Wal Mart kit

I was at Wal-Mart the other night looking for some embroidery thread when I noticed the clearance bins. I saw that there were two different kits on sale for constructing a quilted tote bag or a quilted duffel bag. I liked the duffel bag one because the pre-quilted fabric was a gorgeous black paisley with red and cream accents a la Vera Bradley. I also liked the look of it as the heavy duty zipper with a very decorative zipper pull. I purchased the duffel bag kit and came home to make it.




The quilted fabric was printed with patterns pieces in the black paisley on a cream background. The instructions mentioned that there were cutting lines... did that mean to cut the pieces out along the edge of the black paisley or cut the peieces out with a half inch seam allowance width from the black paisley? I compromised and serged the edges with a quarter inch wide stitch just outside the black paisley and sewed the pieces up with a half inch seam allowance.



The ends each had a pocket so I then proceeded to make one end from two end pieces rather than one end piece and one pocket piece. Not being one to rip out, I then reconstructed one of the pocket pieces into an end piece and attached a real pocket piece to it. I tried to make the straps using a tube turner that I couldn't find (later I realized it was stolen by Alex and hidden under a blanket) so I re-did the straps by folding in the raw edges to the center of the wrong side then folding the straps lengthwise again and sewing down the edges. That was a big mistake as I ended up with extra layers when sewing up the bottom of the bag and broke a needle.



In the end it looks pretty good. What do you think? If your Wal-Mart still has a fabric section, check out the sale bins and you too can have the fun I had yesterday. One last note - the decorative zipper pull that was a major incentive to buying this kit is now missing. Wanna take any bets that Alex has hidden it somewhere?

What did this sewing experience tell me? In the end, the lessons were:

• I can't read and follow instructions
• I don't know the difference between an end piece and a pocket piece.
• My supplies are not puppy proof.
• I can salvage a project.

Pretty good lessons from a $13.00 kit from Wal-Mart.