Thursday, November 16, 2017

Chris W Designs (Crazy) Global Blog Tour



Today, I am part of the Global blog tour of Chris W designs, who designs super cool bags. I usually like blog tours, but sometimes I am extra excited. Today's blog tour is one of those, the organizers were searching for "crazy" people, so I was immediatly intrigued. I am not a frequent bag sewer (although this is my fourth bag this half year, so I might have chance that statement), but I am a bit crazy for sure. I am a rule breaker. I am a hacker at heart and have a hard time following instructions to the letter. I am a quick and dirty sewist (sewing is my Candy Crush) and prefer to solve issues when they arise than to have an iron tight plan when I start. Chris, the designer is a bit crazy herself, and I so appreciate that of her. She made this awesome video of making a wallet, I dare you not to laugh out loud!.



I feel that self irony is one of the best forms of humor. Being able to laugh over your own mistakes makes it much easier to deal with them. Besides being a good form of entertainment, your mistakes can also be source of inspiration. More than two years ago I wrote a blog post about how mistakes inspire me, and I still very much believe in it. On today's bag I again managed to turn a mistake into a rather successful hack. I am totally in love with my version of the Savannah bag!



Hacking the pattern was encouraged, so I stared with omitting all interfacings and instead use extra sturdy fabric (a hack that worked lovely). One of those extra sturdy fabrics was a pair of upcycled jeans (I love upcycling and especially denim). I used the jeans for the strap and for the bottom/sides. I knew I needed something non- white for the bottom, because I will place it on the floor for sure. I also used the jeans as lining to stabilize the pockets.  I decided to make the upcycling extra funny and used the back including pockets for the lining of the big inside pocket.



I wanted the bag to "stand" but I did not want to buy thick (and expensive) interfacing. I did have a large piece of wool felt that I once took from a remnant bin. It is a very thick and sturdy fabric, in my previous post, the cheese is cut from that wool felt, so you can see how thick it is. I have a rather sturdy Pfaff, so I thought the thickness would not be an issue. But I had been a bit optimistic. I had to sew the sides together by turning the needle by hand (yes that does give you a blister). After doing this twice per side (my machine was skipping stitches) the bag held together fine. I did not dare to sew over the sides again to top stitch them. So I decided to leave it like this. Than, later I realized that if you take a rather narrow needle it is much easier to go through this fabric, so after the entire bag was done I did top stitch the bottom (and broke three needles). This way I also sewed the lining inside the bag, but that is fine for me.



Besides ommitting the interfacing, I was totally planning to follow instructions (no, this is not sarcastically, omitting interfacing does not really count as ignoring instructions for me). But then, I somehow ended up sewing the welt pocket in the top flap (it should have been on the main body piece on the inside of the bag). I was out of my main fabric. I decided to just roll with it (I had to sleep on it, when I noticed my mistake I first became frustrated of course). I sewed an extra strip on the flap to conceal the zipper and I actually like having not to open the bag and still be able to reach some essentials.



The Savannah pattern is packet with pockets, but I decided to omit some of them (which may or may not be due to a lack of time and fabric). This way I ended up with missing a small zipper pocket (which is actually a part of the original pattern) and I decided to convert one of the front pockets into a zipper pocket. I sewed in a zipper by hand, it actually only took me half an episode of a tv show (watching tv with my husband is the best way to make hand sewing bearable). For the picture I pulled down the fabric a bit, else it would not show at all, it normally is nicely covered.



Finding my keys is the most frequent interaction I have with bags. I therefore like to store them separate and easily reachable. I sewed an elastic in a side pocket, this way my keys are safe and easily reachable. I like to sew frugally in general, so besides upcycling the denim, I also upcycled the hardware of this bag. I repurposed the strapholders from an old conference bag. The fabric that I used was very inexpensive as well. Besides the upcycled jeans, the other main outside fabric was a free remnant that Joyce (blogless) donated to the "pile" on our most recent sewing weekend. The arrow fabric was an Art Gallery fat quarter that I got as a gift accompanying this skirt. The black dotted lining is from too small pillow cases that were part of a recently bought bedcover set from Ikea.



If I convinced you about the awesomeness of the Savannah pattern, you will be delighted to hear that you can win the pattern and more! There are two give away's connected to today's post. The first give away is that I am allowed to give away two(!) Savannah bag patterns. If you would like a chance to win one, you have to leave a comment on this blog post, in which you tell me how you follow me (Bloglovin, Instagram, Facebook). I will pick two random winners on Tuesday the 21st. For the second giveaway, the big one, you can fill the rafflecopter.

Updated: Bieke from Biebiezonder and Delphine Hoorelbeke won the two bag patterns that I was allowed to give away! Please contact me inspinration(at)gmail.com

Tour Discounts

  • ChrisW Designs is taking 20% off all patterns until end of day (Australian Central Standard Time) November 21. Code GlobalBlogTour17 (applied automatically with this link. Buy without fear: If you purchase during the tour and then win a pattern, your purchase price will be refunded.
  • Handbag Hardware Australia (aff link) is offering a 10% discount for the duration of the tour. Use code: CWD10. (Excludes interfacing and Emmaline Bling.)
  • Bobbin Girl has a 10% discount using code BLOGTOUR17. (Not to be combined with any other discount or rewards points.)
  • Gold Star Tool is taking 15% off for our tour readers. Use code chriswdesigns.
  • Zipit (aff link) is also offering a 10% discount on shop items. Use code ChrisWDesigns.

