Best Friend Bags

Okay, so, the knitting and blocking done on the Best Friend Bags I got up this morning ready to get to the hard part: the sewing, the seaming, and more sewing followed by, yes, sewing. (Just so you’re not surprised, it all goes horribly wrong of course.) Anyway, so, first thing: I cut the lining from the remains of the material I used to make my wedding dress (don’t worry, I have enough to make another wedding dress.) Then I seamed the knitted portion of the bags about ¾ of the way (according to the pattern) and seamed the lining a similar distance. Next, I sewed the zipper to the lining. Yes, I know the pattern doesn’t call for a zipper but in my journeys into the local craft stores I couldn’t find the metal clasps called for in the pattern (surprise!) and I’m way too impatient to actually order over the internet. So I decided to go for a zipper. Anyway, after hours of hand sewing the zipper in (it seemed like) I then sewed the zipper and lining into the bag. And this is when things go horribly wrong.

Once I had the zipper and lining sewn into the bag I, to my horror found that I could not open the zipper. Through a combination of sewing the zipper too closely to the lining and the bag and the zipper generally being a cheap piece of crap, it would not open. Yanking on it did not help, going back and coming forward again did not help. Nothing helped. And there’s no way I’m sending my arthritic grandmother a bag with a zipper that I can’t open. So I went to plan B. I ripped the lining and zipper out of the bag, ripped the zipper out of the lining and prepared to start again, intending to put in a button closure (I went on a bit of a button buying extravaganza at JoAnn’s yesterday.) Then I realized that I would have to clip portions of the knitting and somehow secure a buttonhole. Um. No. So then I thought about it and decided to go with Plan C. Plan C called for seaming the sides of the bag and lining all the way up and then adding a drawstring closure. So I seamed up the bag (looking good) then I seamed up the lining. Fuck. The lining, when seamed all the way to top, was so tight that I couldn’t fit my hand through it. No, no, no.

Finally, sick of sewing and ripping seams and sewing again (and with the lining fabric looking pretty frayed by this point) I decided to modify Plan C just a tad. I nixed the idea of a lining altogether, went with the drawstring closure and installed really pretty beads on the front, the back, and at the ends of the drawstring.

While I’m disappointed with my inability to successfully install the lining, I’m really happy with the finished project. Stats:

Pattern: Best Friend Bags from Knitty
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in pink and peach
Needles: Size 3 straights
Notions: Blue Moon Beads bought at JoAnn’s

Lovely yarn, lovely (cheap!) beads, and lovely finished product. The bags and the finished Lilies will be shipped off, one each, to my grandmother and Stephen’s grandmother sometime next week. I hope they like them.