Thursday, September 13, 2012

Double pleated chevron bag

From the minute I saw this grey chevron fabric at work a vision of a new bag started bubbling in my head. It took 3 months to make it come to life and get it just the way I wanted it. To be honest I still have a few adjustments to make it just perfect but this is pretty darn close!


I bought this grey chevron duck cloth the day it came in at work, it was my very first day actually. I knew I wanted pleats and a yellow top panel but not much aside from that. Over the next few weeks I sat in the middle of the living room every night with the chevron duck, yellow duck, grey piping, and pins pleating and re-pleating and looking at it from every angle and was never really satisfied. Then Jeff made a suggestion-lose the piping- and instantly this design was born! Even once I had it just the way I wanted it and all measured out I hesitated to cut anything until I was out fabric shopping and found this wonderfully soft  grey twill. I knew immediately it had to be the interior for my bag.



I added a zipper pocket that's nice and roomy inside. Right before I added the slip pockets I thought it needed a little something so I found the perfect shade of yellow in a Kona cotton and made a trim. I usually like a lighter color for the interior so it's easy to find your stuff but I think the trim really helps the pockets stand out.


This is a very spacious bag! It's 21" across the top, 17 1/2 " at the bottom, 14" high (minus handles) and 5 inches deep. The handles sit 12" from the top of the bag and are padded with fleece making it a very comfy shoulder bag.



I added a zip closure on this bag, can you see the zip tab peaking out on the left side? I had been wanting to try a zipper closure on my bags for a while. The first one I tried was TERRIBLE and I was nervous to try again until I got Lisa Lam's new book A Bag For All Reasons and she had an awesome tutorial for it! I love Lisa Lam and have learned a lot from her so I just trusted her book to get me through it and I'm so glad I did!

17 comments:

  1. this bag is perfect; you did a great job!! I love the color and design!

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  2. Met you today at Hobby Lobby!!! See, I told you I'd stop by, and I'm your newest follower:-) Hope you get a chance to visit me at www.feelLOVDeveryday.blogspot.com so you can see the results of my recycled lampshade!

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    1. HI! Thanks for stopping by! I can't wait to see your lampshade, I love those fabrics you chose! I look forward to checking out your blog too :)

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  3. Wow - this purse is STUNNING Rachel. Well done, and well worth all of the hard work you put into it.

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    1. Thanks Jessica! Considering you are one of my sewing idols I take this as a HUGE compliment! You just made my day :)

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  4. You did an awesome job with this bag! Looks very tailored and professional. Well done.

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  5. Love this bag! It is very functional and the fabric/color choices are fabulous!

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  6. What is name/design of the chevron fabric?

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    1. It's Drake Zig Zag, I got it at Hobby Lobby.It's a printed duck cloth and they now carry this design in a few different colors.

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  7. Hi there, I love this cehvron fabric, do you know anywhere that would ship it to New Zealand?

    Thanks
    Lisa

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    1. Hi Lisa, try Fabric.com. Search Premier Prints zig zag. They have several different colors of chevron duck, slub duck, and twill. They carry the grey in the twill, the color is called Storm. I checked it out and they do ship to New Zealand! I've bought lots of fabric from Fabric.com and love them! They have good prices, good customer service, and my orders usually come within a week of ordering them. Hope that helps!
      Rachel

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