I made something; yay!
It's not even sort of a bridesmaid dress, but we're ignoring that for right now. I've wanted to make myself a new bag to carry my books for months, as carrying the same one for two semesters in a row bores me. Wanted to get it done before I go back for the semester, for obvious reasons. I had the Brilliant Idea (it seemed to be when it came to me in my boring lit class, anyway) halfway through last semester, and was itching to get home to make it -- then typically put off actually making it until the last week of the holiday.
Anyway. I decided to pick the covers of some of my favorite albums
because I have the music taste of an Old Fart, and listen to music from back when people actually bought entire albums...and I do that too, print them out, and encase them in plastic and sew them together. (I've seen other bags similarly made, but not with album covers, so I am still Somewhat Original.) Well, it ended up being my Very Favorite Albums, and Albums That Are Brightly Colored And Would Make A Cool Bag...but they're still some of my favorites, and I own most of them in a more tangible form than a file (fabric is the only thing I spend more on than music!) because, like with my books, I like to pet them and take them out and just look at them.
Ahem. Rambling ahoy. So I finally got the clear vinyl I needed (finally, Jo-Ann's is good for something besides ugly polyester silkies and bolts of muslin) to actually
make the bag. I copied the front covers of the CDs I have (yay for a color photocopier at home), and got the ones I have on vinyl from the great Google. Cut them out and taped them to the same blue paper I use for my patterns for a bit more sturdiness (not glue because it leaves those nasty bubbles and lines). Then today I had fun aggravating my machine and completely ruining a needle by sewing many layers of vinyl together.
All the album covers, sewn into panels for the bag and laid out pretty next to each other. Bonus Cat. (I would like to note at this point that I briefly entertained an idea of making an All-Beatles bag...but albums from other groups have pretty fun covers and I love
most Old-People Music, not just the Beatles, plus I couldn't resist putting
Sgt. Pepper right next to
Their Satanic Majesties Request, just for a comparison...)
It all went together pretty well, though I learned a very valuable life lesson today: You can't turn a bag of vinyl inside out. You know, like how you'd normally sew seams on the
inside and turn the object inside out? This does not work. Vinyl is totally uncooperative, and crinkles up into a large ball with many sharp corners (I know, a ball with
corners? I was surprised too. Until it stabbed me). If I'd thought about this for more than three and a half seconds before sewing it all up, I probably wouldn't have done it...Live and learn!
After learning this valuable life lesson, I took out all the side seams and just sewed them facing out, calling it Good Enough. The paper is surprisingly not too much the worse for wear, despite having been very squashed. Abbey Road was a little crinkled (and I was Muchly Displeased), but it all smoothed out well enough. I made the straps from scraps, and of course I like them because they are stripey. (My sister is modeling the bag, because she was all impressed that I've actually made something useful for once.)
This is all probably infringing on somebody's copyright, but if I promise not to sell it, hopefully you all won't report me. *grin*
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