Purse Palooza :: Pattern Review : Lotta Jansdotter Gardening Tote

While I’m usually a quilter and not a bag-maker or garment-sewer, I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of Purse Palooza this year because I’ve been wanting to make the Gardening Tote from Lotta Jansdotter’s book Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing for quite some time. In fact, when I took the pattern peices out of the envelope at the back of my book, I discovered that I had already cut out the pieces for this bag.

There is just something so pleasing about this simple tote!

First off, let me say that if I were to make this bag again, I would definitely use interfacing so that the bag stands up on it’s own.  I really wanted this bag to be more of a bucket/basket and not a floppy thing.

I’ve stuffed with for most of these pictures so that it has shape.  It’s a bit pathetic when empty.

Overall impression of the pattern:  I like the bag that this pattern produces (I’d love it with some interfacing), but the instructions need some work.

What fabric and supplies are needed to make the bag?
The pattern calls for 2 yards of heavyweight cotton fabric.  This is actually a bit weird because it assumes you are going to line the bag with the same fabric you’re using for the exterior.  This is not what is shown in the picture for the bag, however, which clearly has a brown exterior and a red/white interior.  The pattern really should list the yardages separately.

You need 1.75 yards of 1″ twill tape.  This is what goes around the tops of the exterior pockets.  It would be helpful if the pattern said what the twill tape was for because I had assumed the twill tape would be inside the handles, so I wasn’t concerned about the color.  Since it actually goes on the exterior, the color matters.  I ended up just binding the top of my pockets like a quilt, using quilting fabrics.

My fabric selections: I’ve used fabric from my stash–Ikea upholstery fabric for the exterior, a Kaffe Fassett print called “paperweight” for the interior, a Carolyn Friedlander print called “blueprint” to bind the top of the pockets, and an unknown print for the handles.

(c) incomplete instructions for side panels
In STEP 4, you attach the pockets to the exterior of the tote.  However the instructions only have you sew the pieces together (the sides to the front, etc).  The front and back pockets should be subdivided by running some addional seams up them.  This isn’t mentioned in the instructions (though the markings are on the pattern pieces and the picture of the finished project makes those seams obvious.)

My modifications:
As mentioned above, I used a quilting fabric to bind the top of the exterior pockets rather than twill tape.  The fabric I used for the lining was also lighter than the pattern calls for, which probably didn’t hep with my floppiness problem!

Difficulty level: 
Given the flaws in the instructions, I don’t think this is a beginner bag.  I think that if the pattern were better written, it could be a good bag for beginners as it comes together fairly quickly and you’re rarely wrestling with more than two layers of fabric.

As it stands, however, I think having made a few bags before would help the sewist power through the weird and missing bits in the instructions.

Overall, I do think it produced a nice-looking and useful bag (even more so if you were to attach interfacing to the exterior fabric when making the bag.)

I plan on using mine to tote my hand-sewing to and from friends’ houses!