a project without it. I always feel a bit envious when I read them because I simply get fed up when I realize a project has gone ugly. When it comes to my sewing, I'm too much of a hot head to collect myself, sit down, and work my way through the problem.

Until this weekend. I am currently obsessed with the embroidery patterns, and paintings of Andrea Zuill. She manages to mix the cute, the odd, and the interesting subtly and successfully. And best of all, she provides some of her patterns for free to her readers. Perfect for the bored and broke stitcher. I really wanted to use one of her patterns for a new bag.

So Friday night, I decided to use her "Wee Baby Goat" pattern for this project. I had intended for it to go onto the flap of this particular handbag. I had chosen the right fabric, stitched it to the best of my ability, sewn the lining on, and ended up with this. It was too small, and too crooked.
Ugh. I really tried to make it work. I did. I pressed, I clipped my edges, I topstitched, I stared at it, I frowned at it, I cursed at it. But it was bad.

I walked away from it for a bit. But couldn't stop thinking about this bag I wanted to make so badly. So I constructed the lining for the bag. It gave me that push I needed to continue on with it. Ugh I sound like I was attempting some kind of physical labor or something. I'm so dramatic.

I felt better. So I started constructing the outside of the bag. Stupidly, I had sewn the interfacing on the wrong side of the bag so when I turned it right side out to mark my gussets, I ended up with a weird white shiny bag.

UGH! That was the point on Friday that I stopped.

I woke up Saturday still thinking about this failure of a bag. It had no flap, no outside, and after looking at the lining (which I thought I had done correctly) I realized I hadn't even sewn a pocket into it!
First to go was the goat. Sorry goat.
I went back to Andrea's blog, and found the buffalo. Perfect! But even tracing the design had it's troubles. I ran out of the tape I needed to tape it to the window to trace. I had to outline the design with a Sharpie, and trace it on a table. I lost a lot of the patterns detail. I sucked it up though and spent several hours stitching the buffalo.
Then I took apart my disaster of a bag, and sewed it together the right way, ending up with the cute black and white flowers on the outside. The way it was supposed to be. After stitching up the gussets, and lining the new flap, and sewing the handles, I realized it was already time for bed. REALLY?! I spent all of Saturday doing that!

Sunday, I woke up with every intention of finishing it. I wanted to use some metal d-rings on the straps, and do an interesting strap detail up the front of the bag, but I then realized I didn't have enough fabric. Sooooo, I had to take the straps apart, cut them down and stare at the bag all in pieces for nearly 45 minutes. I wish I could go into even more detail about the straps/flap issue, but I believe this post has gotten pretty out of control. :) Below is a photo of the "pile of failure" still sitting on my dining room table.
I also had forgotten to buy closures for the bag. I had to quit screwing around, and get serious about completing this. I didn't want it to end up in the closet with all my other failures.

I found an old bag, took the buckles, and magnetic closures off of it, and hand stitched them onto the flap. I was so proud of myself for being so crafty that I just started sewing, and didn't stop until the bag was finished.
I am so proud of this bag. And not because I think it's perfect. It's not. Had I sat down to plan it, I think I would have been more satisfied with it's appearance. I'm so proud of it because after taking the body of the bag apart once, ripping out a seam in the lining, sewing the handles nearly three times, and making 2 different flaps, I ended up with something I love. I'm also proud of it because I had never sewn a flap into a bag before, or even made anything resembling a backpack.
Oh, I forgot to mention. It's not just a handbag, it's a backpack too. :)
Have I learned my lesson? Will I sketch out my next project first? Will I measure anything out? Will I use a pattern? Will I take my time sewing? No probably not. But I have my seam ripper, and all the time in the world to take it apart.