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Marci Girl Designs

Style Stitches Origami Bag Set

3/25/2011

11 Comments

 
My apologies, this post is rather long and a slight bit bitchy.  If you don't like bitchy...stop reading now! Oh, and you probably wouldn't like me, because I can be...
well you know....
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Aren't they lovely?  I love them, I love the fabrics, I love the sizes, I love that I did a good job constructing them.  What don't I love?  The instructions on how to make these babies.  Let's start at the beginning.  I decided to make all six bags because I plan on storing all my little sewing supplies in them, possibly buttons in the smallest, zippers in one of the medium ones, and wip's in the biggest (that baby can hold a ton of stuff!)  I think the design of the pouch is great, I love the little tabs on the sides, I love that when they are open, the opening is so big and easily stays open on it's own.  On a whole I am really pleased with them.
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X-Large, Small and Mini Origami Bags
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Large, Medium and X-Small Origami Bags
I am going to start by saying that last year alone, I easily put in 200+ zippers in clutches, pouches and purses.  I am not a novice by any means, I'm not being a cocky jerk, I'm just saying....it isn't my first rodeo.  I shall also say that I thoroughly read all of the instructions in the book LIKE 10 TIMES.  The instructions start out simple enough, cut it out, interface the heck out of it, sew the panels together, make the little tabs, and put the zipper in.  Amy Butler's method of doing this was a little laborious, but honestly for a beginner, this is a great way of doing it without messing it up.  I thought the few diagrams were great.  Yes, you are sewing the same seam twice on each side, but this wasn't a big deal and easy enough.
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Everything sounds peachy right?  WRONG.  So the next step involved top stitching a 1/4" seam across the top on each side of the zipper, starting and stopping 1/2" from the ends.  OK done.  Easy enough.  Now what?  Oh, I know flip the right sides toward each other, and have the two linings together, and yes, open the zipper half way.  Yes, I got it.  Stitch around the right side all the way up to the zipper teeth.  Then stitch around the lining fabric, all the way up to the zipper teeth (leave an opening for turning in the center bottom.)  Trim the bottom corners and trim the excess seams by the zipper ends and opening.  Here is my first complaint - Why in the heck am I trimming these bottom corners, when I will be making a gusset later?  Alright, a waste of time, but I got over it, no biggie, I don't know why I'm doing it, but OK, whatever.  I created the gussets, measured, struggled like heck to line up the side and bottom seams, especially on the x-small and mini bags, but it wasn't that big of deal.  Now it is time to flip those babies right side out!  Yeah, I am almost finished!
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X-Large and X-Small Origami Bags
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Large and Mini Origami Bags
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Medium and Small Origami Bags
I turned my first one right side out through the opening at the bottom of the lining, poked the lining into the bag, and OH MY....WHAT THE HECK....THIS LOOKS LIKE CRAP.  All that stopping a 1/2" away from the zipper ends, what does that create?  A messy messy yuck area on both ends of the zipper on the inside of the pouch.  I really wish I had taken a photo of this yuck, but alas, I was too busy CURSING.  Since I had done as instructed (on the first one only, thank goodness) I had trimmed the extra fabric by the zipper.  Once it was turned right side out, I was left with this area of raw edges (with not enough fabric to turn under) and the ends of the zipper tape just sticking out.  OK, maybe I'm just picky or anal or whatever, but this was not acceptable.  What had I done wrong?  I re-read the instructions 10 MORE TIMES.  To this day, I still don't know what I did wrong.  I would LOVE to know, I'm sure it was something simple, and I will slap my forehead and scream NO WAY THAT WAS SO SIMPLE!

So what now?  I sealed the raw edges with Fray Check, once that had dried, I used a matching thread and whip stitched the heck out of it.  What was my solution for the rest of the bags?  Don't trim the fabric by the zipper ends!  Once I turned it inside out, I fought and wrestled with tucking in the zipper tape ends, then carefully turning in the lining to cover all that mess, and whip stitching the whole thing closed (See photo on the left, below.)  The zipper ends with the stopper weren't quite as bad, but I still whip stitched the opening to the zipper, so that there weren't any open holes (photo on the right, below.)   What I thought was the funniest, was at this point the directions say to stitch (on the right side) the side seams between the two separate top stitching areas to connect the two top stitched seams.  WHAT?  How in the heck am I supposed to stitch over this big jumble of crap? Somebody answer that please.  Oh well, I left it alone, so when you are looking at my bags (on the sides) there is a gap of top stitching, and yes it looks weird.  Really weird, and if you look on the inside of my bags at the zipper ends, that also looks really weird.  Can you tell that I was annoyed?
That all being said and done, they are complete, I love them, they will serve their purpose.  I feel truly sorry for everyone (beginner or advanced) who also struggled with this, I guess I am the type of person who just needs more pictures or something, but this project was seriously lacking something in the form of directions.  The worst part is, that now I am really worried about the complexity of the rest of the projects in this book.  If I got this frustrated with project #3, what am I going to think about project 9-12?  I guess only time can tell!  Until next time....
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11 Comments
Emily Sue link
3/26/2011 03:18:35 am

I am SO with you on this - inexplicable. I just scratched her zipper method and did it my own way because it was too frustrating. I think it boils down to poor instructions.

