Saturday, October 20, 2012

Are you a round bottom or boxy bottom kind of gal?

Folks,

I think about bottoms a lot. And I mean a lot. For a long time, I was really into round bottoms. Sometimes the bigger and the rounder the better. But lately I've been thinking I should explore other kinds of bottoms as well. Like boxy bottoms for instance.

Hey, wait a minute. Anyone of you out there thinks I'm talking about human bottoms? Please raise your hands. This is a bag blog, my friend!

Now, where was I? Yes, bottoms. One problem with round bottoms is customers tend to think the space is much smaller. It's almost like a visual trick.



Take my lunchtime pouches for instance. When I make this pouch, I had used a regular wallet for sizing and it's pretty roomy. In fact, you could put a wallet, keys, handphone and a packet of tissue in it. Many customers aren't convinced and I have to do a demo. And they will go, "wow" like I had performed magic.





Pouches with boxy bottoms do not have this problem. Customers know just by looking at it if it fits their wallets.



Boxy bottoms sit really well. No need for any stuffing. Of course, round bottoms sit well too. But boxy bottoms have this sharpness. I'm not saying I'm abandoning round bottoms. I'm just saying I'm going to be making many boxy bottoms from now on. Oh, for the bottoms, I use a super stiff interfacing which my friend Mandy had given me. It's like rock. I have a whole bolt of it.


For the black and white boxy pouch, I was going for the Longchamp zipper tabs look. I had to handsew the tabs though. The reason being I had suffered an emotional breakdown after trying to sew through metal. Has this happened to you before? Try to sew through metal? I'm so careful but sometimes you lose your concentration and before you know it, you hear this sickening KAKAKAKAKA sound coming from your sewing machine and you freeze because your brain cannot function. Then you snap out of it to switch off the machine. By then, you are a complete mess because you think you have killed your sewing machine.

So that's why I had to handsew the tab because I couldn't handle sewing through so many layers.

Oh, one thing I have learnt. You must always use original sewing machine needles. Like I use Organ needles and I make sure I buy from legit sources. There are a lot of pirated ones around and you know what happens when you try to sew through metal with a pirated sewing needle? It breaks and if you're unlucky, the needle flies up and injures you. I'm speaking from experience. The original needles don't break. They get bent. And honestly, sewing needles are not expensive. However, I have no experience with any other brands of sewing needles as I have only used Organ.

Hope you have a good weekend. And those of you with your hands still raised, you may put your hands down now.

15 out of 74 projects completed.

Linked: Sew Many Ways

3 comments:

Chiara Z said...

I just did a bag-making class yesterday and we had some fun conversations around the topic of "perky little bottoms":)

tamdoll said...

I love the way round bottoms look, but I think when they have to be cinched up, you loose the space above - where flat bottoms are consistent throughout. That's the difference.
But - all of your bags look great! As usual.

Bobi Jensen said...

I love boxy bottoms in the bags I carry! Cute post :)

I have a weekend link party going if you'd like to join in:

http://westernwarmth.blogspot.com/2012/10/weekend-warmth-6.html

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