(not so) Magic Bag Of Tricks part two

 I have been poking at this this project for over two years

Felix the Cat's Magic Bag of Tricks

Here's the Loungefly version of it

It ground to a halt when I glued the interior seams over and the glue did not dry.

Not even the glue that was exposed to the air.

Two years later, it's still gooey.

but a gal needs to finish what she started...

Here's the pattern

It's a frame purse, and yes, I did buy the appropriately sized frame.

But maybe not designed for pleather. 

Last week I posted the basic construction.

Now I'm trying to finish it.

I made a template to mark the holes for the bag feet

Also used one of the templates as an interior support for the feet

Secured the prongs with gaffers tape.

I remembered I wanted to add an interior pocket to the lining (this is the lining turned right side out). I didn't add a closure at the top. I may regret that. I did not use that Fabric Fusion glue. 

The lining is clipped to the exterior after I finished the interior pocket, and I handbasted it together

 Looks good! Maybe I should stop here.

However, no one prepared me for what a pain in the keister attaching the frame to the bag.

Holy mother of pearl.

(I used all the swears up. I am still using them up. I have none to spare for this post)

The glueing part gets its own post. Which may not be SFW.

And a side note: Bernadette gets Deadpool better than she knows

https://youtu.be/J7zBF-_uz3U?t=790

Deadpool sewing commentary, but no pouches on this reel.

 

Not so magic bag of tricks part one

(I just realized that I wrote this post over a year ago, January 10, 2021, and didn't post it because I wasn't done with the project.

I'm still not, but I am posting this because I hope to be one with this soon. Like later this week. Done or throwing it into the scrap pile done. Here is the journey's start)

Felix the Cat's magic bag of tricks was a lot like Mary Poppin's carpetbag: any number of useful plot devices could be pulled from it. One gruesome family joke was "I'll just reach into my magic bag of tricks and pull out a cure for cancer! Oops, it's a Thompson submachine gun!"

Well, my mother with cancer laughed.

So maybe I still want the bag.

But I don't want a Felix head on my bag. Felix doesn't have one on his, he just wears his head on his body.

And I can make my own pleather print on Contrado

So I waited for a sale. I bought this fabric in March 2020.

And I found a similar-ish pattern and hardware on Emmaline Bags

I had to scale the bag to the length of the frame. A longer frame would have been more appropriate to the original, but I could not conveniently source one.

Test fit the paper pattern and made a toile

And then cut my precious fabric

 

Sewed it

Tested glue to hold the seams flat

The tests both worked.

 

And this is where it goes awry

Clamping doesn't get the glue to spread evenly

So I wrap a brick for a weight

And the glue stops drying.

I was a studio art major in college, and we used to sing a little song about acrylic paint, ala Air Supply's "Love is Like Oxygen":

"Love is like Liquitex

Get too much and it won't dry 

Not enough and you want to cry."

I have too much.

This was June. 

It's September.

It's still not dry.

----

November.

By this point, I just move the box the project is in around. It's too tall to pile on top of

(photo of WIP stac)

I hand stitch down the seam allowances.

One does have to wipe down the needle and the thread with Goo Gone to get things to progress, but this project's progress has been so weird, nothing surprises me now. It's like sewing through rubber cement now. 

This should help figure out how to get the fabric into the frame

https://youtu.be/xEGKckk2WV0?t=1161

Well, in theory it would. If I used woven fabric...it would be very good.

(to be continued)

Pen Pouch Toile Purse: Not my best work by far

It's goofing off time.

(well, I finished the shirt and another couple knit shirts and am stalling on the next shirt cause I don't like my present pattern and need a new one to make too many of)

 I am going to make myself a couple of the Ikat Bag pen cases, 

http://www.ikatbag.com/2013/10/marker-pouch.html

but I had to goof around with this idea first. 

I hand basted this first, to get the zipper placed correctly. Yes, I had to break out the pliers to pull the needle through.

And I used a metal zip because I have a lot of metal zip 

Scuba or it's pals needs something to anchor the stitching on the outsides, so I have made a sandwich of the zipper, the scuba, and some rick rack because I love rick rack.

and if you used a coil zipper in an loop, it would work*. Also if you made the fabric part have a little dish shape to it (do a little cornerfold/gather at the  corners) it would be the useful tray I need to wrangle my pens and put them away at the end of the day.

Hello!

It needs tabs at the zip ends (the safety pins would be temporary)  and some shaping to make it more tray and less landing pad (which has its charms)

this style does not work with this zipper (metal zip is too stiff). But I am keeping it anyway as a sample i can refer back to.

(* I cannot find a tutorial on the interwebs of how this works. I'm....shocked. I also can't find an example of this on anything anymore. Did we fall out of love with this application? Do I have to make one to see WHY we don't do this anymore?

Oh dear, I fear that I do)

And I am revisiting this 

which I will talk about later, except to say

the glue on the seams is still not dry, two years later

EEEEEEEEK