What I've Been Doing Lately

I started sewing this school bag over the summer.  It was a trial from beginning to end.  I couldn't find a free pattern that I liked so I just combined and enlarged a couple that I already had.  I decided to add a zippered top even though I've never done a zip-top purse before.  The zipper made attaching the adjustable strap more complicated than I had intended and, before I knew it, I was in way over my head.  I'm never doing so many combinations and adjustments ever again.  I think it would have been worth it just to search harder for the perfect pattern, pay for it, and save myself some agony.

I did finish it but after a couple of uses realized I wasn't satisfied with the results.  The strap wasn't padded enough and the way it attached caused weird twisting.  I thought I could fix it by deconstructing parts of the bag.  Life intervened and this bird bag languished in my pile of sewing stuff.

Now, a mere six months later, I finally picked this project back up.  I spent some quality time with my seam ripper, cut out a new strap, sewed some, spent more time with the seam ripper, and so forth.  Now, I'm quite proud of the results.

Here it is back in July.  It looks about the same now but the strap is bulkier and attached in a different place.

Now I just need a reason to use it!