The final week of the Sew Confident Sew-along! - Part 1: The Duffle bag

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Part one - The duffle bag

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OK SO, I may have missed a week or two of updating the sew-along...I was away gallivanting in London & we have been super busy in the studio!

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I also feel a lot of people won't have started this sew along..may that be due to total FEAR/feeling they aren't good enough to do it OR Christmas is approaching super fast so it is understandable that everyone is very busy!

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WELL I AM HERE TO TELL YOU ALL THAT YOU 110% CAN DO THESE SUPER PROFESSIONAL LOOKING BAGS!

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1.FINISHING THE DUFFLE BAG

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So on the last blog post I had an almost finished duffle bag..we done the hard bit of putting in the zip, attaching the straps & panicing that our machine wasn't going to handle all the layers of the fabric (Which it handled perfectly fine!)

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The last steps to complete the shell of the duffle bag is to attach the ends and the base. Problem numbero Uno - sewing curves is NOT fun. I am a total perfectionist so wanted to make sure the curves on both ends of my bag were the same, the easiest way I have now decided to sew the curves etc is to 1. Pin notches and important areas. 2. Have the curves pieces of fabric on the bottom so you can see/it is easier to fit the straight top fabric into the required area!

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I know I am not the best person at explaining things but I feel the instructions are decent for this pattern & the main thing you need when doing it is CONFIDENCE!  So lets skip to my pictures...

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ONCE THE SHELL OF THE BAG IS COMPLETED, THE LINING IS EASY. JUST REMEMBER TO IRON BACK THE OPENING TO LEAVE ROOM FOR THE ZIP! I ALSO IGNORED THE INSTRUCTIONS WHERE IT SAID TO 'HAND STITCH' IN THE LINING...I MACHINED THROUGH THE SHELL/ZIP & LINING AND UNPICKED THE ORIGINAL ROW I DONE WHEN FIRST ATTACHING THE ZIP TO THE 2 SIDES!!
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TA-DA! ONE BAD PHOTO OF THE FINISHED DUFFLE BAG...THE DETACHABLE STRAP I FOUND WAS VERY LONG, SO TO SAVE WEBBING/MONEY IN FUTURE I WON'T MAKE IT AS LONG AS THE INSTRUCTIONS SAY! FOR MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT BAG MAKING I WAS SO CHUFFED WITH MYSELF, IT HONESTLY LOOKS BETTER/VERY PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON...WHICH IS WHY I FEEL I RUSHED TO FINISH THIS ONE AND START MY OWN PERSONAL WEEKEND BAG THAT I CUT OUT IN DIFFERENT FABRIC...
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Now if this isn't the COOLEST BAG EVER I don't know what is...joking! But I honestly am so so happy with how this turned out. I even used our new embroidery machine in the studio to personalise it to give it an extra professional finish. I also decided to only go for one pocket on this bag as I wanted as much of the colour to be showing as possible.

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After making two duffle bags I have decided that next time (because i'm 100% making everyone I know one of these for Christmas/Birthdays) I would get thicker iron on interfacing as I feel that unless stuffed it is still a bit saggy & doesn't look its best!

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The sew-along is all about bringing all us sewing lovers together and helping/showing off to each other our great talent!! I hope everyone, or at least one person hahaha, joins in & challenges themselves to make this great travel kit!! For those of you that are going to create your own bags, make sure you tag us in any photos/videos on any of your social media and use the hash tag #SCsewalong !

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