the bag says vauxhall on it

how much can one write about a weekend spent sewing a messenger bag?  not very much, it turns out.  but trust me, the bag i made is awesome.  when my sister came over today, i showed her the bag and demonstrated all of its glorious features (the zipper pockets! the patch pockets! the pencil pockets!).  when you live alone and the dog doesn’t care whether you make a bag or sleep all damn day, you’ll show off your creations to anyone with opposable thumbs.  my sister was both impressed at my skills and annoyed that i haven’t used them to finish making her curtains.

a generous reader gave me his old laptop for my roadtrip, and it didn’t fit in the bag i already had.  since i didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a new computer bag, i decided to make one myself.  the thing about sewing, though, is that by the time you buy the fabric and supplies and then waste half the fabric and supplies on trial and error, you end up spending almost as much as it would cost to buy a new bag at the store.  but would that bag from the store have all the features you wanted?  would it be made out of a canvas map of london?  would you be able to walk around with it and say to yourself, “i made this bag!”  i think not.

on the other hand, you’d have your weekend back.