Sew Nice to Complete Them!

My sister, Lorna, is a sewist. She makes the most fabulous bags and has committed to making a custom bag for each member of our family for this birthdays this year. I am lucky as my birthday was in March so I already received my gift!

It's not really wonky. It just looks that way because I've
filled it with supplies!

That's me and my cats!

Love the polka dots and stripes

So when Lorna said she wanted to take a class for something called the Bionic Gear Bag, a multi-pocket roll that is perfect for a sewing kit or travel, I was game. It, apparently, has quite the following. There's an entire group on Facebook, the Sew Much Nicer Community, dedicated to it. 

So, we bought the pattern, gathered supplies, and realized the class was quite a bit outside our price range. Hmmm... what to do? What to do? It's not the clearest written instructional (we'll leave it at that), even for two very accomplished stitchers, but joy and rapture! There were some great Youtube videos by Aussie Birdcage and Thread! The perfect excuse for the inaugural Sister Sewing Day!

17 hours and 17 zippers later, we managed to make 3 full-sized bags, 1 baby bag, 2 fabric bowls and top off 1 bag of Dove dark chocolates just in time for my upcoming trip! Lorna's are red and mine or blue.

Not the best posed pictures (taken in the room with the best
lighting - the bathroom) but it was so late when we finished.

My travel bag! Putting it to use this very week!

Inside my bag with the fabric bowl made by Lorna
Darts! What's a Dart? A car.

And I had to make a travel one for my Roadtrip Romeo!

Who didn't take long ot fill his!

Great lesson learned - Lorna made a mistake with her fabric placement and had two different fabrics comprising her first pocket, and it looked fabulous! Instead of ripping it out, she made the rest the same, and it really made the bag!

Lorna's wiht her fabric bowl and baby bionic.

I think, between our skills, we learned alot from each other. I shared tricks like 'leaders and enders' and binding like a quilter. Lorna taught me about adding zippers and sewing on zipper stops. 

I can't wait to see what we do next. Being my turn, I was thinking of pulling some stuff out of my old quilt retreat days such as fabric fortune cookies, fabric bowls, or making custom clay buttons.