I made a thing!

So, after the referendum, I needed something which was about people being nice to each other to watch, and after a lucky encounter when I left the TV on after Today at Wimbledon that thing turned out to be The Great British Sewing Bee. I finished the latest season and then went back and binge watched the other ones and, perhaps inevitably, bought myself a sewing machine :)

So far, I haven't done loads on it - unsurprisingly, once term kicked back in, I haven't had tonnes of time or energy to do so - but I have made myself a couple of bags. One very simple tote bag just to try the machine out which I use for all my bits of material and stuff and yesterday I finally finished the laptop bag I'd been working on!



The main body of the bag is actually made from a denim skirt that I got from a charity shop and the lining is part of a duvet cover (it turns out that's a great way to get cheap fabric!) so it wasn't too pricey to make but I think economy is not really going to be an overall benefit of making stuff. I enjoyed it as a creative thing to do and I really like the ability to make stuff to my own specifications so those are the main attractions really.

Immediately I finished it, I came up with several things that I want to do differently next time so I thought I'd note them down here in case I ever do get around to repeating this pattern.

• Pockets! Firstly, put the outside pockets on earlier in the process so I can machine stitch them, don't forget about them until the end because they're not in the pattern I was following.
• Secondly, inside pockets of some kind would be good. Maybe with fastenings?
• Put in a side/bottom panel so that it's got more of a base to it
• Different main fastening - I'm not that in love with the velcro
• Maybe catch the corners of the lining to the bottom of the bag?
• Wider strap. I love how the finish of the strap turned out but I think a wider one would make for easier carrying

( moar pics (same as on twitter if you saw them there) )