so, I did pretty much no knitting at all this weekend. but that doesn't mean I was entirely unproductive! I decided to dust off the old sewing machine and get to work on a project that I'd been meaning to work on for about a month or so. I've been admiring these offhand designs bags about as long as I've been knitting, but just haven't been able to justify spending that much for a knitting bag. instead, I decided to make my own. I bought some chenille tapestry fabric off ebay and basically let it sit in my house for a month while I tried to figure out how I would go about tackling this bag thing.

I learned to use a sewing machine when I was really young - my mom used to sew a lot when I was a kid. she made lots of cute outfits for me and my brother. as a teenager, I made a few skirts and a couple pairs of shorts and probably about 100 scrunchies. since then, I've mostly made stuff with straight lines only: a few baby quilts, camera cases, chapstick holders, pillows, bedskirts, etc. the most challenging things I've made to date are two reupholstered glider/ottoman sets. here's mine; no pics of my friend's (her's looks better - I need to take pics next time I visit).

I can't say I've got skills or even a system/method to my madness when it comes to sewing. I never learned to follow a pattern and am actually rather intimidated by them. I usually just make things up as I go along, which is fine when I'm basically sewing squares or rectangles together or have cushions or a camera that I can just trace onto the fabric. I usually try to sketch something out with measurements and notes, but I always end up not quite having what I'd intended because the fabric usually has a mind of it's own and I just kind of let it go where it wants.

now, making an actual usable bag that (I hope) I won't be too embarrassed to use in public is a whole other ball game. this was uncharted territory for me. it had to be symmetrical, and the snappy opening thing needed to fit in the top. I don't really need to go into details (or rather, I can't, because I'm not entirely sure what I did for most of it), but I basically had an idea in mind and tried as best as I could to make it happen. I think it came out about 90% the way I'd wanted. try not to look too closely, as there are a lot of wonky parts here and there. I think I'm pretty happy, overall.

here it is! my knitting bag - the colors aren't super accurate here, but not too far off. I intend to do something about those ribbon straps... they need to be strengthened somehow, but I've got time to figure that out yet.

and there is potomoto in there, enjoying his new surroundings. I think he quite enjoyed his weekend off, but he's ready to get back to work.




here's my self-portrait for scale. the top is about 16" across, and the bottom about 20". it's roughly 6" deep and 7" high.