Sketchbag Complete!

The guts.

Ahem.


In case you couldn't tell but the very over the top title image, my sketching bag is done and looking pretty damned spiffy if I do say so myself.  It's rivets are shining, the pleather is only slightly grimy already, and the little pencil pockets are bristling with freshly sharpened utensils of destruction.  To top it all off, my zipped passport pocket is pristine.  I. am. smug.  HA!

Alright, it isn't perfect.  There's a couple of spots where the top stitching veered dangerously off track and need a redo, and the reinforcing stitching at the top back is definitely not a rectangle.  In fact, it could quite definitely be called... lumpy.  (Interestingly enough, you will not be seeing a picture of these things.)

Beauty incarnate.

But! I designed and drafted this thing from scratch.  There are only four pattern pieces, all the largest rectangles possible which was done with waste hierarchy in mind.  I don't know if it's a crafting thing, but I sometimes spend a ridiculous amount of time thinking about how to fix something I've made when it inevitably breaks/wears out in the future.  Not so much clothing I suppose, since that tends to wear out in the middle of a piece of cloth and not at the edges (holes in heels of socks anyone?  scraped and ripped knees?), but definitely for other useable items.  I spent all this time making it and I want it to last forever after all.  I have memories of my parents bringing home expired sutures and fixing the holes in the bottom of my worn out backpack when I was little.  It wasn't that we couldn't afford a new bag, but the rest of it was fine so why throw it out?

Anyway, this bag is exactly what I wanted, works better than I could have hoped and I've already stunned a few of my co-workers and Joe-the-sewingmachine-guy with the fact that I made it.  I really do think it's the hardware more so than my epic skill to tell you the truth, but that can stay between you and me.

In the process, I learned a few things about setting rivets the low-tech way through trial and error.  I think it may be helpful to some of you, dear readers, so I think I will put together a post on that in the next week or two.  I also have an idea for a really simple matching water bottle holder that clips on to go with this, so I guess we'll see how that turns out in the next little while too.