Monday Morning Quarterback

Size matters.

~ Anonymous

Okay, I wasn't really quite as bad over the weekend as I intimated in yesterday's post.  I made Ana's equipment roll on Saturday and went back into my sewing room on Sunday to work on the wine totes.  :)

You may remember that I complained about 2 things about this pattern.  One was that the directions for making the box-shaped bottom were unclear.  The other was that it was difficult to attach the handle because it was too short.  

Here's what I mean - when you tried to wrap the handle around to attach both ends, the tote gets squished up inside and the ends of the handle try to pull at an angle...  

Well, I managed to make it (almost) work on one tote, but there was no way I was going to fight my way through this problem on EIGHT more totes.  So, I re-cut all of the handles and added 2 inches.  Voila!  

Doesn't that look much less painful?  It made a huge difference!  The final handle is a bit longer, but it's actually better for sliding up your forearm when you are trying to juggle wine, presents and a plate full of homemade cookies!  ;)

Notice that the handle on the owl bag is straight and the other one is slightly askew?  That's because that short handle was fighting me...  :(

Anyways, once I re-cut all the handles, and given that I had figured out how to deal with the bottoms, the wine totes went reasonably quickly and I was able to finish them all!  :)

On some of them I made the handle match the outer tote fabric and on others I reversed the handle, so that it was the lining fabric that showed.  I just went by which looked better to me...  

I hope my friends think I made good decisions!  :)

It feels good to have this part of their Christmas gifts done.  Next up - casserole totes!  I think these are going to be more work...  Yikes!