Clearly, the blame lies with. . .

I was on the phone with a certain friend yesterday (you know who you are!) and we were discussing the merits of doing crafts with other women we attend church with. Clearly, I am not the crafty type, but I can sew some. When a sister in our ward talked to me about helping her sew some bags, I thought back to the conversation and decided that it would be a good choice for me. That was the first mistake.

When I went over to pick up the items, the lady had already left for the evening and left instructions with her kids. I picked up all pf the items, including a completed bag, and brought everything home. That was mistake number 2.

I could tell by looking at the bags that they were not hard, but they were going to take a lot of time. There was a lot of interfacing to be ironed on (which takes quite a bit of time) and lots of top stitching.

After looking through everything, I decided I was going to need to make a test bag in order to be sure I had all of the right steps, and didn't screw up the end result. (The bags are a gift, so I felt some pressure). After cutting out all of the pieces and reading through the instructions again, and after sewing the lining of the test bag, I felt that I was ready for the real thing.

In 5 hours, I sewed two linings, two flaps, and ironed on all of the interfacing. I also sewed one of the straps, only to realize I sewed it wrong. Sigh. I unpicked it all, resewed it, flipped it right-side out, and realized it's still wrong. GRRRR. At that point I went to bed.

This morning, I called the lady to tell her I wasn't as far as I had hoped and she told me that these bags (which, although easy, were very demanding and I confess, slightly intimidating) are the third thing she's ever sewn using a pattern.

I give up.