Amy Butler Weekender: Cutting, cutting, and more cutting...

So now that you've purchased all of the materials, you've got to cut out the pieces. Give yourself a good chunk of time for this or spread it out because it has taken me hours to measure and cut out the pieces. Also, if you plan on making more than 1 Weekender, you can save time by tracing the pattern pieces and measuring out the rectangular pictures onto tracing paper and cutting out the tracing paper...so you can preserve the pattern. I hate cutting out original pattern pieces...although I know they're meant to be cut out. If you trace out all of the pieces onto tracing paper, you'll never risk loosing a piece of the original pattern because the original pattern stays in tact. Also, since there are many parts of the bag that don't have a pattern, they require you to take a ruler/yardstick and measure out the pieces...so you might as well do the measuring once onto tracing paper and you'll never have to measure again on future bags!

The revised instructions address one of the main frustrations with the bag...sewing through the peltex/timtex. The instructions tell you to trim away .5 inch from the edges of the original pattern pieces for the peltex/timtex pieces so that you don't have to sew through it. You might as well create pattern pieces for the peltex/timtex pieces also, to save you the hassle of cutting off .5 inch from the original pieces.

I generally follow the revised instructions on how to lay out the pattern pieces, but I try to waste as little fabric as possible so sometimes, I tweak the layout. By wasting as little fabric as possible, I'm able to have enough fabric left over to create internal pockets (the original pattern doesn't include any internal pockets). Also, if you have a distinct pattern on your fabric (like the exterior fabric that I purchased) and you want your pockets to line up with the fabric, you have to pay extra attention to your layout. You may also want to purchase an extra half yard of your fabric if you're unsure. The handles and top of the bag (where the zipper is) require the longest parts of the fabric so make sure you don't improvise too much on your layout and not have enough continuous fabric for your handles and top of the bag.

Not counting the pattern pieces that you have to cut out from tracing paper, expect to cut about 70 pieces, including the strips you have to cut for the piping. That's including the extra 1 large interior pocket that's the same size as the exterior pockets, 2 small interior pockets that are the same size as the 2 small exterior pockets, 1 zipper pocket inside the lining, and 2-sided handles (the instructions call for using the interior fabric for both sides of the handle...I like using the exterior fabric for one side, and the interior fabric for the other side...suggestion courtesy of hiuma). I also lengthened the handles from 48" to 56" so it'll fit over your shoulders easier.