I'm Sew Not Together (Yet)

Worked mostly on the Sew Together Bags today. I have four of them in progress. Was going to complete one first as a prototype, but it seems much more efficient to do some assembly line sewing.


  1. Cut all pattern pieces for 4 bags
  2. Make the side panels for all 4 bags (I should have topstitched them right after step 5, but I think I had to break to make dinner at this point and didn't have my Lean Process Consultant brain working well. I'm retired now, but old habits die hard.
  3. Fuse the interfacing for all four bags
  4. Put in all the zippers (12 9 zippers in all for 4 bags)
  5. Topstitch both sides of all the zippers (didn't lose time switching between zipper and topstitching foot this way)

And here is where I stopped for the day: Made one whole lining assembly

I have to agree with some of the reviews of this pattern here and here where the bloggers noted that more illustrations and photos would be helpful. The verbal instructions are ok, but numbered steps would have also made the process easier to follow, instead of block paragraph instructions.

Somehow, during this long, blissful afternoon of sewing, I managed to strain my back. I think my L-shaped sewing desk is too crowded with three machines set up (Babylock Evolution serger, Bernina 180 that I was using for bag assembly today, and my Singer 301 that I am using for piecing quilt blocks. So, it's off to bed to hunker down with my Kindle under this quilt (another free pattern from Bonnie Hunter) read more of the latest book in the Outlander Series.

A few fun facts about this quilt:

1. We use it as our extra quilt over a scrappy log cabin.
2. It was finished in 2014, but it contains actual Y2K fabric, as does the slightly older scrappy log cabin.
3. It was one of the first quilts I made without an inner and outer border.   I'm not sure they are always needed, especially for something that is more of a throw than a bed quilt.  I guess I am just getting lazier as I get older.


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