Sunday, April 10, 2011

Cosmo Bag


I purchased Amy Butler's Style Stitches book a few months ago, and had all intentions of participating in Bree from My Crafty Crap's sew along she is hosting using the book to create one project per month.  Now seeing that it is April, and the Cosmo bag is technically January's bag in the sew along, I'm not quite following along.  I knew right away when looking through this book, that of all the bags out of this book, this was one that I just had to make.  I have to say right off the bat, that I LOVE it.  Love Love Love.

I used City Blooms by Kitty Yoshida for the main exterior, Riley Blake purple bead chain for the handles and Riley Blake Victoria in fuscia for the lining.

Cosmo Bag

This bag is the first pattern in the Style Stitches book, and is labeled "beginner."  Now, I really didn't have a hard time putting this bag together, but I don't think I could have just opened up this book, not having had much sewing experience under my belt, and had a successful outcome.  This bag was incredibly labor intensive, and I grossly underestimated how long it would take to put together.  I clocked it, 3 hours alone just to cut out the fabric pieces from the pattern and apply all the 90 million yards of interfacing to all the pieces.  And then I began sewing. 

Cosmo Bag

I hit one major hiccup during the construction...it was 100% my fault and an error in attention to direction, but when I was assembling the outer portion, I sewed the handles on backwards (I sewed the right handle onto the left side of the bag, and the left handle onto the right side of the bag).  Ugh.  I didn't realize it until I went to sew the sides on, and thought, "huh, this doesn't seem right."  Well, that's because it wasn't right.  Like I said completely 100% my fault, but frustrating none the less.  Me and my seam ripper became best friends working on this bag.  

Cosmo Bag interior

I will say, this bag is monstrous.  Like you could fit a small child inside.  Actually, not even technically a small child.  I do love it, don't get me wrong, this will make a great beach bag, and I plan on using it as a gym bag as well, but it's big.

Cosmo Bag button detail

I love this button detail, and am going to keep it in mind if I ever need a closure like this.

To briefly review this pattern, the construction is very labor intensive for a "beginner" pattern, with lots of curved seems, resulting in TONS of pinning.  As seems to be true with Amy Butler patterns in general, do not expect lots of pictures in the instructions.  I think this pattern had about 14 steps, and while the book has plenty of pictures of the completed bags scattered throughout, there are no pictures of the construction process.  There were 2 maybe 3 diagrams scattered throughout the instructions, but the directions are very clear, concise and worded so there were not may steps where I found myself confused.  Overall, I would say this bag was totally worth the effort!

I am going to link this post to Canoe Ridge Creations Sew Modern Monday, be sure to check out all the awesome entries!

{Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations

12 comments:

  1. I love it! That is one of the bags in the book that I have seriously considered. Yours turned out so cute!

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  2. Such lovely fabric for just a great purse! Love it :o)
    I have to admit that I have used my home made purse more than I use my store bought ones. It's so much easier to customize and make it perfect for all the items I carry.

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  3. OMG I have been waiting for this!!! Aren't you so glad you made it? I LOVE IT! The fabrics you used are awesome!! I totally agree with your assessment that it is a bit more work than its beginner label, and yikes, all that interfacing...I was scared of the size when I made it, but I did actually use it for an everyday purse and I got used to it right away, I think I sort of forgot that it was big (my stuff just kind of got lost in it).

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  4. Oooh it turned out so pretty! Love your fabric choices. I completely agree on the pattern I think if I was a beginner I would have given up after the first page of instructions!

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  5. I bought the book too and had generally the same feeling as you about lack of pictures and long construction processes. I'm still glad I bought it but for me http://www.amazon.com/Bag-Making-Bible-Complete-Customizing/dp/071533624X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=130 wins hands down every time. (And its even got an intro from Amy Butler so she must recognise how good it is!)

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  6. This is so pretty!
    I joined Bree's sew along in Feb, so I haven't made this bag yet -- but it's on my list! I wonder why all of Amy Butler's bags in this book (so far) are so big, though. The everyday shopper could hold my 5 year old!

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  7. I love it! The colors in your fabrics are beautiful. I especially love your focus & interior fabrics.

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  8. This bag is awesome! And that button closure is to die for!

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  9. Jessica - Your bag looks great! I love it.

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  10. LOVE this Jess! The fabrics you chose are perfect. Thanks for linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday!

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  11. your bag looks amazing! I love the fabrics you picked :)

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  12. Love your bag! I'm making this bag right now (beginning sewing), and am having trouble with the handles. If you have any tips, please let me know!!

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