• almost ready to sew!

    kristina panos • 03/24/2021 at 21:03 • 0 comments

    I ended up going with the mottled purple sheet for the new lining material. As of right now, I only have the straps and their interfacing left to cut, along with a piece of foam interfacing for each of the exterior pieces, and a two firm fusible pieces: one to strengthen the handle, and the other to strengthen the bottom of the bag.

  • bad news: I have to change the lining material

    kristina panos • 02/26/2021 at 22:15 • 0 comments

    After I got all the exterior pieces cut out except for the straps, it was time to cut out the interior pieces and the interfacing. Now that I'm familiar with the pattern pieces, I just don't think I have enough pink apple fabric to make the lining. The pattern calls for a yard and a half, and that's just about what I have and it just doesn't look like enough.

    Last night I went to the thrift store to look for a new lining fabric. I bought two flat sheets and now I'm trying to decide between the two. Which one do you think I should use?

  • decisions, videos, and bad habits

    kristina panos • 02/18/2021 at 15:37 • 0 comments

    I finally started cutting out the exterior pieces from the shower curtain. Now that I can hold the fabric without the weight of any seams, it seems a little thin to me now and I wonder if I should interface it. Honestly, it feels a tiny bit heavier than the drop cloth I used for the practice backpack, so I'll probably be okay without interfacing, but will have less body/stiffness to it. The pattern calls for foam interfacing on all the exterior pieces, and I'm still deciding if I want to do that or not.

    I linked the four build videos that go along with this backpack. I have to say I don't condone cutting around pattern pieces with a rotary cutter like Jen does, and especially so close to your other hand. How do I know? Shaved a bit off the side of my pinky a few years back. Rotary cutters are insanely sharp!

  • I finally chose my fabrics!

    kristina panos • 02/12/2021 at 20:55 • 0 comments

    I finally chose my fabrics and cut out the paper pattern pieces. I haven't let myself start on this for stupid reasons -- mostly because I've been writing a piece about first versions of things as it relates to making the #practice backpack and worrying that if I start this new type of backpack, I'll never go back and make version two of that other style as I originally intended. Yes, I get in my own way a lot.

    Anyway, here are the fabrics. The blue with dots is a shower curtain and will be used for the exterior. I kept thinking I'd use a contrasting fabric for the straps and whatever else, but I don't have any fabric that would look good. The pink apples is quilting cotton and will be on the inside.


    Now I need to decide whether I want to use boring black zippers, or find something more fun.

  • looking through the pattern

    kristina panos • 01/24/2021 at 18:44 • 0 comments

    I bought the pattern yesterday and printed out the pattern pieces. I haven't cut them out and taped them together yet because I want to understand the pattern better and make all my fabric choices first.

    I've never made this pattern before, so this will technically be another practice backpack. For the exterior, I'll be using a fabric shower curtain from the thrift store. It's a lightweight canvas material that shouldn't need interfacing, but we'll see. The pattern calls for five yards of interfacing, which is quite a lot. If I only need on the lining, great. If I can get away with it altogether by making the lining out of something equally heavy, even better.


    So at this point, I'm still looking through the pattern and wrapping my head around this bag and which pieces are what before I cut any fabric.