Bag of the Week 26

Boatbag

You Have to Start Somewhere

This may be the first bag I ever made.  When I graduated from college in 1984 my parents gave me a Kenmore sewing machine as a graduation gift.  I took the machine with me when I moved to Texas that year and found a part time job at a local fabric store, Cloth World.  I really knew very little about sewing except what I had learned in my home ec classes in school and what my mom had taught me.  But, being young and fearless I jumped right in and started spending most of my paycheck at the fabric store and sewing anything and everything I could.  I even had the nerve to agree to make a sample evening dress from sequined fabric for the store and a prom dress for one of the other employees.  But really I was quite clueless.  Take this bag, for instance.  My family has a long habit of carrying our vacation supplies in L.L. Bean boat bags when we traveled to our fishing cabin in rural Maine.  (I can still remember when L.L. Bean was little more than a one-room shack where we stopped every year so my dad could buy his Maine fishing license.)  So when I saw this fabric I had the grand idea that I would make each of my family members a unique boat bag using it.  I had some sense in picking out the canvas that would become the bottom and straps for the bag but never considered that lightweight cotton would not make very sturdy walls.  The seams on the inside were double stitched and pinked (this was long before I owned a serger) and, clearly, I had no concept about matching seams. 

I kept this bag for myself but no others were forthcoming.

My skills did improve over time and with practice, and this month I will pack my own vacation belongings into both my L.L. Bean boatbags and this one which has proved to be very useful and functional, if a little floppy.  Some family traditions are worth keeping.