The Wanna-be bag maker

  Hey there! Thanks for stoppin’ by to check out a journey I decided I absolutely had to take last night after making my first "holy shi*, I made that?!"bag.  I know I wouldn’t have ever jumped into the rabbit hole that is bag making if I hadn’t found a YouTube channel I’ve become obsessed with- OklaRoots. Jess is an amazing teacher! She puts up bag making tutorials that even the most novice of newbies can follow along to. Trust me, I speak from experience! I should disclose that even though I am very new to bag making, I am a pretty skilled apparel sewist. One rabbit hole to the next--story of my life 😂

  After watching just one video, I found myself buying bag patterns she featured, purchasing zipper tape and pulls, bag hardware, vinyl fabric etc. Did I know how to use any of these things? Heck no! But I HAD to have them! I started with the Itty Bitty Boxy Bag

which I highly recommend if you want to start with something beginner friendly then moved on to the Basic Boxy Bag which is still beginner friendly but has a tad more complexity.

 

  It wasn’t until last night that I made this gorgeousness that I had the heavens splitting open while angels sing moment. I followed Jess’s tut on the Sadie Expandable Bag by Swoon and this is what the result was! Heart. Eyes.  This was only my second bag ever. It was my first time working with a turn lock, vinyl fabric, a magnetic snap and Chicago Screws. Jess virtually held my hand the whole time. 

 

  Once I got over the shock of this glory (ok that’s a lie, it’s still sitting on my counter front and center so I can admire it all day lol), I had this idea. What if I worked my way through ALL Jess’s videos and shared my experience as a newbie bag maker?? Sort of like a "Julie and Julia" type deal. So that’s what this all is. I will NOT be doing tutorials- that’s Jess’s job and she’s darn good at it! Instead, it’ll be my sharing of the good, the bad and the ugly of each tutorial and the outcomes I come up with. 

  I’ve decided that I will sell each of my makes on my facebook page (coming soon!) to help fund this little adventure (cuz let’s face it this shiz is gonna get expensive quick!) but I’ve also decided that every few makes I will raffle off in the Give Kids the World facebook group.  If you don’t know what GKTW is, it is "an 89 acre, nonprofit ‘storybook’ resort in Central Florida.  [ At GKTW], children with critical illnesses and their families are treated to weeklong cost-free vacations." We are a GKTW Alumni family and stayed there January of 2018 for my son’s Make-A-Wish trip. It’s amazing and just opened again on the 17th thanks to COVID. There are many many families waiting for their stay and things are different since the virus and Make-A-Wish still is not granting wishes to GKTW (many more organizations utilize GKTW besides MAW fyi).  I’m hoping my raffle every so often will help bring a smile and hope to those waiting for their trip.

  My next step? Get all the materials and patterns needed to complete the tutorials.  Wish me luck and I’ll see ya soon!

pattern credit: swoon patterns 

bag hardware (zipper, pull, turn lock and vinyl fabric): geekyhardware.com

Main fabric: https://artsnapfabrics.com/