Hooking Crazy: Doily Bag Ta-Dah! (at last)

This bag seems to have been a work-in-progress for so long I can't remember why I even wanted to make it now. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely happy with how it turned out and very pleased that I did make it, but this last week or so has felt like a chore and not a pleasure, especially with all that sewing in of ends, so many ends!

I had the main bag bit made and thought it wouldn't take long to sort the rest of it out, all it needed was some slight assembly: sewing in the ends of the yarn, a strap and lining... oh yes and a zip. The previous bag I made like this didn't have a zip, in fact the shape and assembly was altogether much simpler:

But this was going to be a bright and colourful bag that I wanted to be able to use as a handbag so a zip really was the only way to go.

So yes, they were made and tidied up nicely. The rest of the putting-together took some thinking about. Instead of the bag just being like a flat envelope it has a base, to give it a bit of shape. I therefore didn't want to just put the zip in at the top and join both sides together; I wanted it to have a bit more structure to match the bottom, so i made two flaps to attach the zip to.

This was my first attempt at ever putting a zip into anything (well properly anyway) and it worked! OK, not quite perfectly, one end was a bit uneven so I made a little square of crochet and sewed it over the top of the offending end (can you see in the picture above?). Sorted.

Choosing the lining was a very simple task, basically I have very little fabric so my choices were limited.

As they are all thin cotton fabrics the pattern is visible on the reverse, which is the bit you can see through the outside of the bag, between all the lacy gaps, the teal-ish unpatterned fabric it was then!

Looking good! The making of the lining was less straight forward; my sewing machine pedal had absolutely vanished. It took several hours, three rooms being torn apart, a couple of frustrated-stompy sulks and it miraculously appeared exactly where it was supposed to be. Weird how that happens :)

My bag linings can sometimes be a bit hit and miss. My usual philosophy with making things is that if something is worth making it is worth making as well as you can but I do tend to rush these bits of sewing and the results vary. I tried extra-double hard with this lining though, I measured twice and cut once and all that, I even did french seams! (ooh lala)

Oh the strap, I nearly forgot!

I thought it would add a bit more structure and be more usable if I gave this bag a solid, fairly stiff shoulder strap. This would give added structure to the sides of the bag and hopefully not get tatty through use. Stripes? Why not. A simple and (I think) effective strap. But oh all that sewing in :(

So that is the story of the finishing of my bag. Oh and Ta-Dah!