Travelling Bunny: 3-day Bag Masterclass with Nicole Mallalieu

Last week I flew down to Melbourne to attended a 3-day bag making masterclass with Nicole Mallalieu (You Sew Girl). The class was hosted by Kimono House which is a lovely little fabric shop in Melbourne's CBD which specialises in Japanese fabrics, kimonos/ yukatas and crafts.

Kimono House workshop space

Machines were supplied for all of the out of town students which was a great help.
I was lucky enough to score Nikki's Bernina for the 3 days :) 

On Friday afternoon Leanne, the owner of Kimono House, took us for walk around Melbourne CBD with a focus on craft. The walk ended at Spring Street Grocer, with what is reputed to be the best gelati in Melbourne. I tried three flavours (dairy free chocolate, salted caramel and pistachio) and approved of them all :)

A few of the locations we went to on the tour.
Top: Clementine's (all stock is made and crafted in Victoria) and Corky Saint Clair
Middle: Subject To Change, Gewurzhaus Herb and Spice Merchants, The Cats Meow
Bottom: Morris and Sons, Spring Street Grocer

Nicole demonstrating the finer points of bag making.

Over the 3 days we learnt heaps of tips and tricks from Nikki including techniques for hard bag bases, zipper applications, customising handle straps, and interfacing options. Everyone had a great time and finished sewing up either a Day Bag, Large Tote Bag or Beach Bag.

Hurrying to finish off our bags on Saturday afternoon

All of the finished bags

I made up a Cartas Marcadas Large Satchel and a very Nautical Beach Bag (Beach Bag still requires lining)

I'm quite taken with the bright striped interior of the Large Satchel, especially teamed with the hot pink zipper.

I had a great time away and picked up heaps of tips for professional bag making which I look forward to imparting to our customers and students. We are hoping to run a few bag making workshops at Voodoo Rabbit this year so make sure to sign up to our newsletter (top left on the side menu) for notification of upcoming classes.

- Ky

Totes Cute Tote Bag

When we order in fabric we ask, "What would you make from it?" before we buy it. If the fabric doesn't talk to us, we don't get it in. We had always planned to make a kid's version of the You Sew Girl Small Tote and Satchel but we were waiting for the perfect fabric. This ultra kawaii animal print fabric from Cosmo just screamed "Totes Cute Tote" when we saw the sample :) The fabric is a heavy canvas base cloth so it is very durable and the rich red background colour looks great teamed up with our Indigo Denim.

Difficulty

The Small Tote and Satchel pattern is a great project for a beginner as it contains lots of tips on the basics of bag making and sewing. For more advanced sewists it is a quick and easy project that can be whipped up in an afternoon / evening session (I think this one took me 3-4 hours in total).

Interfacing

After my Alexander Henry Mirage Carry All Bag blog post, Nicole from You Sew Girl suggested that I try using Medium-Heavy interfacing paired with H630 wadding. This would give me the structure I was after but not be as bulky as the Medium Interfacing paired with H640 wadding combo. I am happy to say that this is now my favourite way to interface my bags :)

Options

Most You Sew Girl patterns come with a number of different finishing options. I have made the longer version of the bag, with a flap and internal zippered pocket. I think it is always nice to have a least one pocket on the inside for storing little bits and pieces. I particularly like the red zipper against the blue fabric. If you can't match a zipper to the main colour of a fabric don't be afraid to try matching it to one of the other colours in the print.

I have used plastic looplocs and tri-glide with 38mm webbing to make an urban style adjustable shoulder strap. You can find the tutorial on how to make an adjustable bag strap here.

Like all of Nicole's pattern the Small Tote and Satchel is very versatile and allows you to make many variations using just the one pattern. These are just a few of the variations that Nicole has made, you can find more images as well as descriptions on her website.

If you would like to recreate this bag here is everything that I used

• Pattern - Small Tote and Satchel Bag Pattern by You Sew Girl
• 35cm x Main Fabric Indigo 6oz Medium Weight 150cm wide Denim
• 0.3m x Lining Fabric Hooty Hoot Returns Jacks Blue by Riley Blake
• FQ x Flap Fabric Animal Circle Canvas Red by Cosmo Textiles
• 0.5m x Medium - Heavy Fusible Woven Interfacing
• 0.35m x Vilene H630 Fusible Wadding
• Bag Base Peltex 72F Double-sided Fusible Interfacing
• 1 x Satchel Set 38mm Black Plastic
• 1.5m x Polypropylene Webbing - 38mm Black

- Ky

Learn to Sew Lesson 1 is in the bag

Our first Learn to Sew Class with StephC went swimmingly with all of the students finishing their tote bags before the end of class.

Don't they look great and very practical as well. The bags are made from heavy weight cotton/linen or cotton canvas fabric with 38mm webbing for the handles.

Next week we will be starting to make up a basic knit top using Steph's blank canvas tee pattern. My introduction to sewing knits was with Steph with this pattern so I can attest to its ease to sew and fit. It should be a lot of fun.

If you are interested in learning to sew please drop us a line at sales[@]voodoorabbit.com.au and we will add you to our waiting list for our next course.
- Ky