Giveaway

Prizes:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule


  Sunday, November 12
Monday, November 13
Tuesday, November 14
Wednesday, November 15
Thursday, November 16
Friday, November 17
Saturday, November 18
Tuesday, November 21
  • Giveaway winners announced on all the blogs:
ChrisW Blog, Glitter in my Coffee, Michelle's Creations, Flying by the Seam of my Pants, Serial Bagmakers, Tiger in a Tornado, Vanaehsa, Judith Stitches and More, Doctora Botones, Sewsewilse, Suck It Up Buttercup, Vicky Myers Creations, Marvelous Auntie M, inspinration, Fée bricolo, Trisha's Craft Corner


35 comments:

  1. What a great blog post! I love your bag, and that you used some jeans for part of it. The jeans' pockets on the inside is great fun! Such creativity!

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  2. Jeans! Great idea. Follow you on facebook

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  3. Old jeans as interface? What a great idea. I am definately going to use this. I am following you on Pinterest and Instagram. Thanks for sharing

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  4. Following you on Facebook. I too like the use of jeans as a stabilizer.

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  5. Oooh wauw wat een pareltje. Lijkt me superhandig zo'n tas. Ik volg je via bloglovin

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  6. Did I mention that you are just freakin' awesome? Extraordinary creativity with the bag, and a fabulous post to boot! So glad you joined the tour!

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  7. I am following you on facebook. I like that you used the jeans on the inside. Also that you were not stopped by a mistake. The elastic key holder very practical.

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  8. Super leuk geworden! Ik volg je overal :)

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  9. Following you on Bloglovin. Great reading on your blog by the way. Love how you change things to suit your style.

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  10. Ik heb mijn kans gewaagd.... Heel mooie tas heb je gemaakt!

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  11. Zo tof seg! Je weet dat ik je volg hè Miranda, als trouwe fan! :) Ik had de tas veel kleiner ingeschat, zo van die eerste foto's te zien. Echt top zo'n tas met veel mogelijkheden!

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  12. Love the bag. Follow you on Facebook.

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  13. toffe tas, was onder de indruk van de grootte, toen ik de foto zag waar je bij op stond. Heb genoten van je verhaal, maar vooral van de leuke details, zoals de jeans ... ik ben je tegengekomen op fb en ga je vanaf nu ook volgen

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  14. I love your bag, especially the surprise of the denim pockets! I follow you on Facebook. Hoping to win this pattern.

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  15. Following you on Facebook. Love your work!!

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  16. Following on Bloglovin

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  17. Jeans as a stabilizer? Brilliant :)
    Following on facebook; your little girls are adorable!

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  18. Following on Facebook, great use of the jeans

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  19. Super leuke tas! En de achterzakken van de jeans, super idee, want zo heb je nog wat zakjes extra.

    Ik volg je via bloglovin en instagram :-)

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  20. Ik volg je op Facebook en op Instagram :) Nogmaals, wat een geniale oplossing, die jeans-achterkant in je tas!

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  21. Ik zou me ook wel eens aan zo'n prachtige tas willen wagen. Ik volg je via facebook.

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  22. I follow you on pinterest. That is a great interpretation of this pattern.

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  23. Ik volg je op facebook en zou deze prachtige tas ook willen kunnen maken

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  24. Mooi! En zo groot, wow! Die zou ik ook wel willen. Zalig als je zo creatief kan omgaan met je missers, trouwens. Ik denk dat ik je op zalle mogelijke manieren volg.

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  25. Waahw, knappe tas. En inderdaad eentje die blijft rechtstaan.
    Zou het fijn vinden om deze tas ook te maken, denk eraan om er een suedetas van te maken. Zie het helemaal zitten. Ik volg jou op verschillende manieren Facebook, blog enz..Wens u nog veel inspiratie bij het maken en ontwerpen van vele mooie spullen. ��

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  26. Geweldige tas. Echt een allescarrier. En ook zo mooi met de jeans stof.

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  27. Blij dat ik toevallig op je blog terecht kwam, leuk om je vanaf nu te volgen (via Instagram), want je maakt echt leuke creaties! En zo'n tas zie ik volledig zitten, al zou het even een uitdaging zijn, hij lijkt me ideaal (met wat afmetingaanpassingen) als handtas !

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  28. Love how you used the back pockets of the jeans as your interior slip pockets!

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  29. i love your bag and your attitude! I follow you on Facebook.

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  30. Wat een prachtige tas !! En zo lekker groot...
    Je bent wel braaf geweest deze keer in combinatie van stoffen ��
    Net te laat voor de give-away zie ik. Jammer, want ik volg je al lang via bloglovin...

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