Dear Amy Butler

Hello Amy Butler.

I saw you speak in September 2010 at The Creative Connection Event. You were darling and made a very good presentation. Your textiles are beautiful and you clearly have made a successful and long career that has impacted design in this country.

I bought your Style Stitches book so that I could participate in Jemellia's Style Stitches Monthly Bag Challenge. And it has been challenging as I have never followed a pattern before, having only quilted and made primitive dolls. During month 3 we were to make the 6 Origami Zipper Bags, my first attempt at sewing a zipper. I got all my zippers in and up to step 5. I then finished one bag, turned in right side out and your directions side to "smooth the sides." I had ghastly gaps with no fabric left to smooth, tuck or close. I saw on the Flickr group that people were hand stitching these gaps, or using alternative zipper techniques to finish these bags. It simply didn't work as directed.

I had no intentions of finishing these or any other "designer" patterns. After all, Vera Bradley sells a huge variety of well-priced, high quality bags that cause me no frustration whatsoever.  I am not saying I am intelligent but I have sequenced DNA and can follow a complex set of directions yet I could not understand what I was supposed to do with these instructions.  But...I hated to let Jemellia down.

For three weeks that stack of unfinished bags caused me grief. Now look, I do not want to feel negatively toward you Amy Butler, certainly not toward sewing. My machine is a kind of altar where I go to find peace. Life has lots of frustrations and drudgery, confusion and problems, I certainly don't need my time for creativity to be unpleasant. Not perfect, not without challenge, but these things could certainly be explained better, so that a novice who can follow reasonable directions can get a decent result.

After whining to another member of our group, trying to keep my issues from Jemellia, I researched and grinched through until I found a completely easy solution that closes the bag beautifully and is only a minor adjustment to your instructions.

I have to say, these difficult directions actually made me learn more. It, however, was not particularly enjoyable.

They are complete. I was challenged. I kept my word to Jemellia to participate. I just don't know how drunk I will have to get before I am willing to start month 4 which is designated "intermediate" level of difficulty.

Yours,

Robin Thomas
Barely Bitter

Big 'ol Reversible Shopper

Time for my monthly installment  for Jemellia's Style Stitches Monthly Bag Challenge.  February's bag is the Reversible Everyday Shopper.

Kinda' love faux bois.

Right?

Lots of cute bags on the Flickr group.

Next month zippers. I'm scared.

My Cosmo Ya'll and Post 200 Giveaway

My girl Jemellia is quite the seamstress and fabric is really her thing. She is hosting a Monthly Bag Challenge using the Amy Butler book Style Stitches.

Having never sewn a bag or used a pattern before, I took a class at the local quilt shop, Quiltworks, with my buddy Leslie using the Amy Butler Birdie Bag pattern on Friday. I chose to use a French General fabric with a bird on it for my first ever sewing project of this kind.

It went so well! I was thrilled with the outcome.

I thought "Oh my gosh, I am good at this!"

And then...

The Cosmo bag... I chose this Dena Fishbein blue with birds, of course, from Hawthorne Threads. Love their website.

Just so you know, Amy lists this as the first bag and calls it easy. I could gouge her eyes out for that. Thank God Leslie had shown me how to do the Birdie bag or I could never have figured out much of this pattern.

That last step was horrible, ridiculous and the wonkiest stitching of all is right there in the handle of the finished product. I am still reeling from the beastly ghastliness of it. Other members of the bag challenge produced some lovely bags and they can be seen in the Flikr group. Not everyone is as surly as me about it!

That's why its called a challenge and thus I am more determined than ever to complete all 12 bags this year but only because Birdie is so cute! And by Birdie I do mean Jemellia.

Giveaway!

This is my 200th post. I would like to celebrate. I feel like shipping out that Cosmo bag but I have as much time in it as it takes to get a Master's Degree, so no. I will however put together a little surprise package of ephemera to one of you, something like what you see above. Please leave a comment here to enter. Entry will close at midnight Thursday, 3 February, 2011. I will announce a winner by random drawing on Friday.

Thank you for coming here!