Also - the corner trimming - why? My only thought is that it affects the measurement of the gusset.

The side seam really stumped me too. I figured it was perhaps the seam where you sew the 2 side pieces together and had already topstitched on either side? I just sewed a little over the topstitching there, though I don't know if it was totally necessary. They're functional, that's all that matters to me at this point! Ha.

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Michelle link
3/26/2011 02:18:38 pm

I couldn't agree more. I will never again do zippers like Amy Butler describes! I, too, have done lots of zippers in the past year, and will go back to my usual way -- I always follow Anna's instructions on the Gathered Clutch tutorial on Noodlehead.

Your bags are simply beautiful, though!
Michelle

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Diane link
3/28/2011 01:28:54 am


The bags are beautiful, but sounds like it was a long time comming. I do find AB instructions wierd and tedious and normally look through the pattern to see waht the general idea is then adapt as I see fit, but that kinda makes one wonder why you are paying so much for a designer pattern/book when you end up using generic instructions.

but! the bags are beautiful!!!

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Robin Thomas link
3/28/2011 04:46:10 am

Thank you! I got to the turned right side out part and had no idea what to do. It just said smooth it out. What? I actually threw mine in the trash! I have all the others ready to finish but don't even want to. I am a novice to sweing and have found these Amy Butler patterns so awful. Maybe all patterns are this difficult.

Arg. Glad someone else was frustrated. I mean, hate to be alone on it. Your finished products are fabulous!

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Kate link
3/28/2011 09:21:00 am

that sounds totally frustrating. I have never used one of her patternsbut have heard the instructions are often confusing/lacking, so I don't think you are alone. Love how they turned out though!

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Patricia link
4/3/2011 07:45:24 am

I am glad to hear other saying this..I often find myself reworking the instructions. I really like the styles and finished projects...but getting there does not need to be so tedious... I fear beginners are often turned away... Maybe we should work to rewrite the instructions for the next project???.

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Jane Poh link
4/6/2011 02:42:18 am

I too have struggled with Amy Butler's instructions. That was with the Cosmo Bag. What a nightmare. Now when it comes to zipper and pouches, I can honestly say I know how to do it right. When I made the origami bag, I was keen to try out this leave 1/2" at the end technique. But I cheated a little. See I read thru' the instructions once and saw that it would not work. So I added fabric tab to one end and for the front, I tucked the zipper ends at 90 deg down so it's neat and tidy. And of course it works.

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Karin @ Quilt Frenzy link
4/8/2011 06:31:31 am

wow, that sounds frustrating! I have made a few zippered pouches in my day and I've never seen one where the ends were done that way - I've always folded the ends of the zipper at a 90 degree angle to fasten the ends between the shell/lining. I think if I did this pattern, that's what I'd do, then you *can* topstitch all the way around.....

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Monica M
8/19/2011 05:20:37 pm

I've thought about naming my blog 'BitchCraft' (if I actually ever start a blog that is), so I completely understand the need to complain. If I'm sewing, I'm probably bitching.

I found similar instructions for installing zippers on the Amy Butler 'Stash n' Dash' pattern. It was SO frustrating to ruin a really cute bag because of those darn zipper instructions! I too tried to salvage my poor bags from the strange mess I was left with. I though it was maybe because my interior fabric was too thick, but after reading this I'm convinced it is her instructions.

Love your bags!

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Katie
10/25/2012 02:34:59 am

So I'm new to interfacing and am more confused about this than the rest of the pattern. What am I doing wrong? I ironed on the interfacing and pulled the paper off. In step 4e it says to press the pieces together (which makes them glue together) then in step 6a says to separate the exterior from the lining panels...am I supposed to be ripping the fusing apart or am I doing something wrong??

You're help is appreciated and my dog is hiding under the sewing table from all the vulgarities and cursing!

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Sharon
9/19/2016 05:58:09 pm

I'm about to make one now and I'm surprised you didn't mention how shitty the fabric amounts were and what do the A's and B's mean, which really should be As and Bs. But who cares when you can't figure out WTF to do next? Jesus. I love her patterns though.

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