Here is a photo of the finished Garment Bag. It turned out a little different from my original vision, but that is how designing works. This is about creativity as much as making a garment bag, and learning to draft a pattern, and that is what I hope to stimulate here. Let's wake up our imaginations, and learn new skills.
Here are some things you will need to bring. A hanger that will fit the garment you intend to make the bag for. If at all possible bring the garment. If not, bring measurements of the garment Length X Width so the finished bag will fit the garment well. If you have no clue about size, you can use the measurements I used.
Here is where the creativity comes in. Decide if you want an Heirloom looking garment bag, a contemporary one that will make a good storage for fun style garments, or a simply one without much embellishment for just sturdy storage that will protect a garment from dust and the elements. Dig through all those trims you have deep in your stash, buttons, lace "scraps", rick rack, piping cord, or ready made piping, etc. If you have zippers stashed, this would be a good time to look through those. Make yourself a kit of what you find. Add to your kit, Rulers, paper scissors, fabric scissors fabric marking pen, tape, and #2 pencil an eraser and fine point sharpie marker and a note pad to record those design choices. I'll bring the paper for everyone to cut your pattern from.
Now about the fabric. Your decision of the type/look of fabric you want will depend on your design choices. Most of our time will be spent on how to make a bag to fit the garment, design choices for the construction, making the pattern and cutting it out and begin to lay out some of those embellishments and pinning them in place. Decide ahead of time if you would like a flat, one garment bag or one with boxed sides that will make it deep enough to hold more than 2 or 3 garments. Want a pocket in it for accessories, write down in your notebook what your want. Don't want to do a zipper? How about Velcro closing at the bottom? Again, this is your bag, based on your needs, but the pattern will need to be planned to work with your design choices. I am giving you some time to think about what you might want. We can move through the program quicker with some preplanning.
Here is some of what I have been inspired by: (See Photo) Fabric and bold rick rack from JoAnn Fabrics. Zipper, Ribbon, buttons. I am still searching through my treasures.
There will be fabric in white, pink, ecru, and blue and hankies available from our Treasure Closet if you would like to to have a simple bag and follow along in class with it or trim one with hankies for a crazy patch look for embellishment. The cost will be very minimal, but has yet to be decided. If you prefer, you can bring your own. You will need at least enough fabric to be double the length of your garment plus 20". So for a garment that is 30" long, you will need 80", which would be about 2 1/4 yards, 3 yards will cover most any design changes. You can mix or match or coordinate any number of fabrics for a composite pieced design of trims, fabric and embelishments. A glue stick can be a great basting tool for finishing later. It will hold those cute trims in place
If you would like to construct during the program, bring your machine.
Any inspiration yet? I hope so! See you at the meeting, Barb
