Zakka Along Week 9 :: Stem Messenger Bag

Oh Zakka! I made a bag.

The Stem Messenger Bag is by Larissa Holland from mmmcrafts. I tell ya, I read several other blog posts about this project before I dared begin, starting of course with Sew Sweetness, who reminded us about the correct way to measure a gusset. Didn't want to make that mistake again! From The Patchsmith, I garnered the tip to leave at least 6" to turn the final bag. I was super cautious and left 8" and really had no trouble. Where bluepatch quilter missed the step about top-stitching the top of the pockets, I managed to miss the step about sewing the pocket onto the lining all together. Uh oh and oh well.

Anyway, back to the basics. The body and strap of my bag is made of Essex Linen in Putty - lovely to work with. The lining is one of my favs, a brown Wordplay by Michele D'Amore (love her name!). And the leaves on the flap are bits of shot cotton - also a pleasure to incorporate in any project.

Though I am really pleased overall with the bag (except for no interior pocket, duh), I was especially tickled to make such a cool handle with hardware. yay.

And I do have a couple of tips of my own for you! One involves the bias tape used for the stem, and particularly, the back detail.

The pattern's directions said to apply the tape per package instructions. Well mine had none. So I reached way back in my memory and came up with this ~ I opened the tape and sewed on the first fold, with the edge lined up with the top (raw) edge of my flap.

I used a little fabric glue (which I didn't know existed before this project) and turned the ends of the tape in, and then folded over the tape to cover the raw edge. . .

to make a neat little edge like this, that was then a breeze to top-stitch onto the bag body as shown in the book.

Tip #2 concerns the handle, and folding in the long edges 1/2" to press. That was a little finicky for me to keep even, so I pressed the whole thing in half, then drew a line 1" along the entire long edge. Then I folded and pressed my raw edge to meet the line, and repeated for the other side. Worked like a charm for me.

A last detail shot before I wrap this post up, showing a peek of the lining and the bag pocket detail. 

And we'll call this one done!

Linking up with LRstitched and pretty darn proud. Also linking up with Made By ME and amylouwho's sew & tell.