Weekender Bag Class

Yesterday, at Pennington Quiltworks, I taught the second class of a two class session series on the Weekender Bag. Almost everyone completed the bag exterior or at least was able to sew one side on. I was very impressed with everyone's accomplishments - some of the students were beginners and tackled the project with great enthusiasm. One student, Gail, sewed the project on her Singer Featherweight which has inspired me to unpack Dorothy's and get stitching!





One mother/daughter team even went on-line and found this tutorial for making a zippered pocket in the lining! Their results were impressive:


I made a few changes to the pattern for the purposes of the class. First, in the pattern, it is recommended that you cross the cording over on itself at the bottom of the bag for finishing. The problem is that it creates a lot of bulk at the bottom of the bag and makes it very difficult to sew in the final steps of assembling the exterior. Instead, I had the students finish the cording using a method similar to one used in applying continuous binding. I'm not great at written instructions but you can find more details about this method in Amy Butler's Sophia Carry-All pattern.

Also, taking another tip from the Sophia Carry-All, I had the students machine sew the interior lining of the bag to the exterior in the seam allowances. It creates a much more sturdy attachment of the lining and actually enhances the overall interior shape of the bag. Pics of that are below:





And finally, here are a couple of pics of the bags made by the students. Most of the class made the kit which is like my sample. Three picked out their own fabrics and did a great job! Sorry Joanne that I didn't get a picture of yours!





Thanks to Gail, Barbara, Judith, Robin, Stefanie, Linda, Janice and Joanne for making my first class a success. I look forward to teaching my next Weekender Bag class in March - you have set a very high bar for them!

And, when I got home, this is what I found:



Mitch and Lucy hard at work hanging bathroom accessories, pictures, etc. Lucy told me to go away, that she was helping Daddy. I happily retreated to my sewing room to organize fabric/projects....