At Last!

Can you hear Etta James in the background as you read this post??  Because I can, and certainly heard those sweet words as I danced around the house last night with my new bag slung over my shoulder: At last, my love has come along...

MY WEEKENDER BAG IS FINISHED!!!  

 Here she is in all her retro-vibey glory.  This is a tough bag y'all.  I have summitted my personal Sewing Everest. The Weekender Bag pattern by Amy Butler has turned in to a right of passage in the sewing community, and with good reason.  It is like luggage and certainly looks sharp with loads of professional looking details.

 Why, is that homemade piping made from bias strips??  Yes, yes it is.

Is that bag so sturdy it stands up all by itself??  Yes, yes it does.  There is enough interfacing in this thing I would not be surprised if this bag stood up and walked across the room to me when I called it.  (And it's such a smart bag, I should totally try that).  

 I did add a couple of pockets to the inside lining to make it more functional.

 And I did add purse feet to the bottom to make it more sturdy.

I also lengthened the straps to 54" and used webbing as interfacing for the handles because I wanted them to be really strong. Oh, and I followed the advice of my friend Christen  and topstitched the lining right over the zipper line instead of having to do that by hand.  Much faster and I'm so happy with the result.  I think those are the only modifications I made to the pattern.  Can I just say the zipper installation was GENIUS!  I was skeptical reading the instructions because I've never done a zipper that way before, but I went ahead and followed what it said (I know, shocker!  Actually following a pattern!).  I'm so glad I did!  The result is a clean, tight zipper line.

Y'all, I have wanted to make this bag for years. When I first joined the online sewing community back in 2011, I was amazed that this was a thing people could MAKE!  I've admired so many other's Weekender Bags over the years, and have so many favorite  - there are some beautiful bags out there and I've been inspired by them all.

I would never, ever in a million years have started this project without the serious hand-holding of my sweet friend Melissa .  We started this pattern together over a YEAR ago - her beautiful bag long being done and mine languishing in a sad pile of cut pieces for far too long.  The Weekender Sew Along hosted by some more sweet friends Sew Lux, Love By Hand, and Modern Handcraft was exactly the push I needed to finish this thing when I really just wanted to abandon it in a large pile of WIP's. And of course, I had constant support from so many IG friends who really cheered me on to finish.  Thank you to all of you - really,  I mean it! - I couldn't have done it without you.

                                 

Now please excuse me, I am off to dance with my new bag...At Last!