This week on the Love to Sew Podcast, Caroline and I sew bags! We each chose a bag pattern in secret and we got together to talk all about what we made and reveal our bags to each other. We had so much fun chatting about our projects!
Head over to the Love to Sew Podcast website to listen to the episode.
For my bag, I chose the Wavelength Bag by Thalias Threads. I was immediately smitten with this bag when the pattern came out. I love the fun wavy edges and it has been on my “to-make” list for a while now. This episode was the perfect excuse to sew it up!
Thalia has several examples in her product listing from community members. I particularly love the version from @anniepickle and it got me thinking about this old vintage dress I had in my stash. I got it out and decided this fabric was a perfect fit for this bag. I’ve had this dress for ages and always wanted to refashion it. It’s in rough shape (the hem is all shredded for some reason) and it didn’t fit. I found it in a thrift store and bought it just for the fabric about 10 years ago! It is so nice that it has finally found its purpose. The leopards and butterflies are just sooooo pretty!
I knew I wanted to do the bright contrast binding on this bag and luckily enough, I had a matching red linen/cotton blend fabric in my stash. The shade of red was a perfect fit with this fabric! Yet another sign I was on the right track with this project. I chose a hot pink cotton for the lining to continue the bright and colourful theme.
Thalia recommends adding structure to the bag so I took her advice and used Pellon SF101 for my outer bag pieces. I did not interface the lining. This fabric is a soft canvas material so it worked really well for this project, especially with a bit of a boost from the interfacing.
I made the larger view and I added two segments to the strap length (the pattern has an extender piece you can use to add length). I’m glad I did because it is now the perfect length to sit across my body comfortably.
Construction wise, this pattern is not too complicated! The hardest parts are cutting the wavy shapes of the fabric and then binding the bag. But to be honest, all of it was pretty fun! I’ve never worked with pattern pieces that looked anything like this so it was a novelty for me. I also quite like binding so that part was a bit tedious but still mostly fun! I did skip the outer pocket because I did not want to break up this awesome print anymore than I had to.
I’m glad I made my own binding because it was super soft and easy to get nice curves with. I find that store bought binding can be stiff and crinkly so I recommend making your own to get the best results with a project like this one.
I love my new Wavelength Bag! Head over to the Love to Sew Podcast website to listen to the episode and see what Caroline made!
