Yesterday I raided my fabric stash for today’s sew along with Bags by Bags of Style. I’m very excited about this particular sew along because it will be my first. For me, sewing has always been a solitary affair and I can’t remember ever sewing with someone else.

Raiding my stash, I considered Tilda’s Lemon Tree Collection for this project but I couldn’t bring myself to cut it…

Since coming back to sewing after years away from it, I have noticed the remarkable effect social media has had on sewing. To me, it feels so much more of a community now and one I’m thrilled to be a part of. The idea that I can sew with, chat with and ask for help from a global community of like-minded people who are willing to help, feels incredible, and I try to give as much as I receive.

Moda’s 30s Playtime by Chloe’s closet was also a tempting combo.

Today’s sew along is with a private group of British sewers on Facebook. We will be making the Double Trouble pouch which can be used as a wristlet. All week I’ve been seeing posts of prepped pieces of beautiful fabrics from other members. It’s always fun to see how other sewers marry fabrics for their projects, or even fabricate their own textiles for them.

Because it is a private group, I obviously can’t post member’s photos of fabric choices here, but I have been going backwards and forwards between various fabrics in my stash. The pictures of pairings in the post are ones from my own stash that I was torn between using.

The Duo Mini collection from The Danish company Stoffabrics was definitely a contender for this project.

Like so many other sewists, I struggle with fabric selection. When I see a beautiful fabric or coordinating fabrics, I usually buy a meter/yard only. This is mainly because, let’s face it, good quality quilting cottons, vinyls and corks usually used in bagmaking, can be very expensive. It’s no surprise then that many sewists feel anxious about cutting into these pieces of fabric. I’m no different and it took a while to settle on which I would use.

Tim Holtz’s Regions Beyond ‘Beloved’ with his Provisions. But I have been holding onto this for a particular bag project, so I don’t want to cut into it.

I just love this Darlings 2 linen fabric from Ruby Star Society. I bought a meter of it in two colourways a while ago and, at the same time, I bought some cheaper, plain canvas in coordinating colours. The Double Trouble Pouch is a double pouch which calls for 4 exterior panel pieces.

I went full retro and added a cassette tape charm. Altogether, it feels like a little homage to secretaries in the pre-wordprocessor age – the retro typewriter, dictaphone cassette, and the pink squiggles on the lining fabric could almost be shorthand.

I fussy cut a typewriter for the main panel of the project and used the plain coloured (much cheaper) canvas for the other three panels. I plan to make a waist strap for this pouch, which means only one panel will be visible when worn on my waist, so I didn’t want to waste my typewriter print on panels that wouldn’t be seen.

So, with my fabric pieces, hardware, zip and a new needle in my machine, I brewed a coffee, checked my bobbin, found the live link on YouTube and waited to meet our sewing guide, Christine….

…….. and three or four hours later I came out of the sew along with a completed project!

I have a free account on YouTube and was able to type comments live. Our host and teacher was very accomodating and waited patiently for people to say they were ready to go to the next step. I’ve sewn these double pouches before and the steps around the mid-way stage can be quite complicated to explain, so it was surprising to me that everyone did so well.

We were around 60 to 80 sewers at any given time during the live stream. Many were waiting to begin their project until having first seen the instructions. I found that at times it was difficult to sew one part and listen to instructions for sewing another part, and for me it was often a case of ‘hurry up, and wait’. That’s when I really felt the value of the interactivity of the sew along because it was easy to ask for a quick recap on certain parts, or to respond to the teacher when she asked if everyone was ready to move to the next step.

Regular breaks were scheduled, and I even managed to squeeze in a couple of unscheduled coffee breaks as well.

Overall, I really enjoyed the challenge, the company, and getting to know a bit more about Bags by Bags of Style and Christine who runs it. Another of her sew alongs is in the pipeline and it is hoped it will run in the autumn/fall.

Christine is currently developing the Double Trouble pouch and a full and extended version of the pattern will be available as a downloadable pdf at her Etsy shop in the near future.

Edited to add: one of the great joys of this sew along was seeing a slew of new and awesome-looking pouches appearing on the Facebook page in the hours after the live stream. So great to have been a part of it.

Edited again to add: the Double Trouble Collection is available to purchase here.

I am not affiliated in any way with Bags by Bags of Style. I personally bought the pattern and would recommend it to anyone wanting to make this style of bag.