Armadillo Tote is Up!!!

Some projects come faster than others, and this bag came at my like a cannonball: hey! I know what I want this to be! I want to take the handle from that, the roll-up pocket from that, put the pocket where it's useful while the bag is in use, long handles that can go over my shoulder for easy carrying, give it a bottom that loads evenly....ah, I'm good at this thing some times.

Well, the ideas come fast, but the execution has to fit in with the other endless projects that require attention (mending mending, please make this for me mom, ad infinitum).

The pattern was a breeze to put together, and the instructions came together after making one up and photographing every step (saves that "did I forget something" dilemma) . The trouble was: camera took a bath in coffee and needed to spend a little drying out time. Esh.

But I got it all together today, and now it's up on Craftsy and all is good. Doing that happy dance and planning on cranking out a few for holiday gifts. At less than an hour front to back, it's a good one.

Ripping and rolling for Make and Mend 2012

 I love this shirt. Too long, too much pattern buried under the waistband, and the collar is a disaster

Cut apart and laid out again

Quarter inch of seam allowance to start. Ish.

 I removed the front, undid most of the sleeves, lost what little seam allowance it had, and shoved the front up.

I stole the back excess hem to make a strip to cover and reinforce the back neck seam. There was a scant quarter inch seam allowance to begin with, so keeping it to size is a challenge. But I will win!

Delivered, 70 dresses, 40 hemmed and repaired

Seven bags, ten apiece.

The hemming is done, the dresses have been taken to the client. Let's open a cold one (a caffeinated sugared up one for me) and review the mayhem.

These babies were like evil drunks, who come and wreck the party. A standard example:

Skirt goes one way, then another

 I had to hang them up on a curtain rod over the grid board to get a good gander at them.

Yes, that hem is just that wavy

After pulling the hem, I redid the two skirts. The taffeta one was well behaved and I could just measure it on the table, but the chiffon overlayer had a mind of it's own. Since the skirt was cut with a wide bias on the sides, it needed to be marked while hung up (see previous post) and then wrassled on the ironing board.

All pinned out on the ironing board

 To get the hem to lie straight required  a lot of restraining it, a lot of ironing and a fair amount of profanity.

And now they're done. Just in time for holiday gift sewing.