AB Weekender Bag: Fabric Choices and Progress So Far

Um...it's been over a month since I last blogged.  I honestly don't know where the time went, because it doesn't feel like it's been that long!  Wow.  This three kids thing is catching up to me!  I haven't been totally unproductive, though. 

Just unbloggy.

First of all, I realized that I never blogged about wanting to start the Amy Butler Weekender Bag.  I'm sure you've heard of this bag, and all the horror stories that go along with it.  But it's a perfect bag!  And horror stories or not, everyone who's made one is always happy with it when it's over. 

Before the New Year, I decided that some day, I would attempt this bag.  Someday far away.  So I started a Pinterest board, pinning my fabric selections and blogs that had good tips, so when that far away day finally came, I'd be ready.

Then my husband and I planned a semi-romantic weekend getaway for our upcoming 9th Wedding Anniversary in May (semi-romantic, because we'll have our 3-month-old with us).

Do you see where this is going?  Weekend getaway...Weekender Bag!

I had to try to make it in time!

So I bought the fabric.

I decided to go with the Outside Oslo line from Jessica Jones.  It just seems to fit the bag style so perfectly!  And during my search for tips on the bag, I came across a Weekender bag that Jessica's mom made for her in her own fabric!  I found a few other bags that were also made in this line, so I wasn't the only one who thought the fabric fit the bag.

As you can see from my fabric choices, I decided to mix things up, since the pattern only calls for two different fabrics.  I was going to use four different fabrics altogether.

I finally dove in and started cutting a couple of weeks ago.  Holy.Cow. is there a lot of cutting!  I didn't actually finish until a few days ago, because life got in the way, and I just never had enough time to cut.

Last night, I actually started sewing!  I've been cursing my way through this thing so far.  Not because of the instructions, but because I've just made some really stupid mistakes.  For what it's worth, I'm following some of the tips I found, so I'm making some changes along the way.  But still, the mistakes I've made have just been dumb.

But as you can see, I am making progress!

This is one of the panels.  I'm really liking how it's coming together so far with all the different fabrics.  I still have a ways to go, but I'm feeling like I can actually finish this thing before our trip, which is next week.  Fingers crossed!