Prototype Bags and Gifts

For the holidays, I made gifts for my family.

For my Dad, Sister and Brother-in-law, I made bags. The original pattern was one I found on Burdastyle, but I made significant changes to it, adding in elements and finishing techniques I like to use. I was using these pieces for prototyping - I'd like to be able to make these for sale now that I've gotten a sense of what worked and what needs to be changed. I had to use a machine at the school to do the finishing, so if I want to continue to develop this bag, I'd like to invest in a new sewing machine, so it will probably be a while.

All of the materials were things I had on hand, except for some strapping (that I kept running out of) and some interfacing. I made one for myself, so I could get first-hand sense of how well they work. All leather with a fabric lining:


For my Dad, I used leather for the back and flap (in one piece) and a fabric with a similar feel to waxed cotton for the front body and lining:


For my sister, I used leather for the front flap, and felt for the body. It is lined in a purple cotton twill:




For my Brother-in-law, I used a navy blue garment leather I'd been hoarding for years and black trim. Since they were the colors of Cobra from the G.I.Joe comic, I decided it was time to use a patch I picked up from a comic shop many years ago:


All of them have a drawstring to prevent water from getting into the body when the flap is down, but they can open up wider for ease of access.

As they are now, the bags are one big compartment - I installed snaps for combining accessories like pockets (to be designed later).

For my Mom, I knitted this hat - it's another of the first hat I knitted for myself. I'm kind of obsessed with some of the elements in the design:


I've been continuing to knit. With my energy level low for a while, I spent a lot of time knitting various personal projects. I've really become addicted to it - I haven't started designing original pieces yet, but I'm getting confident that I can start putting to paper some ideas I've had floating around in my head.