Sew Why the Template?

Try it before you buy it Tuesday

As you already probably know, I am a huge fan of Nancy Z. I actually consider her my sewing hero. Sew, what I have to say now is hard. "Nancy, I'm not a big fan of the Trace N Create Bag template." Sorry. I think the concept is cool, but I'm really not sure that I needed to spend $20.00 for this sewing tool. Of course, I did buy the "City Bag" template. I might have liked the California collection more, but the idea for both is the same. The City Bag collection is one template that allows you to create one of six styles of bags. I'm making the simplest: The Portfolio. Basically it is a just a rectangle. I started by cutting a 13 X 18 rectangle of my outer fabric as well as the lining fabric and interfacing. Next, I placed the template on half of one of the interfaced fabric pieces and traced around the blue outer lines and the mark for the magnetic snap placement. I then flipped the template upside down and traced the same on the other half of the fabric. Finally, I cut at the line I drew. Well, tried to draw. I found it difficult to mark on the interfacing. I used a blue fabric pencil. This did not work well on the interfacing.

I followed these same steps for the lining. My pencil worked better here. I made some changes to this pattern. First, I decided not to follow Nancy's pattern for the straps. Instead of cutting out two 2 X 44 strips and eventually attach cross grain ribbon on both (what? really?), I cut mine about 3 1/2" wide by 53" which was the length of the fabric. I haven't decided how long to make the straps yet, so I cut them at that length. I think I am going to try out my eyelet tool and make the strap into a "belt." That sounds cool huh? But I transgress, I mean digress. Back to the template...the second change I made was to box the corners of the Portfolio Bag. The template allows for boxed corners for the other styles, but does not indicate this for my bag. Sew, I decided to box mine. Here is the bottom line for this template: If you just want to sew a simple square or rectangle tote or bag, you don't need the Trace N Create Template. Maybe if you are making a more complex bag, or making numerous bags of one style, you might consider this tool. Oh, the template doesn't indicate how much fabric to purchase either. Sew, why not just buy a cool pattern that advises amount of fabric needed as well as notions?

What is your answer to the bird question? Why do birds fly in a V? I ask this question because the birds chirping in the morning (loudly, I might add), remind me to look up when I'm outside. Every time I observe birds flying in this pattern I laugh. One of my mother's "jokes" was: "Why is one side of the birds' V flying formation longer than the other?" Her "targets" would ponder this as some scientific challenge question. Most would come up with elaborate theories of bird behaviour, etc. She'd laugh and say, "Why it's because there are more birds on one side!" Cheesy no? Yes, super cheesy, but that was my mom. Mother's Day is coming up and honestly, I didn't even realize this until last night. My mom, a real super hero, passed away five and half years ago. I miss her terribly. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there...you are all heroes.

Angela