rumtum: Kidlet

I thought I'd give the kidlet tutorial a go. It looked pretty easy, very similar to the simple tote in Bend the Rules. I had plenty of fabric on hand and a quiet evening after the kids went to bed, so I went for it. The only thing I didn't have was interfacing. No problem, I tell myself! Who needs interfacing? Well, apparently kidlet does.

It's a cute little tote, (I added a second handle so it could be an out and about tote) but I was so disappointed with the limpness of it. Note to self- interfacing is necessary! And why can I not seem to get the inner and outer "bags" to be the same size, ever?! No matter how carefully I measure, and painstakingly I cut, I still end up trying to sew together the two pieces of the bag that are vastly different in size! (Now, when I say vastly I mean less than 1/4 inch... but it sure seems like a lot when I have worked so hard to make them the same size. Sigh.) So I inevitably end up with puckering and weird-o looking tucks. Maybe it is because the materials are of such different weights?? One is pretty heavy home decor type fabric (vintage from our local thrift store) and the other? oh, I don't even know. I am new to all this. Oh well. I am going to take Amy Karol's word for it... she said, "Mistakes are always much less noticeable in a week or so, and in a month, the project will look amazing." So I am waiting for amazing.

Ok, so let's try this kidlet thing again. I am having all sorts of visions of giving away a kidlet filled with books and toys and whatnot to all my little people friends for their upcoming birthdays. Still,I have no interfacing in the house... but I do have fusible web. Hmmm? Would that work? So I iron it to one side of my fabric...but now it is sticky-ish on the other side. No problem- I'll just fuse it to the same kind of fabric to make it extra durable, and not so see through (another problem I encountered). I am such a genius!

Or not!! The material is no so stiff that I nearly break my machine trying to sew it! I did manage (through gritted teeth and much swearing, and soooooo much broken thread it wasn't funny) to get the pocket sewn on, sides sewn up and the box bottom created...but that was as far as my machine would go. It was making weird, scary noises, and the bobbin thread kept breaking. Can you see the holes on the top wear I thought I was attaching the lining bag???? Oh, I was so mad. I really liked the pocket too. Pooh.

And I still had the inner bag carefully measured, cut and even sewn!! So, lets give it more more try!! (Am I channeling my inner cheerleader? or a masochist?) Ok, so still no interfacing, and not going to use fusible web sandwiched between layers again.. and I am running low on the nice tan material that I like for the body of the bag... what to do? What to do? So, here is what I did. I used a thin cotton in plain white as a backing to the tan. I had to piece together two pieces of tan to make the back of the bag. Created a similar, although not quite as sweet pocket from scraps. Use the inner bag from the previous (failed) project. Decide to go with a small handle/big handle combo like the simple tote in BTR, using a bias tape for the handle because by now I am too freakin' tired to care but determined to get something useful out of this night.....

And here it is. The big handle/small handle thing is bit weird. Not sure if I would do that again. (The small one is there, just flipped back so it is hard to see.) Overall I think it is ok. Not so bad. Maybe usable. And you know what??