Patterns

Regina bag. Hi all. Firstly, thank you so much to Vanessa for all the time you put into these bags and tutorials. It really gives me such a sense of achievement when I make something that looks great, which I otherwise wouldn't have had a clue where to start. :D I'm seeing that quite a few of us have the inability to hand sew (or just don't have the skill or patience to do it nicely) so I came up with this work-around for the lining of the Reina barrel bag. I hope this helps at least some of you, because I myself just can't wait to make a few more of these!! I was desperate for a no-hand-sew method. I physically can't do it. It's a bit of an essay, but I wanted to make sure I was as clear as I could be with my explanation. This is my solution: Make a sandwich, starting with your batting / foam on the bottom, put outer fabric right side up on the batting, then your lining right side down on top of the outer. Then sew with 1/4" seam around all the edges leaving an opening of about 4 - 6 inches (smaller for the end panels and pocket pieces). Just a tip: To stop my batting getting caught in the feed dogs, I put tearaway stabiliser under the batting, and it sewed beautifully. Since things tend to shift on me when sewing, I sew it batting on bottom so I know I'm sewing 1/4" seam on the fabric. Really important step: BEFORE turning panels right side out trim the batting / foam down really close to the stitch line, so there is no bulk when it's turned, it will lie flatter. Also trim the corners really close to the stitching to make the corners more pointed once turned and pressed. I didn't sew the openings shut, (just a little fabric glue to hold them while being worked with) as this was taken care of during the construction step. Do that with all the pieces, even the end pockets, and then make the bag as per directions. Leaving out the lining step. :D (If you want to quilt your panels, just do it after the panels have been turned right sides out and make sure to start and stop stitching right at the edges. This will be practically unnoticeable once the bag has been constructed). With the bag straps that are attached to the outer panels, finish BOTH ends, so that when you're looking inside the bag, there are no unfinished edges poking out. It does get a little bulky here when sewing the ends to the sides but if you just go slow, you should be fine. With the seam on the bottom of the bag, I pressed it flat and then did a zig-zag stitch to hold it flat. In hindsight I'd probably just do 2 rows of double straight stitch (not sure of the technical name for that one) or even do a binding cover like with the Mercedes bag. ALSO: I put the zip in before sewing the 2 panel bottoms together. It made it easier to fold the zip up and the fabric back to do the top stitch. I have a domestic sewing machine and I had no issues with the bulk, probably because there really wasn't that much since the batting had been trimmed back.... Then when it came to sewing the bottom seam flat I just fully opened up the zip. I was using a 36" on a 20" bag so had plenty of room. Once all sewn together (as per Vanessa's directions), I trimmed the zip right down as close as I could, using my pinking scissors, for a neater look. Voila, no hand stitching and no raw edges. It really does look very neat on the inside. I've attached a couple of photos of the inside finished edges. Anyone that's good at binding (which I'm NOT!) could even go a bit further with the end panels and finish them that way. OH: This way of doing it DOES shrink the size of the bag by about an inch!! So if you have a specific size, remember to take that into account, or like me you'll start with 20" outside panels and end up with a finished size of 19"! :) I hope this makes sense and helps anyone who can't hand sew, or just doesn't want to! :D :D