I had no idea how much time had passed since my last blog entry. Looking back, it perfectly coincides with the advent of my third pregnancy. Nine months of that misery, followed by six months of life with this bundle of cuteness:
and I've finally resumed normal business. After finishing a brand new diaper bag for myself last night that I will be using as a prototype for purses for my shop, I started thinking about all of the diaper bags I have made for myself. Today I emptied out the closet where they are all stashed and took pictures of them before throwing most of them away.
1. This was my first bag, messenger style. I found a tutorial online and tweaked it a bit. I had not yet discovered interfacing, but the bag isn't very floppy because I misunderstood the kind of vinyl used in the tutorial and used some clearance upholstery vinyl for the interior.
It stunk for ages! I liked this bag, but found it hard to find my stuff. Also, I tried to have it close with magnets, but they weren't strong enough, and it was a pain to not be able to close it properly.
2. I designed this purse myself. It is pretty and has plenty of pockets, but absolutely no interfacing. It's super floppy, but has cardboard as the base!
3. This next bag remains one of my favorites ever. I used an online tutorial for the pattern, though added a zipper. This bag is actual leather. I had a leather coat that was too small for me, so I took it apart and had the perfect amount of leather for this bag.
I used an old cargo skirt for the interior and incorporated pockets from it on the inside. I loved this bag, even though it was still a bit floppy from no interfacing. I used this purse until the leather gave out on one of the straps and it wasn't easily fixable.
4. Next, my Ameribag-inspired diaper bag. I borrowed my mother-in-law's Ameribag, made a pattern, and created this bag. I really loved it.
It looked nice and the fabrics were pretty.
The inside has pockets up the wazoo. However, I used really thick interlining but didn't interface the fabric, and so the seams were thick and the fabric was thin and ripped out easily. Also, by this time I was cloth diapering my second child and toilet-training the oldest, and this bag didn't expand at all. Unbelievably, it just wasn't big enough!
5. I fell in love with this blue tweed fabric and was determined to make a purse out of it. This diaper bag was fun and the handles are nice and soft. The light color got dirty very easily, and there are a few construction things I didn't like a lot, but in general this was a great bag. But eventually my oldest and youngest were both out of diapers, or at least didn't need them very much.
I started using a cute small diaper bag that was gifted to me with my first child, then finally moved on to using just a normal purse again. I know I made another diaper bag (6.) sometime, but it had too many problems and I threw it out.
6.5. Oh, and here's the purse I carry when I don't want my whole diaper bag. It's big enough for my kindle, wallet, phone, keys, and not much else. It was a prototype for my shop too, but I think I never actually made any for the shop! Whoops.
7. Of course, the third baby was reason enough to pull out my diaper bag designing skills again. I was determined to make a backpack-style purse. This one converted from a backpack to a shoulder bag. By now I've figured out interfacing! This purse was fun and used really cute fabric. However, I didn't make the straps long enough, and when I tried to fit everything in it, there wasn't enough room. This purse never was used.
8. I made the previous purse while in my final week of pregnancy. After realizing it wouldn't work, I designed a purse and made it, all in one day! I ran out of brown fabric repeatedly, so this purse uses four different solid brown fabrics. I liked the idea of this giraffe accent fabric, but in reality, this purse doesn't have the classy factor I wanted.
I've used it for six months, but I'm tired of it and when I started having purse designs pop into my head for a new purse, I ran with the idea.
9. Which brings me to the bag I finished last night. This thing is a little beastly. It's fairly wide. In my head it would droop a little more and the extra fabric would fall into nice pleats and draping. However, it wasn't working as well when I used actual fabric and interfacing like it did with my first run-through. I also picked some lightweight vinyl for the inside to make it wipeable, and that fabric, while convenient, doesn't hang and drape. I had to take this purse apart and put it back together with pleats in different places and corners sewn differently and the bottom eliminated. I was relieved that it was salvageable, and now that it's complete I love it.
The inside fits everything. There are special places for my wallet and kindle on the inside, and zipper end pockets on the outside for my phone and keys. Also, those end pockets are big enough for bottles or sippies. I don't like obvious bottle pockets, because I don't want my purse to scream "diaper bag!", so I try to hide the bottle pockets now or put them on the inside. This purse is large, and I foresee that being annoying at times, but the nicest part is that it hangs beautifully and the weight is distributed really well.
I will tweak the pattern more before offering it in my shop, but I fully plan on making more. I love seeing my progress through the ages. I'm also happy to be offering something besides clutches and wallets in my shop.
Me and my Tardis phone and my bag that can fit the baby as well as her stuff. :]
