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From: Shai
Date: 09-30-2006, 01:06 PM (1 of 9)
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My poor, poor bag - what I did to it's lovely, oval bottom. Not a pretty sight. The pattern directions say; " With right sides together, pin the fabric bottom piece to the bag, matching the centerline marks (made by folding the bottom piece lengthwise to find seam-matching points) to the side seams. Stitch the seam, easing the fullness in the bag as necessary." Okay, this is where I lose it. The seam allowance is 1/2" on all pieces, but I always have way too much bottom to stich around and it ends up folded and creased and a mess. How does one attach an oval or round piece to a cylindric piece? (The bag has been stitched down both sides with the top and bottom open) Supposedly with 1/2" seam allowance on the main bag body and the bottom piece it should be enough to pin comfortably - but not for me.  I end up with pins sticking me, the bag positioned with it's bulk up against my machine arm and everything's crowed and not working. And creased, etc.  I really, really want to put bottoms on my bags. I've successfully done the bags with out bottoms, now I want to expand what I'm doing and I'm so lost. Any ideas? Shai |
User: Shai
Member since: 09-05-2006 Total posts: 17 |
From: paroper
Date: 09-30-2006, 01:21 PM (2 of 9)
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If the bag is properly cut when you put the oval in line with the bag AT THE SEAMLINE it should be the exact same size beyond that line the oval is, of course larger because of the way it has to be cut. One thing you may be able to do is to run gathering stitches around the outside like you would if you were inserting sleeves. The problem is that you may have way to much interfacing and the like to do that well. You can also clip down the sides of your purse a little toward the stitch line to give you a little more fullness in the purse. Beyond that, you just have to be sure that you get all the edges matched well and fight the difference. if you have a whole lot of padding in your bag it may actually be a little smaller than the original pattern and this may be part of what you are fighting too. You wouldn't notice it in the bottom but you would notice the size difference in the sides of the bag. if worse comes to worse, you may have to slip your seamline inward just a bit to make up for the padding size difference.
pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: DorothyL
Date: 09-30-2006, 02:32 PM (3 of 9)
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Don't try to pin it all at once. Just sew a few inches and adjust with the needle down and sew some more. But it does have to fit before you start sewing, At the ends where it is curved you could stay stitch and then clip to the stay stitching so you can pull it a little straighter, but the real key is to go slow. Dorothy |
User: DorothyL
Member since: 12-09-2002 Total posts: 3883 |
From: Bekka
Date: 09-30-2006, 05:37 PM (4 of 9)
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Try sewing it with the oval on the bottom next to the feed dogs of your maching. It might help.
Bekka
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User: Bekka
Member since: 07-28-2006 Total posts: 79 |
From: HeyJudee
Date: 09-30-2006, 08:03 PM (5 of 9)
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The way I would attach the bottom to the bag is to fold the bottom in half and mark the halfs with pins. Then I would fold the bottom the other way and mark with pins. Then I would have the bottom marked in quarters. Then put the two adjacent pins together and mark the fold with another pin. Continue to do this until the bottom is marked into eights. Take the bag and do the same thing. Mark into quarters, then into eights. After both pieces are marked in eights, align the top and bottom pieces matching at the pins. Then when sewing the sides together and ease in the fullness (excess fabric) betwee the sections. This is the way that I always align and sew pieces together. Hope my explanation is not too confusing. TTFN from
Judy |
User: HeyJudee
Member since: 01-25-2005 Total posts: 1366 
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From: Shai
Date: 09-30-2006, 11:07 PM (6 of 9)
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Thank you!!!! Pam - I so agree - I must not be true in my cutting - I'm using sizzors and maybe I should move to a rotary cutter for better accuracy. I'm afraid past this, your wonderful ideas are over my beginner head. I've only sewn handbags and no fashion at this point - so I have no idea how to sew a sleeve or make it fit. Alas, I haven't attempted gathering stitches, but I'll give it a go. This sounds like a great idea. As for interfacing - I didn't use any. The material was a medium weight cotton canvas - so no interfacing was required to give the bag structure. Sigh. I have sooo much to learn - One more question - Pam - what do you mean by slipping the seam line?  (yes, yes, so much to learn)Dorothy - great idea with only pinning a bit at a time. Now that you say it - it's a huge DUH moment for me. I'll give the stay stitching a try. Thanks! Bekka - I will do this as well. For some reason when I tried putting the bottom end toward the feed dogs I didn't have enough material to catch the needle. I think my issue here must be what Pam was saying - my cutting was off and so my measurements were off. Hey Judy - not confusing at all. I love your idea and will mark my next bag bottom thusly.  Thank you all so much!!! A very grateful Shai |
User: Shai
Member since: 09-05-2006 Total posts: 17 |
From: paroper
Date: 10-01-2006, 12:29 PM (7 of 9)
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I mean that if the fabric just doesn't match, if the base IS flat too large, you may have to move the seamline on the base over just a bit to make it fit. I do highly recommend that you do everything to avoid that first. Take two rows of basting stitches around the outside of the bag bottom. The first row should be on the seamline. The second should be at 1/4 inch. You pull these up to make the outside of the bottom fit better. This "kind" of helps take care of the excess in the curves. This may be all you need to do. This is the way that you ease sleeves into a garment.
pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
From: Shai
Date: 10-01-2006, 01:24 PM (8 of 9)
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Pam - thank you!!! I feel a bit like Helen Keller - I understand exactly what you are saying. I'll give that a try. Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and explain further. Shai |
User: Shai
Member since: 09-05-2006 Total posts: 17 |
From: paroper
Date: 10-01-2006, 02:49 PM (9 of 9)
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I'm sorry, sometimes we take too much for granted...always feel free to ask for clarification. THere are so many levels of experience (and with different types of sewing) on this forum that you're never 100% sure if you're teaching or if you are just giving a "Oh yeah" moment to someone.
pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
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