It
seems like everything I do, I have to do twice.
That’s one reason I am sharing this with the world – I hope someone can
learn from my mistakes.
The
only magnetic snap I could find at Michael’s was gold – good thing – but the
prongs have to go through the side of the bag.
I did not want it to show on the inside of the finished bag, so I had to
reopen the hole in the lining so I could get to the inside of the main
body. I’m glad I did that sewing with
the machine and know that it will be easy to re-sew.
I
was also grateful that I hadn’t yet sewn the strap ends down on the D rings – I
sure didn’t need the extra bulk in my way.
I
looked on the snap packaging for directions and it says: “To apply, follow your
purse pattern instructions.” My pattern
just said to attach a magnetic snap. <gee,
thanks> I looked the pieces over and
thought, surely this can’t be too hard. They
come with washers to put over the prongs on the wrong sides of the fabric –
this is just one half of it-
I
wondered if I should push the prongs out from the center or to the center. I went online to find a couple of clues. I’m glad I looked first. All the sites I looked at said to push the
prongs in. Also, it is a good idea to
cut a piece of heavy interfacing to put between the fabric and the washer.
My
bag has heavy interfacing and padding on the side – I was thinking more
interfacing probably wasn’t so necessary, but I was afraid of fraying, so after
I marked where to make the slits for the prongs, gently cut them through, and
pushed the prongs through, I covered the spot with Fray Check. Quite liberally. I love this stuff- it saved me many headaches
when I was cross stitching, not just to coat the edges of my fabric with, but
if I made a mistake that got cut too close.
I put the washer down over the prongs and pushed them over to the
center.
And
it looked fine on the outside-
I
did not want to put the snap through the brocade – that stuff has already been
enough trouble- I don’t think I will ever use it again! If anyone else like working with the stuff, I
will be putting it up for sale on Etsy!
At this point, I did not know what I should do. I
wish I had known that there are sew in
magnetic snaps available, because had I been thinking, that is what I would
have bought – I would have searched until I found one! I got the one on the body okay, but the flap
is a different matter. There is
topstitching on the flap, so I cannot easily open it up to put the snap in from
the inside. This means that the washer
and prongs will be exposed on the top of the flap - I will be putting my large
red button over where it would be, but it will make it sit high above the flap
in an odd manner. It doesn’t look like
I have any choice- I mean the button would be sitting higher anyway even if the
snap back were hidden under the fabric.
Argh – to get all this way and encounter this!
My
solution- I went ahead and put the snap on the flap, and my beautiful red
button, I turned over – it has an interesting brown back, and the browns match
some of the browns in the materials. Since
it is concave, by turning it over, it covered over the snap back quite well and
doesn’t sit up high. I used twine to
attach it- I actually took a couple of stitches between the prongs of the snap before
I put the washer on- then I pulled the twine through the hole in the center of
the washer (see picture above) and then I put the washer on and pushed the
prongs down. I pulled the two ends of
the twine through the holes in the button, tied it a few times, then thread it
back through the button holes, and tied it several times under the button. It feels quite secure. Then I took more twine, pulled it under the
button and tied it, and added beads – I did that three times. I’m trying to decide if the beads are
overkill, but I think I like them.
I
also created a small zipper pull for the pocket inside – the tab on that zipper
is so small! I know I need to tighten up
that jump ring or this may not last too long.
So
with the strap sewn on, the Rooster Bag is finished-
The
more I look at it, the more I like the button on the brown side. I really like this pattern – the bag is
really deep and roomy.
Well,
what have I learned from my journey with the rooster? For one thing, I don’t like working with
brocade – and this is really sad because I just found a remnant at Jo-Ann’s of beautiful dragon-covered brocade! I don’t know
what I am going to do with it now!
For
another thing, if I plan to alter something- like the
flap closure- I need to completely think it out before I do it. In fact, I need to completely think everything
out so I quit having to do stuff twice! But I also like the fact that I can be flexible - I really had my heart set on the red of that button, but I think the brown is just fine.
I
like that the construction of this bag was so different from the Hippie Bag – I
have some ideas for a bag of my own design eventually and I like knowing there
are different ways to do different things, like the lining. I loved finding out the pocket was so
simple. Really nice thing- I am getting
better with the pins and poked myself a bit less this time around.
Do you hire out?
ReplyDeleteHi Linda - Do you mean will I make something for someone else?
DeleteOMG I love this bag. Love love love it. It's really awesome and you did a nice job.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Chrystal!
Delete