About a month ago I finally finished the Sophia bag that I purchased materials for last summer. This was the most challenging sewing project I’ve ever done, but it was totally worth it. Here it is:

I have a serious procrastination problem. I start projects, then I get to a point where I make a mistake or am not sure that the finished project will meet my expectations, and then I stall. For months. Or years.

With this project I stalled after I attached the top panel to one of the side panels. It was at that point I realized that piping + curved seam = headache. Even using an invisible zipper foot I had to sew the seam about 6 times, each time a millimeter closer to the piping than the previous time. It ended up looking fantastic on the outside, but the wrong side is a total mess. So I put it away for a few months until I forgot how much I hate piping.

I sewed for an entire Saturday in August and finished the bag. I realized how much I hate piping about 5 minutes in, but I managed to convince myself that the ends were worth the means. And I was right. This bag rocks.

If I make another one, and I think I will, I would put more interfacing in the side and top panels – after a month of use it is starting to lose it’s shape a bit. I would also make the lining a bit smaller, for some reason my lining was a smidgen too big. I would also consider adding a zipper pocket on the inside, a pocket between the handles on the outside, and some sort of inside divider to keep my knitting/reading/lunch separate from my phone/ipod/wallet/notebook.