Jane's Little Boxy Bag Review

I've been following Jane's blog Projects by Jane for ages and have always loved her bags. Then back in March when she was holding a giveaway for her cute little drawstring bag I won the giveaway, you can see my post on that HERE, I was over the moon.

A short while ago I thought I'd try my luck and get in touch with her about testing. I was too late for this little boxy bag but she said I could do a review if I wanted. Even better, I get to make a bag without having to check the pattern over.

Here's my boxy bag.

The pattern arrived in my inbox and I took a look expecting it to be pretty ordinary but was I in for a surprise. I test for a lot of independent bag designers who are all brilliant at what they do, they'd have to be to get me to understand a pattern LOLL but this pattern was just amazing. All the questions I used to have when I first started pattern testing were answered in this one pattern. She explains about stitches, curved edges, how to determine the seam allowance, how to use the pattern pieces and how to place them on the fabric, all with illustrations and photos. It's extremely detailed and very well written. It even shows you how to measure your zipper, something I had always wondered. Do you measure from the ends of the zipper or the metal tabs? It's all in this pattern.

Jane's pattern has beautiful large photos of each step with digital illustrations as well just to make sure you know what your doing and it made me smile to see she does something that I just recently started doing and thought I was going mad. We mark our seam allowance with a marker to make sure it's nice and straight and even LOLLL. Is that the perfectionist in us or are we nuts? LOLLL

I stuck to the pattern but only made one change and that was I used fusible fleece which I quilted onto the fabric with wavy lines but it's hard to see in the photos because the thread is so similar to the fabric. There is a lot of thickness at the folded ends so I would suggest sticking to Jane's recommendations for interfacing unless you have a good industrial machine.

 I love how the ends fold and I love that it has handles too.

If you notice inside there are no bound seam allowances. The inside seams are all hidden between the lining and the outer bag.
I'm going to keep this bag for myself as a toiletry/makeup bag. It's just the perfect size measuring approx 8.75" (22cm) across the bottom, 4.5" (11.5cm) depth and 4.5" (11.5cm) from top to bottom.
I didn't interface my lining becasue I had used fusible fleece on the outer bag and it was fine that way.

There are tabs at both ends to make opening and closing the zipper easy.

I've made this type of bag before from free tutorials but they had bound seam allowances which can be a bit of a pain. This method is much easier and tidier. I definitely recommend this pattern and because it's so detailed I'm sure someone new to bag making could tackle it without any problems.

If you'd like to make one then you can find the pattern HERE at Jane's etsy store and up until the end of December there is a coupon, MIASCREATION2014 (all caps) for 25% discount.

Now I'm back to making more things for the Olive shop and even tried to take photos to do a tutorial for the mobile pouches I showed you HERE but the lighting is so bad that I'm going to have to put it off for when the sun comes out. We've had nothing but constant rain lately.

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Sewing

~ Maria ~