I have lots to say about the Summit Pack sling bag I made, so I'm going to break it into two parts - starting with my review of the actual pattern. (Part 2 will be about what I did differently and more about my finishing preferences.)
I will begin by saying I really like the completed bag and I think the pattern was a good purchase. But it is not a good first bag project if you haven't made a a complex bag or backpack before.
As I mentioned before in a previous post, I did a lot of smoothing out the pattern pieces to get rid of all the wavy edges. I'm not sure if those were caused by the designer tracing a rtw bag or prototyping & cutting apart to get a pattern, but either way, that could have been corrected before final pattern.
I found the instructions annoying to follow. There were good photos but often not of the details I wanted to see for clarification. I found myself having to reread sections multiple times as I went because the formatting was a little awkward.
One of the most annoying things about the instructions was the fact that the seam allowance amount was only listed on the description page, and it even said it would not be listed out directly in the rest of the 23 pages of instructions. (If I hadn't cut the pieces out so long before assembly, I wouldn't have spent so much time searching for that information when I came back to sew it!) Every time seam allowance is mentioned in the instructions it says "use regular SA" which is longer to write than "use 3/8" SA".
Eleven of the pattern pieces are not drafted and are only listed as dimensions on a chart at the end of the instructions. The full bottom piece would have fit on a piece of printer paper, but instead prints as only a half piece marked "cut on fold".
There are absolutely no notches on the pattern and I really wanted there to be a few because of all the curves and trying to figure out where things lined up. (The designer mistakenly uses the word "notch" in the instructions when she means to say "clip the curves".)
Many pattern pieces needed to be trued-up. I am a very precise stitcher, and I want the edges of a finished pattern to line up. I found myself pinning a seam and ending up with overhang at the end. I eventually realized the instructions were starting on the opposite end and then trimming off the extra overhang from the other end. If there had been notches, it would have made that less frustrating, but if you're always trimming off the overhang, you can correct the pattern! (see pic 3 for example)
The cutting chart says to cut 4 zipper tabs. You actually need to cut 8 if you want to clean finish the inside of the zippers.
The biggest error in the pattern was the bottom piece - it has one whole inch of unnecessary ease on the straight side! This explains why so many other versions of the bag I've seen photos of have some weird puckers in the final seam. I chose to turn my bag differently than instructed, so I was able to handstitch that seam at the very end and more easily control that ridiculous amount of ease. I have now corrected my pattern to remove that ease in case I ever decide to make other one. (Comparison of original and corrected pieces in photo 4.)
If any of you buy the pattern, email me and I'll send you a pdf of my redrafted bottom piece!
Overall, it's a decent pattern and the pieces fit together just like the instructions say they will. I was always trimming off exactly where it said I would be, but I have corrected all my pieces so I won't have to do that again.
#bagmaking #CloudsplitterBags #SummitPack
I spent the day priming things for paint and then I remembered to shoot a quick video. #SewingStudioBuild
I started cutting all the edges while Janet was away yesterday morning. When she got back after lunch, she pulled out a roller and started filling in. I'll put a pic below in the comments. #SewingStudioBuild
We broke for lunch and then came back with a portal ac unit plugged in to an extention cord from the house. Can't wait until they finished hooking up all the electrical and we have the mini split cooling the room for us - it was stupid humid today! #SewingStudioBuild
I keep meaning to cut something new out to sew, and keep not having time. But in the meantime, I thought I’d show something I started several weeks ago. About two years ago, a geography project that was in our curriculum was to create an embroidery design, the unit was on Ukraine and this had to do with traditional embroidered garments. So my oldest made this design, and asked if I’d use it in my own sewing sometime. I had to sit on this one for awhile to plot what to do, but I finally started it. Last year’s ice dyeing had this leftover sweatshirt fleece from some shirts I made when the boys were younger, but it only dyed on the back side. So I’m using reverse embroidery to put his design on the front piece of this sweatshirt, so I can also use that piece of fabric in a way that won’t look like my clothes are inside out. I also have a back yoke piece cut, but I’m only getting to work on this around once a week right now, so I’ll need to either speed this up or drop that ...
I just need to vent. I was hemming some jeans today and one leg was perfect. Did it in one try. The other? It took 4 times of sewing and picking it out! I’m done now but that was such a pain. I hate stretch denim so much. Can anyone else relate?
Almost time to start quilting panels for my jacket pieces. I have one more front section to piece and I need to lengthen the hood pattern (why does everyone always draft hoods too short?) and then I can make "sandwiches."
I took this photo before I stitched a strip of background fabric to each side of the stripes so that the pattern piece of the jacket back is completely covered.
